Bass-Darki technique was proposed back in the 60s of the last century, but still finds many supporters and is actively used. We will talk about it today. It is safe to say that this technique (the Bass-Darki questionnaire) is one of the most popular today used in foreign psychology to study aggression. Before you talk about it, you should decide on the very concept of aggression. What are the mechanisms of its occurrence, its significance for humans? Let's figure it out together.
What is aggression for?
Scientists believe that the use of aggression is one of the most popular options for solving problems that arise in a person in frustrating (difficult) situations. These difficult situations cause people mental tension, which must be dealt with.
Aggressive actions can be a means of achieving a certain significant goal. They can also be a way to replace the satisfaction of any blocked needs, mental discharge. Also, aggressive actions are used for self-assertion and self-realization.
Theories of aggression
For a long time, the psychological approach to aggression and aggressiveness was determined both by theories that considered it as a consequence of frustration (Rosenzweig, Dollard), and the concept of attraction. A number of publications on this issue appeared in the late 50s of the last century. These works caused an influx of theoretical and experimental work on this topic, which includes the Bass-Darki questionnaire.
This technique is far from the only one that is used today. Today there are many theories of aggression. The most famous of them are K. Lorenz and Z. Freud. Each of the theories has its own view of aggression, as well as its own attitude to it. Due to this, they can find common features and divided into 4 main categories. We will briefly talk about each of them.
Aggression is an inborn deposit
Aggression can be considered as an inborn deposit or promise. That is, this is a form of behavior inherent in us from birth, acting on an instinctive level. Adherents of theories belonging to this category consider aggression as a property of a person genetically programmed. It is already present in it and manifests itself throughout life. Aggression, according to the adherents of these theories, is impossible to eradicate. In the best case, one can only reduce its influence.
Aggression can be controlled
Other theories view its manifestations as cognitive and emotional processes. This conclusion is based on the belief that each of us can control aggression on the basis of skills acquired with life experience. In order to do this, it is necessary to be able to present potential dangers, as well as correctly assess certain threats.
Aggression is a necessity
Aggression can also be understood as a need generated by external factors and incentives. From this point of view, it is considered as a need, realized directly under the influence of various external incentives. The "frustration theory of aggression" is the basis of this view. It was proposed by American anthropologist and psychologist John Dollard. According to this theory, frustration certainly leads to aggression in one form or another, and the latter, in turn, is always the result of frustration.
Aggression is an expression of social experience
Another approach to aggression is to consider it as an actual expression of social experience. That is, it is a model of social behavior acquired during development. Aggressive reactions occur in a person after he has found himself in a similar situation or passively watched it from the side. This is the result of the accumulation and subsequent application of the experience gained.
The harm caused by aggression
Having analyzed the most popular views on the concept of "aggression", we can say that it must be understood as destructive motivated behavior that contradicts the rules and standards of human existence in society. This behavior causes harm to inanimate or animated objects of attack. It causes them physical damage or may cause them to have a state of fear, tension, depression, negative feelings, that is, mental discomfort.
The concept of aggressiveness and its assessment
Aggression is a special quality, a personality trait, which is characterized by destructive tendencies, mainly in the sphere of subject-object relations. The destructive component of activity is probably necessary for a person in creative activity. Indeed, the needs of individual development form the ability to destroy and remove obstacles, to overcome all that counteracts this process.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that aggressiveness has a quantitative and qualitative characteristic. Like any other property, its severity is different: from almost complete absence to the maximum level of development. A certain degree should be in every person. The lack of aggressiveness leads to conformity, statements, passivity, etc. On the contrary, overdevelopment can characterize the personality as a whole as a conflict person, which lacks the ability to consciously cooperate.
Aggression in itself does not make a person a consciously dangerous subject. Indeed, on the one hand, the connection existing between aggression and aggressiveness cannot be called rigid. They can be caused by various reasons. On the other hand, the act of aggression itself may not take unapproved and deliberately dangerous forms.
Aggressiveness - malicious activity
Aggressiveness in worldly consciousness is a synonym for such a thing as "malicious activity." However, destructive behavior in itself does not have "maliciousness." It is motivated by activity, that is, values, for the achievement of which this activity unfolds. Outwardly, practical actions may be similar, but the motivational components in this case are directly opposite.
