Nature of Aggression Essay

Sigmund Freud(1915), also developed a theory of aggression asserted that aggression arose when the ego-instincts, or the ego’s struggle for self-preservation, are impeded. He said: “The ego hates, abhors and pursues with the intent to destroy all objects which is a source of pain” (Freud, 1915).

Freud’s most known theories involve what he describes as, the id, the ego and the super-ego . His theory is that a person’s psyche is split up between these three parts, in most people there is a healthy balance between the three parts, but in people such as murderers there is imbal-ance between the parts, with might cause them to not

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. The Id (Anger), is concerned with satisfaction of basic and physical needs and urges.

Freud primarily subscribed to the idea that there are two energies that drive human behavior. These two energies are sex – the pleasure principle and aggression. The human mind is comprised of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Within the realms of the mind, the human personality is controlled by the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is driven by the pleasure principle. The superego is the instinctual moral good, which aims to please the ego ideal, or the magnified moral values. The ego interacts with both the id and the superego and aims to please both components (Connors).

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

Social Psychological Theories of Aggression Social learning theorists propose that behaviour, such as aggression is learnt through observation, imitation and behaviour shaping. This behaviour is learnt automatically through observation of male and female role models, for example parents, peers and media characters. Whether or not this behaviour is imitated depends on the type of reinforcement that the role model receives. Vicarious reinforcement involves the outcome of a role models behaviour, for example if a child observes a parent acting aggressively and receiving positive rewards for they are more like to be imitate this behaviour in the future, than they would be if the role model

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.

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?

Lorenz and Freud have, in a large section of their work labelled aggression as mostly negative and destructive, but looking at its positive side, aggression is necessary as it contributes to our growth and development, independence, self-assertion, can address and remedy inequality and social injustice and above all promotes the survival of many

Meyers and Dewall 2015, has defined aggression as “any act intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.” Ferguson and Beaver 2009 defines aggression as “behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of the organism relative to the dominance position of other organisms.” This definition is more directed towards the evolutionary influences of violence. Human ancestors lived in a survival of the fittest world. In order to survive, they needed to be the strongest, smartest and most dominant. Another definition from The World Health Organization (2009) states that violence is “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual against oneself, another person pr against a group or community, that either results in or has high like hood of resulting injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.” Aggression does not always have to be negative. Violence is accepted in some forms such as for sport, self-defense, defense of others, war, etc. For the purpose of this paper, aggression will be looked at in a negative way. To try to understand violence, the Nature verse Nurture lens will be

Since the beginning of time, in Genesis, Cain showed aggression toward his brother Able. Aggression takes many forms, because of jealousy, insecurity, anxiety, revenge, antisocial personality, alcohol, and drugs. Even though all individuals are uniquely different, they all experience frustrations, but for different reasons. For example, almost everyone becomes frustrated with a computer, some literally destroy the inept machine, but not everyone takes out their aggression on the equipment. Not all aggression is violent. Psychologically mature people generally have better self-control over their frustrations and do not let them escalate. Some people are immature or antisocial and are unable to handle the normal frustrations of everyday life. Many individuals who display antisocial behavior also tend to show no remorse after doing anything wrong like, Lizzy Borden in 1892 (Bible)(brainposts.blogspot.com).

Freud described humans as having three essential components that built personality. The three components were the id, the ego, and the superego. He described the id, as being what governed an infant’s drive to overcome their primitive biological desires. According to his theory infants had no other goal than to release the tension that built up when their

Sigmund Freud proposed that aggression was an inborn instinct or drive, as compared to later theorists who felt aggression was a reaction or a response to a situation (Meyer, 1996). Freud postulated that all human beings have two basic drives: aggressive and libidinal. The two drives were thought to appear in human behavior in a fused state. The aggressive drive was seen basically as destructive. Thus, it was referred to as thanatos, or the death instinct. This destructive aggression could be directed toward others or could be turned in on the self. If the latter occurred, a person would engage in self-punitive behaviors or suicide. The aggressive drive, Freud felt, could also be diverted into positive channels. Social psychologists disagree with the instinctual theory of aggression primarily on the basis that there is no empirical evidence to substantiate aggression as a drive. The instinctual theory of aggression is also criticized on the basis that if this were a universal trait in all human beings, then all humans would display aggression (Meyer, 1996).

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 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.