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Verbal aggression

Verbal aggression is message behavior whichattacks a person's self-conceptinorder to deliver psychological pain.(Infante, 199!"t#dies of verbalaggressionhave foc#sed primarily on children and adolescentsin ed#cational and social

settings. Very few st#dies were fo#nd to e$amineverbal aggression in ad#ltsin theworkplace.(%bbesen, ncan, onecni, 19)! *heconse+#ences of verbalaggression in the workplace can lead to socialisolation, ob related stress,health

related problems, as well as problems in careeradvancement. It thereforesho#ldbe considered important, for the individ#al andmanagement, to identify andaddress the ca#ses of verbal aggression. *his program attempts to #nderstand verbalaggression by 1! identifying the

vario#s f#nctions of verbal aggression. ! identifyingthe antecedentconditions ofverbal aggression. ! /voiding the antecedentconditions of verbalaggression.

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0ethod

"#bect *he s#bect, "hirley ., is a )9 year old /frican

/merican female. "hirley. hasseveral advanced degrees and is employed as aschool psychologist in ametropolitan school district. "he is married with twoad#lt children. *hes#bectreadily agreed that the target behavior, verbal

aggression, is a problem asitinterferes with her relationships with others. "hewas enth#siastic in herdesire tored#ce, if not eliminate, this behavior. It wo#ldseem that self-monitoringfor

verbal aggression and antecedent control wo#ld beval#able as it wo#ld allowforconsistent avoidance of verbal aggression. /s aschool psychologist thes#bect wasvery familiar with the basic principles of appliedbehavioral analysis and

fre+#entlyo2ered programmatic s#ggestions. / behavioralcontract was developedointlybetween the therapist and s#bect. *he contracto#tlined the target

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behavior,s#ccess criteria, and individ#al responsibilities of thetherapist ands#bect. (see

/ppendi$ /!/pparat#s

/ basic checklist was #sed to doc#ment thefre+#ency of verbal aggression onadaily basis. *he checklist was designed to track onlythe occ#rrence of the

behavior. It was felt by the therapist that thecontent of the verballyaggressivemessage wo#ld be too open for s#bectiveinterpretation and that nomeaningf#ldata wo#ld be gained from s#ch doc#mentation. Inaddition the s#bect made

fre+#ent comments of signi3cant s#ccess or fail#rein avoiding verbalaggressionfor disc#ssion with the therapist. *he weeklydisc#ssions were #sed toeval#ate theappropriateness of the proced#res #sed and makeany necessary ad#stments to

theprogram.

4roced#re 5or the 3rst two weeks of the program nointervention was applied. 6iven

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thatthe s#bect self-reported that verbal aggression wasa problem it wasimportant to

determine if the fre+#ency of the behavior meritedintervention. *herefore,thes#bect doc#mented the daily fre+#ency of verbalaggression. *he res#lts ofthebaseline period revealed a high rate of verbalaggression. (see /ppendi$ 7!

6iventhe res#lts of the baseline data as well as thedemanding, often stressf#l,nat#re ofthe s#bects ob, it was m#t#ally agreed thatred#cing verbal aggressionwo#ld bethe foc#s of the program.

Verbal aggression was de3ned as c#rsing,yelling, and screaming at others. *heagreed #pon goals of the program was to decreaseverbal aggression by 8 ofbaseline for fo#r consec#tive weeks. *reatmentwo#ld consist of identifyingand

avoiding the antecedent conditions to verbalaggression. /voidance of theantecedents is considered less restrictive, moreproactive, and moste2ective.ring the initial cons#ltation it was determined that

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the antecedentconditionsincl#ded, b#t was not limited to work stress, time ofday, verbal behavior

of others(ie. tone of voice, in:ection of voice and content ofconversation, etc.!,and non-verbal behavior of others (ie. facial e$pression, bodypost#re, eye contact,etc.!. Inaddition, the s#bect was re+#ired to self monitor for

the followingantecedentsclenched 3sts, tight aw, rapid heart beat, and the

emotions of anger,fr#stration anddisappointment. ;astly, it was s#ggested by Infante(199! that appropriatestrategy

m#st be taken to prevent verbal aggression fromescalating. "#ccessf#l avoidance of the antecedentconditions consisted of removingoneselffrom stressf#l sit#ations, when possible, as well asnot responding verballywhen

provoked.

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of verbal aggression andrecordthe circ#mstances of signi3cant s#ccess or fail#red#ring the work week for

disc#ssion at weekly cons#ltation sessions./ sched#le of reinforcement was developed for

the s#bect. *hereinforcementwas to be given for s#ccessf#l avoidance of verbalaggression. =einforcementincl#ded 3ve min#tes alone for '+#iet time', whenpossible, or a short,

silent prayer.>onsidering the stress and escalating nat#re of

verbal aggression time alonewasconsidered appropriate for 'cool down'. If time alonewas not possible orconvenient the s#bect wo#ld say a short prayerwhen provoked.

=es#lts

*he res#lts of the baseline phase revealed what wasconsidered ane$traordinarilyhigh rate of verbal aggression. ?owever, after the3rst week of datacollection it

was reali@ed that verbal aggression was notoperationally de3ned. *hes#bectconsidered verbal aggression on m#ch broaderterms than did the therapistwhich

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incl#ded s#bective, rather than obective, behaviorobservations.

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heremotions was in itself reinforcing and wo#ldmaintain the behavior.

&isc#ssion *he res#lts of this program show that verbalaggression can be s#ccessf#llydecreased by identifying and avoiding its antecedentconditions. /s statedprevio#sly, the s#bect #sed verbal aggression forescape from demanding ordiDc#lt sit#ations, relief from stress, and avoidance

of demanding ordiDc#ltsit#ations. *he behavior appears to be maintainedthro#gh positivereinforcement.7eca#se the s#bect is in a position of some power

and in:#ence there wererelatively few conse+#ences for the behavior.

%bbesen, ncan and onecni(19)! s#ggested that verbal aggression co#ld bereinforced and maintained ins#cha manner. "ince the most common form of verbalaggression was c#rsing, themethod of identifying and avoiding the antecedentsproved very s#ccessf#l.

Infante(199! #sed a similar method with yo#ng st#dents.

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negative.Instead of doc#menting the fre+#ency of verbal

aggression it may have beenbetter

to doc#ment the fre+#ency of s#ccessf#l avoidanceof verbal aggression. Inthisway we wo#ld help to internali@e the strategy tomaintain the behavior, aswell ashaving a more positive and constr#ctive program. /+#estion raised by 6olin

and=omanowski (19! was is there a se$ di2erence inthe rate and target ofverbalaggression. /ltho#gh this +#estion was notinvestigated in the c#rrentprogram, itdoes raise an intrig#ing +#estion for f#t#re st#dy.

=eferences

%bbessen, %. 7., ncan, 7., E onecni, V. . (19)!.%2ects of >ontent of

Verbal /ggression / 5ield %$periment. o#rnalof %$perimental "ocial

4sychology, 11, 19-C).

6olin, "., E =omanowski, 0. (19!. Verbal/ggression as a 5#nction of "e$of

"#bect and "e$ of *arget. o#rnal of4sychology, 9, 1)1-1)9.

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Infante, &. /. (199!. *eaching "t#dents toFnderstand and >ontrol Verbal

/ggression. >omm#nication %d#cation, )), 1-G.