Gender Differences in Aggression Essay

The main group that will be focused on in this paper is adolescent girls. The inspiration behind this is the fact that teen girl behavior is so fascinating that it gets made into movies. There have been many movies in history and in recent years that focus and accurately portray the sometimes-catty behavior of adolescent girls. One movie in particular that comes to mind when looking at adolescent girls is ‘Mean Girls’. The movie ‘Mean Girls’ shows bullying, specifically relation aggression between girls.

The main focus of this paper is to show the connections between aggression and peer rejection and the effects it has on an adolescent whether it be directly or indirectly. One of the most influential aspects for self-esteem in adolescence is social acceptance from peers which helps to endorse a positive sense of self-worth which is linked to effective coping (McMahan, 2009). When an adolescent is rejected by his or her peers, aggression is probable to occur. The most frequent type of aggression, especially in girls, is relational aggression. Relational aggression is trying to hurt someone by verbally attacking them or their social relations through gossip or exclusion (McMahan, 2009).

As they grow older though they development different socialization, cognitive, personality, and emotional skills. Males and females socialization affect their development. Females tend to have a closer relationship with their parents, where the males like to be independent. With the females developing a strong relationship with the parents it helps them create self-control, which deters them from wanting to commit delinquent acts. Females may have self-control, but they tend to blame themselves for all their faults. With males wanting to be more independent, it shows their aggression and anger. Men typically have more aggression because their “right brain” modulates more aggression because males have bigger heads then females, which is why they can produce more anger than females. Sounds silly that just because males have bigger heads then females mean they can produce more anger. Females have aggression as well but have a stronger attitude towards hiding their aggression. Cognitive differences show in a female or males childhood. As females grow up they normally walk and speak earlier than males. For females being able to speak earlier than males allows them to have better pronunciation and read better. Yeah, yeah females are more suitable then men when it comes to speaking and reading but males dominate us having clearly eye vision and are better at math. Which makes sense because there are more

Aggression is a natural part of human behavior, and can even be adaptive in certain situations. However, when aggression manifests itself in violent behaviors, it becomes problematic. Patterns of aggression change throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, and these changes usually differ between males and females (Loeber, 1997). Physical aggression is typically greatest early in life and decreases during adolescence, whereas more serious violence tends to increase with age, particularly during adolescence (Loeber, 1997). Despite the changes that occur in aggressive tendencies throughout childhood and adolescence, aggression is seen as a very stable trait, almost as stable as

AbstractIn this paper will discuss the sexual selection theory and gender role theory. Then, what are the main principles of each theory? Additionally, what position is taken by each theory on the origins, development, and causal mechanisms of aggression? Moreover, give an example of aggressive behavior that may be explained from the perspective of sexual selection and from the perspective of social role theory that is not covered in the reading. Furthermore, discuss at least on psychological phenomenon that may influence displays of aggressive behavior as explained by the sexual selection theory and the social role theory.

Keep a tally of how many times men post and how many times women post. Who tends to post more often? Remember to make sure you are looking at the whole class, not just one discussion thread or group. (If you are using our class as your example, be sure to look at ALL 7 forums, not just your individual group forum)!

In recent years, the attention has turned to adolescent girls and to what psychologists call “relational aggression,” or the kind of behavior depicted in the film Mean Girls(I liked that movie though). These girls’ cliques spread rumors and lies, exclude and sometimes show outright physical aggression toward other girls. Their targets are usually girls who haven’t yet started developing physically, who dress differently than others, or who just don’t fit in. counselors who work with girls tell horrifying stories of girls’ cliques and their behavior toward other girls. For example, A mother of an 11-year-old writes in to GreatSchools complaining that girls are teasing her sensitive daughter because she hasn’t developed.

