...WHY ARE INDIVIDUALS AGGRESSIVE?Aggression is difficult to define, it is a complex phenomenon, and depending upon the context the term can be made to carry either positive or negative connotations, it can be attacking behaviour that may be either self-protective and self-assertive or to the infliction of injury toward oneself or toward others, to the total destruction of others. Is aggression biological determined or the product of learning and environmental influences.? This essay, will consider instinctive theory, the frustration - aggression hypothesis, and social learning theory. It should then be possible to draw a conclusion to see if any or all of the theories discussed are the cause of aggression. Brain disorders, hormonal and chemical imbalances, environmental factors, such as heat, noise, air pollution and overcrowding, although contribute to the causes of aggression will not be discussed during the course of this essay. No universally adopted definition of aggression exists, for the purpose of this discussion, the definition of Gross will be used.Gross defines aggression as :- "The intentional infliction of some form of harm on others" (Gross page 444)Freud proposed that aggression is an instinctive biological urge. According to Freud this instinct, is made up of the libido (pleasure) and "Thanatos" (the death wish) (pain). This basic instinct is present in the Id from birth, at first the aggression is relatively uncontrolled, but with the development of the Ego and...
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...Aggression: Biological or Learned? Abstract Aggression is any hostile behavior by an individual person that inflicts physical or psychological damage onto another individual. It can take on a physical form, such as physical acts of violence. It can also take on psychological forms, such as verbal threats or verbal abuse. There are many different theories which aim to explain how aggressive personalities are developed. Theorists who adhere to the Biological Approach to Personality believe that genetics play a large part. They argue that there are biological indicators which make certain people more prone to aggressive personalities. They argue that aggression is not necessarily inherited, but certain predispositions pared with certain factors in an individual’s upbringing can spawn aggressive adults. Theorists such as Albert Bandura believe that personality characteristics such as aggression are learned. According to the Behavioral/Social Learning Approach to Personality, individual personalities are developed through observation and experience. Specifically, aggressive personalities are learned much like other behaviors are learned as a child grows and experiences different things.Research has shows that children predisposed to violence and aggression grow up to be aggressive adults. Aggression, as defined by Merriam-Webster is “a forceful action or procedure (as an unprovoked attack) especially when intended to dominate or master” (Aggression, 2012). It is “hostile...
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...Introduction to Social Psychology Course Code: PSYC 1004 Lecture Topic: Aggression Aggression Baron and Branscombe define aggression as “behaviour directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment” (Baron & Branscombe, 2012). * Violence: “an extreme form of aggression, such as assaults, rape or murder” (). Types of Aggression * Instrumental aggression – aggression aimed at accomplishing a goal * Hostile aggression – aim of the aggression is to inflict harm * Indirect aggression – aggressive is not face to face * Direct aggression – aggressive act is face to face Theories of Aggression Instinct Theory: Through evolution, humans have inherited a fighting instinct similar to that found in many species of animals. Social Learning Theory: Human aggression is largely learned by watching other people behave aggressively, either in person or in films. It is also learned when we are rewarded for aggression. Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: Our motivation for aggression increases when our ongoing behavior is interrupted or we are prevented from reaching a goal. Negative Affect Theory: Proposed by Leonard Berkowitz, it states that negative feelings and experiences are the main cause of anger and angry aggression. Sources of anger include: pain, frustration, loud noise, foul odours, crowding, sadness, and depression. Aggression as Biology Neural influences - electrical stimulation of the amygdala...
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...To begin with, as mention before Bandura’s experiment the “Bobo doll experiment” explains how children learn violence by observing adults. For this reason, I believe Nikolas Cruz learned mass shootings and school shootings from the previous incidents. I truly believe Nikolas Cruz thought it was acceptable to commit this crime because many people in the past had done it. Identically, Nikolas had a love for guns, he posted pictures of his guns in his social media accounts. Not to mention, Nikolas also committed violent activities to animals. After taking a Criminal Investigation course, I learned that people who have a history of animal abuse are likely to commit a crime in the...
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... · [->18] · [->19] · [->20] · [->21] · [->22] · [->23] · digital humanities[->24] · [->25] · [->26] · · [->27] · [->28] · play[->29] · [->30] Home[->31] › Blogs[->32] › SerendipUpdate's blog[->33] › Theories of Aggression && Submitted by SerendipUpdate on Fri, 01/11/2008 - 10:20am · Biology 202[->34] Biology 202[->35] 1999 Final Web Reports[->36] On Serendip Theories of Aggression Alexandra K. Smith "Two Gunman at Colorado School Reportedly Kill Up to 23 Before Dying in a Siege." On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, of Columbine High School, shocked the nation when they entered the school armed with guns and explosives, killing fellow students and a teacher before...
