What are the biological factors that cause anger and aggression? Many people over the years have had their own theories to what’s causes anger and aggression within humans. Some looked at the heritability of people and some looked into the gender differences between males and females. Some people believe that evolution has played a large role in the development of anger and aggression over the generations. The part of the brain called the Amygdala also plays a role in the amount of aggressiveness within people. The Amygdala, the section of the brain responsible for the “flight or fight” reaction is a factor in the amount of anger and aggression within people.
Evolutionary psychology examines the behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over generations. (Weiten, pg. 12) if a species is highly aggressive, that gene for aggressiveness is most likely going to be passed down to the following generation. It’s because aggressiveness is a survival technique in a species and natural selection favors behaviors that enhance a species reproductive success. Psychologists say that males are more aggressive than females. There is a range of sex differences that fits the pattern of the male populace and the female relationship described by the social role theory. Because of the male aggression is understandable in terms of sexual selection (Trivers, 1972), it does not follow that it is strictly controlled by biological mechanisms, like testosterone, the male sex hormone. Larger aggressiveness is thought to be more adaptive for males in the competition between other males for sexual access. Not so much in humans, but think about an animal species that has to fight everyday for food, mates, territory in the wild, water and so on. If an animal in the wild had no aggressive attributes they would not make it as a species for very long. That’s why it’s important to be aggressive in certain ways.
The Behavioral Perspective-
Someone cuts in front of you on the road and you feel angry. Someone insults you and you get angry. The main reason people may get angry is because of their temper, the act feels good. Anger and aggression is a behavior that is learned at an early age.
With Anger we usually understand why we might have gotten angry or showed aggression. However, for most situations it merely shades our judgment and creates extra stress. “Most theorists regard aggression as part of our human biological heritage. Freud emphasized the destructive aspects of aggression and did not believe that the good side would triumph in our innate conflicts and struggles."( Jean Q. Davis, 2008, p.1). But there are many coping strategies to anger and aggression.
Anger and aggression is in our everyday lives and everyone was born with this emotion. There may not be one main reason why we learn to be angry but there are many ways to avoid it and cope with it's issues. These ways should be taught to our children and the skills should be more aware to many more individuals.
The Cognitive Perspective-
The cognitive aspect not just on anger but rather as a whole deals with the processes of how people process, store and acquire information. From these processes, we get a better insight into human behavior, which is usually a rather abstract and unexplained phenomenon to most. Psychologists say that aggression from the cognitive point of view is learned and developed over time. It's also linked to the experiences one faces and how exactly they interpret them. Whether the anger had been reinforced through a continued violent pattern where an individual had been victimized or had been a nonparticipant in just seeing aggression occur in multiples. Particularly in social experiences, seeing how other people respond to aggressive behavior either amplifies or dissociates the tendency to assume aggression is the way to handle situations. Often times it's difficult to get aggressive people to stop their aggressive acts because it's what they know, and they repeatedly get the same reactions, so they get used to how the cycle of aggression works (Fung, Journal of School of Violence).
Researchers have also come up with the hostile attributional bias and how it works. Aggressive children seem to almost be preprogrammed for producing hostile judgments of others, so they act hostile themselves in response to their views. Aggressive children are much more apt to see others in a menacing point of view, which explains why they act so hostile themselves in return. Once their aggressive behavior is acted out, their peers respond the exact way the child believed they were going to, negatively. Thus their aggressive behavior is reinforced because the child had first hand experience of exactly what they had felt in the first place, hostility and the negative reactions of the other children confirmed that the child was right in making his or her preconceived judgments (Fung, Journal of School of Violence).
Common characteristics of all aggressive people especially in social relationships is not friendship, rather it's dominance and power. They tend to not typically care when their aggressive bahavior results in outcomes of retaliation, hurt and rejection as much as others would. It's what they know and expect and it's exactly what they get because every time aggression and anger is utilized, the same outcomes occur, completing the viscous cycle.
The Social Perspective-
Aggression is defined by Weiten as any behavior that is intended to hurt someone either physically or verbally. Anger and aggression is influenced by society through our peers, family, religion, politics, media, conformity, video games and interpersonal attractions. As we grow as individuals we learn how to behave and act in situations through these social groups.
People have a large effect on triggering another person’s anger/aggression. The attitude people have towards one another can have a big impact as to how one acts. The article “Getting a grip: Teens talk about anger” explains how people tend to stereotype. They get a specific image of a group of people and think they are all the same. It is hard for people to change their perception and can cause anger/aggression when trying to change it. People tend to like people that are similar to themselves. Individuals can get very angry when it comes to being prejudice. Although it’s sad, prejudice is very active and will never end. People think people are different from them just because of there skin color or ethnicity when really they share many similarities.
The article "Rap music leads to Youth Violence" explains how the media has a large influence as to how one thinks. Superstars are creating violent images into the heads of young kids. Studies have been done to clearly show that “media is the cause of aggression,” not the other way around. Listening to the words in harsh songs creates bad attitudes and values in young kids. The words put into music are not good and are putting angry thoughts into young minds.
Group members:
Tonya Lancto
Keith Sileo
Anthony Cumm
Bethany Leroux
Jason Walker
Sources
The Christophers.(2001). Getting a Grip: Teens Talk About Anger.Teen Decisions: Violence.
Ed. Bryan J. Grapes. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.
Thomas L. Jipping.(2004). Rap Music Leads to Youth Violence. Opposing Viewpoints:
Media Violence. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.
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