Exploring School Violence from a Sociological Perspective using GAM Theory

This essay explores school violence from a sociological perspective using GAM theory. It examines key attributes of school violence and proposes prevention and intervention strategies.

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Abstract
School shooting has attracted people's attention. The society is in a period of great
change, which is prone to social anomie, which in turn affects the campus and leads to the
continuous occurrence of violence on campus. Students are affected by the escaping culture and
group psychology, the prevalence of traditional family tolerance culture and the influence of
school subculture, which have led to high incidence of school bullying. It is important to think
about solving school bullying from the perspective of sociology. This need forms the basis for
this essay. Using GAM theory, the essay will strive to explore key attributes of school violence.

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Introduction
Recently, bullying incidents in primary and secondary schools have emerged in an endless
stream, and they have been seen in the media from time to time. These incidents have once again
aroused people's concern about bullying on campus. Previous studies have focused on the
definition, current situation, causes, consequences, and experience of foreign solutions. Bullying
and pedagogy are the main perspectives for empirical research. In general, the existing research
on campus bullying mainly focuses on the relevant situation at the micro level, and lacks a
profound theoretical discussion. School bullying is a complex social phenomenon, and its
influencing factors are complex and diverse. This paper attempts to put campus bullying in the
current social environment, using sociological theory to re-examine campus bullying, in order to
gain a deep understanding of the phenomenon, and try to propose prevention and intervention
strategies. On April 20, 1999, two students entered the Columbia High School in Columbine,
Colorado, shooting 12 students and one teacher, injuring another 24 people. A year later, a
school shooting took place in Stockton, California, killing five people. Police investigations
revealed that among the two shootings, the perpetrators were victims of campus bullying. They
were frustrated by other students at school, and their spirits were frustrated and murder was used
as revenge. Using General Aggression Model, this paper will explore different attributes
responsible for rising case of school shooting and violence.
General Aggression Model
School shooting and violence is a complex issue that can be best explained using General
Aggression Model (GAM). According to Anderson & Bushman (2018), GAM take into
consideration both the individual and situational variables in explaining aggressive behavior.
This theory is relatively more comprehensive in explaining violence behaviors. As noted by

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Anderson & Bushman (2018), GAM theory encapsulates social learning theory, script theory,
cognitive neoassociation theory, excitation transfer theory, social information processing theory.
GAM theory beliefs that one of the contributing factors for aggression is what is termed as
maladaptive cognition. These maladaptive cognitions are initiated by rigid core beliefs.
General Aggression model and school violence
A closer look at the current time reveals that the tendency for children and adolescents to
develop rigid core beliefs is high. The atmosphere of schooling, the process of learning the
scientific environment, which consist of a combination of emotional, physical, mental,
psychological and psychological stresses, present new requirements for the development and
integrity of the personality, its socio-psychological level and adaptation to the new environment.
Education at school is always associated with a change in the familiar environment, lifestyle and
requires the development of adaptive skills (Tremblay & Dozois 2009). The stage of school
socialization has a huge impact on the future life of the child, becoming a certain facet, a step
that must be overcome for the correct formation of the personality in the future. The correct
emotions and feelings that the student will experience at the stage of personality formation will
help to form his skills of behavior and interaction in society and facilitate the process of
adaptation of the personality to new conditions. However, many students are not prepared. This
result on what Alvarado & Ramirez (2014) termed as cognitive dissonance. Considering the
process of maladaptation to school, it should be noted that this is a set of signs, roles, values and
norms that indicate a violation of the sociopsychological and psychophysiological status of the
child and non-compliance with the requirements and attitudes in the school environment, which
becomes difficult to master in connection with the current family situation (Allen & Anderson,
2018). Under the school maladaptation, in its essence, is meant the totality of the combined

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features that indicate a violation of the social, psychological and psychophysiological status of
the child. They influence the adaptation period to the new school environment, leading to
difficulties in the educational process.
Modern students also lack what GAM theory terms as sufficient mental resources to
engage in reappraisal processing (Barlett & Anderson, 2011). This makes them more likely to
behave aggressively. The lack of sufficient mental resources is contributed by the subversion of
the teacher's authority status. In synchrony with the loss of the disciplinary function of education,
it is the dignity of the "teacher". In the eyes and hearts of middle school students, especially high
school students, teachers have only become synonymous with any person without authority.
Teachers lose the respect and gratitude they deserve, and the relationship between teachers and
students and the relationship between teachers and parents are becoming more and more subtle
(DeWall, Anderson & Bushman, 2011). The consequences of the subversion of the authority of
teachers are obvious. The first is the loss of mutual understanding and trust between teachers and
students. The students met the problems that could not be solved, and were no longer willing to
consult the teachers. They were not willing to open their hearts to the teachers. The teachers only
approached the students in the depths of the mind, only on the basis of the quantitative terms of
the school. Few of the territories can truly belong to students. Things get worse given that
modern families do not equip their children with right values. One of the main social institutions
is the family. It provides interoperability between the individual and society. Family also
determines the level of socialization of the individual and helps to prioritize and the needs of the
individual. The family helps a person to form his own view of values and norms of life, gives an
idea of how to behave and what you need to know and be able to. In a family, a child is able to
gain practical skills of interaction with other people, assimilates norms, values that have a

