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Aggression

Aiden Petralia, Leo Stucklschwaiger, Clement Kwarko

General Arts and Science

INTRO TO PSYCH.

Dr. Lynne Kennette

September 30, 2022

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Aggression

Did you forget to remove your notes?

What is aggressive behavior?

Aggression, according to social psychology, describes any behavior or act aimed at harming a
person or animal or damaging physical property.

Types of aggression:
 Accidental (When someone is mad, they could accidentally cause harm to somebody)
 Expressive (Gets pleasure off other people's suffering)
 Instrumental (Premeditated aggression that could result in physical harm)
 Hostile (Trying to intentionally hurt somebody physically or emotionally)

Instrumental Aggression vs Hostile Aggression:

“Psychologists have often categorized human aggression as hostile or instrumental.

Hostile aggression is "hot," impulsive behavior that is motivated by a desire to hurt
someone; instrumental aggression is "cold," premeditated behavior used to some other
end.” CA;, Bushman BJ; Anderson. “Is It Time to Pull the Plug on the Hostile versus Instrumental
Aggression Dichotomy?” Psychological Review, U.S. National Library of Medicine,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11212630/.

What causes aggression:

“Aggression can happen as a natural response to stress, fear, or a sense of losing control.
You might also respond with aggression when you feel frustrated, mistreated, or unheard
— especially if you never learned how to manage your emotions effectively.” Gabbey,
Amber Erickson. “Aggressive Behavior: Signs, Causes, and Treatment.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 18
Sept. 2019, https://www.healthline.com/health/aggressive-behavior#aggression-vs-abuse.
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Why is nothing cited here?

Nature Arguments Nurture Arguments

Chemical and/or Hormonal Imbalance Childhood trauma

Genetics Abusive relationships
Brain development/maturation Influenced by media (for example TV)
Medical conditions Drug Use

 Examples of Nature Factors:

 PTSD
 ADHD
 ODD (Oppositional defiant disorder)
 Bipolar Disorder
 Schizophrenia

 Examples of Nurture Factors:

 Violence
 Sexual abuse
 Physical abuse
 Emotional abuse
 Neglect
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Aggression is violent behaviour towards another, and everyone gets angry occasionally,

but some people tend to have more aggressive behaviours than others. There are many factors as

to why someone is more aggressive than another, but these factors are usually split into two

groupstypes: nature and nurture. Both sides show why someone gets aggressive, but we believe

the nurture side gives better arguments as to why someone gets aggressive.

One idea is that TV violence increases hostility in people. An experiment involving 758

kidschildren from both the United States and 220 kids from Finland examined the effect ofwere

evaluated and interviewed for three years about TV violence (Huesmann, L. R., Lagerspetz, K.,

& Eron, L. D. et al, 1984). The parents were also interviewed during this experiment. For both

genders in the United States and boys in Finland, it was found that TV violence was notably

related to aggression and changes in aggression. Seeing that it could be caused by the TV you

watch, especially if you are a kid, could it can change the way you act in the future by making

youbeing a more hostile person. What most people do as kids can cause aggression, which shows

that nurture is more impressive than nature in this aspect because only certain people can be born

with anger issues, while everyone can become more aggressive from watching TV as a child.

Another contributor to aggression is youth drug use (Brook, Whiteman, Finch, et al.,

1992). In this experiment, they interviewed kids that used drugs when they were 5-10 years-old,

followed by an interview when they were 13-18, then a final one when they were 15-20. They

found that drug use as a child does indeed make you more aggressive while on the drugs and as a

long-term effect. This will even affect you when you're older, not just when you're a kid but it is

more dangerous as a child. Also, many drugs will release an excessive amount of serotonin when

used, which is essential in maintaining your mood, sleep, impulsivity, aggression, and appetite

(Wood et al., Wood, Boyd, Wood, & Desmarais, 2014). So, drug use can affect you very
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negatively as a kid, but even if you're an adult, your serotonin levels will be off, leading to mood

changes and increased aggression.

Childhood trauma is not nearly discussed enough when discussing reasons for acts of

violence. Trauma as a child could be abusive parents, parents fighting, physical or mental

bullying, and many more. People don’t think about how trauma could branch from a lack of

attention at a young age or a lack of love from friends and family. Jeffrey Dahmer is an example

of overlooked childhood trauma that people presumed led to his horrific actions in the future

(cite). Dahmer’s parents fought quite frequently at a very young age, and he was always left

alone. Dahmer having no friends also gave him a lot of free time alone. After his Dad showed

him how to dissect roadkill, he started practicing that as a hobby. In the future, he killed and

dissected human corpses (Higgs, 2012).

