Unfortunately, due to the media's portrayal of violence as often gratuitous, spontaneous and unrelenting, the general public may hold false impressions or little or no understanding of how violence may be en-acted upon a victim. Some believe that violent assaults are completely unprovoked, whereas there are few cases of genuine unprovoked attacks. Most are preceded by a complex loop of self arousal i.e. attackers gear themselves up verbally (which in turn emotionally arouses that person) before implementing their assault. This suggests that a potential victim would be aware of such an attack, unlike in the films. You are reminded that extreme cases such as schizophrenic's stabbing people to death are reported by the news, because they make the news!

Of course, violence does exist, and denying it would be just as dangerous as our over inflated view of it. Realistically, violent behaviour is more complex and can be more extreme than just a schoolyard fight. It is a complex interaction between situation, cognition and consequence. Furthermore, violence may be intensified or subdued in different physical settings, (increasing the risk of physical abuse in some situations). It may be subdued in church but heightened at a boxing match, as we have seen in previous title fights where alcohol and emotional arousal have created huge problems with crowd control. Therefore the question must be "which is the dominant factor that leads to violent behaviour?"

A study by Monika Henderson (1986) into the situational factors of violent behaviour, which was based on male prisoners accounts of their own violent acts, revealed four main types of violent situation. The most common situation was in the context of committing a crime. This was further divided into two intentions:

In terms of crime the threat, or use of, violence as the intimidation component such as mugging or robbery.
When an offender was discovered during a burglary (or similar crime) and in panic turned to violence (Aggravated Burglary).
The second situation was the home environment where violence was directed towards spouses and siblings.
The third, was in public places such as night clubs and bars,
Finally violence in prison directed at both staff and fellow inmates.

Obviously, using such participants in a study of violent behaviour may not offer a fair balance on the discussion of violence in our society, because such offenders are a small percentage of the population and not representative of the general public. What this data does suggests however, is that violent people are consistently violent though all occasions in their lives, i.e. at home, at work (crime), socially (Pubs & clubs) and finally in prison.

However, this data does support the paradigm that violence occurs with crime and most commonly in venues of alcohol, inferring a high risk factor in Clubs/Pubs. Most importantly, Henderson's findings also illustrate the distinction between premeditated - Cold or instrumental violence as in the case of robbery and impulsive angry or hostile violence as in aggravated burglary or a Pub/Club facade. Some people view violent behaviour as part of a night, out or just for fun. In such cases violent acts are purely recreational and not necessarily angry violence, therefore it can be described as instrumental in nature - very often to gain respect from peers.

Further situational analysis has identified several physical factors that could increase the likelihood of angry violence such as high temperature and overcrowding. Frustration may also cause angry violence. Some psychologists such as Dollard et al (1939) believe that frustration is the main cause of aggression, theorising that when a person's goal is blocked this produces frustration that leads to aggressive urges (action) to remove the blockage. This may clearly be demonstrated in some cases of Road Rage where the frustration of being held back by someone leads to angry violence toward people and cars.

Cognitive factors may be more social such as verbal provocation or non-contact physical intimidation (body language). We have now entered a complicated 'mine field' full of very nasty twists and surprises. The main problem is that social factors are of the individuals perception (cognitive) i.e. social factors are in the eyes of the beholder. What one person finds provoking or insulting may not have the same effect on another, in fact if the person is mentally ill then such factors may be increased.

Physical factors such as high temperatures and overcrowding may be a valid (but not an accurate) indicator of potential violence. Understanding cognitive factors may offer a better indication of potential violence - the key is to listen very closely to what an attacker says!

Since cognitive processing is a persons ability to perceive another's intentions, words or actions, research suggests that violent/aggressive people perceive fewer social cues than non violent/aggressive people. This means that the amount of information or cues about a given situation are greatly reduced, This suggests that such an individual would not respond to appeasement gestures, which infers a serious threat to a potential victim. Furthermore, aggressive personalities are more likely to interpret others peoples words and gestures in a hostile manner.

In short such individuals have limited social problem solving skills, they have no ability to generate effective courses of action in any socially demanding situation. This suggests that they view their behaviour as a legitimate course of action. Of course, if you add alcohol and drugs into the equation, then this has a dramatic affect on their behaviour, affecting both processing skills and emotional arousal to the extreme. It is widely accepted that drugs such as cocaine and LSD act by increasing the dopamine levels in the brain, which in turn brings about Schizophrenic behaviour, Schizophrenia being one of the most dangerous psychotic conditions to affect society as a whole.

Conclusion: Conflict Resolution

In order to offer an effective assessment on coping with violent assaults a distinction between whether the attack is premeditated/cold or angry/hostile has to be made. Some consideration should also be given to the situational factors mentioned earlier.

In many cases violent assaults tend to be of the angry/hostile nature with situational factors including the physical attributes such as:

Overcrowding,
High temperatures,
Frustration
Alcohol
Drugs

having an over-barring influence on the whole situation.

Due to the impulsive nature of such attacks, it is very rare that the assailant would initiate the attack with an edged weapon i.e. a knife. However it is often found that an assailant may escalate to a weapon (the knife) if they feel they will not, or are not, winning a conflict. This suggests that a conflict may be overcome with out the use of force. . Many researchers believe that 90% of all conflicts may be diffused with good tactical communication, combine this with good proximity control and strong body language, and conflict resolution may be achieved.