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decisive influence on behavior in everyday situations. In modern society, the family is a complex
social formation, which combines multiple forms of social relations, and has a number of social
functions. The family as a social institution is based on the mutual responsibility of spouses and
children to each other (DeWall & Anderson 2011). Each of the family members makes its own
special contribution to its internal structure, which affects others. The internal structure of the
family, the relationship of parents between themselves and with the children, their habits and
behavioral patterns - all this develops their own behavioral characteristics in children and forms
criteria for evaluating positive and negative, correct and unworthy behavior. Families that retain
warmth, trust and respect are less susceptible to the external influences of other social
institutions. In such families, the upbringing process is more successful than in disparate
families. In an atmosphere of love and care, the child is able to adapt faster, accept norms,
values, roles and behaviors in new conditions. The atmosphere in which the personality is
formed is very important, since the child’s mental health depends on its well-being. Without
clear direction from parents and teachers, the students have established a new status concept of
obtaining dignity and replacing the authority of the teacher through power (Chartrand & van
Baaren, 2009). This new status concept, which is born entirely in accordance with the ignorance
of juveniles, is now becoming the value belief of more and more middle school students. Under
the manipulation of this belief, there is a new “handling regulation” in the dispute between
classmates. The standards used by secular societies such as power, wealth and appearance to
evaluate the status of judges have become the basis of this new “handling regulations”. It has
also become the new authority for ruling the issue. This "extra-legal law" has opened up all the
right ways to go when conflicts occur, and deliberately raised the original simple problem to a

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point similar to the disputes between rivers and lakes, making the simple campus add a bit of a
cloud of terror.
Gender have some role to play in shaping violence. Anderson & Huesmann (2019)
revealed that at preschool stage, girls and boys tend to have almost similar level of aggression.
However, girls show levels of verbal and indirect aggression similar to or greater than boys.
However, during adolescence and later ages, gender differences increases. Girls started
exhibiting indirect aggression while boys display physical aggression.
Cultural factors also have a big role to play. First, various audio-visual products and
online games in the market filled with violent content have also played a significant role in the
harm of young students. Young students have strong imitation skills and are easily influenced by
these audiovisual products and online games. They are prone to violence, aggressiveness and
impulsiveness. As revealed by Gilbert et al (2013), aggressive individuals tend to possess prior
knowledge on aggression. This can explain the growing school shooting because currently, there
is recognition and worship of power politics, evil forces, violent games and grey literature.
Violent games acts as a compass for children and adolescents whose parents and teachers cannot
control their behaviors. The second cultural element is the impact of bad social conditions. The
pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of simplicity, the school's vivid pursuit of thousands of brand-
name clothing, electronic products, access to high-consumption places, when their own or the
family can not meet their needs, will do whatever it takes to achieve their own purposes, easily
lead to theft, Robbery, robbery and other illegal criminal activities. The third is the wrong
guidance of the media. When some media reports similar cases, they do not pay attention to the
responsibility of publicizing and popularizing legal knowledge. They rarely mention how to

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prevent school violence and self-protection. They often disclose specific details and methods of
violence, and also play a wrong guiding role in school violence.
Situational factors
Situational factors also have a big role to play. Violence at school is a “mirror reflection”
of domestic violence, which, in turn, indicates the presence of a difficult life situation for the
child, to some extent its pedagogical neglect and the inability of parents or other legal
representatives to influence a minor (Bushman & Huesmann, 2010). Judging from some of the
campus violence that has occurred in recent years, the violence on campus is increasingly
influenced by social concepts and ethos (Allen, Anderson & Bushman, 2018). The proliferation
of violent culture in society and the influence of mass media are important reasons for campus
violence. Students imitate social workers to help gangs and form groups. In order to cater to the
audience, the entertainment media's arrogance of negative energy, violent scenes and
misconceptions in film and television dramas all form bad hints for students. Adolescents'
psychology and physiology are not yet mature, the stability of personal behavior is poor, and the
understanding of the dark side of society is still vague (Tremblay & Dozois, 2009). The ability to
distinguish between right and wrong and self-control is weak. It is difficult to make a correct
judgment on their behavior, and it is extremely impulsive to deal with problems. This is also one
of the reasons for campus violence. This is compounded by pressure. The pressure of adolescents
comes from all aspects, and a big factor is the pressure of learning. The primary task for students
is to learn, to test out good grades, to get into a good school, and then to find a good job.
Adolescents only pay attention to the cultivation of learning ability and knowledge, neglecting
the improvement of the ability to solve problems, and causing the psychological problems of
adolescents to solve problems. It is also important to note that at present, the school education

