Congratulations! I am so happy to inform you that you have been chosen as my research assistant for this upcoming school year. I am thrilled to have you in my psychology laboratory. The credentials you provided us along with your enthusiasm for psychology are well suited for this placement. We run the lab with an eclectic approach, unlike other psychology labs which may only focus on one specific psychological angle.
Our main goal in this laboratory is to decipher how nature (biological, genetic components) and nurture (environmental influences) play a role in various psychological experiences. For example, in previous research, we have studied both the nature and the nurture contributions to intelligence, stress, and psychological disorders. We have learned that very few psychological phenomena are purely nature or purely nurture. We will create research hypotheses, and apply as many different psychological perspectives as possible, to uncover why specific thoughts and behaviors occur.
Please promptly come to our laboratory this upcoming Tuesday at 8:30 am. We are located in the National Park Pavilion Building, Room 45. We are looking forward to seeing you there.
Sincerely,
Dr. Carolena Gutierrez
Good morning. Here’s to a great first day! This semester, we will study the how’s and why’s of what causes aggression. We can label aggression as “intimidating or threatening behavior or attitudes intended to hurt someone.” (Scientific American textbook, page 507). The sizable question we want to consider from various psychological perspectives is “What causes aggression?” We cannot and will not study more than one perspective or methodology at a time, but we will attempt to find the best method for exploring the causes of aggression.
First, let’s review the psychological perspectives presented in Chapter 1 to see how each different perspective explains a psychological characteristic.
Before we explore aggression, complete the activity below by matching the circles on the left to the circles on the right to review the major psychological perspectives. You must get all answers correct before moving on.
Psychoanalytic
Behavioral
Humanistic
Cognitive
Evolutionary
Biological
Sociocultural
Biopsychosocial
Humans are naturally inclined to grow in a positive direction.
Behavior and mental processes arise from physiological activity.
Behavior is learned primarily through associations, reinforcers, and observation.
Behavior is driven by cognitive processes.
Humans have evolved characteristics that help them adapt to the environment, increasing their chances of surviving and reproducing.
Underlying unconscious conflicts influence behavior.
Behavior and mental processes are shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Other people, as well as the broader cultural context, influence behavior and mental processes.
Now that we have reviewed the different psychological perspectives and how each explains aggression from its own point of view, let’s examine some real-world scenarios that apply to aggression.
The research findings on males’ aggression are telling, but they still do not give us any answers as to what causes aggression and why aggression may be more prevalent in males than females. Most statistics on aggression are purely based on physical aggression. Does that mean that females do not show aggression? Absolutely not. Females show aggression, as you will see later in the Social Psychology chapter. While males tend to show more direct aggression (physically harming/hurting an individual), females tend to engage in relational aggression in which they gossip, exclude, ignore, spread rumors, or humiliate others as a means of hurting someone. Because research has shown that males and females tend to show aggression in different ways, we need to be very exact in how we word our hypothesis. Before we figure out some explanations, we have to look at the word aggression more closely. How we phrase our questions is extremely important and definitions must be very precise. We must establish an operational definition of aggression in terms of our research.
So, for our research, we are going to be studying why males display more direct, physical aggression than females. This provides a clear-cut definition of exactly what we want to examine. Now that we have provided an operational definition for aggression, let’s look back at the psychology perspectives to see how each may explain why males are more aggressive than females. When psychologists want to study a specific psychological phenomena that they find interesting, they come up with a hypothesis.
Now that we understand what a hypothesis is, let’s take a look at two of the psychological perspectives listed below and create different hypotheses for them regarding why males may be more aggressive. For example, from the psychoanalytic perspective, the hypothesis might state that males have a greater unconscious (hidden), instinctive desire to engage in aggression. According to Freud, humans possess the drive for aggression (destructive energy) toward the self and others (Chapter 12). That is, from the psychoanalytic perspective, because of a more instinctual drive, males may show more physical aggression than females. Look at the other perspectives we addressed previously (behavioral, evolutionary, biological, sociocultural, or biopsychosocial) and create a hypothesis that states why males may be more physically aggressive than females.
| Perspective | Main Idea | Questions Psychologists Ask |
|---|---|---|
| Psychoanalytic | Underlying conflicts influence behavior. | How do unconscious conflicts affect decisions and behavior? |
| Behavioral | Behavior is learned primarily through associations, reinforces, and observation. | How does learning shape behavior? |
| Humanistic | Humans are naturally inclined to grow in a positive direction. | How do choice and self-determination influence behavior? |
| Cognitive | Behavior is driven by cognitive processes. | How do thinking, memory, and language direct behavior? |
| Evolutionary | Humans have evolved characteristics that help them adapt to the envitoment, increasing their chances of surviving and reproducing. | How has natural selection influenced thoughts, emotions, and behaviors? |
| Biological | Behavior and mental processes arise from physiological activity. | How do biological factors, such as hormones, genges, anatomy, and brain structures, influence behavior and mental processes? |
| Sociocultural | Other people, as well as the broader cultural context, influence behavior and mental processes. | How do interactions with other people and cultural factors shape behaviors and attitudes? |
| Biopsychosocial | Behavior and mental processes are shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. | How do the interactions of biology, psychology, and culture influence thoughts, emotions and behaviors? |
Choose any two perspectives from above. Using your critical thinking skills, create two different hypotheses illustrating why males may be more aggressive than females. Go into as much depth as possible, covering all areas of the perspective.
