Aggression, I believe aggression is
a very interesting topic. There are many reasons to why we feel angry and
sometimes are aggressive, it could be because a situation, at something, or
someone. Anger helps us express how we feel, can you imagine a world in which
people would have other emotions except for anger, what would that be like, but
anger taken too far may lead to aggression.
Anger affects our bodies in many
ways, according to this article, anger increases blood pressure, testosterone,
while on the other hand cortisol decreases, and much more. Studies in similar
fields like aggression, have shown with hamsters that if a hamster sniffs out
an intruder (another hamster) it will eventually attack it, and if a second
intruder shows up within the next 30 minutes or more the hamster will attack
more vigorously and faster than before, when this happens the activity in the
corticomedial area of the amygdala builds up. This study has been shown in
humans too.
Of course violence and aggression
are not only environmental, there is genetics involved in it. Studies with
monozygotic twins (the same egg split in half, almost exact same genetics) have
shown that when the twins are raised in different environments, one in a
aggressive and the other in a nonaggressive environment, if they have the
required genetics, then the one raised around aggression will most likely be
aggressive. For now no specific gene has been found for aggression, which means
it is something that can not be turned off, but counseling maybe one of the
best ways to reduce it. Here is an interesting video on aggression, its about 7 minutes long.
Agression is something crazy. I can relate to that hamster attacking anyone whom comes near while I’m mad. I’ve noticed recently and I’ve tried to control to be angry only with the person I’m mad at (which takes A LOT of control), but I can only imagine if it’s hard for me to do how animals must not know how to do it. In the video, the man Mark having a tumor affect what he did and how he reacted with the child is just freaky. The mind is a fascinating thing and the fact that his brain was altered and made him do the things he did is just so sad. It took such a bad circumstance to realize that the hypothalamus plays that much of a role in a person’s life, but does that mean it isn’t his fault? If he noticed changes in his behavior why didn’t he go to the doctor? I think most of us put off going to the doctor, but in this case it caused a child to be severely hurt. I don’t think it’s his fault and it probably doesn’t make sense to think of the could have would have’s but still.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion i think that the hamster study is similar to the reaction of a human being. Like hamsters, who attack intruders and within a short period of time will attack another intruder more vigourously, humans act that way when acting aggresively towards other individuals. I know that when I get mad at someone and someone else comes along I am very likely to get mad at them too. I have also seen where other people have the same reaction which is very similar to the hamster study.
ReplyDeleteAggression, in the evolutionary aspect, is necessary for survival. The main issue is the management of agression. I definitely think that genetics plays a big role on the level of aggression a person has. But the environment plays a role on how to manage agression in a healthy manner. For example, according to Bandura's bservational learning theory we learn by observing others and imitate others' behavior. If a child sees and adult expressing aggression through violence that child will display the same behavior.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting how dangerous this can become because while most humans have the ability to be in control of their aggression it can get out of hand and just like the hamster can become dangerous, even fatal. While we can't do much about biological aggression however we do have programs that help people physical master over their aggression or have an outlet for it.
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