Braun 1 Jordan Braun Craig Walter Psychology 101 October 11, 2013 The Origin of Aggression As e all !

no , e"ery #sychologist has their o n o#inion of the orld and ho it or!s$ One of the %ost contro"ersial and interesting to#ics that #sychologists ha"e conflicting "ie #oints on is that of nature or nurture$ This conce#t dates bac! to ancient &reece fro% the %inds of Plato, ho belie"ed in nature, and Aristotle ho #reached the de"elo#%ent of hu%ans o"er ti%e, or nurture '(oc!enbury)$ Today, #sychologists refer to these t o classic theories hen studying hu%an traits such as aggression$ *e#ending on the #sychologist+s #oint of "ie , they belie"e in either nature or nurturing of hu%ans hen in"estigating the root causes of aggression$ When studying aggression, a researcher ho loo!s fro% a naturalistic #oint of "ie %ight #ose the ,uestion- is one gender naturally %ore aggressi"e than another. Or does genetics #lay a role in aggression. /ro% a strictly #hysical descri#tion, aggression begins ith the #ulse increasing and the body beginning to s eat 'Wiley)$ But hat causes this. *oes the le"el of aggression lie in our genes, or does it change bet een the se0es. When it co%es to %ales and fe%ales, e ty#ically thin! of %ales as %ore ro dy and aggressi"e$ A study done by *r$ Joohyung 1ee, confir%s that hy#othesis$ 2The body reacts to stress by acti"ating the adrenal glands hich secrete catechola%ine hor%ones into the bloodstrea% and triggers the aggressi"e fight3or3flight res#onse4 'Wiley)$ This occurs in all hu%an beings, there %ay be differences bet een the se0es$ 5ales ha"e a 6 chro%oso%e in their geno%e hich does not a##ear in fe%ales$ According to *r$ 1ee, a gene in the 6 chro%oso%e called 786 accounts for %ale+s aggression$ 786 is the gene res#onsible for de"elo#%ent of the testicles$ 9f there is not enough

Braun 2 786 in the body the testicles ill not de"elo# and as a result the organis% ill beco%e a fe%ale 'Wiley)$ 786 is in %any %ale organs, and influence the organis% to res#ond to stress %ore by increasing blood flo and catechola%ine #roduction 'Wiley)$ 7o by hu%an nature, %ales are %ore aggressi"e than fe%ales due to their genes$ Those ho belie"e in nature, e%brace the conce#t of e"olution$ The e"olutionary theory #ro#oses that %e%bers ithin a s#ecies co%#ete to sur"i"e '(oc!enbury)$ The or! by Charles *ar in, an :nglish naturalist, sho s that organis%s that inherit attributes de%onstrating strength, health and #erha#s intelligence are %ore li!ely to sur"i"e and #ass the% on to their offs#ring$ Organis%s that do not inherit these good attributes are %ore li!ely to die off and the traits don+t get #ast do n$ This entire #rocess is called natural selection '(oc!enbury)$ 9n analy;ing aggression, #sychologists could theori;e that natural selection could be ta!ing #lace$ 9t could be loo!ed at fro% t o ays$ One "ie #oint is that %ore aggressi"e #eo#le are %ore outgoing and illing to s#ea! u#, so they achie"e %ore success$ On the other hand, these %ore aggressi"e #eo#le could be #ercei"ed as rude, una##ealing and less li!ely to achie"e successes$ Psychologists ho fa"or the theories of nature loo! at both the biological and #sychoanalytic traits of hu%an beings$ The biological as#ect of nature ould ob"iously be the traits and genes inherited fro% one+s fa%ily$ This ould include being %ale or fe%ale and the a%ount of hor%ones your body #roduces$ Psychoanalysis ould #ertain to unconscious influences and beha"iors$ This ould relate to nature in that so%e #eo#le %ight not reali;e that they are naturally aggressi"e$ 7ig%und /reud, a fa%ous #sychologist, 2belie"ed that hu%an beha"ior as %oti"ated by unconscious conflicts that ere al%ost al ays se0ual or aggressi"e in nature4 '(oc!enbury)$ /ro% this "ie #oint, aggression can be triggered by unconscious e"ents li!e slee#ing$ Alternati"ely, there are %any #sychologists ho do not belie"e in de"elo#%ent through nature and tend to fa"or the theory of nurture$ *oes the en"iron%ent a #erson is raised in

