Question

WHAT FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO CHILDREN LEARNING AND DEMONSTRATING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR? LIST AT LEAST TWO, AND EXPLAIN THE CONTRIBUTION OF EACH.

Answer 1

Anger is an emotion. Aggression is the outward behavioral manifestation of the feelings of being angry. Aggression has been defined as the behavior directed towards and carried out with the intent to harm the other person. There are many types of aggressive behavior namely, physical aggression, verbal aggression or hostility. Researchers have even said that in aggressive behavior the perpetrator believes that the behavior will harm the victim nd the victim tries to save himself from the aggression.

In a research by Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey (1989) it has been found that aggression, "appears to be a developmental trait that begins early in life and often continues into adolescence and adulthood". This means that there are many factors which increase aggression and aggressive behavior among children. Some of the factors are- being exposed to violent acts and learning at homes or through media, learning and manifesting violence or aggression through modeling others, for having an influence over others etc. moreover there are some other factors which are person specific like, traits, gender based socialization, belief system, attitude towards others etc. Certain traits predispose an individual towards being more aggressive. Males are socialized in a manner to be more aggressive than females. To have an influence over others and the presence of stereotypes and prejudices towards a particular group of people also influences aggression.

Some situational factors where children are primed to aggressive behaviors aids them to learn such kinds of behaviors.