1. By KirstyChampion
Page 1
Unit 2: Social Psychology
Gender differencesin aggressive behaviour
In this essay I shall be discussing the gender differenceswith
regards to aggressionand behaviour. I shall consider whether our
environment affects our behaviour or if genetics are connected to
aggression.Through extensive researchI shall discuss how
biologically and environmentally differentgenders relate to
aggressionand behaviour and why there are differencesbetween
the two.
Firstly I shall establish genderdifferences in aggressive behaviour
in the UK, an article (Meavan 2013)states that “men are
responsible for 85% of all indictable crimesin England and
Wales, 88% of crimes againstthe person, 90% of murders,
and 98% of sexualoffences (all for the yearto June 2012)”, which
means that the crimes that men commitare usually taken to court
and are serious offences where women only commitsmall offences.
Another fact that needs to be taken into account is how violent the
crimes are for example homicide cases “men are more frequently
the perpetrator.For those suspects where proceedings concludedin
2011/12,89% were male (210 suspects)and 11% were female(25
suspects)” (Meavan 2013).These statistics show a dramatic
differencein aggressive crimes for male and female. They show
women are capable of violence and aggressionbut may not act on
those thoughts as oftenas men. They show how men are more
likely to commit a violent act compared to women. But we still need
to understand what distinguishes male and female action with
aggressive behaviour. We need to questionwhether our
environment and stereotypicalgender roles are reasons for our
behaviour or whether biologyis an essential part of the differences
in aggressionbetweenthe two genders.
Stereotypically societyhas gender roles that we are all accustomed
to, from birth we are biologically determined by our bodyparts; we
are either male or female.Genderroles can be determined by how
we act in those pre-determined roles. For example "...women are
considered biologically programmed for childrearingand

2. By KirstyChampion
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relateddomestic work,whereas menare regardedas ‘naturally’
breadwinners” (Donnell 1997).
This is why we stereotypicallyassume females would stay at home
looking after the children as women are the more ‘gentle’ and
‘caring’ gender, whilst males go to work and provide for them as
men are the more ‘competitive’and ‘aggressive’gender.
Considering our environment when assessing aggression,can give
some reasons as to why females are less likely to commit violent
aggressive crimes compared to males. Females are nurtured into
being sensitive and compassionate whereas males are nurtured into
being tough and strong in their environment (Nelson 1983).
Psychologicaltheories have many explanations for causes of
aggression. Theories such as social learning theory (SLT),
deindividuation and institutionalisation all give plausible reasons for
why there is aggressive behaviour. An example of SLT is Bandura
et al 1963’s attempt on an experiment to explain aggression.In the
experiment they divided nursery schoolchildren into three groups;
in the groups they were shown a video of an adult being aggressive
towards a Bobo doll. In the first group the video finished with this. In
the second group the clip showed the adult being rewarded for the
aggressive behaviour and in the third group the adult was seen
being punished for the aggressive behaviour. The children then
were filmed with the Bobo doll. The first and second group of
children were seen to be more aggressive towards the doll, the
second more aggressive than the first but in the third group there
was no sign of aggressiontowards the doll. This proves the
behaviourist psychologistSkinner’s operant conditioning, learning
by reinforcementbecause the children who were more aggressive
learned the behaviour of being rewarded and the children who were
punished were not aggressive so therefore learned that aggression
would lead to punishment (Staceyav 2012).
Deindividuation is another explanation of aggressive behaviour in
the environment. Social psychologists suggestthat conformityin a
crowd causes people to lose a sense of identification and therefore
act more aggressivelyas they see no social consequence of this
change of behaviour. For example, when at a footballmatch people

3. By KirstyChampion
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become irate,start shouting and portraying aggressive behaviour
but on their own these people would be reserved and watch a
footballmatch without this aggressive behaviour. The crowd is
giving these individuals confidence and no sacrifice for their actions.
Therefore aggressive behaviour would continue until the people are
separated from the group when they see themselves as individuals
(Garcia 2014).
Institutionalised is an explanation as to why there is aggressionin
the work place or why institutions have high rates of aggressive
behaviour. A famous experiment done by Zimbardo in 1973 also
proved that when people are in a role of power and control,
aggressive behaviour can occur and the power of the position is
taken advantage of. Even in roles of a prisonerpeople still conform
to adapt to their social environment. In the experiment the people in
roles of guards became quite aggressive towards the prisoners in a
short space of time,
“Most of the guards found it difficultto believe thatthey had
behaved in the brutalizing ways thatthey had.Many said they
hadn’tknown this side of them existed or that they were capable of
such things.The prisoners,too, couldn’tbelieve thatthey had
respondedin the submissive,cowering,dependentway they had.
Several claimed to be assertive types normally”(Mcleod 2008).
This experiment showed that when a person does not consider
themselves as acting aggressivelythen the behaviour would
continue until punishment occurs or if the personsees themselves
in the role of the aggressor.
Biologicalresearch can show that our genetics can also be the
cause of aggressive behaviour in gender differences.Kalat 1998
showed that men with high levels of testosterone had high levels of
aggressioncompared to men with lower levels of testosterone.
Virkkunen et al 1987 showed that neurotransmitter serotonin is
linked to aggression.He researched people,both genders,with a
history of criminal behaviour and found that they had low levels of
serotonin which could have been a cause of their aggressive
behaviour (Ashbourne college 2012).

4. By KirstyChampion
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Studies that have looked at gender differencesin aggressionand
cultures showed that in each culture men are always the more
aggressive gender,aggressionmay be higher in some cultures for
both genders,forexample, the US due to the acceptance of
violence, but men still show more aggressive behaviour than
women in all cultures (Rahman 2009).
The debate still continues to whether biology or our environment is
the result of aggressive behaviour in gender differences.Research
has been carried out for many years on which are the causes of the
aggression.Some that I have mentioned above show that our
environment can change our behaviour and possiblybe the cause
for aggressive behaviour in both gendertypes. But on the other
hand biologyhas much strength that show genetics can be reasons
for aggressive behaviour. I believe that aggressionis caused
because of both physiologicaland environmental explanations
combined,as we all start as genetics but still have our environment
to influence behaviour.
References:
Ashbourne college. (2012). THE PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH. Available:
https://ashbournecollegepsychology.wordpress.com/psya3/aggression/biologic
al-explanations-of-aggression/. Last accessed 18th March 2015.
Belk.M. (2012). Instinct and Frustration-aggression Theories.Available:
http://matthew-belk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/theories-of-aggression-there-are-3-
main_2798.html. Last accessed 31st March 2015.
Bryant.L. (2014). Who Commits Crime?. Available:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/who_commits_crime.htm. Last accessed
18th March 2015.
Donnell .O.M, Manford.K. (1987). Introduction to sociology . 4th ed. Walton-on-
thames, Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. pp2-4,186.
Garcia.R. (2014). Deindividuation. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZLFGGsRNw. Last accessed 19th March 2015.

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Johan.M. (2015). ETHOLOGICAL and EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES of
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accessed 30th March 2015
Mcleod.S. (2008). Zimbardo - Stanford Prison Experiment. Available:
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2015.
Meavan.L. (2013). Bad and dangerous to know: do men commit almost all
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Meichenbaum.D. (2004). COMPARISON OF AGGRESSION IN BOYS AND
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Nelson.B. (1983). AGGRESSION: STILL A STRONGER TRAIT FOR
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Rahman.A. (2009). CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN AGGRESSION: A CASE
STUDY IN BANGLADESH. Department of Psychology, Baneswar College,
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Staceyav. (2012). Social Psychology Theories Versus Biological Explanations of
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