INDIVIDUALISM AND AGGRESSION - A HERMENEUTIC ANALYSIS OF HUESMANN ANDERON COGNITIVE THEORY OF AGGRESSION

A number of writers have expressed concern that much psychological the ory and research may be critically shaped by a 'disguised ideology'. T his thesis will be explored by examining the tacit ideological underpi nnings of the cognitive theory of aggression proposed by Huesmann, Ero n and their colleagues. This work appears to be infused with unacknowl edged liberal individualist or philosophical liberal assumptions which portray humans as more or less autonomous, strategic agents seeking t o achieve pre-given ends. Once these evaluative underpinnings are expo sed, certain implausibilities and anomalies in this view of aggression emerge that seem to reflect tensions inherent in the liberal individu alist interpretation of human action. Restricting the study of violenc e to rather narrow instrumental categories of human action severely co nstrains the extent to which unwanted forms of aggression can be under stood and reduced. Thus, this approach to aggression may inadvertently reinforce aspects of modern culture that are themselves significant s ources of unwanted aggression.