We call heteroaggressiveness all those aggressive behaviors directed towards others . This includes physical aggressions, insults or more subtle ways of hurting another person. Some say that heteroaggressiveness is part of our nature and is an inevitable part of the human experience that is impossible to let go of or give up.

Other people claim that it is a product of acculturation and can be avoided. The enigma surrounding the origin of this type of behaviour has given rise to numerous hypotheses, some more rigorous and scientific, others more moralistic.

We psychologists have studied this multifaceted phenomenon from different perspectives and have obtained different complementary explanations to the question of what it is and why it occurs. We briefly explain what we psychologists know about this form of aggression.

What is heteroaggression?

Heteroaggression refers to readiness, a tendency to react violently to the outside world. We must understand aggression as a strategy. Aggression, psychologically speaking, is a means to an end. Therefore, aggressive individuals are those who are most likely to use this type of strategy to obtain their goals , whether tangible or emotional.

We know that children who are aggressive from an early age are more likely to remain so as they grow up. We also know that heteroaggression is related to poor impulse control . The most aggressive people, having difficulty regulating their emotions and containing their strongest emotional reactions, find it impossible not to be carried away by the anger they may feel in a frustrating situation.

When we talk about emotional regulation and impulse control it is impossible not to talk about emotional education as well. One of the most obvious advantages of children learning to recognize and manage emotions is greater control over one’s emotional life and a greater ability to control oneself. This means that children with difficulties in managing negative emotions such as anger would have more tools to put at bay a heteroaggression that could otherwise explode.

What causes heteroaggression?

So, if heteroaggression depends on impulse control that is already visible in younger children, is it a genetically transmitted trait?

The answers in psychology are never that simple. Once again, we have to talk about multifactorial causes. Since we know that the best way to study the adult is through the child, let’s see what factors are involved in their development.

1. Individual factors

Individual factors in the explanation of heteroaggression include prenatal factors , characteristics associated with the child’s gender and temperament. For example, there are studies that attempt to relate exposure to toxins during pregnancy and subsequent aggressive behavior. There are others that draw a relationship between low levels of ACTH and heteroaggressive behavior.

In terms of gender, boys and girls are found to have different heteroaggressive behaviours. While boys opt more for a form of physical violence, girls tend to be more aggressive in a social way, i.e. through insults or ignoring other peers. These differences in forms of violence crystallize as children grow up, until they reach adolescence.

Children with a difficult temperament are more likely to be aggressive towards others. Difficulties in emotional regulation, hypersensitivity to negative moods, or intolerance to frustration are ingredients that form an excellent breeding ground for the birth of a heteroaggressive behavior pattern.

2. Parental factors

It is impossible to talk about any aspect of the individual’s development without mentioning the influence of the parenting style and the family aspects. Both too rigid and too lax a parenting style can have consequences for the development of heteroaggression.

An environment without rules and limits can give free rein to the expression of anger in a violent way, something that is not tolerated in other social environments. Likewise, an authoritative parenting style can generate frustration and pent-up anger, which, in addition to being harmful to health, often explode in adolescence in the form of heteroaggressive behaviour.

Aggressive parental models, for example the presence of a parent who tends to use physical violence to punish, validate aggression as a strategy. It is especially those children with a difficult temperament who learn these strategies more quickly and become accustomed to physical punishment more quickly, to the point where it no longer works with them.

3. Social factors

With schooling and later the passage into adolescence , the role of the family is overshadowed by the influences of the peer group . Being a victim of violent behaviour or seeing others being aggressive are factors that predict the appearance of heteroaggression. For example, boys and girls who grow up in more violent neighbourhoods also tend to be more violent, because of learning and not knowing any other alternatives.

The effects of television on heteroaggression are limited. Television only has an effect on aggression in individuals who were previously aggressive. Other children do not engage in heteroaggressive learning or acquire new violent fantasies. Furthermore, these effects disappear when children watch TV accompanied by an adult who can guide them.

Similarly, the content you see on the Internet will not be harmful if there is an adult who supervises and actively engages in discussion of violent content that the child may have encountered.

4. Attachment

The importance of the role of attachment deserves a few paragraphs . It is during the process of attachment that the child learns to develop his capacities for affective and behavioural self-regulation. It is to be expected that if the child, instead of receiving experiences of affection that help him to establish an attachment, is denied these experiences, an insecure attachment will develop.

In some cases children form a particular type of insecure attachment, the disorganized one. These children are characterized by deep behavioral dysregulation and uncontrolled tantrums. This is why we find that negligent parents often have heteroaggressive children.