Gender Roles On Aggression

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Gender differences on aggressiveness are often misunderstood. People often develop stereotypes of gender roles in aggression. Aggression can be defined in numerous ways. There are also various types of aggression, such as physical and psychological aggression. Psychologists define aggression as a behavior anticipated to inflict harm or injury upon someone or something (Kassin, 2011, p. 438). Many people often attribute greater aggressiveness to men than to women. Greater aggression is commonly perceived when the target is a woman than a man. The gender of aggressor, target, and observer influences the perception and evaluation of aggression (Stewart-Williams, p. 177). Aggressive behaviors come in many forms. Extreme acts of aggression are …show more content…
The methods used to study aggression in children and adults differ slightly, but provide substantial evidence of gender roles on aggression. The aggression in gender differences is larger among children than adults. However, the comparisons between the child and adult research literatures on aggression have some relevance to disentangling biological and environmental causes (Olsen, 2005). The social learning theory proposes that we learn how to display aggression in different forms, when to display it in various situations, and determine the targets to display it towards through the surveillance of other people’s behaviors. Social learning approaches emphasize that males and females are taught lessons about aggression. (Kassin, 2011, p. …show more content…
Physical aggressions to obtain goals are frequent in two year olds, such as having tantrums that involve kicking, hitting, and biting. In 1961, Albert Bandura conducted a study involving children to detect whether they will exhibit aggression after viewing an adult inflict aggressive and nonaggressive behaviors toward a doll. The study contained the same amount of girls and boys. The children mimicked more physical and verbal aggression which imitated the adult model than the non-aggressive behavior displayed towards the bobo doll. Males (boys) were seen to imitate more physical aggression but the level of verbal aggression was similar. Adolescent boys are often encouraged to aggress to maintain dominance, whereas adolescent girls are encourage to be less aggressive. Girls tend to engage in relational aggression while males tend to display overt aggression, both forms of aggression are equally hostile. This study highlighted how aggression can be learned through observance. However, observance of nonaggressive behavior can help inhibit aggression in children. Aggression in childhood does predict aggression in adolescence and adulthood. Even though boys exhibit more physical aggression in early childhood, which can decrease over time, girls displays the opposite pattern, with lower levels of aggression during early childhood (Kassin, 2011, p.