The Causes Of Aggression And Violence: Analysis Of Theories

As you walk down the street, turn on the TV, or scroll through social media, you are constantly being plagued with images, words, or thoughts of violence. Over the past several decades, violence or the threat of violence has become a major issue throughout the world. Whether you have heard, seen, or been a victim of violence, it is something that no one ever wants to be a part of. To help combat and better understand this issue, researchers have been trying to find reasons and ways to explain criminal behavior. One way to explain these issues is through the biological theory of aggression. To better understand this theory, you must first understand and be able to clearly define aggression. Aggression most commonly refers to a type of behavior that has a goal of purposefully inflicting harm onto another person. Accidental harm, or harm caused by a helpful action cannot be considered aggression. The harm caused must have been intentional. Another thing to remember is that, “all violence is aggression, but many instances of aggression are not violent”. This essentially means that just because someone exhibits aggression does not mean that violence has to follow. There are two types of aggression. These types include affective and instrumental. Affective aggression is sometimes referred to as hostile, violent, or reactive aggression. Affective aggression can be defined as a thoughtless and impulsive action that is driven by anger (Kitaeff 2011, p. 39). Many who exhibit this type of aggression will most likely inflict harm on another person. Since most of the time affective aggression is unplanned, the subject’s feelings of aggression will build up over time until an outburst is imminent. Instrumental aggression is a premeditated act of violence. Unlike affective aggression where a crime will most likely be committed, instrumental aggression can be justified. Instrumental aggression can be defined as a premeditated means of obtaining some goal other than to just cause harm to an individual. Examples of instrumental aggression can be seen in military action and self-defense. Within each of these examples, aggression towards another person is seen to the extent of criminal activity. However, the aggression is justified because of the initial purpose of the act. Protection of one’s self, another person, or one’s country is the common goal of instrumental aggression. Although affective and instrumental aggression are two different concepts, they are not always classified as separate acts. Some acts of aggression can have properties of both affective and instrumental aggression.

By first understanding aggression, you are able to paint a clearer picture for possible causes of aggression and violence. Since the eighteenth century when researchers first started looking into aggression, many were focused on intelligence level, heredity, and body constitution. However, since then, many other explanations for aggression have arose. Some of the earliest explanations for aggression can be seen from the works of those such as Charles Darwin, Cesare Lombroso, Ernst Kretchmer, and William Sheldon. These gentlemen are some of the forefathers of the biological theory of aggression. In the early eighteenth century, researchers began looking at aggression by first studying both bumps on people’s heads and the facial features of people. This work is known as physiognomy and phrenology. Soon after, using the works of Charles Darwin, Cesare Lombroso publish The Criminal Man which attempted to show that some individuals may be born criminal. He used the theories in Darwin’s work that showed that the human species in our earlier years were primitive and had to fight to survive. If humans once used this behavior daily, then some people could still be born with this nature still engraved in their system just waiting for the right time to come out. Years later, William Sheldon used somatotyping to help explain criminal aggression. Somatotyping can be defined as a system used to classify human body types. In the 1940’s Sheldon tried to document a direct relation between body characteristics and criminal behavior. In doing this, he created three types of classifications. These classifications included ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs. Ectomorphs were people that were thin and flat. Endomorphs were obese individuals while mesomorphs were muscular and fit individuals. One part of his research focused on juvenile delinquency. During this research he argued that monomorphic individuals were more likely to engage in crime, ectomorphs were more likely to commit suicide and endomorphs were more likely to become mentally ill. Even though he was able to conclude this information, he could never find scientific evidence to support these findings.

Over the years, many researchers turned their interest to outside factors that could potentially lead to aggression in individuals. Researchers have suggested factors such as food, hormones, chemical exposures, medications, and lack of sleep as all possible influences on aggressive behavior. However recently, the focus has shifted to psychoactive medications as being a huge reason for aggressive behavior. Psychoactive drugs are medications that act on the central nervous system. Within the central nervous system, the medication works to alter the brains function which will result in temporary changes in mood, perception, behavior, and consciousness. Most people tend to take psychoactive medications for depression and attention deficit behavior disorders. Some common brands of these medications include Prozac, Luvox, and Paxil. Recently, researchers have been looking into the connection between those taking psychoactive medications and criminal behavior. There have been several instances noted that show mass murderers having taken these medications prior to committing their crime. However, each of these individuals had already been depressed and suicidal prior to taking the medications. Although some warning labels on these medications suggest that the user could become more depressed while taking these medications, it seems that it is difficult to actually say that the medications were the actual cause of their criminal actions. These prescribed medications could not have been working for the individual and their actions could have been a direct result of their actual state of mind prior to consuming the medications.

Besides external factors, many internal factors could also be another cause for aggressive behavior. These internal factors can include things such as hormones, genetics, the limbic system, neurotransmitters, and brain injuries caused from various different conditions. In the 1960’s, researchers began looking into the XYY Syndrome as a possible cause for aggressive behavior exhibited by males. Their research determined that male inmates within institutions for the criminally insane were more likely to possess this syndrome. The XYY Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder that only effects males. Those with this disorder will possess an extra Y chromosome which can cause learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. During this initial research, it was believed that more than 100,000 males were subject to violent behavior due to what was often referred to as Super-Male Syndrome. Although initial research thought that this syndrome was linked to overly aggressive behavior, recent studies have suggested that this is not necessarily the case. Researches derived from studying animals have suggested that serotonin may also play a key role in aggressive behavior.