Violence and Its Forms

Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions
are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional
use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a
group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death,
psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

 Physical Violence: hitting, slapping, choking, punching, kicking, pushing, grabbing,

throwing, burning, hair-pulling, twisting arms, tripping, confinement, use of weapons
 Sexual Violence: Sexual assault (forced sexual activity), refusal to use protection from
unwanted pregnancy, forced abortions, unwanted sexual touching, exposing to pornography
without consent, sharing private photos without consent. Rape culture makes sexual violence
seem “acceptable”
 Emotional or Psychological Violence: isolating her from others, creating fear, threatening
to report her to authorities, manipulating her feel like she is “crazy”
 Financial or Economic Violence: controlling access to finances and bank accounts,
withholding money, denying the right to work, forcing her to do precarious work against her
wishes
 Forced Marriage: forcing women or girls into a marriage without their consent
 Neglect: withholding food, care or medication, stopping verbal communication
 Electronic Violence: cyberstalking or bullying, using electronic devices, phones or
computers and social media to monitor or intimidate
 Verbal Violence: yelling, swearing, using degrading language and put-downs
 Spiritual Violence: denying access to spiritual or religious practices, mocking or degrading
spiritual beliefs, forcing a belief system, manipulating belief systems to justify violence
 Harassment or Stalking: Unwanted and persistent following, watching, and monitoring,
invading privacy. This includes monitoring by siblings, extended family, and community
members who “report back” to the abuser
 Cyberstalking: a pattern of threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another
using the Internet and other forms of online and computer
communications.
 Cyberbullying: willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell
phones, and other electronic devices.
 Using Children: threats or actions to take children away or have them removed, threats or
actual harm to children, using children to relay abusive messages or threats
 Human Trafficking: recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving people by
improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, coercion, deception, or repeated provision
 of a controlled substance) for an illegal purpose, including sexual exploitation or forced
labour.

Violence can be categorized in a number of ways. Violent crimes are typically divided into four
main categories, based on the nature of the behaviour: homicide (the killing of one human being
by another, sometimes for legally justifiable reasons), assault (physically attacking another
person with the intent to cause harm), robbery (forcibly taking something from another person),
and rape (forcible sexual intercourse with another person). Other forms of violence overlap with
these categories, such as child sexual abuse (engaging in sexual acts with a child) and domestic
violence (violent behaviour between relatives, usually spouses).

Violence can also be categorized according to its motivation. Reactive, or emotional, violence
typically involves the expression of anger—a hostile desire to hurt someone—that arises in
response to a perceived provocation. Proactive, or instrumental, violence is more calculated and
is often performed in anticipation of some reward. The American psychologist Kenneth Dodge
found that those two types of violence involve distinct physiological states: a person engaging in
reactive violence experiences increased autonomic nervous system arousal (i.e., increased heart
rate and breathing, sweating), whereas a person committing an act of proactive aggression
experiences low autonomic arousal.

Another method of categorizing violent behaviour involves distinguishing between predatory and
affective violence. Predatory violence involves planned acts of hostile force. Affective violence
is more impulsive and unplanned. Other types of violence have been suggested, including
irritable violence (motivated by frustration) and territorial violence (motivated by intrusion into
one’s perceived territory or space).

Causes of violence

One point that all researchers seem to agree on is that violence is multicausal, meaning that no
single factor is responsible for violent behaviour. Instead, violence results from a combination of
factors, including those originating in the violent person’s social or cultural environment and
those representing immediate situational forces. Researchers have examined multiple factors
within a person that may contribute to violence, including genetic predisposition, neurochemical
abnormalities (e.g., high testosterone levels), personality characteristics (e.g., lack of empathy for
others), information-processing deficits (e.g., the tendency to view others’ actions as hostile),
and the experience of abuse or neglect as a child.

Effects of violence

Regardless of its cause, violence has a negative impact on those who experience or witness it.
Violence can cause physical injury as well as psychological harm. Several psychological
disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and borderline
personality disorder, are associated with experiencing or witnessing violence. Other
psychological symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and mood swings (see bipolar disorder),
are common in victims of violence.

Children seem to be particularly susceptible to the negative effects of violence. Those who
experience or witness violence may develop a variety of problems, including anxiety, depression,
insecurity, anger, poor anger management, poor social skills, pathological lying, manipulative
behaviour, impulsiveness, and lack of empathy. As such examples show, some children may
respond to violence in “internalizing” ways, such as by developing feelings of insecurity,
anxiety, and depression, whereas others may react in “externalizing” ways, such as by feeling
angry and behaving in an antisocial manner. Although some of the effects of violence
may manifest themselves during childhood, others may not appear until adulthood. For example,
abused girls are more likely than nonabused girls to have substance-abuse problems as adults.

Moreover, exposure to violence can increase violent behaviour in children. The American
psychologist Albert Bandura showed that children often imitate violent behaviours, especially if
those acts are committed by trusted adults (e.g., parents). Children also imitate violence shown
on television and in other forms of media. Those exposed to greater amounts of media violence
are more likely than other children to become violent adults. This is particularly true if the child
identifies with the violent characters and if the child believes that media violence represents
reality.

Prevention of violence

Because the tendency to behave violently develops during childhood, most prevention programs
target young people. Many such programs are school-based, although some involve the family or
the community. The most-successful violence-prevention programs are those that target all
children, not just those who are considered to be at risk for violence. In addition, the most
success has been found in school-based programs with committed and involved teachers and
programs that include parent training.

A variety of programs have been developed to reduce or prevent violence in individuals who
have already shown a tendency toward violence. For example, a number of prison-based
programs attempt to reduce the likelihood of reoffending among violent and nonviolent
criminals. Such programs often involve a variety of components. Violent offenders may receive
training to improve parenting and other relationship skills. A mental-health component, such as
substance abuse treatment, may be included. Job training is another common component of
prison-based prevention programs. Occasionally, drugs such as antidepressants, beta blockers,
or benzodiazepines may be used in addition to other methods. Overall, the most-successful
programs for preventing violence are those that effect behavioural changes.