Aggression And Its Effects On Human Behavior Essay

There are two main biological explanations to aggression, neural and hormonal. The neural explanation is the serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitters and how they affect our aggression; the hormonal mechanisms are the testosterone and cortisol chemicals.

The article See Aggression...Do Aggression discusses aggression, which is the biggest social problem facing America and the entire world. The article delves deeper into the question of why people are aggressive. Psychologists have theoreticized that aggression may stem from genetics or pent up frustration, but the most common and accepted is the theory that aggression is learned. This final reason for aggression is what prompted Bandera, a founder of the “social learning theory” and his team, Dorothea and Sheila Ross, to conduct “the Bobo doll study.”

Two psycho-biologically distinctive modes of aggression, affective and predatory, have received substantial experimental and clinical attention during the past 30 years. Affective aggression in humans is a defensive mode of violence that is accompanied by high levels of sympathetic arousal and emotion, usually anger and fear, and is a time-limited reaction to an imminent threat. Predatory aggression in humans is an attack mode of violence that is accompanied by minimal automatic arousal, and is planned, purposeful, and emotionless.

For many years, girls have been bullying other girls. However, this bullying isn’t usually physical like the type of bullying seen in boys. Girls tend to bully each other through types of alternative aggression. These alternative aggressions are invisible to most, except by the bully and the victim. Along with alternative aggression, girls use relational aggression to bully one another. They ruin each other’s social statuses, sometimes to raise their own. Girl bullies are sneaky, they find ways to avoid confrontation. These girls will cyberbully and gang up on someone with other girls. Girls know how to sneak around and have awful outcomes.

Task 1: (POWERPOINT) Task 2: Evidence for the evolution explanation of aggression: 1. Wilsons study found evidence of direct guarding as mate retention; in women reporting partners used this tactic. (E.g. who they speak to, allowing to talk to other men) 72% required medical attention after an assault by their partner. 2. Those who think evolution has made humans naturally peaceful and those who think we’re more naturally prone to violence (organizer Elizabeth Cashdan).

Aggression is verbal or physical behavior intended to cause harm. Although we may not like to admit it, we all participate in aggressive behavior at some level and at some time in our lives. Do evolutionary factors play a large role in aggression? What was Freud 's theory about violence? What does more recent research say about a likely evolutionary role for violence? What does Hawley 's research say about this?

During our lifetime every one of us feels anger and aggression occasionally, some more than others, maybe as a child in the play ground or later as an adult when somebody cuts you up when you are driving along. But what causes anger and aggression and why do we all suffer from it? Well there are lots of different theories to what causes aggression and where aggressive behaviour comes from. So throughout this essay I will examine the different concepts and theories from different psychologist and develop and show an understanding of Aggression

Prior to this study, no other research had studied the genetic and environmental influences on reactive and proactive aggression. The purpose of this study was to explain how much genes and (shared and non-shared) environmental factors each contribute to aggression, specifically proactive and reactive. Once a positive correlation between the two types of aggression was determined, a “sub-purpose” was to find out if any correlation was due to another common factor, such as physical aggression. And, which factors are unique to proactive aggression and which are unique to reactive aggression.

After viewing Origins of Human Aggression (The Nature of Things), I learned a lot about origins of human aggression. In the first part of the video, it focused on 2 year old children and how aggression is derived. The video states a study shows that signs of aggression start within the first couple months of a newborn’s life (Maher, Origins of Human Aggression (The Nature of Things). This study within the video I believe is accurate. I was told by my parents that as I grew I began to be more aggressive. The older I got, I began to do things such as: throw objects, hit people, and throw a tantrum if I could not get my way. One time I cried for an hour just so my mother would buy me a pair of shoes. Throwing that tantrum got me my way, but

The nature versus nurture debate is an ongoing debate among social scientists relating to whether ones personality/personal characteristics are the result of his/her inherited genetic traits or the result of environmental factors such as upbringing, social status, financial stability, and more. One of the topics that are discussed among psychologists is the study of violent behavior among people as a whole, and in particular, individuals. Social scientists try to explain why people commit acts of violence through explanation of either side of the nature or nurture schools of thought. However, the overwhelming amount of research done into the relation of violent behavior and the nature versus nurture debate indicated that nurture is the primary explanation to explaining violent behavior because violent traits are learned from adults, someone’s social upbringing is a major factor to why some people are more violent than others, and finally influences from news media, movies, and video games enhance the chance for someone to exhibit violent behavior. In conclusion, violent behavior is a complex issue without a clear explanation that is overwhelmingly supported by the nurture side of the debate.

Aggression was determined by using the Pulkkinen aggression machine or PAM. PAM is a computerized task used to study reactive aggression. PAM task takes about 20 minutes, and consists of three conditions; arbitrary condition, impulsive aggression condition, and controlled aggression condition. The arbitrary condition basically served as a training condition. The impulsive aggression condition had rows of stimulus and response icons used to represent aggression, based on intensity. Intensity levels ranged from 0 to 7, with 0 being harmless interaction and 7 being punched in the face. Participants were then told to retaliate against the unidentified assailant without having fear of being reprimanded. The controlled aggression condition was similar to the impulsive aggression condition except for this time, the assailant was specified, and his picture showed up on the screen. Participants were asked to react how they would in a real-life scenario against the attacker. The stimulus–response was calculated by subtracting the stimulus intensity score from the response intensity

The general aggression model (GAM) is the most contemporary theory of aggression as of 2015. The GAM, as discussed by Anderson and Bushman (2002), focuses on addressing and discovering the biological, environmental, psychological, and social factors that influence aggression. This aggression model “accounts for both short- and long-term effects of an extensive range of variables of aggression (Warburton & Anderson, 2015, p.375)” due to its biosocial-cognitive approach. Benjamin (2016) describes the opportunity for appraisal presented within this theory. GAM articulates the influences on a person’s immediate appraisal of the situation. “This immediate appraisal occurs automatically, and includes an interpretation of the situation and an

There are clearly no simple genetic or hormonal factors that can explain the variation in aggressive in males and females. Studies of human males suggest that there is at most a small genetic component to aggression, but a greater one for personality traits associated with such behavior. The biological mechanisms translating the message in the genes into antisocial or criminal behavior are not known. Therefore, there is clearly no simple aggressive gene effect. Many genes are likely to be involved, and each may have a weak effect on aggressive behavior. A direct genetic effect on aggression, for example, may determine how quickly an individual responds to aggravation. Aggression may also be influenced indirectly; for example, a man's size and strength may affect the way he behaves and how others react to him. (Turner, 253)

This is not to deny, however, that there is a relationship between aggression and biological influences. Complex neural systems in the brain when stimulated electrically or chemically can promote aggressive behaviors. Similar effects are noted with certain types of head injuries. Head injury victims may react with rage distinct from ordinary anger (Rosenbaum, Hoge, Adelman, Warnken, Fletcher, & Kane, 1994). Their rage may

ESSAY TITLE: “Aggression is necessary for survival: Discuss. Base your answer on psychological theories and models introduced in class.”