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...The Nature and Nurture of Aggression OUTLINE: * Theories of Aggression * Psychological Influences on Aggression * Environmental Influences on Aggression * Reducing Aggression * A social Learning Approach * Cultural Change & World Violence Aggression – physical or verbal behavior intended to cause harm * kicks and slaps, threats and insults, gossip or snide “digs” (online bullying) Instrumental Aggression – aims to injure too – but only as a means to some other end. * Terrorism – a strategic tool used during conflict; attaining hero or martyr status. * Wars – an instrumental act of liberation and of self defense against presumed weapons of mass destruction. * Bully – seeks to demonstrate their dominance and high status. Theories of Agression * Agression an Instinct Is Aggression an Instinct? Aggressive energy is instinctive; if not discharged, it supposedly builds up until it explodes or until an appropriate stimulus releases it. * Mouse releasing a mousetrap * Neural Influences Researchers have found neural systems (specific areas of the brain) when stimulated produce aggression. * Amygdala * Prefrontal cortex * Genetic Influences Heredity influences the neural system's sensitivity to aggressive cues. Aggressiveness also varies among individuals. * Blood Chemistry Influences neural sensitivity to aggressive stimulation. * ALCOHOL – enhances aggressiveness...
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...Social motivation Psyc104 Aggression and violence * Why do humans hurt one another? aggression is a fundamental social motive * The role of learning and modelling people become violent by watching violence, if children see a lot of aggression they become aggressive which is called social learning accounts * Bandura argued (1980) children come into the world who are innocent and their learning from parents, siblings, television and they conducted the BoBo doll experiment sat them behind the window watching an adult bashing this doll and playing and some adults were very violent and others were gentle and the children were then allowed to do whatever they wanted with the doll the children who saw the adults aggressive with the doll mimicked such * Greitemeyer and mugged (2014) meta analysis of 98 studies of 37,000 people, found significant, positive relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviour Social learning problems * Doesn’t explain the origins of human violence * Why have humans behaved aggressively throughout history and across cultures? * Why are humans attracted to violence, even though they fear it * Is human aggression learned (social learning) or instinctive or both? “instinctive” accounts * Aggression as instinct: * Darwin-aggression functions to assert power and dominance * Threat and appeasement displays Freud and Lorenz * Freud the ‘death’ instinct hurt people they...
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...Psychology of Aggression & Violence: Aggression: Behavior perpetrated or attempted with the intention of harming another individual physically or psychologically or to destroy an object. Violence: Actual, attempted, or threatened physical harm that is deliberate and non-consenting: * Includes violence against victims who cannot give full, informed consent * Includes fear-inducing behavior, where threats may be implicit or directed at third parties Types of Aggression: Hostile (or expressive) aggression: Occurs in response to anger-inducing conditions, such as real or perceived insults, physical attacks, or one’s own failures. (Goal = to make victim suffer. Intense and disorganized emotion) Instrumental aggression: Begins with competition or the desire for some object or status possessed by another person. Goal = obtain desired object. No intent to harm, although indifferent. Violence as a Choice: The proximal cause of violence is a decision to act violently .The decision is influenced by a host of biological, psychological, and social factors .Neurological insult, hormonal abnormality, psychosis, personality disorder, exposure to violent models, attitudes that condone violence. Cognitive Models of Aggression: Most research supports the notion that human aggression is primarily learned (early learning and socialization). Hostile attribution bias: Individual’s prone to violence are more likely to interpret ambiguous actions as hostile and threatening ...
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...Genetic Explanation of Aggression: Aggression is known to be influenced by genetics. Everyone inherits certain genes from their biological parents, these express as specific traits and characteristics. This includes everything from your eye colour, susceptibility to certain diseases, and aggressive tendencies. Some psychologists even believe there is a specific aggressive gene. Genetics are biological, however the explanation does acknowledge the interplay between nature and nurture, a hard and soft approach to determinism. We cannot separate genetics from the environment as it is a crucial part of evolution. Experiments have been conducted on mice whereby they have altered the gene receptor for the neuro-transmitter serotonin. They ‘knocked out’ the gene in the mice. With this a ‘knockout mouse’ was created and put in a cage for 2 weeks to establish its territory. Later when an intruder mouse was introduced, the knockout mice were found to be significantly more aggressive than another control group. This suggests this gene receptor is responsible for the aggression As this was completed in a scientific, lab environment, the results are highly reliable. However there are difficulties generalising from animal experiments to human behaviour. Humans have rational thinking and mice do not. The animal ethics guidelines state that the ends must justify the means. Later research tested rats in the same way, and they found humans don’t have the same gene. Therefore, the...
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...since ancient times males needed to commit violent-aggressive for protection of resources and intrasexual competition (same sex competition). In addition, evolutionist argues that humans have inherited biological and...
