Unit 2: Social Psychology

Gender differences in aggressive behaviour

In this essay I shall be discussing the gender differences with regards to aggression and behaviour. I shall consider whether our environment affects our behaviour or if genetics are connected to aggression. Through extensive research I shall discuss how biologically and environmentally different genders relate to aggression and behaviour and why there are differences between the two.

Firstly I shall establish gender differences in aggressive behaviour in the UK, an article (Meavan 2013) states that “men are responsible for 85% of all indictable crimes in England and Wales, 88% of crimes against the person, 90% of murders, and 98% of sexual offences (all for the year to June 2012)”, which means that the crimes that men commit are usually taken to court and are serious offences where women only commit small offences. Another fact that needs to be taken into account is how violent the crimes are for example homicide cases “men are more frequently the perpetrator. For those suspects where proceedings concluded in 2011/12, 89% were male (210 suspects) and 11% were female (25 suspects)” (Meavan 2013). These statistics show a dramatic difference in aggressive crimes for male and female. They show women are capable of violence and aggression but may not act on those thoughts as often as men. They show how men are more likely to commit a violent act compared to women. But we still need to understand what distinguishes male and female action with aggressive behaviour. We need to question whether our environment and stereotypical gender roles are reasons for our behaviour or whether biology is an essential part of the differences in aggression between the two genders.

Stereotypically society has gender roles that we are all accustomed to, from birth we are biologically determined by our body parts; we are either male or female. Gender roles can be determined by how we act in those pre-determined roles. For example "...women are considered biologically programmed for childrearing and

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related domestic work, whereas men are regarded as ‘naturally’ breadwinners” (Donnell 1997).

This is why we stereotypically assume females would stay at home looking after the children as women are the more ‘gentle’ and ‘caring’ gender, whilst males go to work and provide for them as men are the more ‘competitive’ and ‘aggressive’ gender. Considering our environment when assessing aggression, can give some reasons as to why females are less likely to commit violent aggressive crimes compared to males. Females are nurtured into being sensitive and compassionate whereas males are nurtured into being tough and strong in their environment (Nelson 1983).

Psychological theories have many explanations for causes of aggression. Theories such as social learning theory (SLT), deindividuation and institutionalisation all give plausible reasons for why there is aggressive behaviour. An example of SLT is Bandura et al 1963’s attempt on an experiment to explain aggression. In the experiment they divided nursery school children into three groups; in the groups they were shown a video of an adult being aggressive towards a Bobo doll. In the first group the video finished with this. In the second group the clip showed the adult being rewarded for the aggressive behaviour and in the third group the adult was seen being punished for the aggressive behaviour. The children then were filmed with the Bobo doll. The first and second group of children were seen to be more aggressive towards the doll, the second more aggressive than the first but in the third group there was no sign of aggression towards the doll. This proves the behaviourist psychologist Skinner’s operant conditioning, learning by reinforcement because the children who were more aggressive learned the behaviour of being rewarded and the children who were punished were not aggressive so therefore learned that aggression would lead to punishment (Staceyav 2012).

Deindividuation is another explanation of aggressive behaviour in the environment. Social psychologists suggest that conformity in a crowd causes people to lose a sense of identification and therefore act more aggressively as they see no social consequence of this change of behaviour. For example, when at a football match people

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become irate, start shouting and portraying aggressive behaviour but on their own these people would be reserved and watch a football match without this aggressive behaviour. The crowd is giving these individuals confidence and no sacrifice for their actions. Therefore aggressive behaviour would continue until the people are separated from the group when they see themselves as individuals (Garcia 2014).

