Nature Vs. Nurture Or Cause Of Violence?

Humans are drawn to acts of a primal nature. Raw, passionate, and vastly entertaining; primal instincts have always been at the root of human behavior. Archeologists say that the first humans were found with spearheads embedded in their ribcage. Mankind’s curiosity will always be sparked by the thought of bloodshed. Just look at the entertainment we as a species hold most dear; violent action films, movies about war, videogames based solely on the concept of killing the opponent, the list in never-ending. The fascination around violent acts is understandable. Since the invention of society, the act of killing another human has been frowned upon by the rest of society. The contrast of the acts of violence to the norms of everyday life are hard

There are two main arguments supporting the idea that aggression and violence are biological and therefore inevitable in our world. In their essay Genetic Seeds of Warfare: Evolution, Nationalism and Patriotism, Paul Shaw and Wong Yuwa, in a darwinistic approach to human nature , argue that aggression is natural in the animal

Violence take multiple forms, many of which are covered in the nightly news. Murder, rape, familial abuse, bullying, workplace hostility, armed robbery—all of these are societal problems with far-reaching repercussions. There have long debates and discussions regarding whether nature or nurture influences individual violent behavior. People are concerned about what makes an individual to engage in violent behavior such murder or burglary among other types of crimes. They are also concerned about what makes people stop such behavior. However, there is no precise conception whether nature, nurture or both influence violence. Some people assume that, violent behavior results from individual’s life experiences or upbringing also known as nurture. Others feel that violent behavior is more complex and results from individual’s genetic character or nature. In other words, it is not clear whether violent behavior is inborn or occurs at some point in persons’ lives, but even it’s hard, emphasizing one and ignoring other influences is always an unwise way to go.

In today’s society, violence occurs every minute somewhere in some shape or form. It continues to be a plague that causes humans humility, pain, and death. Both the scientific and criminal justice fields have been stumped for years by the question of “where does the influence of violence come from?” Nature versus nurture has always been one of the most prevalent arguments relating to this topic. The nature argument is based on the belief that an individual’s biology/DNA contributes to their behavior, where the nurture argument believes that the environment one is exposed to is what actually influences their behavior. According to Hickey, biological positivism was the method of applying the scientific method to the task of determining who was a criminal (48).

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

What has our society come to these days? Everywhere we look, violence is present, at the streets, at work, at school, and even at home. Every day in the news we see reports about shootings, wars, thefts, drugs, rapes, and deaths. The worse part of seen this in the news is that all way do it’s complain about it and sit back. We do not even attempt an explanation or a resolution. Violence is among one of the most malignant act that has been increasing day by day. And why is it that we complain about other people being violent, but when we are asked if we are violent or if we have ever responded with violence, everyone says they are not violent. But if among ourselves we are not violent then who is it that makes our society a violent society?

Modern biology is focused more on understanding behavior, like violence and crime, through research on indicators and influences. Rather than attempting to determine a single root cause, researchers are discovering markers of predisposition and identifying factors of risk. In a recent interview about his new book, The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime, criminologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Adrian Raine asserts that there is a “biology of violence” that should not be ignored; “Just as there’s a biological basis for schizophrenia and anxiety disorders and depression… there’s a biological basis also to recidivistic violent offending” (Gross, 2013).

Violence shows it face in many forms. It is slowly taking over the youth of our society, and becoming more prevalent than ever. Is it really environmental factors that are the cause of violence in our youth today? Or is the increase in violence to be blamed on a group of variables, that together, create the perfect recipe for disaster? In the book, Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, author Dr. James Garbarino discusses possible reasons that childhood aged boys are experiencing violence that is carried into their adolescent years. Also, Dr. Garbarino expresses a similar rise in violence in young girls in the book See Jane Hit: Why Girls are Growing More Violent and What Can be Done About It. He looks at elements from birth to adolescence, including cultural influences that may not play as big of a role as one may suspect.

     One popular theory suggests that many murderers are the product of our violent society. Our culture tends to approve of violence and find it acceptable, even preferable, in many circumstances (Holmes and DeBurger 27): According to research done in 1970, one out of every four men and one out of every six women believed that it was appropriate for a husband to hit his wife under certain conditions (Holmes and DeBurger 33). This emphasis on violence is especially prevalent in television programs. Violence occurs in 80 percent of all prime-time shows, while cartoons,

Is aggression an innate and deterministic quality from birth, or is it something that one that all can control, as a matter of free will and choice, to be used when we need it in a calculated manner? At birth all people are born with aggression as a survival trait. As we educate ourselves as we have seen in the video “The Truth About Violence” even in an educated culture such as the United States we still have violence. Violent people and we are drawn to violent sports such as cage fighting and football. Even the most mild manner people who don’t like violence in movies, sports or anywhere else can find enjoyment from participating in violence. When a person results to violence I don’t believe they can control the amount of aggression

There are two sides to many things, one could argue that there are two sides to everything. Violence is not excluded from this argument. The two possible sides, or viewpoints, that are a result of violence can easily be seen as extremes of either side. One side could argue that violence is something that is necessary and the other argue that violence is only a tool for destruction. People who insist that violence is necessary in order to move forward view it as a way to sway the outcome to their benefit. For those who see violence as a cowardly tactic to control people, violence is a useless display of power and dominance. Yet violence has also been a way to defend oneself from people who pose a threat. This can lead people who have good

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

Physical assault and aggression is the second leading cause of death among 14 to 17 year olds, next to vehicular accidents (Loeber). But why are humans so aggressive in the first place? There are two sides of the debate: Nature, and Nurture. Some say that it’s human nature, genetics that cause most behaviors, while others say that we act as we learned during childhood. This argument applies to aggression as well. Aggression is mainly caused by things during childhood and adolescence where people learn from various sources about aggression, although, human psychology plays a slight factor.

The first reason why the nurture side of the debate provides more evidence towards understanding violent behavior is due to the fact that children learn violence through parents and other adults in their life. The first way children learn is that they imitate behavior that they

A range of studies assert that causes of violent behavior are complex at the level of environmental influence and compare other learning, modelling and disinhibiting factors. This is an area where opposition to the hypothesis is more common. Two longitudinal studies assessing levels of violence pre-and post the introduction of television found a positive correlation, however