Preview

Aggression: Human Nature Or Nurture Interaction?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1117 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Aggression: Human Nature Or Nurture Interaction?
Aggression is a complicated phenomenon affected by hereditary and psychosocial factors. The meaning of aggression by society is physical or verbal behavior intended to cause harm. Many social psychologists have argued the topic of aggression with various viewpoints. According to Myers & Twenge, hostile aggression is aggression that springs from anger because its goal is to injure. (pg. 355) However, (Myers & Twenge, 2011) states that "instrumental aggression aims to injure, too, but only as a means to some other end." (pg. 355) According to Saul McLeod, nature vs. nurture is a distinct viewpoint of behavior that is a result of either inherited (genetic) or obtained (learned) characteristics of aggression. We think of life as a natural ability that influences genetic inheritance and other biological factors. Nurture impacts external factors after conceptions, the product of exposure, experience and learning in an individual. Is aggression human nature or social nurture interacting? According to many social psychologists, there are only three ideas associated with aggression. There are biological influences, frustration and learned behavior. Many may presume there are more weaknesses or strengths in these particular perspectives. Although, many meaningful debates have been researched on whether or not aggression is human nature or social …show more content…
Although, Gesch stood in front of hundreds of intimates no matter how loud he spoke no one would listen. After talking to the head inmate about receiving nutritional supplements, 231 inmates signed up for the program. The prisoners who received the extra nutrition were involved in 35 percent fewer violent incidents. The correlates of biology and behavior flow both ways. For example, testosterone may facilitate dominance and aggressiveness, but dominating and defeating behavior also boosts

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Three Faces of Psychology

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Aggression is a human instinct. Society can control it to some extent, but we will never eliminate aggressive behavior.…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The instinct theory of aggression states that aggression is natural and involves innate tendencies that are stable and enduring, meaning they are difficult to modify. It proposes the idea that aggression is a result of survival instinct to protect or survive. Aggression is said to occur in high arousal situations where stressful cues act as triggers for that aggression, often caused by others as a result of retaliation. However, not all people show aggression as a result of high arousal or stressful cues, so this theory lacks some validity when explaining aggression. Also, aggression is shown by different…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Aggression is something that people will experience throughout life whether they are experiencing it directly or indirectly. Throughout the years, aggression has been studied in many different forms and ways. It ranges greatly and can range all the way from destructive behavior down to an insulting remark. Direct aggression would be referred to as a physical altercation or incident and indirect aggression would someone spreading gossip throughout a group of people Aggression comes in many different shapes and sizes. Defining the term aggression has been a major argument throughout the scientific community for many years. The most widely accepted definition of the term aggression was defined by Buss ( 1961: 1) as “a response that delivers noxious…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One social psychological theory of aggression is Bandura’s social learning theory, in which he combines both social and cognitive psychology in his social cognitive perspective of human behaviour. Bandura believed that behaviour was not only motivated by psychological factors but also by more socio-environmental factors. He argued that the individual and the environment were linked, something which he called reciprocal determinism. Bandura believed that the presence of a role model from whom behaviour could be imitated was the key part of the social learning theory, and that this role model would either be similar to the person imitating the behaviour (e.g. same age or gender) or is in a position of power (e.g. celebrities or parents). Despite this the individual imitating the behaviour still needs to have a level of self confidence in order to imitate, which Bandura referred to as self-efficacy.…

