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Aggression is something that all animals have. There are many different levels of aggression and people, as well as other animals, act on their feelings of aggression in many different ways. Aggression comes in many forms including physical violence, sexual abuse, yelling and mental abuse. There are many factors that contribute to the amount of aggressiveness that people have and the ways that they act on them. Males generally have more aggression than women and act out with aggressive behaviors more often. Aggression and anger can be controlled and treated in several different ways.
Aggression can not be completely destroyed, as it is a basic animal instinct. Everyone human on earth has aggression already in his or her biology. Some people have more than others do and some act on theirs more, but everyone has it. Studies have shown that males generally tend to have more aggression than woman.
This has been shown through studies done about the link between testosterone and aggressive behavior. In a study done of 4, 462 men showed that higher testosterone levels showed increases in delinquency in adolescence and substance abuse. It also showed that as children they often had trouble with teachers and later in life had more sexual partners and used hard drugs. The study also revealed that among inmates the ones with higher testosterone levels committed violent crimes, more likely to be rejected for release by the parole board, and had more prison rule violations (Days Jr. , 1995). There are two other biological factors that may play a role in the prevalence of aggressive behavior. One of these is a brain chemical called serotonin.
Serotonin sometimes acts as a behavioral inhibitor. People that have a lower level of serotonin often show increased levels of impulsivity and aggressiveness. They are not as self conscious about their behaviors so they act on pure instinct more than others. Two other chemicals in the brain, dopamine and norepinephrine, are also believed to contribute to aggressive behavior (Retzinger, 1991). Another cause of aggressive behavior is believed to come in early childhood. If a child is abused or sees abuse occur, they are more likely to be abusive in their adulthood.
Not only does it cause the child to become abusive later in life, abuse has an adverse affect on them immediately. They are often very fearful, have nightmares, feel powerless, have poor school performance, are more likely to abuse substances, are sexually promiscuous, have stomach cramps, headaches, sleeping and eating disorders and are frequently ill (Role, 2000). Although there are many different ways that males take out their aggression, one of the most prevalent symptoms of males with aggressive behavior is domestic violence. This destroys many families and hurts wives, children, and the attacker (usually the husband). According to the California Attorney General, a person is battered every 15 seconds. Fifty percent of couples have had at least one violent incident while it is a common occurrence in 10 - 25 % of marriages and one in four high school relationships is violent.
Of all assault cases reported, seventy percent are spousal abuse and one in three of all hospital emergency room visits are related to domestic violence. Even with these high percentages, only three percent of abused women and five percent of children need medical attention. This shows that many cases of domestic abuse probably go unreported (Miller, 1991). Another way in which males act out on their aggressive thoughts is through rape or sexual assault. Many people may think that these are crimes of sexual passion, but often times they are crimes of intense anger and aggression. The attacker is trying to be in control.
Rape doesnt always occur by a stranger in some dark alley. In fact about seventy percent of rape and sexual assault victims know their attacker. Twenty percent of college age women will be victims of sexual assault (Miller, 1991). Another cause of aggression, and one that often leads to sexual assault is alcohol.
Fifty five percent of sexual assaults on a college campus involve alcohol or drugs. In fact up to eighty six percent of homicide offenders, thirty seven percent of assault offenders, sixty percent of sexual offenders, fifty seven percent of marital abuse and 73 percent of child abuse involve alcohol. Alcohol disrupts normal brain functions by weakening brain mechanisms that normally restrain people from acting out impulsive behaviors, including inappropriate aggression. Another reason why alcohol may add to aggressive behavior is because the persons thoughts are altered.
This may lead to them overreacting to a social threat, or they cant correctly assess the consequences that may come from their violent behavior. Although alcohol does contribute to aggression and violence, intoxication alone does not cause it. Sometimes it may promote aggression simply because people expect it to. In a study people were given a few drinks that they were told contained alcohol. The majority of the people became more aggressive, even the ones who had received no alcohol at all.
The thought that they were consuming alcohol made them act more aggressive. Also people that are planning to act violently may drink to help them boost their confidence or to try and avoid punishment. This shows that the alcohol is not the cause of the aggression, but rather the aggression the cause of the drinking. Another cause of aggression comes from children witnessing violence and / or being abused when they are young.
One debate that stems from this is whether or not video games cause youths to become more aggressive. In a study done by Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at the University if Missouri-Colombia, it was found that video games do have a direct effect on aggressiveness, both in the short term and the long term. In the short term, aggressiveness is promoted when a violent video game is played by priming aggressive thoughts.
The long term effects could be more devastating. The person learns how to act out on aggressive thoughts and may use this in real life. One real life example of how video games promote aggressive behavior and violence is the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. The two boys were very involved with a video game Doom. This game is very violent and is in fact used by the military to train soldiers to kill effectively. The two boys made their own version of the game in which they had unlimited weapons and the other people could not fight back, basically what happened when they attacked their high school.
Obviously violent video games themselves do not cause aggression, but they do contribute to it. The study found that the video games had more of an effect on males, showing more that higher levels of testosterone promotes aggression. When introduced to violent video games, people that have aggressive personalities already are more likely to increase their aggressiveness (Anderson, 2000). One of the most effective techniques to reducing aggressiveness and violence is through counseling and therapy.
There are many different ways that this can be done, from anger management classes, to group therapy, to one on one sessions. Anger management therapy allows the person to learn more about their anger. Most anger management services try to provide a warm, comfortable, safe and therapeutic environment. This makes it so that the patient does not feel like they are being punished. The idea is for the people to get better, not for them to feel threatened (Retzinger, 1991). First a patients behavior and anger must be assessed.
Once this is done then a course of action can be picked. The successive appointments will follow along this course and try to discover the roots of the aggression and hopefully turned around. The counseling hoes to change unhealthy anger responses to new, more productive ways of dealing with anger rather than violence. People involved in therapy will find the origin of their anger and what type of anger they have. That is what they like to do to act out their aggression.
They will be taught how to manage their anger and how to release it in a safe and supportive environment. Also patients will learn how to reduce high levels of stress, manage anxiety, and reduce depression, all of which are causes of aggression. One on one counseling is the most effective technique in anger management. It allows each persons individual needs to be addressed, because no two persons anger and aggression are the same.
Group therapy is also effective but does not give the people the individual attention that they need. When in therapy peoples aggression can be greatly reduced, but it can never be cured. It is a basic instinct that we all have, just some people act on it more than others, and this must be controlled. Therapy takes a long time and will help to reduce the outbursts, but the aggression will still always be there (Retzinger, 1991). Aggression is found in every living animal on earth.
It is often shown in many different ways. It is a necessary emotion because it helps us to release anger. However there are good and bad ways of releasing aggression. When released in bad ways violence often occurs, whether it is domestic, sexual or homicidal. Both males and females have aggression, but males are more likely to act out on it because of their higher levels of testosterone, a cause for aggression. Other causes include alcohol and video games.
Treating aggression can be a hard and long process, usually done by therapy. Aggression adversely affects many peoples lives. It causes divorce, incarceration, hospitalization and even death. Aggression can never be fully done away with because all beings are born with it and can act on it from the moment of birth.
People just need to learn how to control it.
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