Some Steps to Reduce aggression and Violence

Although there may be other reasons to endorse or reject the ideas below, social psychological research on aggression suggests that each has the potential to reduce aggression.

d Reward nonaggressive behavior.

d Provide attractive models of peaceful behavior.

d Reduce all forms of aggression in our society, including physical punishment of children, fighting in sports, violence in the media, and war.

d Reduce frustration by improving the quality of life in housing, health care, employment, and child care.

d Provide fans and air-conditioned shelters when it’s hot.

d Reduce access to and display of weapons.

d Apologize when you’ve angered someone and regard apologies as a sign of strength—not weakness. Encourage others to do likewise.

d Stop and think when you feel your temper rising. Control it instead of letting it control you.

d Discourage excessive drinking of alcohol and support efforts to provide treatment for alcohol abuse.

d Develop good communication skills in families and relationships, thereby helping to avoid misperceptions, jealousy, and distrust.

d Pay attention and respond to warning signs of trouble in adolescents, including social isolation, talk of violence, and consumption of violence-filled literature and other media.

d Increase education to promote development of skills involving empathy, self-control, and how to solve interpersonal problems with reason rather than emotion.