Is Aggression Learnt - Essay Example

? Is Aggression Learnt? By of Due Introduction: How tough is it to recall a fight with a player of the opposite team on the soccer field while playing an intense match? Or abusing a driver on the road when you escape an accident by an inch of a difference? These are two very familiar situations, some people might encounter them on a monthly basis, some weekly and some might even encounter them daily. So the question arises as to the reason behind such behaviour, very commonly known as aggressive behaviour. Aggression is most simply defined as behaviour which has the immediate intention of causing harm to the person it is aimed at. Additional elements of aggression include that the target of the aggression must feel intimidated by the aggressive action and feel that deliberate harm is intended by the person exhibiting aggressive behaviour (Anderson, 2002). The two key elements to note here are harm and intension. The perpetrator must intend to harm the victim. This can easily be understood by an example. If a boy comes snatches my younger brother’s pencil box, pushes him and starts running away, my brother would get furious. As a result if my brother chases the boy who ran with his pencil box, catches him and then slaps him that would be an example of aggressive behaviour. If on the other hand, my brother is playing soccer and unintentionally bumps into a player due to inertia that would not characterize as aggression. The reason is that the intention to harm was missing (Kinsella, 2004). Aggression and Violence: It is also important to establish the difference between aggression and violence. Where aggression means the intention to harm someone, violence refers to the intention of harming someone to an extreme level. Depending on the motive, aggression can further be divided into hostile or instrumental (Anderson, 2002). Different researchers and psychologists have done a lot of work on aggression and its causality. For the purpose of this paper, I will cite facts from a few of the works and answer the question as to whether aggression is learnt of innate. In the words of Sally Gadsdon, “If aggression is innate then all cultures should be equally aggressive, but this is obviously not the case.” I partially agree with this statement, since it is true that in our daily lives we meet hundreds of people belonging to the same culture, yet not equally aggressive. This does suggest something about aggression as an inherited trait. However tracking the roots of aggression is not as simple as it may seem. Is Aggression Learnt? From the point of view of the Social Learning Theory, aggression is learnt from interactions with one’s social surroundings. It basically yields aggression as a product of the observation of a person’s environment; therefore it states that aggression is learnt. The Scripts Theory incorporates the element of the media into the social Learning Theory and states that aggression is learnt through the content which we observe on the mass media. The Social Interactions Theory further extends the concept of learned aggression to the idea of extrinsic motivation provided for aggressive acts, which breed aggression. For example, when new assassins join mafia gangs they are offered very generous monetary rewards which motivate them towards killing somebody. Therefore, in a way their aggression is motivated by the monetary value which they will get as a reward for their aggression (Anderson, 2002). All these theories build on the Frustration- Aggression hypothesis, which states that aggression is an outcome of frustration and frustration is felt owing to our surroundings. Maslow did not approve the idea of simple frustration leading to aggression. He believed that as was the case with his hierarchy of needs, aggression also required a hierarchy of events that increased frustration and ultimately led to aggression, as opposed to simple frustration leading to aggression (Heleta, 2007). In his address following the second oil crisis, Jimmy Carter said “Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.” Therefore, it can be inferred that Mr. Carter also felt that aggression was a learned trait as opposed to an innate phenomenon. There is however some support for the fact that aggression is an innate phenomenon. Many scientists spoke about the aggressive instinct. However it was not until Freud theoretically penned his idea that it became one of the researched topics in psychology. Einstein, while on a project to understand the causes that lead human to wage war, posed a question to Sigmund Freud regarding a natural instinct of hatred within humans. Towards this question, Freud stated that man has an instinct to hate and destroy, but what is surprising is that more than anyone else, man’s desire to destroy is aimed at no one but himself. It is this helplessness that he feels towards destroying himself that translates into his aggression, which turns into violence and in extreme cases takes the shape of a war (Heleta, 2007). Is Aggression Inherited? When I think of aggression as an inherited character trait I feel there is a strong correlation between aggression and anger. Research has proved a correlation between childhood anger and the resulting aggression. Aggression is primarily influenced by a person’s family (inheritance), friends and social surroundings and interactions (DeBord, 2000). Very often we find ourselves caught up in situations where we scold someone without substantial reason and then later regret our actions. In such situations we blame ourselves for our short temperament, which takes away from us all the rationality and sensibility and forces us to react in a way we later regret. Here anger is turned into aggression. Sometimes, when individuals really want to work on themselves they seek anger management therapies to control themselves in situations under which they would normally have reacted. If we think a little deeper about this, is this an attempt towards trying to change something that we have inherited? I believe this is an example of a situation where a person accesses his understanding of social acceptance and likability, coupled with a desire for personal satisfaction. This analysis motivates him to make an effort towards changing himself for the better. Therefore, I feel if our surroundings can make us change for the better then they can also make us learn aggression. This can be linked back to the history of mankind. We Humans, as it is commonly believed, evolved from apes. Back in those days, the only way to survive and acquire food was hunting. If aggression was inherited then man should never have become civilized, but this was not the case. With the passage of time, as survival of the fittest suggests, man discovered more sophisticated ways of fending for himself, which shows that aggression can be controlled and may not be overwhelmingly inherent (Sussman, 2010). As we grow up, we realise that our personality changes in many ways. We become more mature, we learn how to live by the society or we make our choice whether to have a common existence or an extraordinary existence. All these outcomes are a result of our feelings, more precisely our choice to react in a way we want to what we perceive. So if we agree on the point that frustration breeds aggression, then we must realise that frustration is a result of negative feelings associated with certain people, things or even situations. The intensity of the frustration would determine the extent of the aggression. Therefore it appears that aggression is learnt. Defence and Aggression: Contrary to this view, if we go several years back in history, then the barbarians, the crusaders, the Aryans all were fighters. Does this suggest that their generations must also inherit this trait and be as aggressive as their ancestors? Does this mean that all the fighting nations are generations of aggressive ancestors who passed on this aggression as inheritance? I beg to differ. I believe that aggression is a need of time. No nation would want to be labelled as a defensive or an aggressive nation, yet all the nations of the world possess their military defence systems with their armies of thousands of aggressive soldiers intact. These soldiers undergo extensive and rigorous trainings, where all they know is that they belong to the army of their country and their job is to ensure that their country and its citizens are safe. The soldiers are made to realize that there is no friend in the battlefield, so even if they have to kill a past friend for the honour and safety of their country they have to do it (Dillon, 2007). This shows how the priorities are set in an army camp. The United States of America has spent around $1,121 billion on the War against Terror, with 67% of the allocation to the War in Iraq, 30% in Afghanistan, 3% for enhanced United States security (Belasco , 1). Would we feel that the Americans are an aggressive nature and they have inherited this from their ancestors? No. The answer lies in the fact that following the September 2011 terrorist attacks, the War against Terrorism became a necessity of time, it became a matter of national security due to which many soldiers had to be trained and sent in Afghanistan and Iraq to fight the war. If the soldiers were born aggressive there would be no need for extensive trainings and aggression in the army is a mark of prestige and positivity. It is the surroundings that prompt a person to be more aggressive than he actually is. Such is the case with military rapes during times of war. Men, Women and aggression: We have usually heard people talking about men as being more aggressive than women since it is quite a perception that women have more of a tendency to go through sufferings patiently where as men are stereotyped as the ones who shall react, if something happens against their desire. Therefore, it would be a good idea to incorporate the gender aspects of aggression and its roots into this paper. As Barbara Walters once said “If it's a woman it's caustic, if it's a man it's authority, If it's a woman it's too pushy, if it's a man it's aggressive in the best sense of the word.” The question arises as to the reason behind this generalization of men as having a more aggressive nature than women (Valentine, 2010). I do believe that some races are known to be more aggressive than others and are remembered as the fighters, therefore there ought to be some element of truth in the argument regarding aggression being inherited, however I believe majority of the theory supports the contrary (O’Leary, 2008). Some researchers have even argued that countries that have women running the politics of their country are more peace loving nations as compared to those with male politicians running the show (Valentine, 2010). However the authenticity of this argument is debatable. In the 1990s, research was done on this topic and it was discovered that it was not like females were not aggressive rather aggression was common in both men and women. The only difference was in the medium of expression aggression. Men were more inclined towards channelizing their aggression into forms that intended physical harm to the victim. On the contrary women used more of indirect aggression. This means that women’s aggression aimed more at hurting the victim psychologically rather than physically (Hess, 2006). Nonetheless the point is that people who believe that aggression is innate tend to make use of the argument that men are inherently more aggressive than women; however we have seen that this is not the case. Conclusion: The arguments that favour the point of view of aggression being innate basically have their roots in the fact that anger by and large is inherited, and that angry individuals are usually aggressive individual. However, I believe that the facts stated above do justify the fact that our surroundings play a very important role in establishing whether a person will resort to aggression or not. To an extent the argument regarding anger being inherited is valid, yet as we all know anger management is one of the most sought after therapies nowadays. This suggests that even if a trait is inherited, but our social environment and interactions make us feel that we need to change it, then it can be worked upon. The human mind is very powerful. It only takes a strong will for a person to get down to realising what he does wrong and the desire to change for good. Therefore, I strongly believe that aggression is more of a learnt disposition than an innate trait. Works Cited: Anderson, C. A., 2002. Human Aggression. Annual Review of Psychology , Volume 53:27–51. Belasco, A., September 2, 2010. The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11. Washington D.C.: Congressional Research Service. DeBord, K., 2000. Childhood Anger and Aggression. North Carolina: Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. Dillon, C. H., 2007, Spring. Military Training for Civilian Careers. Occupational Outlook Quarterly , pp. 7 - 17. Heleta, S., 2007, May. Human Aggression: Pre-isposed or Learned. Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Hess, N. H., 2006. Sex Differences in Indirect Aggression Psychological Evidence From Young Adults. Evolution and Human Behavior , 27: 231–245. Kinsella, S. N., 2004. Causation and Aggression. The Quarterly Journal Of Austrian Economics Vol. 7, No. 4 , 97 - 112. O’Leary, K. D.-L., 2008. Gender Differences in Dating Aggression Among Multiethnic High School Student. Journal of Adolescent Health , 42: 473–479. Sussman, R. M., 2010. Are Humans Inherently Killers? Global Nonkilling Working Papers (pp. 1 - 48). Honolulu: Creative Commons Licence. Valentine, K. A., 2010. Male Aggression and Female Peace-Making. Evolutionary Psychology |Journal , 8(4): 677-681. Read More