Aggression: Biological or Learned?

Abstract
Aggression is any hostile behavior by an individual person that inflicts physical or psychological damage onto another individual. It can take on a physical form, such as physical acts of violence. It can also take on psychological forms, such as verbal threats or verbal abuse. There are many different theories which aim to explain how aggressive personalities are developed. Theorists who adhere to the Biological Approach to Personality believe that genetics play a large part. They argue that there are biological indicators which make certain people more prone to aggressive personalities. They argue that aggression is not necessarily inherited, but certain predispositions pared with certain factors in an individual’s upbringing can spawn aggressive adults. Theorists such as Albert Bandura believe that personality characteristics such as aggression are learned. According to the Behavioral/Social Learning Approach to Personality, individual personalities are developed through observation and experience. Specifically, aggressive personalities are learned much like other behaviors are learned as a child grows and experiences different things.Research has shows that children predisposed to violence and aggression grow up to be aggressive adults. Aggression, as defined by Merriam-Webster is “a forceful action or procedure (as an unprovoked attack) especially when intended to dominate or master” (Aggression, 2012). It is “hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior” that can vary in terms of how it is carried out or projected (Aggression, 2012). It is any behavior by an individual person that inflicts physical or psychological damage onto another individual. This implies that aggression does not always have to be acted out physically. It can also be verbal. Aggressive actions, gestures, and words can all have a severe impact on the individual or individuals which they are projected onto. This aggressive behavior is nurtured by environmental factors such as social issues being war and the type of upbringing the individual has.
Aggression, when seen as a consistent behavior within a particular individual, can be considered a facet of that individual’s personality. “Personality can be defined as consistant patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual” (Burger, 2011, p. 4). There are many different approaches to understanding how personalities are formed in human beings, and thus, many different approaches to understanding how an individual becomes aggressive. There are two approaches which seem based in answering the age old question of nature versus nurture. They are the biological approach and the behavioral/social learning approach.
Psychologists and theorists that support the biological approach tend to lean towards attributing individual human personalities towards nature. It is their belief that aspects of human personality are developed and influenced by biological factors. The biological approach to aggression, or any personality characteristic for that matter, look for patterns of behavior which are stable and static. Specifically, they “point to a genetic predisposition to act aggressively as one reason for this stability” (Burger, 2011, p. 7). Research has shown that biologically aggressive behaviors can be developed in a few different ways. It has been shown that some people inherent a greater penchant for aggressive personalities. This simply means that certain people, due to their genetic makeup, inherit certain aggressive characteristics. These inherited aggressive characteristics can lead to an individual becoming an aggressive adult, dependant on their upbringing (Burger, 2011, p. 7). Another viewpoint for biological aggression is that is an evolutionary trait. Basically, this theory establishes that, evolutionary wise, certain groups, such as genders, are more prone to aggressive personalities. According to Burger, an example of this might include “the fact that men tend to be more aggressive than women might be explained by the man’s inherited need to exercise control over rivals to survive and pass along his genes” (2011, p. 7). “The prevalence of aggression as a predominantly male behavior pattern has often been noted” (Tieger, p. 943 ).
Psychologists who support the behavioral/social learning approach attribute aggression to being a learned aspect of personality. “According to these psychologists, people learn to be aggressive the same way they learn other behaviors” (Burger, 2011, p. 7). Aggressive behavior and personalities can be developed at any point in an individual’s life. What is key to understanding this approach is understanding how theorists believe that an aggressive personality is formed. One major aspect of this theory is that individuals must see that violent or aggressive behavior is rewarded and not punished.
Research shows that exposure to aggression increases an individual’s likelihood to act in an aggressive manner. However, exposure alone to aggression does not necessarily guarantee that a person will imitate aggressive acts.One theorist who brought light to this fact and made major contributions to this theory was Albert Bandura. According to Albert Bandura, there are certain precursors to observational learning and performance. Bandura modeled learned aggressive behaviors are the result of “information processing” versus conditioning (Grusec, 1992, p. 776). Bandura proposed that there are actually four steps required to transform observational learning into an actual act of imitation. “Each of these components has a role to play either in acquisition of information about events and of rules or in the decision to put this information to use in guiding behavior” (Grusec, 1992, p. 781). His four step model explains the four steps that individuals must go through before exposure to aggression leads to actual acts of aggression. Step one is that a person must first attend to the aggressive or violent action, meaning they must pay attention to it. This is usually determined, according to Grusec, by “the power and attractiveness of the model as well as the conditions uder which the behavior is viewed” (1992, p. 781). Grusec states that television is usually a “compelling medium” (1992, p. 781). Second, they must remember the action. Third, is that the person must enact what has been seen. This requires the ability and opportunity to do so. Lastly, the individual must expect that the aggressive or violent act will result in a reward versus punishment.
“A series of studies in which children viewed aggressive models showed with startling clarity how exposure could lead to increases in the children’s own aggression, rather than serving some cathartic function. They also demonstrated how knowledge could exist in the absence of performance, and that children could be fully cognizant of the nature and consequences of a give behavior without ever having engaged in it” (Grusec, 1992, p. 783). This is just another example of how social/behavioral learning can work. According to the studies, it is shown that children do not actually have to immediately imitate aggression and violent behaviors in order for them to learn them. It is simply enough for them to view them, interpret them, and observe that they are rewarded in order for the learning to occur. References
Aggression. (2012). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker
Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggressive behavior through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.
Burger, J. M. (2011). Personality (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Grusec, J. E. (1992). Social learning theory and developmental psychology: The legacies of Robert Sears and Albert Bandura. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 776-786.
Tieger, T. (1980). On the Biological Basis of Sex Differences in Aggression. Child Development, 51(4), 943-963.