Aggression Essay 6
Aggression
This essay will evaluate biological and psychological theories of aggression and associated methods of its reduction and control. It will assess the influence of the media on pro and anti-social behaviour identifying individual, social and cultural diversity in aggressive and pro social behaviours. It will include a discussion of the origins and courses of aggression and the implication of these theories for the reduction and control of aggressive behaviour. It will also include an assessment of medial influences on pro and anti-social behaviour and a discussion of individual, social and cultural diversity in pro and anti-social behaviour.
There are different types of aggression – physical, being scratching, hitting, attacking someone with a weapon and so on, and psychological, being verbal threats, insults, threatening facial expressions and so on. There is hostile aggression where the primary intention is to inflict harm on others and instrumental aggression were the primary intention is not to harm others but to attain some other goal or purpose. The distinction between these two types of aggression is not always clear as they may be a range of other biological, social and environmental factors motivating the aggressive behaviour. There are also different theories of aggression which include biological, physiological, instinct, learning and environmental theories. A biological theory of aggression suggests that it is caused due to high levels of testosterone and Floody (1983) found that hormonal changes in women can produce aggressive behaviour. Physiological theories suggests that there are genetic causes of aggression and research says that the possession of an extra ‘Y’ chromosome can make men more aggressive. Instinct theories suggest that aggression is important in the evolutionary development, allowing individuals to adapt to their environment and survive in it. They suggest ‘aggressiveness is clearly important in competing successfully
This essay will evaluate biological and psychological theories of aggression and associated methods of its reduction and control. It will assess the influence of the media on pro and anti-social behaviour identifying individual, social and cultural diversity in aggressive and pro social behaviours. It will include a discussion of the origins and courses of aggression and the implication of these theories for the reduction and control of aggressive behaviour. It will also include an assessment of medial influences on pro and anti-social behaviour and a discussion of individual, social and cultural diversity in pro and anti-social behaviour.
There are different types of aggression – physical, being scratching, hitting, attacking someone with a weapon and so on, and psychological, being verbal threats, insults, threatening facial expressions and so on. There is hostile aggression where the primary intention is to inflict harm on others and instrumental aggression were the primary intention is not to harm others but to attain some other goal or purpose. The distinction between these two types of aggression is not always clear as they may be a range of other biological, social and environmental factors motivating the aggressive behaviour. There are also different theories of aggression which include biological, physiological, instinct, learning and environmental theories. A biological theory of aggression suggests that it is caused due to high levels of testosterone and Floody (1983) found that hormonal changes in women can produce aggressive behaviour. Physiological theories suggests that there are genetic causes of aggression and research says that the possession of an extra ‘Y’ chromosome can make men more aggressive. Instinct theories suggest that aggression is important in the evolutionary development, allowing individuals to adapt to their environment and survive in it. They suggest ‘aggressiveness is clearly important in competing successfully
References: 1) Barbara Woods, Greengate Publishing Services, Tonbridge, Kent. 1997. Discovering Psychology. 2) Michael W. Eysenck, Psychology Press Limited, Hove, East Sussex. 2004. Psychology An International Perspective. 3) Richard Gross, Greengate Publishing Services, Tonbridge, Kent. 2001 4th Edition. Psychology The Science of Mind and Behaviour.