Unfortunately the other end of the scale is premeditated/cold or instrumental violence. This is where the attacker intends to harm the victim, whether as the intimidation component of robbery or simply 'just for the fun of it'. Due to the nature of such attacks the assailant will more than likely be armed. At this point tactical communications may not help, because the attackers intention is apparent. Nothing you do or say will disrupt his/her course of action. At this point it would be a good idea to run! Realising the difficulties apparent in such a situation you should seek advice from your instructor on dealing with edge weapons sooner rather than later.

Of course, the assailant may not be armed, but may have the same cold/premeditated intention of causing harm. In this case pre-emptive striking should be employed. N.B. you must be able to prove legally, without doubt, that the assailant intended physical harm to your person, and that you stayed within the boundaries of responsible force.

In future issues we will extend this topic of 'Coping with Violent Behaviour' by examining in more detail options on tactical communication and proximity control. Meanwhile if there are any comments or questions please relay them via your instructor. Thank you for reading, Sifu Mark Phillips.

(Special thanks to Sifu Nick Martin and Dr David O'Brart for their efforts in the photographs)

A Beginners Guide To Wing Chun

By Steven Heath of Westcliff

People seem to have a variety of reasons for becoming involved in Wing Chun but from my experience youth and aggression are definitely not prerequisites. It might be interesting for new students (and maybe some seniors) to know of my reasons.

Having never really subscribed to the old Tony Hancock dictum that "A good punch up the bracket never hurt anyone" and neither, in nearly forty summers, ever having had to defend myself from an unprovoked attack in the street my incarnation as a Wing Chun student is a little surprising.

This is doubly so because, until about a year ago, the last time I had indulged in strenuous physical activity Gary Glitter was in the charts and I was in the Fourth Form. Even then my involvement amounted to little more than wandering aimlessly around the sodden rugby pitch poking fun at the poor muddied oafs who, unlike myself, hadn’t had the foresight to forget their kits.

However about a year ago I decided that if I was going to lose the two stones of excess baggage that I was carrying then I would have to do it before old age and infirmity rendered such a thing impossible. Thus I embarked upon an intensive crash course at the gym which, after some months began to have the desired effect.

Training for training’s sake gets tedious after a while though and I began to think that I needed to augment my routine with a physical and mental discipline. I cast around the more well known forms of martial arts but was put off by the competitive nature of most of them and the general air of macho one-upmanship that seemed to exist in many clubs.

It was serendipitous then, that whilst browsing through a copy of "Southend on Sunday", a publication that I don’t regularly purchase, I came across an advert placed by Master James Sinclair announcing a new beginners class. I may have led an extraordinarily sheltered life but I had never heard of Wing Chun nor had I ever in my life seen a Bruce Lee, or any other kind, of Kung Fu film.

Nonetheless I was suitably interested to bear the date in mind. Even then I was not certain that I would go. On the given night it was well past the seven o’clock start time when I was finally in the Westcliff area and it was only the fact that I had to pass the hall that prompted me to stop. I was glad that I did. It was soon very clear that Wing Chun was not a highly competitive, macho activity which would have been anathema to me. What struck me then (excuse the pun), and continues to do so, was how friendly the more advanced students were and how ready they were to patiently share their knowledge with a relative incompetent like myself. What also became pretty clear was that the only real competition one had to overcome was with ones own shortcomings. A little like the claims made for the game of golf.

As I became hooked it became more like learning to play a musical instrument. Indeed the process of tension and relaxation was very akin to my experiences when I learnt the drums. Just like music students in our first few lessons it was as much as we could do to get a sound out. As we got more proficient it became necessary to put our small knowledge to use in playing a few simple songs. At first it’s all a jumble of dots but suddenly something falls into place and then personal satisfaction is profound.

In no time at all the preliminary grading came around and initial knowledge was put to the test. It had been said that it would be physically tough and watching my colleagues perform their punches it was clear that it was. When it came to my turn I was surprisingly relaxed (and completely sober too) things seemed to fall into place and I felt I was doing rather well.

Pride comes before a fall as the old cliché has it and when it came to the final triple punches I decided to really "go for it". Unfortunately, although I was not feeling tired my over enthusiasm led to a disastrous loss of rhythm. My triple punches became fives, sevens or nines. Instead of stopping and readjusting I tried to get back into time in situ as it were, but to no avail. Basically, I began to look like I was having a catatonic fit. Not a high scoring recipe!

Nonetheless I got through it and reached the heady heights of intermediate status. Sadly, just like in music, it then became apparent just how much one still had to learn. Still in twenty years time I trust I’ll be as good as Master James Sinclair.

Although I don’t know how I’ll incorporate my Zimmer frame into the style!

A Letter Of Thanks

From Michael Ward of Birmingham

Just a short letter of thank you and about gradings, hopefully you may print it in the forthcoming newsletter?

It was an honour to meet you personally at the grading in Birmingham on Sunday 15th June. I was very proud on a personal level that I passed both my Preliminary and Sui Nim Tao tests on the same day.

I thought when I first started Wing Chun that the activity was just an individual thing, and when it comes down to it, it is you on the day who has to perform whether it be in the class or on the street! But the amount of valuable experience I gained from the input and criticism of fellow classmates in pushing when I was tired and correcting me when I needed correcting. Without that it would not have been possible to be ready for the gradings. My Sifu told me "it's the preparation that will be the test" and he was right!

I am proud to be part of the UKWCKFA and a student of Sifu Abid Mahmood whom I thank for being patient and understanding when I had problems outside of class when my training suffered and I was so erratic, and for the valuable knowledge he shares with us, and to everybody at Birmingham, THANK YOU. With this kind of attitude the club and others in the Association can only prosper!!