For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
THEORIES OF AGGRESSION.
Term Paper ID:30479
Essay Subject:
Differences between aggression in men and women.... More...
9 Pages / 2025 Words
10 sources, 20 Citations,
APA Format
$36.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Differences between aggresstion in men and women. Greter physical and verbal aggressiveness of males. Biological and psychological theories. Influence of genes on personality. Effects of testesterone. Aggression as an adaptive response. Influence of serotonin. Aggression as a learned response. Role of parental behavior. Social influences. Effect of TV violence.
Paper Introduction:
I. Introduction
There are differences between aggression in men and women, which may have a biological basis, but they are also tempered by psychological parameters and socialization issues (Archer, 1991; Fishbein, 1992). In animals, aggression is usually studied in terms of behavior alone, but in humans aggression encompasses the intention to harm another person, some form of behavior carried out as a result of this intention, and an emotion which can be anything from mere irritation to outright rage (Archer, 1991). While there are no outright statistics, males usually tend to be more aggressive than females in terms of physical and verbal aggression. A still unanswered question is how much of this difference is biological and how much is psychological. Differences are not only found between genders, but also with
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Endocrine disturbances canincrease aggressive behavior in both men and women, but it is still usuallytempered by psychosocial effects.V. Infants are born with the instinctto imitate adult behavior, and it has been shown that infants as young as14 months of age incorporate behaviors seen on television. S., & Margolin, G. Girls were particularly likely to have increased aggressionassociated with beliefs in powerful others for success experiences comparedto failure experiences. While television exposure alone is notresponsible for all aggression, it appears to play a significant role ininfluencing aggressive acts, particularly by males. H., & Kuehn, K. J., Anglin, T. Aggressive children aremore likely to have parents who are: cold and rejecting; do little childmonitoring; are violent or aggressive in their relationships; disciplineerratically; are coercive, abusive, or punish harshly; and condone orpromote violence. H. et al (1998). Parenting, 12, 96-1 2. Males reported having shot orshot at someone within the past year in 17.6 percent in one city and 25.2percent in another, but females reported the same type of behavior only .5percent and 4.5 percent respectively in the same cities. (1992). Inanimals, aggression is usually studied in terms of behavior alone, but inhumans aggression encompasses the intention to harm another person, someform of behavior carried out as a result of this intention, and an emotionwhich can be anything from mere irritation to outright rage (Archer, 1991). Song, L-Y., Singer, M. Colt, G. Theyare less inclined to explore and engage in less rough and tumble play thanboys do. S. Maugh, T. British Journal of Psychology, 82, 28- (incomplete referencegiven by client) Centerwall, B. Differences are not only found between genders,but also with age and education (aggression decreasing with increasing ageand education level), and between different ethnic groups (Harris andKnight-Bohnhoff, 1996).II. Physiological and psychological testing of pairs of both identicaland fraternal twins has usually shown that character traits areapproximately 6 percent due to inheritance. (1998). The psychobiology of female aggression.Criminal Justice & Behavior, 19, 99- (incomplete reference given byclient). Television and violence: The scale of theproblem and where to go from here. Critique Although there is some evidence for a biological basis for aggressionand differences between males and females in aggressive behavior, the majorinfluence appears to come from psychological sources, particularlysocialization issues. Introduction There are differences between aggression in men and women, which mayhave a biological basis, but they are also tempered by psychologicalparameters and socialization issues (Archer, 1991; Fishbein, 1992). Halloran, E. These results suggest three possible mechanisms explaining girls'aggression being related to feelings of responsibility for failure: theymay feel angry or frustrated because of their failure; they may be self-critical, have low self-esteem, and inferiority feelings because offailure; and blaming themselves for failure may interfere with cognitiveprocesses for problem solving and thus lead to aggression. Aggressive behavior appears to peak between the ages of 24 months and3 months in children, according to Richard Tremblay from the University ofMontreal (in Ruben, 1998). Excessive aggression later in lifemay be due to chemical influences on neural patterns in utero. Sex Roles, 35, 27-36. (1991). Researchers caution that so farthe genetic defect has only been demonstrated in the one Dutch family, andit