Aggression is examined in this paper in conjunction with other social motivational behaviors (e.g., Altruism, cooperation/competition). Its purpose is to illustrate the usefulness of an integrative approach to aggression research. Such an approach appears to be reasonable and potentially productive, since many of the same independent variables examined by aggression researchers have been studied by workers in the other areas. Most of these variables can be categorized generally as instigators or inhibitors of socially motivated behavior. This has been the traditional approach for aggression but not for the other forms of social motivation. This paper includes a review of the major theories of aggression in terms of social motivation. The conclusion is the presentation of a new paradigm which places aggression in a social motivational context. This paradigm centers on the use of extended motive models of measuring social motivation and the concept of social control. (Author)