Institutionalised is an explanation as to why there is aggression in the work place or why institutions have high rates of aggressive behaviour. A famous experiment done by Zimbardo in 1973 also proved that when people are in a role of power and control, aggressive behaviour can occur and the power of the position is taken advantage of. Even in roles of a prisoner people still conform to adapt to their social environment. In the experiment the people in roles of guards became quite aggressive towards the prisoners in a short space of time,

“Most of the guards found it difficult to believe that they had behaved in the brutalizing ways that they had. Many said they hadn’t known this side of them existed or that they were capable of such things. The prisoners, too, couldn’t believe that they had responded in the submissive, cowering, dependent way they had. Several claimed to be assertive types normally” (Mcleod 2008). 

This experiment showed that when a person does not consider themselves as acting aggressively then the behaviour would continue until punishment occurs or if the person sees themselves in the role of the aggressor.

Biological research can show that our genetics can also be the cause of aggressive behaviour in gender differences. Kalat 1998 showed that men with high levels of testosterone had high levels of aggression compared to men with lower levels of testosterone. Virkkunen et al 1987 showed that neurotransmitter serotonin is linked to aggression. He researched people, both genders, with a history of criminal behaviour and found that they had low levels of serotonin which could have been a cause of their aggressive behaviour (Ashbourne college 2012).

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Studies that have looked at gender differences in aggression and cultures showed that in each culture men are always the more aggressive gender, aggression may be higher in some cultures for both genders, for example, the US due to the acceptance of violence, but men still show more aggressive behaviour than women in all cultures (Rahman 2009).

The debate still continues to whether biology or our environment is the result of aggressive behaviour in gender differences. Research has been carried out for many years on which are the causes of the aggression. Some that I have mentioned above show that our environment can change our behaviour and possibly be the cause for aggressive behaviour in both gender types. But on the other hand biology has much strength that show genetics can be reasons for aggressive behaviour. I believe that aggression is caused because of both physiological and environmental explanations combined, as we all start as genetics but still have our environment to influence behaviour.

References:

Ashbourne college. (2012). THE PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH. Available: https://ashbournecollegepsychology.wordpress.com/psya3/aggression/biological-explanations-of-aggression/. Last accessed 18th March 2015.

Belk.M. (2012). Instinct and Frustration-aggression Theories.Available: http://matthew-belk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/theories-of-aggression-there-are-3-main_2798.html. Last accessed 31st March 2015.

Bryant.L. (2014). Who Commits Crime?. Available: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/who_commits_crime.htm. Last accessed 18th March 2015.

Donnell .O.M, Manford.K. (1987). Introduction to sociology . 4th ed. Walton-on-thames, Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. pp2-4,186.

Garcia.R. (2014). Deindividuation. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZLFGGsRNw. Last accessed 19th March 2015.

Johan.M. (2015). ETHOLOGICAL and EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES of AGGRESSION. Available: http://rint.rechten.rug.nl/rth/dennen/a-ethol.htm. Last accessed 30th March 2015

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Mcleod.S. (2008). Zimbardo - Stanford Prison Experiment. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html. Last accessed 18th March 2015.

Meavan.L. (2013). Bad and dangerous to know: do men commit almost all crime?. Available: https://fullfact.org/articles/bad_and_dangerous_to_know_do_men_commit_almost_all_crime-28939. Last accessed 28th March 2015.

Meichenbaum.D. (2004). COMPARISON OF AGGRESSION IN BOYS AND GIRLS: A CASE FOR GENDER-SPECIFIC INTERVENTIONS. Available: http://www.melissainstitute.org/documents/2006/meich_06_genderdifferences.pdf. Last accessed 17th March 2015.

Nelson.B. (1983). AGGRESSION: STILL A STRONGER TRAIT FOR MALES.Available: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/20/style/aggression-still-a-stronger-trait-for-males.html. Last accessed 27th March 2015.

Rahman.A. (2009). CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN AGGRESSION: A CASE STUDY IN BANGLADESH. Department of Psychology, Baneswar College, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. 3-4 (1), 43-46.

Staceyav. (2012). Social Psychology Theories Versus Biological Explanations of Aggression. Available: https://staceyav.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/social-psychology-theories-versus-biological-explanations-of-aggression/. Last accessed 15th March 2015.

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