is difficult to generalize the information to the population at large. Comparing boys and girls, beliefs in powerful others wasassociated with increased aggression in girls, but decreased aggression inboys. Reduced estrogen levels in thepremenstrual period in women have been associated with aggression. There is also evidence of ethnic differences in aggressivetendencies, with Hispanics rating higher on aggression scales than Anglos(Harris and Knight-Bohnhoff, 1996). Gender differences have been found in the etiology and maintenance ofaggressive behavior (Halloran, Doumas, John and Margolin, 1999).Researchers looked at the relationship between teacher-reported aggressionand three types of locus of control for success and failure experiences.They found that for girls, aggressive behavior was positively correlatedwith internal and unknown locus of control beliefs, whereas in boys,aggressive behavior was negatively correlated with internal locus ofcontrol beliefs and negatively correlated with external locus of controlbeliefs. Harris, M. Violence exposureand emotional trauma as contributors to adolescents' violent behaviors.Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 152, 531-536. Gender and aggressionII: Personal aggressiveness. For instance, assertivenessis 6 percent inherited, while body mass appears to be 7 percentinherited. What makes a child violent? H. Psychological Theories While biological theories propose that there is a chemical basis forthe differences in aggressiveness between males and females, psychologicaltheories propose that aggressiveness is a learned response rather than aninnate one. There is a lot of evidence for the effects of testosterone onaggressive behavior in both males and females (Archer, 1991; Fishbein,1992). Journal of Genetic Psychology, 16 , 5-21. Psychosocial influences in childhood carry over intoadulthood and set the tone for the degree of aggressive behavior exhibitedby both sexes in later life. (1999).The relationship between aggression in children and focus of controlbeliefs. The aggressive response is due to an interaction betweenhormones and neurotransmitters. Aggression is an adaptive response to external events, but while bothsexes are capable of aggression, the aggressive behavior of males andfemales differs because of innate differences in biological processes(Fishbein, 1992). Astill unanswered question is how much of this difference is biological andhow much is psychological. Theintroduction of television in the 195 s caused a subsequent doubling of thehomicide rate in the United States. Explanations forthis can be physical restrictions with age, knowledge of better ways todeal with problems with age, and better ways of coping with hostility inaging. Fishbein, D. M., John, R. In both sexes, the right hemisphere develops more rapidly thanthe left, and in males the left develops later than in females. Los Angeles Times, 1. Experiencewith both violence exposure and trauma influenced violent behavior 24percent in males and 2 percent in females. The mutation is in the gene for monoamineoxidase A (MAOA). It has been shown by many studies that females exhibit lessphysical aggression than males from infancy onward (Fishbein, 1992). However, there is evidence that aggression doesameliorate with age (Harris and Knight-Bohnhoff, 1996). The roleof hormones in the design of the neurochemical system leads to subtledifferences in emotional behavior in males and females, such as theirsusceptibility to aggressive behavior. I. References Archer, J. Higher blood testosterone levels have been found in prisoners withhistories of violent behavior than in prisoners convicted of non-violentcrimes (Archer, 1991). Previousepidemiological studies have shown a correlation between low serotoninlevels and aggressive behavior in a number of psychiatric disorders, andnew studies at the University of Texas and Yale University have shown thatmanipulating the diet of normal individuals to artificially lower theconcentration of serotonin in the brain leads to more aggressive behaviorin these individuals (in Maugh, 1995). Violence exposure was found to affectviolent behavior 26 percent in males and 22 percent in females. Studies have found thatfemale delinquents often have mesomorphic physiques, and exposure of femaleathletes to anabolic steroids has also been shown to lead to moreaggressiveness in women (Fishbein, 1992). Researchers in the Netherlands reported on a large Dutch familywho have a genetic mutation which may cause periodic outbursts ofaggression (Evidence, 1993). In normal females, aggression is usually less because of the relativeabsence of testosterone, but disruptions in normal sex hormone productionin a female may lead to more aggressive behavior. JAMA, 267, 3 59-3 67. Ruben, D. The environment in which children are raised, theattention they get from their parents, the behavior of their role models,and their exposure to violence in real life and on television, all play arole in molding their responses to stressful situations which can invokeaggressive responses. The effect of television violence on aggression in children has