3. Philosophical Views of Aggression
Philosophers have debated whether our human nature
is fundamentally bad or fundamentally good.
The 18th century Jean-Jacques Rousseau had argued
that we are basically good, and society is to blame for
social evils
The British philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
had argued that we are basically evil and need to be
restrained by society.
The idea that aggressive drive is innate and thus
inevitable was promoted by Freud and Konard
Lorenz.
4. Freud and Lorenz
Freud saw aggression as the expression of the death
instinct, the Thanatos, that is directed outwardly
Lorenz, and animal expert, saw aggression as adaptive-
the member of the species who is more aggressive
controls more resources and have higher lieklihood to
survive
Aggressive energy is seen by Freud and Lorenz as
instinctive, that is, unlearned and universal; if not
discharged, it build up until “explosion”
Instinct theory fails to account for the variation of
aggressiveness' from person to person and from culture to
culture
•Study well the section on gender similarities and differences. Why were social psychologists reluctant to explore this area in th
•Note areas of gender differences, such as independence (male), and connectedness (female), social dominance, aggression, and se
•Note how males and females differ in their mating preferences. Give examples. Pp. 176-178
• Note impact of sex hormones, especially testosterone. P. 180
•Note issue of gender roles and how they vary with culture and over time. 182-184
•Note Harris’ ideas of peer-transmitted culture. 184-185
7. Biochemical (cont-d)
Testosterone: Hormonal influences appear to be much
stronger in animals than in humans, but aggressive
behavior does correlate with the male hormone
testosterone
Drugs that diminish levels of testosterone in violent
human males will subdue their aggressive tendencies
After age 25 the testosterone levels diminish and so
does violent behavior
Testosterones levels tend to be higher in violent
criminals
8. Testosterone (cont-d)
Testosterone levels tend to be higher among prisoners
convicted of planned and unprovoked violent crimes
High testosterone levels in men are related to
delinquency, hard drug use, and aggressive responses
to provocation
In men, testosterone increases the width of the face
relative to the length of the face, and men with
relatively wider faces display more aggression
9. Low levels of Serotonin
Serotonin is one of the brain’s neurotransmitters
Low levels of serotonin were found to be related to
difficulties in impulse- control
Biology and behavior interact: Testosterone may
facilitate aggressive and dominant behaviors, but
dominating behavior (such as winning a soccer
match) boosts testosterone levels.