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pathological aggression

1. aggression that is violent, explicitly directed against individuals or property, and either part of a longstanding repertoire of destructive or hurtful behavior or a sudden, paroxysmal reaction to a real or perceived provocation. It may be a manifestation of psychiatric disorder (e.g., psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial personality disorder, some impulse-control disorders); neurological disease or injury; substance abuse (e.g., of alcohol); and some sexual behaviors (e.g., sexual sadism).

2. felonious assault with intent to harm or kill.

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Psychology term of the day

November 18th 2024

co-occurrence

co-occurrence

n. a relation between two or more phenomena (objects or events) such that they tend to occur together. For example, thunder co-occurs with lightning, and in English the letter Q typically co-occurs with the letter U. By itself, co-occurrence does not imply a causal link: For co-occurrence to become covariation, there must be a systematic correlation between both the occurrence of the phenomena and their nonoccurrence. —co-occur vb.