Emotional Arousal as a Factor in Communication-Mediated Aggressive Behavior

Under conditions where a salient social problems gets coupled with an equally intense interest in an aspect of human social behavior, it is to be expected that a substantial amount of scholarly speculation and empirical research would be generated. Such would appear to be the case in recent years in connection with the considerable volume of work that has been and continues to be produced in the area of human aggression. The wide prevalence of violent and aggressive acts in the world at large and, particularly, in the United States, has provided a focus of attention and research on the part of scholars and scientists from a variety of fields. At the same time, and possibly for different reasons, there has been renewed interest in the question of man's basic and intrinsic aggressive nature, and in the stimulus conditions under which such behavior -- whether inherited or learned -- is apt to be more readily elicited.