Agression

• Aggression


  A form of self-assertion (putting yourself forward or standing up for yourself) done through causing harm to yourself, to other people or to your environment
• Forms of aggression


  • Physical aggression (violence)
  • Social aggression (rumour spreading, insults, breaking off friendships)
  • Threatening someone (causes fear and anxiety even without violence)
• Aggression is defined as any action that is aimed at causing either physical and/or psychological pain to oneself, to others or to objects in the environment
• Ways aggression can be expressed

  • Verbally
  • Mentally
  • Physically
• Nature camp


  Argues that aggression is innate - it comes from within us
• Nurture camp


  Argues that aggression comes from our environment and no one is born aggressive
• Nativist views on aggression

  • Biological view (aggression is an evolutionary adaptation)
  • Psychodynamic theory of aggression by Sigmund Freud
• Nurturist views on aggression

  • Social Approach (Milgram, Sherif)
  • Learning Approach (Bandura, Skinner, Pavlov)
  • Cognitive Approach (rational choice, faulty thinking)
• The Edexcel course doesn't cover the Cognitive Approach to aggression
• Nativist view


  Aggression is a response produced in the brain
• Phineas Gage suffered brain damage to the frontal lobe, which is responsible for decision-making and self-restraint, and his personality greatly changed
• Charles Whitman had a brain tumour pressing on his amygdala, and a Commission concluded this brain damage may have been responsible for his behaviour
• Frontal lobe


  Plays an important part in decision-making and self-restraint, particularly the pre-frontal cortex
• Corpus callosum


  Links the left and right hemispheres, damage can lead to more reckless behaviour
• Damage to the frontal lobe or corpus callosum doesn't create aggression itself, but makes one less self-controlled and more inclined to act on the spur of the moment
• Limbic system


  Sub-cortical area, the brain's emotion centre where basic urges and desires are regulated
• Amygdala


  Interprets information as a threat or not, produces fear or aggression ("fight or flight" response)
• The relationship between the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex is very important - if the pre-frontal cortex is healthy, it can resist the amygdala's urges of fear or aggression
• Animal studies support the link between the limbic system and aggression, e.g. stimulating the amygdala in cats caused them to attack and kill rats
• Testosterone


  The hormone linked to aggression, produced in spurts and varies seasonally
• Males produce more testosterone than females, which is an explanation for why males are more aggressive on average
• Castration reduces testosterone levels in males and reduces their aggression levels, which then rise back up when injected with testosterone
• Studies show men with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to engage in various antisocial behaviours
• Cortisol


  A hormone that inhibits aggression, low levels are linked to increased aggression
• Animal studies show a "feedback loop" in aggression - the hypothalamus triggers the release of stress hormones which then activate the hypothalamus, potentially explaining "rage"
• Serotonin


  A neurotransmitter linked to mood and sadness, low levels are associated with increased aggression
• Aggression


  A powerful cause of aggression is sexual jealousy
• Jealousy makes men feel insecure in a relationship


  Their body will start to produce more testosterone to prepare them to assert their dominance and this can make them aggressive
• The best way to reduce male aggression is to marry men off, the conservative idea that "men are civilised by marriage"
• The best way to reduce male aggression is to give more power to women, a popular idea with people of a different political outlook
• Violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely to breed dangerous subcultures of rootless young men
• Violence was equally likely to be associated with extra women as with extra men
• Social aggression


  Indirect aggression (covert, such as spreading malicious gossip) and Relational aggression (overt, non-physical, such as breaking off a friendship, pulling faces or "bitchiness")
• 30% of children may be the target of bullying at some point in time
• In 85% of all bullying episodes on a school playground, bystanders intervened to stop the bullying just 15% of the time
• Young children show more physical aggression than social aggression, but as they grow into adolescence, this reverses and social aggression dominates
• There is a genetic connection in twins that links to social aggression as well as physical aggression
• Credibility of the biological explanation of aggression

  • Human and animal studies support the idea that there are brain structures linked to aggression, in particular the limbic system which generates aggressive impulses and the pre-frontal cortex which inhibits aggressive impulses
  • Animal studies clearly show the role of the limbic system in producing different sorts of aggression
  • Research on rats illustrates how dopamine and serotonin are linked to aggression
  • Brain imaging techniques show a correlation between unusual brain activity and aggressive or antisocial behaviour
• Comparison of the biological explanation of aggression with the Freudian explanation

  The biological explanation sees aggression as innate and unavoidable, while the Freudian explanation sees aggression as learned
• Nativist viewpoint


  Aggressive behaviour is natural and unavoidable