Theories of Aggression Essays -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Theories of Aggression "Two Gunman at Colorado School Reportedly Kill Up to 23 Before Dying in a Siege." On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, of Columbine High School, shocked the nation when they entered the school armed with guns and explosives, killing fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Stories of random violence and aggression such as this all too often plague the media. While the attention of the nation has recently been focused on the Colorado slayings, history reveals countless other similar crimes of aggression targeted towards innocent individuals. In both Nazi Germany and the more recent Bosnia conflict, ethnic cleansing has been used to violently eliminate certain races. In the early 1990s, Timothy McVegh's vengeful intentions led him to use a car bomb to kill hundreds of innocent people in the explosion of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. In these cases, the culprits were seemingly normal people that displaced their aggression on innocent bystanders for a variety of reasons. What is the cause of this unleashed aggression toward society? How can we come to explain such acts of aggression and violence? Are they a result of societal influences, or are some individuals biologically predisposed to crime? This paper attempts to analyze some of the prevailing theories of aggression. The theories can be classified into three groups: innate or biological theories, drive theories and social learning theories. In light of the evidence produced for each, it is my goal to formulate a conclusion about which particular theory seems most substantiated and reasonable. Sigmund Freud is well known as the father of psychoanalysis. In his early theory, Freud ass... ...h murders and violence, we must regard aggression as a summated response to many factors. Individually, the factors probably are harmless, but when united, they can be unleashed as aggression in which case terrible crimes take the lives of so many innocent people. WWW Sources 1)Freud's Theory http://home.fgi.net/~freud/index.htm 2)Freud Biography http://werple.net.au/~gaffcam/phil/psych1.htm 3)Instinct Theory http://www.student.richmond.edu/~efecteau/instinct.html 4)Aggression Theories http://rock.uwc.edu/psych/psy330/outlines/aggression.htm 5)Theories of Aggression http://www.unn.ac.uk/academic/ss/psychology/resource/it/1/HAZ.HTM 6) The Theoretical Development of Aggression http://academic.csub.edu/~lvega/dustin2.html 7) Aggression and Violence: Examining the Theories http://www.nursing-standard.co.uk/vol12-27/research.htm