One who has experienced neglect as an adolescent may have harsh or aggressive

reactions to someone leaving them in the future; they may think they won’t come back and will

be alone again (cite). Like if one’s parent cusses often, their child may develop the habit;

experiencing or viewing physical violence growing up can be picked up by the child (The

National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2018). Instead of learning to find solutions calmly, the

child may resort to physical or verbal violence, whichever they grew up experiencing. In a study

which examined the with 162 males with severe mental illnesses, they searched through their

criminal records, medical files, and interviewed men with severe mental illnesss. They also used

the survey research method to, researchers conclude that 32.1% of the participants had

experienced childhood trauma at a young age and were also more likely to commit acts of

violence in their life (Childhood trauma, antisocial personality typologies and recent violent acts

among inpatient males with severe mental illness: Exploring an explanatory pathway, 2015).
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This study proves suggests that childhood trauma does affect aggressive tendencies when

growing up. Childhood trauma can also be a substantial factor in whether a romantic relationship

will be toxic or abusive. Abusive relationships are where the significant other commits verbal,

physical, or manipulative abuse towards another; it can either be one or both abusing each other

(cite). Being in an abusive relationship can cause anxiety and trust issues and frighten one from

future relationships with new people (cite). An abusive relationship can also introduce new

hostile and aggressive tendencies in the victim. They may start reacting like the abuser or pick up

negative habits that could carry over to the next relationship, where the victim can become the

abuser (Rakovec-Felser, 2014). Abuse in relationships is hidden a lot of the time due to the

victim is being scared of speaking out because of threats by the abuser. The number of abuse

victims will only get larger if the stories stay behind the scenes, and there will be more

aggression worldwide. Abusive relationships exist not only in grown-up partners but also in

childhood family relationships, abuse of seniors, etc. (cite) Relating to childhood trauma, abusive

relationships between parents and child, cousins, and siblings, will affect one’s behaviour

growing up by developing negative habits, as stated before. In 2001 a study was done proving

showing that parents who had been abused as a child were more likely to commit the same acts

of violence towards their children (Effects of child abuse and neglect for adult survivors, 2014).

Abuse has been proven shown to be passed down through each generation; if not, there would be

significantly less abuse today (cite). Childhood trauma and abusive relationships are very similar

because if there was abuse as a child, one most likely has been introduced to trauma. 

Aggression doesn’t just consist of physical abuse towards one another. There are

countless branches of it existing in our world today. The nurture versusv. nature debate is a

strong argument. Still, the nurture side has numerous aggressive behaviours stemming from
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developed habits and tendencies such as childhood trauma, abusive relationships, television-

influenced behaviour, and drug use.

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References

Brook, J. S., Whiteman, M. M., & Finch, S. (1992). Childhood aAggression, aAdolescent

dDelinquency, and dDrug uUse: A lLongitudinal sStudy. The Journal of Genetic

Psychology, volume, issue are missing, 369-383.

Cherry, K. (2021). What Is Aggression? Verywell Mind. Missing some details (also, I said no

web sources)

Author? Childhood trauma, antisocial personality typologies and recent violent acts among

inpatient males with severe mental illness: Exploring an explanatory pathway. (2015).

Schizophrenia Research, volume, issue, 285-290.

Higgs, T. (2012). Jeffrey Dahmer: Psychopathy and Neglect. ePublication at Regis University,

20.

Huesmann, L., Lagerspetz, K., & Eron, L. (1984). Intervening variables in the TV violence–

aggression relation: Evidence from two countries. Development Psychology, volume,

issue746-775.

Kostelnik, M., Purcell, S. E., Schroeder, D. E., Nelson, M. E., Krumbach, M. E., Hanna, J.

S., . .List all authors . Bosch, K. R. (2010). Helping Children Resolve Conflict:

Aggressive Behavior of Children. Lincoln: University of Nebraska. Did you actually read

this book?

Network, T. N. (2018). What is Child Trauma? Missing some details

Rakovec-Felser, Z. (2014). Domestic vViolence and Aabuse in iIntimate rRelationship from

pPublic hHealth pPerspective. Health Psychology Research. Volume, issue, pages?

Studies, A. I. (2014). Effects of child abuse and neglect for adult survivors. Missing details
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Wood, S., Wood, E., Boyd, D., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2014). The World of Psychology.

Toronto: Pearson.

Using something to help you with your references is only good if you ensure you are including

all of the information it needs to create an accurate reference. For short assignments like this one

(with fewer than 15-20 references), I would suggest you write them out by hand.

This assignment is worth 15% of your grade (9.25/10 points):

 Part 1: Arguments (4/4pts):
o List of evidence for nature (.5pts each; 2/2pts total)
o List of evidence for nurture (.5pts each; 2/2pts total)

 Part 2: Opinion (4/4pts):

o Make a clear argument for your position (2/2pts)
o Describe ALL relevant arguments/evidence listed in Part 1 (2/2pts)
 APA-style reference page and appropriate in-text citations (.25/1pt)
 Grammar, writing clarity, introduction/conclusion (1/1pt)