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.