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puts the main energy on the examination, and lacks sufficient understanding and deepening of
the students' ideological and moral education and legal education. Some schools equate the legal
education with the legal publicity and education, which is not systematic, comprehensive or
standardized. In some schools, legal education is limited to campus and classrooms, which
makes some students lack legal knowledge and weak legal concept. Second, the way students
deal with problems is not appropriate. In the course of daily education management, some
schools lack proper guidance and necessary interventions for students' daily behaviors. They are
laissez-faire, such as smoking, alcoholism, early love, and gang gang, which accelerates some
students who are tired of learning to escape, self-destruction or rebellious psychology (Bushman,
2016). It is easy to cause school violence. In view of factors such as assessment, some schools
have simply discovered that underage students are suspected of breaking the law, and they are
simply expelled from school. The third is the lack of communication with parents. Some parents
have a poor understanding of their children's learning, thoughts, and life in the school. The
school also lacks the necessary communication and feedback between the students' performance
during the school and the parents. As a result, the parents did not grasp the psychological
changes of the students in time. It is impossible to suppress the students' bad signs in time
(Bailey, West & Anderson 2010). Some students are likely to go astray after being affected by
the bad atmosphere of society and lacking the necessary reminders, constraints and guidance.
These situations increase the violence rate among students.
According to GAM theory, aggressive individuals should possess aggressive scripts
which they should refer or used to confirm. These scripts are acquired through media and violent
games. According to Polaschek, Calvert & Gannon (2009), rehearsal of scripts containing
aggressive content is an important antecedent of aggression. Second, aggressive individuals

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ought to have normative beliefs. Such believes are reinforced by peer pressure and lack of
parental control (Howells, 2011). Because the minors are not yet mature, their behaviors are
obviously imitative and learned. That is to say, some of their own behaviors are likely to be
imitated and compared. The reason for the violent behavior is largely due to its imitative nature.
This kind of imitation may first come from the family, such as domestic violence such as parents
fighting children, couples quarreling. In the long run, children are likely to not take violence
seriously, and they are completely eccentric because of their fun. In addition, online games are
also an important cause of school violence. There are many violent elements in online games,
and scenes such as killing, robbery, and fighting are common. Because teenagers are not mature,
they are often influenced by cyber-violent games (Bailey, West & Anderson 2011). Over time,
they develop habits and gradually become accustomed to violent behaviors in real life.
According to the social decision heuristics, people make decision by exploiting the structure of
information in the environment (Heuristics for human judgment, choice, and search behavior
2002). Children raised in an environment where there is lack of parental control and where the
teacher has lost the authority will used media as their sources of information. This is how violent
games come in. They will want to associate themselves with the key actor, killer or the alpha
actor. The most problematic in terms of the frequency of violence is the student-student
relationship. Due to age-related psychophysiological and other characteristics, violence is
considered by minors as a completely natural form of resolving conflicts and establishing
authority in the team (mainly in their own class or an informal group of peers of this school).
Conclusion
School violence has become a cancer on the healthy body of campus culture. What is even
more terrifying is that this cancer is still spreading, and its toxic cells are swallowing countless

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healthy hearts every day. There is a tire need to undertake drastic measures to address school
violence such as school shooting (Barriga, Hawkins & Camelia, 2008). The paper demonstrated
that the violent behavior mentality is likely to be caused by their lack of care in the family and
the lack of support and encouragement from teachers and students in the school. This kind of
long-term lack of support for encouragement, after the accumulation of negative emotions, will
produce anger, so they are likely to find a catharsis for venting. Family is the beginning of the
process of personal socialization, and the influence of family on individuals constitutes an
important part of personal socialization. Therefore, the atrocities of students in school violence
are inseparable from the influence of the family. The impact of family is the most direct. In the
process of children's growth, parents do not teach them how to conduct interpersonal
interactions, deal with conflicts with others, do not know how to deal with their emotional
venting in peer relationships, and finally choose the way of violence. The authoritarian and
laissez-faire parenting style is most likely to cause bad behaviors for students. Children who are
subject to authoritarian education are prone to form a coping style that is reluctant to accept, do
not dare to resist authority, and become a victim in school. There are no restrictions on the
laissez-faire parenting style. The child's deviant behavior cannot be effectively corrected by the
parents. It is easy to form a self-willed, self-respecting personality. Over time, it becomes a
perpetrator on campus.
In general, the existence and resolution of school violence is not a one-off event. But we
can still make our own efforts to prevent and control school violence. The key is to find the
source, the right medicine, the family, the school, the society and the students themselves, and
take measures to let the adolescents who are confused in adolescence get timely guidance,

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healthy growth, so that our family will be more harmonious, the school will be more civilized
and society will be more harmonious.

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