Behavioral Perspective: Based on parents, peers, siblings, and others, boys may be reinforced for specific aggressive behavior (hitting, kicking, or yelling) and may be punished for displaying nonaggressive behaviors (feminine behavior). From a very early age, boys are told “Boys don’t cry” or ‘Don’t act like a girl.” Girls are reinforced for less aggressive behavior (sitting nicely, staying quiet) and may be punished when acting aggressively: “You need to act more like a lady.”
Evolutionary Perspective: Humans may have evolved to our modern-day selves based on males needing to be aggressive. For example, as hunters, the more aggressive a male was, the more likely his family was to eat. The more aggressive a male was in protecting himself and his family, the more likely the family was to survive. Males who were not aggressive were less likely to have the offspring who survived. We may be the descendants of those more aggressive males because they were more likely to have passed on their more aggressive genes.
Biological Perspective: Males and females possess different hormones (testosterone and estrogen), which may contribute to different levels of aggression. It may be that more testosterone is linked with more aggression in both males and females. In addition, genetics may play a role in the display of aggression. Studies have shown that monozygotic (identical) twins who share the same DNA tend to show similar patterns of aggressive behavior as compared to fraternal twins (Chapter 13).
Sociocultural Perspective: We live in a society with specific cultural norms. Within many societies, males are expected to be more aggressive and therefore they may feel pressure to follow those cultural norms. Sons and daughters are often raised differently. We hold different expectations of how males and females should act. We tend to give them different types of toys (more violent toys for boys; more nurturing toys for girls). In Western societies, boys are often told that showing any emotion, besides anger, is unacceptable. They are told not to cry, to not be afraid, and to always be strong. For some males in specific cultures, the only acceptable emotion is anger, and this may contribute to the higher incidence of male aggression.
Biopsychosocial Perspective: This perspective takes many of the viewpoints already discussed and combines them. Aggression is probably not all nature, nor all nurture. It is not all learned and not all hormones. There is an interplay of genetic, biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that all come into play when we see an individual acting aggressively. The way that all of these factors come together is unknown, but each factor contributes.
So, now, let’s look at how psychologists study these different phenomena to see if we can prove or disprove any of these hypotheses. To begin with, let’s review the steps of the scientific method. Researchers use the scientific method for psychological research. This is what makes psychology a science. Using the steps of the scientific method, researchers can collect objective, measurable data in order to support or refute a hypothesis. All psychological research should follow the five steps of the scientific method.
Complete the activity below by matching the circles on the left to the circles on the right. You must get all answers correct before moving on.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Researchers will develop a hypothesis and, based on previous research, look for other theories about the topic. Variables to be studied will be specifically named.
The researchers will develop a research question by observing the world around them. They will then identify a personally interesting topic and review scientific literature on the topic to see what research has been previously accomplished. Is there more to investigate on this topic?
Using statistical analysis, researchers will analyze the data to conclude if the hypothesis is supported or refuted.
Researchers write up their findings and submit their work to an academic journal for other psychologists to learn from their work.
Researchers will plan a well-designed, controlled study. The study can be any of the five research methods. Data is collected. Remember, psychological research must have a measurable outcome.
Watch the following video clips of the documentary “Raising Cain: Exploring the Inner Lives of America’s Boys” by Michael Thompson, Ph.D. and then answer the questions which follow each segment.
1. According to the video, in what ways are boys, from an early age, taught how to act like a “man?”
2. Imagine that you had to work with a young boy like Hugo. What do you believe Hugo would tell you about how his life was impacted by his circumstances? Do you think it has contributed to his aggressive ways?
Hugo may say that he is angry because of the abandonment by both parents. He needed to learn how to act by others on the streets without any positive role models. He may say that he feels like he needs to be aggressive and model aggression because of expectations of what a man should be while never actually having a man in his life. He needs to appear tough. There aren’t any other options. He needs to hide all his emotions behind the “mask of masculinity.” Because of his circumstances, his aggression may also stem from needing to grow up too fast and be the “man” of the house at only 16. Sadly, due to his circumstances, he’s probably never known anything else but what’s been portrayed on the streets.
Imagine that you have been given permission by a school district to view six-year-old children outside on the playground. First of all, you will need informed consent from all administrators and, most importantly, from each child’s parent/guardian. It is essential with naturalistic observation that the children cannot know that they are being observed (so they don’t change their behavior because they know you are watching them).
