Comparing Social and Biological Theories of Aggression

Nature-Nurture Debate
The Nature-Nurture debate is an on going discussion about whether our behaviour is caused by our biology (nature) or the environment around us (nurture).

Biological Theory
Sees aggression as something that comes from our body, we are born with it. Testosterone in the body and damage to the amygdala can also cause aggression. See the Biological Theory for more.

Social Learning Theory
Believes that we can learn aggression from people around us. We are motivated to be aggressive from observing other people. See Social Learning Theory for more.

Problems with the theories
They are both difficult to study because we cannot open people's brains to investigate their brains, we cannot easily test the effects of observational learning over a long period of time. There are ethical reasons of testing on people, making it difficult to test.

Similarities and Differences
Similarities and Differences between theories.

Similarities:
 * Both theories cannot prove causality, the reverse may be true
 * Both are difficult to study directly; observed media can be imitated with a delay so hard to study, the limbic system is unethical to study in live humans
 * Social learning theory ignores influence of biology, biological theory ignores influences of environment

Differences:
 * The biological approach states that aggression comes from within us
 * Whereas Social Learning theory says that it comes from sources in our environment
 * Social Learning theory is nurture, Biological theory is nature

Nature-Nurture Debate example answer
'''Evaluate the nature argument in the debate on understanding aggression. 4 marks '''

Objective measures can be taken of hormone levels which are scientific. (1) Animal studies have been conducted to show that increased testosterone levels leads to aggression. (1) However the human brain is difficult to study because we cannot directly damage the human brain, studies must stay ethical. (1) There are also alternative theories such as Social Learning Theory that suggests that aggression is caused through the observation and imitation of violent people. (1)

'''What is a weakness of the Social Learning Theory? 2 marks '''

It could be that aggressive children seek out aggressive content (1), which is a cause and effect relationship, so aggressive TV does not affect their behavior. (1)

Some children do not imitate aggressive content after watching it. (1) In Charlton et al's study, it was found that TV had little effect on children's behavior. (1)

There are also biological factors that may be affecting aggression in children. (1)