In our debate we discussed whether women are just as violent as men. The pro side of the debate said yes women are just as violent as men, and the opposing side said men are more violent than women. In the yes side of the debate violence was described as physical and emotional assaults. As in violent acts carried out with the intention of causing another person physical pain or injury, no matter whether actual injury occurs, and any unjust, cruel act, or maltreatment of another human being. In the no side of the debate violence was just described as physical assaults, and not emotional assaults. This paper will discuss both sides of the debate, and the pros and cons of the arguments made by both sides.

Previous studies, have examined the factors that are found to be different in teenage girls and boys, but have yet to research factors that were similar with both genders, (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). Interestingly enough, results compared with other high school students showed that boys and girls both admitted to making fun of, punching, or insulting their boyfriend or girlfriend (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). Researchers used three categories; negative communication, abuse, and victimization, to help examine the correlation of family aggression and dating violence, (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). For teen boys of dating violence, anxiety or avoidance were not a predicting factor in any of the three guides, but anxiety did show significantly to boys being exposed to aggression by family and later predicted them to be abusers in their relationships, (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). For teen girls of dating violence reported that they engaged in more verbal aggression toward their partner, (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). Using the Negative Communication Scale, which measures verbal and emotional abuse, anxiety found to play a significant role in association to unfair treatment to their boyfriend, (Grych & Kinsfogel, 2010). Results also found, girls who experienced higher levels of anxiety caused from the

The nature of girls’ relationships involves intimate conversations between friends and, as a result, girls are more invested in their social status and friendships compared to boys (Berndt, 1982). Their choice to use relational aggression to impose social norms more often than physical aggression can be credited to the desire for adolescents to “damage what the same-gender peer group most values” (Paquette & Underwood, 1999, p. 244). Girls view relational aggression as wounding because it harms the intimate relationships they value. Because of the high levels of intimacy in their relationships, relational aggression enables them to gain control over their friends (Grotpeter & Crick, 1996). As a reaction, individuals who have been victims of relational aggression reported experiencing feelings of unhappiness as well as lowered self-perceptions of athletic capability, physical appearance, romantic appeal, close friendships, and general self-worth.

Because of this competition, males are thought to be more aggressive than females. (Bartek, 1999)

Because there violence can occur in any relationship, we examined gender differences in beliefs about overall aggressive provocation and retaliatory violence. We hypothesized that males would be more acceptable about aggressive provocation and retaliatory violence than females. The sample consisted of 227 adult participants, most participants was young adults (M = 19.3 years, SD = 3.1; 58%

son. (Introduction to Criminology, Lecture 3, September 23, 2013, Professor Jan Stanners.) So another factor about females being less aggressive is the fact that they are protected more and almost restricted from certain things because more people worry about girls then boys. Studies are also showing that women’s crime rates are increasing quite noticeably while males are slowly dropping. I think this is because since the 1950-80’s women’s

Social Psychological Theories of Aggression Social learning theorists propose that behaviour, such as aggression is learnt through observation, imitation and behaviour shaping. This behaviour is learnt automatically through observation of male and female role models, for example parents, peers and media characters. Whether or not this behaviour is imitated depends on the type of reinforcement that the role model receives. Vicarious reinforcement involves the outcome of a role models behaviour, for example if a child observes a parent acting aggressively and receiving positive rewards for they are more like to be imitate this behaviour in the future, than they would be if the role model

Relational aggression (RA) is defined as nonphysical behaviors that aim to deliberately cause harm to another individual by destroying relationships, harming social status or self-esteem, or public embarrassment (Crick, Werner, Casas, O’Brien, Nelson, Grotpeter, & Markon, 1999). Examples include behaviors such as purposely ignoring a peer, spreading rumors, creating undesirable gossip, and excluding a peer from group activities, (Crick, 1996; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, 2006). RA can occur as early as preschool years, and plays a huge role in the interactions among this population with behaviors such as covering one’s ears as a sign of ignoring another peer (Bonica, Arnold, Fisher, Zeljo, & Yershova, 2003; Crick et al.,