Psych 2400 | Age and Gender vs Eastern and Western Cultures as Determinants of Response to Aggression

SOCIOLOGY
Psych 2400
Student Name
Student Id
Affiliation
Date

SOCIOLOGY
Age and gender vs Eastern and Western cultures as determinants of response to aggression
Introduction
Aggression refers to a range of behaviors that often result in either psychological or physical
harm or both to oneself, others, and even objects in the immediate environment. Aggression
takes various forms, including mental, emotional, physical, and verbal. Aggression an antisocial
behavior that is meant to express anger or hostility, to assert dominance, a response to fear, a
reaction to pain, and to intimidate or threaten. The occurrence of aggression is a typical example
of the interaction between personal variables and situations variables. Evidence shows that even
though the social situation is crucial, not everyone is influenced equally. Aggression varies from
one individual to another, and some of the determinants of these differences are gender and
cultural differences. This paper will focus on age, gender cultural differences as determinants of
aggression.
Literature Review
Gender differences contribute so much to people's tendencies for aggression. Evidence shows
there is a universal tendency of men to be more and easily aggravated than women. Besides,
women and girls tend to use more nonphysical aggression, including intentionally excluding
others from events and activities, shouting, insulting, and spreading rumors. On the other hand,
men are attributed to more to violent and physical aggression (Berke et al 2012). This is often
demonstrated by actions that comprise pushing, hitting, tripping, and kicking. Gender differences
in aggression have been found in almost every culture studied. For instance, evidence shows that
99% and 90% of the world's rape and robbery cases, respectively, are committed by men. In
children, statistics are not any different because boys show a higher rate of aggression as

SOCIOLOGY
compared to their girl's counterparts. In infants, the same case applies. Infant boys often show
more anger as well as imperfect emotional regulation in comparison to infant girls (Chen,
Wilhelm, & Joeckel, 2019).
However, it is essential to note that even though these gender differences exist, it does not imply
that men and women are different. Both genders respond to provocation with aggression only
that their extent and means of responding differ significantly. Hormones often cause gender
differences in aggression. In men, testosterone, a hormone responsible for aggression, occurs at a
higher level (Björkqvist, 2018). Apart from hormones, evolutionary factors also feature as a
cause of gender differences in aggression. During evolution, women stayed behind to take care
of homesteads and children while men were engaged in more aggressive tasks such as hunting
and fighting enemies. As a result, men naturally learned to aggress because in fulfilling their
roles and duties, it is a requirement that they are somewhat aggressive (Farnicka, &
Grzegorzewska, 2016). Also, it is a natural evolutionary tendency of men to be competitive to
gain both status and recognition. Evidence shows that men with a higher social status attract
more women, something that every man desire; this is often attributed to aggression.
Evolution and hormones do not entirely determine gender differences in aggression; social
learning a very crucial variable is also attributed to the significant gender differences. Unlike
evolution and hormones, social learning contributes to about 69% of gender differences in
aggression (Goodnight et al 2014). Take an example of a ten-year old's; a boy and a girl get
involved in a fight, and both report their parents. The parent's responses in each of these cases
will be different. There is a high probability of boys being reinforced to be more aggressive than
girls. Studies indicate that more aggressive young boys are often popular in elementary school
because they use their aggression to gain as well as maintain their social status. The opposite is