(UWC class outline,nd) One psychologist by the name of Albert Bandura has performed experiments indicating that aggression is learned over the course of childhood. In his experiments, he demonstrated that, by watching another person act aggressively and obtains desirable rewards or by learning through personal experience that such behavior yields rewards aggression can be learned. If a child grows up watching his father act violently towards others, that child will acquire the same aggressive tendencies as his father.(UWC Class outline,n.d.) .
Chemicals in the brain have also been linked to aggressive acts. Two chemicals, testosterone and seretonin, have been found to cause a big role on how the brain responds. (Crime Times,1998) Either too much testosterone or too little seretonin has been proven to cause aggressive violence. Males are normally more aggressive than females because of testosterone, but women that have unusually high testosterone levels were found to be more aggressive than normal women.
Research has also indicated that the pre-frontal lobe of the brain has been linked with aggression.(Iskandar,2000) In 1948, Phineas Gage received damage to the frontal part of his brain, altering his personality from "intelligent and respectful" to "impulsive and rude." Scientists have said that this area functions to suppress impulse behavior, including violence. Other studies have been conducted in order to shed some light on the connection between the brain and violent aggressions. One study was performed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where psychologists observed brain-imaging data from a large group of people with aggressive personality disorder.(Cox,2000) The project also focused on the frontal lobe of the brain. The results showed that in many of the study groups, normal activity in the orbital and anterior regions was absent. The same project also described subjects with low seretonin levels.
