For Cristian Leonardo Santamaría Galeano. February 26, 2018
Continuously the media and social networks present episodes of violence evident in the world population, in the five continents, with greater or lesser intensity and frequency depending on the country observed. It is generally considered as a growing problem that affects all social institutions, impregnated in all socio-economic classes and with disastrous effects in all dimensions of being human. But, How can you understand this behavior so varied and dynamic, increasingly frequent in human interaction, despite its unfortunate consequences?
In this PsychologyOnline article, we will address the challenge in understanding violence
Understanding this behavior implies recognizing it as a multicausal, multidimensional, dynamic phenomenon and that evolves by virtue of the society and the historical time in which it is intended to be analyzed (Trujillo, 2009). It is important to take into account its multiple and varied manifestations, implications, actors and forms in which it is presented, since it is a very broad construct that is difficult to define.
Delimiting the construct of violence is a very complex task that captures the attention of many psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, violentologists, among other professionals, who carry out arduous and important research, the result of which have surged great variety of concepts and theoretical approaches. However, amidst so many differences, various authors have come to the conclusion that the Violence implies purely human actions, that is, it does not occur in animal species (Carrasco & González, 2006; Gil-Verona, et al., 2002; Trujillo, 2009).
Gil-Verona, et al. (2002), conceive violence as “any act that violates essential nature of man and that prevents him from realizing his true destiny, that is, achieving full humanity ”(p. 294), in order to annihilate the life of one or more people or seriously endanger their existence.
Therefore, violence implies illegitimate, illegal, unjustified conduct, with offensive tendency that go against dignity and threaten against human rights (Carrasco & González, 2006). It has a destructive character on people and involves profound social dysfunction (Echeburúa, 2003). It implies an exercise of power through the use of force, whether physical, psychological, economic or other, thus implying the existence of a dynamics of subordination where there is a superior and an inferior that acquire the form of complementary roles (Corsi, 1994).
Similarly, the understanding of violence has led to different theories that comprise its genesis, within which is the model of social learning, where it is affirmed that violence is learned and maintained through environmental experiences, in a way direct or vicarious, that is, boys and girls learn from adults and their peers through observation and imitation (Bandura, 1973, cited by Alonso, 2010); the ecological model, where family, social and cultural reality are understood as an articulated whole, a system composed of different subsystems where violence is generated and maintained from the interactional dynamics (Corsi, 2008); neurobiological models, which explain violent behavior from the influence of neurotransmitters, hormonal load and genetics; among others.
However, Gil-Verona, et al. (2002), recognizes the importance of integrative models that analyze predisposing risk factors for violent behaviors, where the accumulation of various social, genetic, hormonal, environmental, cultural and contextual precipitants, cause the violent behaviors.
In conclusion, all these approaches make it evident the complexity that violence encompasses at the time of approaching it as a research topic, compression process, element of social analysis or intervention purpose, since There is no generic concept and because it is used to refer to multiple manifestations aimed at harming a third party. For this reason, it is necessary to define the specific type of violence with which it is intended to work, in order to then delve into its theoretical bases and thus be able to formulate the route of action.
Finally, it is necessary to affirm that despite the heterogeneity of paradigms around violence and the tireless multidisciplinary work of different professionals, this phenomenon is not yet fully understood, but the most serious thing is that it continues to increase in national and world statistics, there are no adequate tools for its prevention and eradication and every day there are more thousands of senseless deaths that provokes.