Two types of aggression
Aggression can be divided, based on the foregoing, into 2 main types. The first is motivational aggression, as self-worth. The second type of aggression is instrumental, considered as a means. It is understood that both of them can pass both under the control of our consciousness and without it. In addition, both of these types are associated with emotional experiences such as hostility and anger.
Practical psychologists are more interested in precisely motivational aggression, seen as a manifestation of the implementation of destructive trends inherent in the individual. If you determine the level of these trends, then it becomes possible to accurately predict the likelihood of a person manifesting open motivational aggression. One of these diagnostic procedures is the Bass-Darki questionnaire. The technique that interests us was developed in 1957 by American researchers, whose last names are named.
Application of the Bass-Darki technique
In foreign studies, this questionnaire has been widely used. They confirmed its high reliability and validity. And in domestic works, the Bass-Darki questionnaire is used. This technique was used, in particular, by S.N. Yenikolopov in 1989. However, data on its standardization are not indicated in domestic samples.
Scientists note that the Bass-Darki method for diagnosing aggressiveness in an examination situation is not protected from certain motivational distortions. The answer may depend, for example, on the attitude of the person himself, on social desirability. In addition, the reliability of the results obtained also depends on the degree of confidence in the relationship between the psychologist and the subject, if the Bass-Darki method is used to diagnose aggressiveness. Therefore, the results obtained require verification of reliability by retest or other methods. The use of this questionnaire in working with school students (from the 6th grade and above) and with teachers turned out to be rather diagnostic, as well as constructive for further corrective work. Currently, the Bass-Darki technique is widely used. The purpose of its application, we examined, now it is necessary to determine the main provisions.
Differentiation of the concepts of hostility and aggression
A. Basset, starting from the development of his predecessors, delimited the concepts of hostility and aggression. He defined the first as a reaction that develops negative assessments of events and people, negative feelings. The methodology for studying the Bass-Darki aggression involves the differentiation of various manifestations of hostility and aggression. The types of reactions that scientists have identified are as follows.
Types of reactions
1. Physical aggression, that is, the use of physical force against another person.
2. Indirect, directed in a roundabout way to another person or not directed at anyone.
3. Irritation, that is, a readiness to show negative feelings at the slightest excitement. It can also be defined as rudeness, temper.
4. Negativism, which is an oppositional manner in behavior. It can manifest itself in many ways, from passive resistance to the struggle against existing laws and customs.
5. Resentment, that is, envy or hatred towards others for certain actions, fictitious or real.
6. Suspicion, which can range from caution and distrust of people to the belief that they are doing or plan to do harm.
7. Another type of reaction is verbal aggression. It is an expression of negative feelings both through verbal responses (threats, curses) and through form (screech, scream).
8. Guilt is a person’s possible belief that he is bad, that he is doing wrong. This also includes remorse felt by him.
Concluding the description of the Bass-Darka methodology, we note that the questionnaire includes 75 statements. The subject must answer unambiguously to them: either "yes" or "no." Based on this, the degree of aggressiveness of a person is estimated. We now turn to the method of interpreting the results.
Interpretation of Results
Processing the Bass-Darki technique is not difficult. The questions are formulated so that they relate to only one form of aggression. In addition, the results of the Bass-Darka methodology can be easily interpreted also because the influence of public approval of one or another answer is most attenuated.
The rate of aggressiveness, according to E. Rogov, is the value of its index, which is 21 ± 4. As for hostility, it should be in the range of 6.5-7 ± 3. Hwang A.A.'s scheme is somewhat more complicated, but it does not greatly complicate such a method for studying aggression as the Bass-Darki method. The interpretation of the results according to A. A. Hwang is as follows. Raw points scored on each individual scale must be multiplied by a factor. Its goal is to bring to a hundred points the maximum value of the parameters on each scale, which the Bass-Darki method offers for the diagnosis of aggressiveness.
The interpretation, however, is not entirely straightforward. Using this technique, one must understand that aggressiveness, which is a property of a person, as well as aggression, understood as an act of behavior, can be analyzed only within the framework of a psychological analysis of the entire motivational-need sphere of a person. Otherwise, the results may be inaccurate. Therefore, this technique (Bass-Darki questionnaire) is used together with others, such as projective techniques (for example, Luscher) and personality tests of various mental states (Spielberg, Cattell).