Aggression is defined in many different ways by different researchers due to the differences in underlying theories about its natures

and causes. A general definition of aggression is intentional infliction of some type of harm on others. There have been a lot of arguments among social psychologists in the past as to whether are humans innately aggressive or they learnt to be aggressive. Therefore, I have decided to examine which of the arguments is more relevant. Biological explanations showed that aggression is an innate action tendency. There are three major views which argue that humans are born to act aggressively that this aggressive action is an inherent part of human nature. The oldest view among the three is the psychodynamic theory. This theory is proposed by Freud who said that aggression builds up naturally and must be released. The second oldest view is the ethological theory. Although ethologists also emphasized on the positive, functional aspects of aggression, they also admitted that aggressive behaviour is elicited by releasers. Releasers are thought by ethologists as specific stimuli in the environment that lead to aggressive responses. This theory can be interpreted as a two-factor theory which concludes that there is an innate urge to act aggressively which relies upon appropriate stimulation by the environment releasers. The most recent biological view is evolutionary social psychology theory. This theory is derived from Darwinian theory who argued that certain behaviour has evolved as it promotes the survival of genes by allowing individuals to live long enough for the next generation to inherit their genes. To procreate aggression, aggression has to be adaptive as it must be linked to living long enough. For humans, the aims for which aggressive behavior is adaptive include social and economic advantage, either to have new resources or defend resources that they already have. However, these biological arguments have some limitations. For example, social scientists Goldstein and Ryan question the adequacy of the biological explanations of aggression as these these biological concepts rely on energy that is unknown, unknowable, and immeasurable. Besides that, it is supported by only limited and biased empirical observation of actual human behaviour, and it depends on circular logic, proposing causal connections for which there is no evidence. Other than that, The American Psychological Association and the International Council of Psychologists, together with other organizations, has also endorsed a statement on violence developed by scientists from a dozen nations. The statement is, It is scientifically incorrect to say that any violent behaviors is genetically programmed into our human nature. On the other hand, social learning theory argued that aggression is learned from other people through imitation and observation. Bandura experimented this theory by having an adult knock around a plastic, air-filled Bobo Doll, a kind of doll which bounces back after being knocked down. The adult would act aggressively against the doll by kicking, striking and yelling aggressive things at it. Some kids will then be asked to play with the doll. The results of this experiment showed that children who watched the aggressive acts imitated the adult by using identical actions and words as the adult and treated the doll in an abusive way. On the other hand, some children almost never unleashed any aggression against the doll as they did not see the aggressive adult in action. Other than that, Wilkinson and Carr conducted a study on 416 young violent offenders from two New York City

neighbourhoods and found out that these individuals were taught that violence is the correct way in dealing with conflicts and to achieve a degree of high status in the neighbourhood. Mass media play a role too in promoting aggression. There are many examples of people imitating violent acts such as assault and rape in almost exact fashion to portrayals in films or television programmes. For instance, in a longitudinal study, researchers observed the behaviour of more than 700 families over a time span of 17 years. Their observations are striking as they found a significant positive relation between the amount of time spent on viewing violent television programmes during adolescence and early adulthood and the likelihood of subsequent violent acts against others. This relation was significant regardless of family income, parental education, and violence. This study showed that besides children, adolescents and young adults will also imitate the violent portrayals in mass media. Other than that, the bottom line from a comprehensive and rigorous meta-analysis by Anderson and Bushman indicated that there are significant and substantial positive relations between media violence and aggression regardless of how one studies the media violence and aggression link. These examples further proven that arguments presented in social learning theory are indeed valid. Cultural variations also play a role in aggression as attitudes towards aggression differ between groups within cultures and nations. We can see that throughout history, variations in cultural norms and values have structured some societies as less, and some as more, aggressive than others. For example, there had been one major war after another is European history. Conversely, Bergeron and Schneider has found in their research that cultures imbedded with collectivist, cooperative values has lower levels of aggression than European societies. Similarly, Baron and Richardson have reported that certain tribes such as the Arapesh of New Guinea and the Pygmies of Central Africa has been living in apparent peace and harmony, with aggression acts being extremely low. Another underlying cause of aggression is social disadvantage. The degree to which disadvantaged groups have a sense of relative deprivation is the key factor in the relationship between disadvantage and aggression. Relative deprivation is a sense of having less than we feel entitled to. Deprived individuals might behave aggressively at an intergroup level as they learnt that their condition can only be improved illegitimately. This explains why the former East Germans rebelled against their communist regime even though they had a higher standard of living than some Western European countries as their living standard is frustratingly lower than their West German neighbours. In conclusion, based on my findings above, I would conclude that humans are being nurtured to be aggressive. I also acknowledge that the biological contribution to aggression cannot be ignored as after all, aggression is a reaction of our bodily system.