Instrumental Aggression Law and Legal Definition
Instrumental aggression refers to an aggressive behavior intended to achieve a goal. It is made against another person in whom the aggression is used as a means of securing some reward or to achieve an external goal such as a victory. When one receives a reward because of deviant aggressive act, s/he will be conditioned towards committing that act again when motivated to obtain that previously possessed reward.
The following is an example of a case law on instrumental aggression:
Instrumental aggression places one at high risk to re-offend another violent crime. [Picozzi v. Dep't of Corr., 2008 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2528 (App.Div. Unpub. 2008)].
