Psyche, 24, Nos. 1–6, 1970: WOLFGANG LOCH (Dept. of Psychoanalysis, Neurological Clinic of the University, 74 Tübingen, Neckargasse 7, Germany). Zur Entstehung aggressiv-destruktiver Reaktionsbereitschaft (On the genesis of the aggressive-destructive disposition)

Aggressive-destructive acts do not spring from any primary biological need or aim; their reactive origin precludes the assumption of an aggressive-destructive instinctual drive. Comparing aggressiveness with retreat and avoidance behaviour, the former seems to have an instinct-like nature manifest in the pressure which the aggressive urges exert once they are aroused. Affects such as pain, rage, anger and anxiety are considered as intervening variables in the release of aggressive destruction. Aggressiveness is then related to Winnicott's proposition of an inborn pattern of motility and to Bion's idea that frustration, object loss and pain breed the first 'thoughts'. This would mean that to a certain degree the emergence of aggression is 'normal'. 'Inhuman' superego structures seem to be responsible for moral sadism as it is practised by the followers of dictators. The decisive factor in the development of aggressive-destructive reaction patterns is seen in the long period of dependency of the human child, with its protracted inequality of power, which makes it nearly unavoidable that envy and hate and thereby destructive urges arise. They might be mitigated if the powerful 'significant others' exercised their influence only in the service of the child's growth and autonomy.