Violent behavior is defined as any form of individual behavior that is carried out with the aim to threaten, or harm the individual or others or destroy property. There are well-known philosophers in the world who have argued on the issue of Nature-Nurture debate. According to this controversy, the behavior is influenced by genetics or by the surrounding environment.
Some well-known philosophers argue that human beings have a natural inborn tendency to act violently. According to Thomas Hobbes, human beings are viewed as being naturally evil and that it is only the society which can compel their violent tendencies. Hobbes argued that human beings are basically selfish creatures who naturally desire the power to live well. Human beings according to him will never be satisfied with the power they have and as such, they desire to acquire more power in order to satisfy their needs. This natural tendency to seek power creates enmity among people since each individual is interested in acquiring the same thing, that is, power. People, therefore, result in violence in order to invade their enemy’s territory and subdue them.
According to some scholars, the Darwinian theory of evolution played an important role in the development of violence on the human race. Like other primates closely related to humans, and especially the chimpanzees, humans exhibit aggression because it is a primal emotion. During evolution species with useful adaptations to the environment survived as compared to those with less useful adaptation. There was competition for the limited resources available in the environment, which led organisms of the same or different species to struggle for survival.
127 our experts are availableright now
For example, among the primates, the competition for limited resources such as food, space and mates led to a violence approach as the better-adapted species sought to survive and reproduce at the expense of the less well-adapted species. An article about the research in the journal nature, human beings have evolved with a predisposition to kill others which are six times higher than the average mammal. These researchers argue that aggression in mammals has a genetic constituent which is highly heritable. This journal also argues that a certain level of lethal violence in mankind result from the occupation of a position within a predominantly violent mammalian clade where violence appears to have been ancestrally present.
This, therefore, means that human beings have inherited their tendency to be violent, that is, violence is an inborn trait The explanation of violence behavior on the basis of evolution has however been criticized. According to researches carried out, the behavior of chimpanzees and their sister species, the bonobos was compared. The chimpanzees were found to be highly aggressive compared to the bonobos who rarely act violent and yet both are equally related to humans.
According to Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic perspective, human beings have inborn tendencies or instincts such as aggression. He talks about the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego which form the human personality. Freud argued that the general behavior of an individual is driven by motivations which arise from the emotional forces built on the unconscious part of an individual’s mind. Freud argued that human actions are due to mental and neurotic conflicts. He also argues that human beings tend towards aggression which demands the satisfaction of more antisocial instincts which seek to attain individual pleasure. This he maintains that it leads to more conflicts between individuals and the society at large. Freud reasons that violent or aggressive behavior is a product of the Id, which demands for the immediate satisfaction of needs or impulses irrespective for the consequences as long as satisfaction is guaranteed.
Other scholars contend that human beings are not born with violence. According to John Locke when human beings are born, their minds are in form of an empty slate. Experience from the environment which the individual interacts with quickly accumulates to fill the mind. According to him human beings learn to be violent from their experiences in the society.
According to the social learning theory by Albert Bandura, new behaviors can be acquired through observing and imitating others. This theory encompasses attention motivation and memory, and as such it covers both cognitive and behavioral frameworks. This theory explains that people imitate a violent behavior through a process known as modelling. Modeling according to Swanson is learning by watching, interpreting and evaluating when nobles are carrying out a task. Modelling is related to violent behavior because it impersonates the observed behavior from the surrounding environment. Bandura also argues that the brain adopts violent behavior mostly through processes which are instinctual. People learn through imitation of an observed behavior, therefore, violent behavior is learned through exposure to violence and the observer imitates the act of violence.
A new study carried out in Wake Forest University reasons that, the strong link between exposure to and the use of violence by young people shows that violence is a learned behavior. Many children according to DuRant learn to be violent in primary social groups such as the family and peer groups. These violent behavior is then reinforced through exposure to violent acts on the television, the internet or what they hear in their music. He also maintains that severe corporal punishment, verbal, physical or sexual abuse causes children to behave violently even towards other people.
In conclusion, violent behavior has been regarded as both an inborn and learned behavior. Both genetic makeup and the environment has been seen to influence human behavior (Breed, M & Sanchez, L). The interaction between these two factors leads to the shaping of a certain behavior such as violence. Sine violence is a learned behavior then ways of dealing with violence can also be learned.
References
- Anderson, John R., and Gordon H. Bower. Human associative memory. Psychology press, 2014.
- Bandura, Albert. ‘Social learning theory of aggression.’ Journal of communication 28.3 (1978): 12-29.
- Breed, M., and Leticia Sanchez. ‘Both environment and genetic makeup influence behavior.’ Nature Educ Knowl 1.10 (2010).
- De Waal, Frans BM. ‘Primates–a natural heritage of conflict resolution.’ Science 289.5479 (2000): 586-590.
- De Waal, Frans BM. ‘The end of nature versus nurture.’ Scientific American 281.6 (1999): 94-99.
- DuRant, Robert H., et al. ‘Exposure to violence and victimization, depression, substance use, and the use of violence by young adolescents.’ The Journal of Pediatrics137.5 (2000): 707-713.
- Fahy, Thomas. ‘Hobbes, Human Nature, and the Culture of American Violence in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.’ The Philosophy of Horror (2010): 57.
- Freud, Sigmund. ‘Civilization and its Discontents. 1930.’ Standard Edition 21 (1961): 59.
- Ghiglieri, Michael P. The dark side of man: Tracing the origins of male violence. Perseus Publishing, 1999.
- Hall, Calvin Springer, Gardner Lindzey, and John Burden Campbell. Theories of personality. No. 04; BF698, H3.. New York: Wiley, 1957.1 11
- Pinker, Steven. The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. Penguin Group USA, 2012.
- Swanson, Ana. ‘This doctor says violence is contagious, and we should treat it like a disease.’ The Washington Post(2015).
- Wrangham, Richard W., and Dale Peterson. Demonic males: Apes and the origins of human violence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1996.
- Yolton, John W. ‘Locke on the Law of Nature.’ The Philosophical Review 67.4 (1958): 477-498.
