Aggression

how it impacts our lives

Definition
The term aggression refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to oneself, other groups or objects in the environment. The expression of aggression can occur in different ways, including verbally, mentally and physically. Aggression can serve different purposes: to express anger or hostility, to assert dominance, to intimidate or threaten, to achieve a goal, to express possession, a response to fear, a reaction to pain or to compete with others.

Research
There has been done a lot of research on the Nature vs. Nurture topic. Many studies have indicated that chemical relationships between serotonin, testosterone, and frontal lobe brain chemistry may play a key role in determining aggressive behavior, while other studies have explored environmental and societal factors in relation to human aggression.

 Research on Nature:
 * Some researchers seem to think that more aggression may be due to testosterone. High testosterone (male sex hormone) is associated with more unfaithfulness, more sex, more divorce, more competitiveness, and anti-social behavior.
 * Others believe that it may stem from a specific gene. A large survey of adopted children has found that living with an adoptive parent who committed crimes is less risky than merely having the genes from a person who committed crimes.
 * There has been done a lot of research on the nature vs. nurture topic. Many studies have indicated that chemical relationships between serotonin, testosterone, and frontal lobe brain chemistry may play a key role in determining aggressive behavior, while other studies have explored environmental and societal factors in relation to human aggression.
 * Terrie Moffitt and colleagues studied the blood serotonin levels of 781 21-year-old men and women. The researchers report that "in this study, elevated whole blood serotonin was characteristic of violent men."

 Research on Nurture:
 * Certain aspects of human life have been singled out as factors that seem to contribute to the development and control of aggression. These include cognitive factors, family factors, neighborhood factors, and peer influences.
 * The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis model states simply that when a human being notices that his way to a goal is blocked, aggression arises. Heavily influenced by behaviorism as well as by Freud, frustration-aggression theorists define frustration as the thwarting of an action that would have produced reward or gratification.
 * The Social Learning Theory created by Albert Bandura describes how aggression is learned in two basic ways: we observe aggressive models, and we receive and/or expect payoffs following aggression



**How is aggression a part of our everyday life? ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We see aggression and violence everywhere! In movies, TV-shows, music, on the news and in video games. When we go to school we might see bullying and fighting, both physical and emotional. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Want to know how aggression in movies and TV has impacted women? Go to this website to find out: __[]__ For more interesting articles on Aggression, go to [|__http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/topicaggression.htm__] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Bibliography  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 70%; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/aggression.htm__] [|__http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web2/Mccawley.html__] [|__http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Aggression+%28psychology%29__] [|__http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9093/aggressive-behaviour__] [|__http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/07/health/la-he-mean-girls-20110208__] __[|http://blogcritics.org/music/article/study-says-violent-lyrics-increase-aggression]/__ __[|http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/reading-fiction-impacts-aggressive-behavior-35839]/__
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A recent study shows that teenage bullying is linked to popularity. In high schools, researchers found that teenagers' propensity toward aggression rose along with their social status. The more popular a students is, the more aggressive he or she will be, and only the top 2 % of the social hierarchy seemed to have stopped harassing their fellow students. The finding lends an air of authenticity to TV shows like "Gossip Girl" and the movie "Mean Girls."
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another study says that violent song lyrics often increases aggression related thoughts and emotions. In experiments involving 500 college students, researchers examined the effects of violent songs by giving various psychological tasks to measure aggressive thoughts and feelings. Results show that listening to the songs led to more aggressive interpretations of words, increased the speed with which people read aggressive vs. nonaggressive words and increased the proportion of word fragments that were filled in to make aggressive words. Also, the songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> It may come as a surprise, but a study shows that reading fiction impacts aggressive behavior in the same way that movies and games can. A team of researchers say, “Reading aggression in literature can influence subsequent aggressive behavior, which tends to be specific to the type of aggression contained in the story.”