    • 731 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bandura’s Social Learning Theory suggests that acts of aggression are learnt through the observation of role models. His original “Bobo Doll” study showed that when exposed to aggressive behaviour small children copied this behaviour, not just by being physically aggressive but even copying the verbally aggressive behaviour. However this study focuses on children who are supposed to learn in this manner, this doesn’t demonstrate that this would also be true in older children or adults who already have a set moral compass that would interfere with copying aggressive behaviours. However Bandura’s later study showed that if children saw someone get punished for aggressive behaviour they were less likely to be aggressive themselves when they were allowed to play with the bobo doll but if they saw someone get rewarded for this aggressive behaviour then they were much more likely to act aggressively themselves, this shows that vicarious reinforcement is important to the learning of aggression through the social learning theory, as receiving direct positive reinforcement leads to people having high self efficacy making them very likely to repeat the aggressive behaviour that they were rewarded for. In terms of aggression this reward could come in many forms such as acceptance from a violent gang they want to be a part of or just attention from a parent or teacher. Moreover, Walter and Thomas' study in 1963 further supported this theory as the results of the study demonstrated that aggressive behaviour was a result of imitation of role models. However, the social learning theory does not explain what triggers aggression. Additionally, the study emphasises nurture and learning through observation - ignoring nature and biological explanations.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Deindividuation theory is a social psychological explanation of aggression. It explains how rational individuals can become aggressive hooligans in a mob or crowd as it suggests that losing their sense of identity and self awareness deindividuates people. Individuals in groups fail to see the consequences of their actions, and the social norms they would normally follow are forgotten and this is when aggressive behaviour occurs. Deindividuation causes people unquestioningly to follow group norms instead of personal norms and sometimes these group norms lead to aggression. According to Zimbardo, in a crowd we feel anonymous and unaccountable and thus are less concerned about negative evaluations by…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aggression is the feeling of anger and hatred that may result in threatening or violent behavior. It is also a physical or emotional expression of the feelings of dissatisfaction arising out of the comparison between what people presently have and what they believe they should have, what they ought to have or what they believe is ideal. The theories of aggression assert that aggression is the inevitable result of frustration or conflict, they affirm that aggression results out of an innate instinct flowing towards destructive tendencies and maintain that aggression arises out of social dysfunction. According to Dollard (1939) the frustration-aggression theory of aggression asserts that aggression is always an inevitable result of frustration.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A gene called MAOA is associated with aggressive behaviour, it regulated the metabolism of serotonin, and additionally low levels of serotonin are associated with aggressive and impulsive behaviour. A study from a Dutch family with a history of violence including rape and arson found low levels of MAOA in their blood. It showed that the men had a defect in their MAOA. This study shows that the gene MAOA is associated with aggression, this means that some genes can influence the susceptibility to aggressive behaviour, however it is not certain that one gene can determine aggressive behaviour, however it is likely that many genes can contribute to human behaviour rather than one single gene.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many social psychological explanations for aggression that try and explain the cause of aggression. The social learning theory originated from work by Tarde who looked at key characteristics of imitation and the ways in which our social behaviours and responses could be shaped by the actions of others.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aggression is an act of hostility with deliberate intention to harm another person against his or her will. Some psychologists believe that aggression is an important aspect of our evolutionary ancestry and it is understood better in that context, whereas others believe that aggression is best explained in physiological terms e.g. the imbalance of hormones or neurotransmitters in the brain. There are many definitions used to explain why humans/ animals become aggressive (http://www.essortment.com/all/whatisaggress_rxeo.htm).…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The social learning theory is based on operant conditioning which suggests that children learn to be aggressive by observing the behaviour of those around them, particularly the behaviour of significant others, such as parents or elder siblings. By seeing others being rewarded or punished for their behaviour, the child experiences vicarious reinforcement. From these models, children therefore learn about the nature of aggressive behaviour, the situations it is appropriate and its likely consequences. In addition to learning about the likely outcomes of aggressive behaviour, children also develop confidence in their ability to use aggressive behaviour to get what they want. Children who are confident that they will be able to use aggressive behaviour effectively to achieve their ends are high in self-efficacy; those with less confidence in their ability to use aggression are low in self-efficiency and may decide to use other methods.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    • Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., White, R.K. (1939) Patterns of Aggressive Behaviour in Experimentally Created Social Climates, The Journal of Social Psychology, 10(2), p.269-299…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Socialization Paper

    • 460 Words
    • 1 Page

    aggression is a desire to inflict harm. Attraction is one of the core principles of social…

    • 460 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Norms have also been found to produce aggression in society. People use coercion as an upper hand in…

    • 2236 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    REDUCTION IN AGGRESSION AND PEACE From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, aggression is not singular or unitary phenomenon. It represents a collection of strategies that are manifested under specific contextual conditions. Evolutionary psychologists attempt to understand human behavior by studying the role of evolutionary pressures on modern humans. One of the most interesting areas of study for evolutionary psychologists is human aggression. According to Live Science, humans are one of the most aggressive species on the planet.…

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays