Read the text carefully and answer the questions:
Rahim is a 25 - year old young man. His parents are very popular among the residents of the colony in which they live because they are gentle, soft spoken and always ready to help anyone facing problems.
Rahim's parents are religious by nature and think that helping people selflessly is part of religious value. They have taught Rahim about the importance of helping behaviour right from the childhood.
One day when Rahim was going to his office by his car, he noticed a middle aged person had been hit by a vehicle and was bleeding. Rahim stopped his car and went upto the injured person to help. Soon few more people gathered there and started discussing what to do. However, no one took any initiative in helping the injured person as each thought that it is not her/his responsibility to help. Later Rahim came to know that this man was hit by the driver of a car with an intention to rob him. The car driver was also found to be an alcoholic who often drank excessively.
The man was injured as the car driver wanted to rob him. This is an example of __________ .
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Instrumental aggression
Option (1) Hostile aggression — Incorrect. Hostile aggression is aggression directed at inflicting injury to others, shown as an expression of anger towards the target, even if the aggressor does not wish to obtain anything from the victim, as when a criminal beats up a person for mentioning his name to the police. The driver did injure the man, but he was not angry with him; the injury was only his way of getting the man’s money.
Option (2) Instrumental aggression — Correct. In instrumental aggression the act of aggression is meant to obtain a certain goal or object, as when a bully slaps a new student to snatch her/his chocolate. The driver hit the man so that he could rob him: the injury was only the means to get the man’s money.
Option (3) Frustration aggression — Incorrect. Frustration results from the blocking of needs and motives by something or someone that stops us from reaching a desired goal, and the frustration-aggression theory holds that such frustration leads to aggression. The passage says nothing about the driver being blocked from a goal; he attacked the man in a planned way to rob him.
Option (4) Displaced aggression — Incorrect. Displaced aggression is aggression arising out of frustration that is turned on a substitute target, often a weaker person who is unlikely or unable to react, because it cannot be vented at its real source; for example, members of a majority group, out of frustration, may abuse or even attack a member of a minority group. The driver was not venting frustration on a substitute; he hurt the man to rob him.
Note 1: The case study is taken from the chapter ‘Attitudes and Social Cognition’, but this question is based on the chapter ‘Psychology and Life’. However, since it is a case-study based question, all the questions on this case study are tagged to the chapter the case study is taken from.
Note 2: Instrumental aggression, and its distinction from hostile aggression, was there in the chapter ‘Psychology and Life’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2022, and is not there in the NCERT book (2025-26).
NCERT (2025-26): “…Children show many different types of aggressive behaviour, such as verbal aggression (i.e. name-calling, swearing), physical aggression (i.e. hitting, fighting), hostile aggression (i.e. directed at inflicting injury to others)…” “…Frustration results from the blocking of needs and motives by something or someone that hinders us from achieving a desired goal.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Aggression, Violence and Peace … A distinction is also made between instrumental aggression and hostile aggression. In instrumental aggression, the act of aggression is meant to obtain a certain goal or object. For example, a bully slaps a new student in school so that s/he can snatch the newcomer’s chocolate. Hostile aggression is that which is shown as an expression of anger towards the target, with the intention of harming her/ him, even if the aggressor does not wish to obtain anything from the victim.…” “…This theory proposes that it is frustration that leads to aggression. … Often it is observed that members of a majority group in society may be prejudiced (Chapter 6) against members of a minority group, and may show aggressive behaviour towards a minority group member, such as using abusive language, or even physically assaulting the minority group member. This may be a case of displaced aggression arising out of frustration.…” |