Aggression Is It ‘Nature’ Or ‘Nurture’
...occasionally, some more than others, maybe as a child in the play ground or later as an adult when somebody cuts you up when you are driving along. But what causes anger and aggression and why do we all suffer from it? Well there are lots of different theories to what causes aggression and where aggressive behaviour comes from. So throughout this essay I will examine the different concepts and theories from different psychologist and develop and show an understanding of Aggression
Aggression is defined as behaviour directed towards another living being with the intent of harming or injuring them in someway, and can be defined as either Hostile Aggression or Instrumental Aggression. The difference being that Hostile Aggression is aggressive behaviour which its main focus is, on causing or bringing harm to someone. For example, a parent yelling at a child to make them feel bad. It is usually driven by arousal, impulsivity, and immediate to situational provocation. It may be closer to the kinds of aggression identified by instinct theories. It includes irritable aggression. While Instrumental aggression is a learned response, and aggression is used, for achieving certain goals, for example a parent yelling at a child to prevent them running in the road and been hit by a car. In this mode aggression is just another way of getting what you want or avoiding being criticised by authority (obedience based aggression as in the Milgram study), or gaining normal awards. (1)
There has always been a long-standing debate within social psychology whether interpersonal aggression is ‘nature’ orientated from a biological aspect or ‘nurture’ a social learning process, brought on by the environment, family, etc.
The seventeenth century philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) quoted ‘People are naturally competitive and hostile, interested only in their own...
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