Aggressive children have difficulty reading social cues in the environment. The studies that reveal this fact come from videotaped episodes in which one child is harmed or provoked by a peer whose intentions are unclear. In these situations, aggressive children are much more likely to attribute hostile or malicious motives to the provoker. When cues are provided to suggest that the provoker's intentions were not hostile, aggressive children have more difficulty understanding and using these cues. These children do not view the world in the same way most children.
Instrumental aggression is when a child goes for the ball that someone else is holding.
Going for the person with the ball is referred to as hostile aggression. Retaliatory aggression is carried out in response to another's aggression. Displaced aggression is when a child who has been the object of aggression reacts by striking out at something else. Aggression begets aggression. Aggressive acts toward children puts such actions in their realm of possibility.