beenknown for a long time. This enzyme aids in the breakdown of theneurotransmitters dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and serotonin.Other studies of individuals showing aggressive behavior have also shownthe same neurochemical findings according to the National Institute forAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (in Evidence, 1993). The influence of testosterone on humanaggression. While there are no outright statistics, males usually tend to be moreaggressive than females in terms of physical and verbal aggression. Similar results have been found when looking atadolescent repeat offenders. In uteroand prepubertal differences in hormone exposure between males and femalesmay alter brain structure in such a way as to leave the person moresusceptible to aggression. What most researchers agree on, according to this report, is that themost important factor determining aggression is not genetics but socialinfluences, the greatest being parental practices. There is evidence now that lower than normal levels of serotoninproduce aggressive behavior in humans (Maugh, 1995). Were you born that way? Biological Theories The influence of genes on personality has been studied by comparingidentical twins raised in separate environments and the studies have shownthat genes have a decided influence over personality (Colt and Kuehn,1998). M. Although genetic makeup may give someone a propensity foraggressive tendencies, these tendencies can be positively or negativelyaffected by socialization and environmental influences (Colt and Kuehn,1998). Life,21, 38-(incomplete reference given by client) Evidence found for a possible 'aggression gene.' (1993). C., Doumas, D. Although most such studies have been carriedout on males, similar results have been found when looking at femaleviolent offenders: they also showed higher testosterone levels than femalescommitting non-violent offenses. Surveys of malefelons imprisoned for violent crimes showed that 22 percent to 34 percentreported having consciously imitated crime techniques learned fromtelevision programs. (1992). Exposure to acts of violence and violent behavior can also predisposeindividuals to aggression, as was shown in a survey of 3,735 high schoolstudents aged between 14 and 19, 48 percent males and 52 percent females(Song, Singer and Anglin, 1998). During development in utero, testosteroneis produced around the seventh week and this begins the differentiationinto a male or a female fetus, and leads to different neuroanatomicalfeatures. Although the evidence is sparse so far for such a genetic link toaggression, it makes sense biologically because the MAOA enzymes affectedby the genetic defect breakdown the neurotransmitters of the "flight orfight" response which, if they accumulate abnormally, could stimulateaggressive tendencies (Evidence, 1993). Shortage of chemical causesaggression, studies confirm. However,another of Tremblay's studies showed that more than half the boys who weredelinquents by age 13 could be identified by their behavior inkindergarten. Science,26 , 1722-1724. Fluvoxamine, which increases brainserotonin levels, is now being used to decrease aggression in somepsychiatric disorders.III. (1998). A similar study in Norway showed that 6 percent of boys whowere bullies in grades six to nine had at least one court conviction by age24. Males exhibit more aggression thanfemales, and much of this is due to social conditioning: boys are taughtfrom infanthood to be more assertive and aggressive, while girls are taughtto be more submissive and less demonstrative. The researchersconcluded that an environment that generates significant discomfort ordispleasure, such as poverty, overcrowding, or racial inequality can bothproduce aggressive inclinations and reduce disinhibitions againstaggression. In 199 the American Academy of Pediatrics issued apolicy statement advising parents to limit children's television viewing toonly one to two hours a day because of its negative effects, even at lowlevels of exposure (Centerwall, 1992). Females are raised differently than males, and this is in partresponsible for suppressing aggressive tendencies in females. (1996). These conditions during childhood can lead to anger, which isthe most important trauma symptom in predicting violent behavior for bothsexes. (1995, November). Summary There are differences between aggressive tendencies in males andfemales, males being the more aggressive, and though some of thesedifferences are biological, the prime determinant of aggression issocialization. Locus ofcontrol beliefs do not appear to be related to aggression in boys.IV. B., & Knight-Bohnhoff, K. Half of the mothers in one study reportedaggressive acts by their two-year-old-boys and 4 percent of mothersreported similar acts for their two-year-old girls, suggesting that thistype of behavior is normal in young children of both sexes. A 22-year prospective study showed that boys'television violence viewing at age 8 significantly predicted theseriousness of crimes for which they were convicted by age 3 .
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject