Humans Innately Aggressive Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Psychology

Aggression in Students

Introduction to Aggressive Behaviour

The behaviour of a human has many aspects and not all of them are positive some of them are negative too for example like anger, foul mood and even aggression. Aggressive behaviour of a person can be considered as a reaction to a particular action, situation or instance. This reaction can be impulsive and it can lead a person to break the rules of the household or even law as these behaviours can be violent and unpredictable. Aggression can be seen in children in school and this can be carried over to adulthood which can affect the behaviour of a person as well as the role in society. The aim of the present assignment is to understand the theories behind the aggression of students, its analysis followed by the discussion.

Theoretical Orientation: Aggressive Behaviour

Aggressive behaviour can have physical as well as emotional effect on others and it may include verbal as well as physical abuse. There can be many reasons which can cause aggression in a person or even in a child. It can include physical health, mental health, the structure of the family, personal relationships with others, the environment at school or work, socioeconomic factors, individual traits and life experiences (Patil, 2016). There are many reasons by which aggression can be seen in students of different age groups and it can be seen that whatever the reasons might be the factors involved in the causing the aggression are poor relationship skills, any underlying health condition which would cause stress or frustration. There are various ways in which aggression can be classified and one of the ways in which this can be done is by the orientation and the factor affecting a person can be defined accordingly.

The aggression can be classified as oriented in and oriented out under both there can be direct and indirect signs of aggression. The factors can be biochemical, chemical, psychological and sociological factors(Parker et al., 2019). There are many theories which have been formulated to explain the aggressive behaviour in students and they are intellectual theory, frustration-aggression theory, and social-learning theory of Bandura. In the environment of the school, it is possible that the things present in the environment can affect the psychology of a child. The psychoanalytic theory of aggression was put forward by Freud where the instinct between life and death can be explained by the dual drive-theory (Bouchard Jr, 2016). The theory can be explained by the fact that aggressive impulses when not combined with the bond of love and affection can cause an increase in aggression and destructiveness. This theory has been objected by the fact that it is not possible to understand aggression, its reactive nature was not considered, the biological origin of aggression as a drive has not been documented. According to the theory, there drive and impulse to end life and destruction has always been there.

Another theory was drive theory, according to this aggression is always presupposes the existence of frustration and contrariwise and frustration drives aggression. This depends on the amount of frustration; interference of the degree with goal-seeking response and frequency of frustrating experiences by one individual (Bjørkly, 2006). The critique of the theory was given by Bandura by stating that internal determinants were inferred from the behaviour causing them. Bandura then proposed social learning theory and it includes origin, instigator and regulators of aggression and the interaction between these causes outburst of aggression. This theory was criticized by the argument that it was not a specific theory for aggression (Bjørkly, 2006).

Personal Analysis: Aggressive Behaviour

Aggression is a state of mind which like other conditions of the mind cannot be explained by just one theory or hypothesis but a combination would explain it. Aggression is a state of mind which can be seen as internal as well as an external violation and it can be affected by the biological, sociological, psychological factors, etc. (Ekardt, 2020). These factors interact with each other and shape the behaviour of a person including students. These behaviours of aggression can be seen in the school environment as well as outside the school and can be traced to the origins, instigators and eventually outlook of the same as the behaviour of the student (Albert, 2017). Among these theories, the one which more closely conforms to aggression and it is required to be known closely so that these can be applied into clinical practice and behaviour modification can be done. As discussed earlier, aggression is the one which can have a violent outlook with the intent of self-harm or destruction to other and it is against the rules of the household and social laws (Weyns et al., 2017). In students, aggression can be seen in the form of latent aggression, origin or reason for aggression and the manifest of aggression (Kozina, 2007). Latent aggression can be like being angry, threatening, damaging things, yelling, throwing things, harassments, self-harm like pulling hair and scratching. These can manifest as blackmail, torturing, attacking, threatening, stalking, rape and suicide (Kozina, 2007).

Discussion on Aggressive Behaviour

Aggressive behaviour can be defined in various ways depending on who is defining it or in which context it is being defined. Social psychologists have attempted to define aggression as the behaviour due to which a person intends to himself or others in such a way that the latter is not wished to be harmed (Dovidio et al., 2017). Aggression can be seen in various age groups including children of school-going age. In school, students can face frustration which does not help children to achieve goals and their self-esteem is affected (Bartholomew et al., 2018). This aggression can be due to biologicalor intellectual disability like autism, post-traumatic stress disorder or of the child would have suffered from traumatic brain injury. The theories behind the development of aggression are not solely by the biological but can also be due to social interaction, psychological basis and behaviours (Bjørkly, 2006).

These theories for aggressive behaviour cannot singularly explain the aggression and in students, it is required that these are explored so that appropriate measures can be taken to help them. The cognitive behaviour therapy is based on the theory of social learning theory so that the behaviour can be modified and such that aggression can be reduced and one can be socially acceptable and work as per the laws (Kozina, 2007). In students, one aspect might be challenging to tackle aggression is that if students find that they are given special treatment when they show aggression this might become a habit.The aspect or origin of aggression is important to be known as it might be external and a serious problem and correction are also dependent on the same. From the various theories which have been discussed above, it can be seen that aggression is an innate aspect of human nature (Kozina, 2007).

In conclusion, aggression is a behaviour which is reactionary and impulsive and is ingrained in the working of a person and it can lead to the fact that there is the breaking of rules of household or laws of society. This can make a person with aggressive behaviour violent and unpredictable. Theories which govern the aggression can be biological, sociological, drive-theory, social learning theory and behavioural theory. These theories are required to be understood as a behavioural modification would be done accordingly so that aggressive outbursts can be reduced.

References for Aggression in Students

Albert, B. (2017). Social Learning Theory of Aggression.In Control of Aggression (pp. 201-252).Routledge.

Bartholomew, K. J., Ntoumanis, N., Mouratidis, A., Katartzi, E., Thøgersen-Ntoumani, C., &Vlachopoulos, S. (2018). Beware of your teaching style: A school-year long investigation of controlling teaching and student motivational experiences. Learning and Instruction, 53, 50-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.07.006.

Bjørkly, S. (2006). Psychological theories of aggression: Principles and application to practice. In Violence in Mental Health Settings (pp. 27-46).Springer, New York, NY.

Bouchard Jr, T. J. (2016). Experience producing drive theory: Personality “writ large”. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 302-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.11.007

Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., &Penner, L. A. (2017). The social psychology of prosocial behavior.Psychology Press.

Ekardt, F. (2020). Transformation to sustainability: An innovative perspective on societal change–with and against sociological, psychological, biological, economic and ethnologic findings. In Sustainability (pp. 61-109).Springer, Cham.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19277-8_2.

Kozina, A. (2007). Measurement of students' aggressive behaviour in school settings.http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/166126.htm.

Parker, S. K., Wang, Y., & Liao, J. (2019). When is proactivity wise? A review of factors that influence the individual outcomes of proactive behavior. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 221-248. https://doi.org/s10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015302.

Patil, M. (2016).Aggression and Frustration among Rural and Urban Secondary School Students. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 3(4), 12-20.

Weyns, T., Verschueren, K., Leflot, G., Onghena, P., Wouters, S., &Colpin, H. (2017). The role of teacher behavior in children's relational aggression development: A five-wave longitudinal study. Journal of School Psychology, 64, 17-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2017.04.008.

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