Braun 3 influence their aggression. Or does a #erson+s social interactions influence their aggression. These are t o of the !ey argu%ents to su##ort hu%an nurture$ 9n the orld today, es#ecially ith technology, there are %any #eo#le ho influence our li"es$ These #eo#le can include our #arents, friends and #eo#le on tele"ision$ When gro ing u# ith these influences, children 2encode4 their beha"ior and at a later ti%e 2i%itate4 the beha"ior '5c1eod)$ The to#ic of nurture suggests that de#ending on the ty#e of en"iron%ent, the child ill e0hibit si%ilar aggressi"e beha"iors$ 9n a fa%ous e0#eri%ent conducted by Albert Bandura, children ere e0#osed to adults beating on life si;e dolls called bobo dolls$ Another grou# of children as e0#osed to non3 aggressi"e beha"ior and a third grou# to no beha"ior at all '5c1eod)$ Then the children ere allo ed to #lay in the sa%e roo%s as the adults$ The roo% contained se"eral toys such as coloring boo!s, a tea set and of course the bobo doll$ When the aggressi"e children entered the roo%, the %a<ority of the% ent straight for attac!ing the bobo doll, de%onstrating both #sychical and "erbal aggression$ Although so%e of the children ho ere e0#osed to non3 aggression also attac!ed the bobo doll, the "ast %a<ority sho ed non"iolent actions$ With these results, the bobo doll e0#eri%ent #ro"es that the en"iron%ent does indeed affect aggression$ This e0#eri%ent is a #ri%e e0a%#le of the social learning theory, hich says that children learn social beha"ior, such as aggression, through the #rocess of obser"ation learning, atching the beha"ior of another #erson '5c1eod)$ =urture clai%s the as#ects of hu%anis% and beha"ioris% fro% our PC B:=C( theory$ The si%#le stu#id definition of beha"ioris%, hich e discussed in class, is act your ay into a ne ay of thin!ing$ 9f a #erson is constantly engrossed in rough, "iolent beha"ior, they ill

begin to act li!e others around the%$ 9n addition, hu%anistic beha"ior includes being all you can be$ (u%anis% refers to the nurturing of aggression by, society can influence a #erson+s self3 conce#ts$ 7elf3conce#ts refer to a #erson+s beliefs about the%sel"es including acade%ics, gender, se0uality and race$ Being around aggressi"e #eo#le can change these traits into lo er or less

Braun > desirable traits$ After co%#aring the nature "ersus nurture theories of hu%an de"elo#%ent, e %ight be able to for%ulate an o#inion of our o n$ As young #sychologists, e %ust be o#en to all ne ideas$ 9 #ersonally belie"e that hu%ans de"elo# throughout life by both nature and nurture$ The studies done by se"eral #sychologists suggest that both nature and nurture #lay a role in hu%an de"elo#%ent$ (o e"er, fro% the infor%ation 9 gathered, 9 thin! that the ay hu%ans are nurtured has a %uch greater influence than nature$ Just because you are a %ale doesn+t %ean you+re auto%atically aggressi"e$ Would a %ale child ho as carefully %onitored and rarely e0#erienced stress and "iolence be aggressi"e. Probably not$ As sho n by the abundance of e"idence in the bobo doll e0#eri%ent, %ost of our aggressi"eness is #ic!ed u# through en"iron%ental factors li!e fa%ily role %odels, "ideo ga%es, T?, and friends$

Braun @ References (oc!enbury and (oc!enbury '201>)$ Discovering Psychology, 6th edition. =e 6or!, =e 6or!- Worth Publishers$ 5c1eod, 7$ A$ '2011)$ Bobo *oll :0#eri%ent Simply Psychology. 8etrie"ed fro% htt#-AA $si%#ly#sychology$orgAbobo3doll$ht%l.

5c1eod, 7$ A$ '2011)$ Albert Bandura 7ocial 1earning Theory Simply Psychology. 8etrie"ed fro% htt#-AA $si%#ly#sychology$orgAbandura$ht%l$

Wiley3Blac! ell '2012, 5arch B)$ 5en res#ond %ore aggressi"ely than o%en to stress and itCs all do n to a single gene$ ScienceDaily$ 8etrie"ed October 2D, 2013, fro% htt#-AA $sciencedaily$co%AreleasesA2012A03A12030B0E10@B$ht%$