We would need to operationally define what we consider a physically aggressive act. We will have a list of descriptive, operationally defined, measurable behaviors (exact descriptions of hitting, kicking, pushing, throwing, and how the children may carry out these behaviors) and will place check marks every time a child of a particular gender engages in that activity.
A researcher may engage in observer bias by recording more aggressive behaviors for males when behaviors are clearly not aggressive. Or, the researcher may see a female acting aggressively and mark that behavior as being done by a male. Or, a researcher can see a male acting kindly (for example, patting someone on the back when they are upset) and mark it down as an aggressive act when it is clearly not. The best way to avoid observer bias is to make sure you have more than one observer. Naturalistic observation can be a great means of recording useful data in order for researchers to conduct further studies.
Based on the idea that we may want to see more males be aggressive than females, we may unfortunately engage in observer bias.
We may want to examine other descriptive research methods to further elaborate on our hypothesis. For example, we may want to perform a case study in which we examine one male in great detail, acquiring knowledge of their developmental history, family and peer relationships, school performance, perceived trauma, alleged criminal activity along with administrating different tests that measure aggression. From this case study, we may be able to expose possible reasons for why he may be aggressive. The biggest issue to remember with case studies is that it is studying one individual in great detail. The details of a case study do not necessarily apply to all of us.
Other ways to research gender and aggression include surveys and correlations. Both methods can provide us with detailed information, but, like naturalistic observation and case studies, they can tell us nothing about cause. We’re still searching for some causes. One of the psychological perspectives we had previously addressed was the biological perspective. We had stated that different levels of aggression may be due to different types of, and levels of, hormones. We may attempt to manipulate these hormones to see how these manipulations affect aggression. Due to the American Psychological Association’s code of ethics, we cannot cause direct harm to any participant in a study. Manipulating hormones in humans may result in harm, so we cannot ethically run an experiment with humans, but, we can use … rats. So, our hypothesis may be: “Different levels of testosterone lead to different levels of aggression.” Before we start though, let’s check our understanding of the vocabulary that goes along with the experimental method by completing a matching exercise.
Match the appropriate term with its definition by matching the circles on the left to the circles on the right. You must get all answers correct before moving on.
Placebo
Experimenter Bias
Double-Blind Study
Experimental Group
Control Group
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Extraneous Variable
Confounding Variable
An inert substance given to members of the control group; this fake treatment has no benefit but is administered as if it will have benefit.
A characteristic of participants or the environment that could unexpectedly influence the outcome of a study.
The participants in an experiment who are exposed to the treatment variable or manipulation by the researcher; represents the treatment group.
A type of extraneous variable that changes in sync with the independent variable, making it difficult to discern which one is causing changes in the dependent variable.
In the experimental method, the variable manipulated by the researcher to determine its effect on the dependent variable.
Researcher expectations that influence the outcome of a study.
In the experimental method, the characteristic or response that is measured to determine the effect of the researcher’s manipulation.
The participants in an experiment who are not exposed to the treatment variable; this is the comparison group.
Type of study in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the independent variable know which participants are receiving the treatment and which are getting the placebo.
So, let’s design a study measuring if different levels of testosterone lead to changes in physical aggression.
In an experiment, the experimental group is exposed to the independent variable. The control group is as similar as possible to the experimental group, but it is not exposed to the independent variable. In this study, we may have a group of 100 rats (50 males/50 females all of the same age group). We can divide them into five equal groups: 1) Rats who receive no additional testosterone, 2) rats who receive two times the normal levels of testosterone, 3) rats who receive four times the normal levels of testosterone, 4) rats who are given a drug to decrease the amount of testosterone in their bloodstream by one-fourth, and 5) rats who are given a drug to decrease the amount of testosterone in their bloodstream by one-half.
Now that you know what is involved with conducting research in a psychological laboratory, how have your ideas about psychological research expanded? When you thought of the term “aggression” in the past, how did you imagine it being studied? Describe what you have learned not only about completing research, but also your evaluation of the different ways we can examine one term from multiple perspectives. Even if you do not want to become a psychological researcher, how can you apply the different ways that we examined aggression to other psychological concepts in real-life situations outside of psychology? Describe how critical thinking plays a role in the development of a research hypothesis and the choice as to how to conduct research.
There is never one answer to a question in the field of psychology, especially one as broad as what causes male aggression. We have begun to investigate possible causes, but we still need to do much more work. In fact, as a researcher, you may one day find that your research brings about more questions than it actually answers. The goal of research is to attempt to discover explanations, but sometimes we generate additional hypotheses instead. We can continue to examine different perspectives and develop different hypotheses as to why this phenomenon occurs. We can then begin to decipher the roles of nature versus nurture in these processes. I hope, through the examination of this one question, it has increased your knowledge of the multiple facets that go into studying a question within the field of psychology.