How does certain behavior develop? If it is constructive and prosocial, how can it be promoted? Conversely, how can destructive and antisocial behavior be controlled? Constructive and Destructive Behavior: Implications for Family, School, and Society, fuses the work of leading scholars in educational, developmental, clinical, social, and personality psychology to explore these complex and essential questions in our current social climate.
This highly sophisticated collection of empirically grounded chapters explores theory and experimental findings on the gamut of what influences prosocial and antisocial expression, finally laying to rest the simplistic debates about whether media violence causes real violence or whether catharsis is good. Scientists and practitioners will gain fresh perspectives on the context within which these behaviors thrive: how empathy develops, how self-control in childhood predicts adult behavior, how age and sex influence bullying, whether early intervention can prevent delinquency, and how school success lays the groundwork for constructive lives.