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...Final Paper Aggression in the Human Society The topic I have chosen is aggression. I want to try to show that everyone can be affected by aggression. I want to show the different stimuli that will bring anger out in people thus causing them to have aggressive behavior. I want to discuss the different types of aggressive behavior as well as who else can be affected by aggressive behavior besides the victim. I have been a victim of aggressive behavior which is the reason I picked this topic. I want to try to understand the causes behind the behavior. Understanding from my own experiences the aggressor may know the victim in one of many different roles; such as, and intimate partner, a family member, a close friend, or they could be a stranger. Aggression is an attacking, hostile behavior by one person toward another person with the intention of causing pain or doing harm. Aggression is usually thought of as physical acts against another person. However, verbal assaults meant to cause psychological harm are also considered acts of aggression (FAQs, 2013). Direct aggression is the physical act of attacking someone; indirect aggression can be overt or covert. While indirect aggression may be less passive it can cause just as much pain and harm to an individual as direct aggression. Indirect aggression is a behind-the-back behavior that reduces the chances for retaliation by the victim (Archer, 2005). Aggression may be considered as a hostile act or as an instrumental...
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...inflatable doll and were then divided into 3 groups: * one group saw the adult punished after showing aggression towards the Bobo doll, * one group saw the adult rewarded after showing aggression, * and one group saw the aggression but did not see the adult either punished or rewarded for the aggression. The children were then left in a room alone, so Bandura could analyse their reaction. The Results: (Ida) He found that the children who watched the adult get rewarded for showing aggression were more likely to show aggression themselves. He also found that, no matter which version of the video they saw, boys were more likely than girls to imitate the aggressive behavior of the adults in the video. - Boys were more like to show this physically aggressive behaviour but both boys and girls showed the same verbal aggression. What it tells us about the influence of television: (Sarah) He proved his hypotheses that were: 1. Children witnessing an adult role model behaving in an overly aggressive manner would be likely to replicate similar behavior themselves, even if the adult was not present. 2. That the male children would tend to be more aggressive than female children, because society has always tolerated and advocated violent behavior in men more than women. We can conclude that’s a big chance that all human behaviour was learned through social imitation and copying rather than inherited through genetic factors. Television can provoke...
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...Outline and evaluate one or more social psychological theory of aggression. (24 mark) Aggression is defined as behaviour that is intended to harm or injure, this is directed towards another living being and can include physical injury. There are two approaches to aggression that I will be discussing in this essay, social learning theory and deinidividuation. Social Learning Theory (SLT) is defined as learning behaviour that is controlled by environmental influences rather than innate or internal forces. The behaviour shown by individuals during this theory of aggression is often referred to as modelling or observational learning; this is a form of vicarious experience. It is believed that humans are not born as aggressive individuals so the acts of aggression can only be acquired through direct experience and the observation of others. The behaviourists’ explanation emphasises on reinforcement. This is when certain behaviour is rewarded, encouraging it to be repeated and learned. Aggression that is associated with a reward is likely to be learned. Bandura et al (The Bobo doll) tested this theory of aggression and found that children who observed a model behaving aggressively towards a doll were likely to carry out the same behaviour when allowed to interact with the doll. His findings found that when left alone with the doll children would even improvise their own aggressive actions towards the doll. This behaviour was more commonly shown when the adult’s aggressive behaviour...
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...education, manners and rules of good sportsmanship. My brothers were always taught to be protective of us girls and never to demoralize themselves or anyone else. Men may have natural tendencies to be overly aggressive but they can be conditioned to control it. I am now the Father of three boys. While they were growing up they were involved in various sports activities. I have been surrounded by all types of boys and men for most of my life. While they did show signs of natural aggression they were able to express that with sports, hunting and camping. They are very competitive and always look for a challenge of who is more dominant whether it’s wrestling with me or shooting a bow & arrow. They have been taught to treat people with respect and have learned this behavior by the environment they have grown up in. An article in the Science Daily printed on June 21, 2006 stated that Steven J. Suomi Ph.D., chief, Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development demonstrates that monkeys who was reared by more nurturing mothers avoided developing aggressive behavior....
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...face-to-face (Cavazos, 2010). Many relationships occur from physical, or emotional behavior between two people. The personal relationship begins innocently enough with the interaction between family, and friends, or extends to coworkers, and clients. The social environment induces building of interpersonal relationships for both business and pleasure. The emotional and physical commitment of interpersonal relationships shows through more than verbal communication. The unique exchanges between interpersonal relationships involve more than verbal communication between two people. Most people communicate with the motion of his, or her hands to emphasize a point. The combination of verbal and nonverbal gestures relay more than words alone. The learned skill of interpersonal communication becomes a natural part of communicating correctly throughout the day for any situation. The wrong pronunciation or emphasis on verbal, or nonverbal communication may destroy the fragile balance between the person sending the message and the person receiving (Cavazos, 2010). Interpersonal...
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