Moms an Alcoholic Dad beats me, and now I'm aggressive. Or is it my genes?

In the discussion of Criminal Behavior the broadly debatable topic of nature vs. nurture ultimately rules the conversation. Not only have both sides battled issues ranging from homosexuality to alcoholism, but neither side can make a convincing argument that either one is exactly correct. We believe that nature plays a role in the characteristics of a human being; however, the role of nurturing affects the individual substantially greater. Essentially, we believe that both roles work together in defining what makes a person who they are.
A lot of the evidence seems to point the cause of criminal behavior towards a bad upbringing. Whether it be aggressive or neglecting parents, or just a bad upbringing in general, in terms of environment and so on. This could ultimately lead to a life of criminal and aggressive behavior, but the question remains if upbringing and environment are the only causes.
Criminals tend to be especially high on impulsivity, hyperactivity, sensation seeking, and risk taking. There is also a substantial body of evidence which indicates that impulsivity, hyperactivity, and a propensity for sensation-seeking and risk-taking are often biologically determined. Persons prone toward criminality, are said to bore quickly and easily, and need to seek out new and more intense stimulations than that provided by normal daily experiences. Their stimulus seeking behaviors are likely to include deviant and criminal acts, particularly if they lack legitimate opportunities to satiate their stimulus needs. Most criminals have a history of poor performance at instrumental tasks. This typically results in a very limited education, and, as an adult, a poor work history and a limited income. Not unexpectedly, such persons have a low investment in conventional society and often have an antagonistic orientation towards conventional society. For such persons the potential loss of the rewards associated with normal society do not pose a substantial cost (Geerken & Gove, 1975), and they often turn elsewhere for symbolistic situations that provide meaning to their lives. Such abuse: a) is often criminogenic in itself, b) impairs one's performance in conventional roles, c) is a motive for crime, and d) can trigger violent criminal behavior. Furthermore, as persons differ in their reactions to and desire for alcohol and other drugs, it seems probable that criminals are particularly likely to find the effects of drugs and alcohol rewarding.
Ethnographic studies are rich in detail and much of what we know about the motivations for crime comes from them. Most ethnographic studies, however, are primarily concerned with describing the way persons act, and typically do not focus on motivation. The ethnographic study of burglars in Britain by Bennett and Wright (1984) is particularly suggestive regarding the issue of motivation. When asked what their main reason for offending was, most burglars not surprisingly reported money.
However, over half of the offenders spontaneously elaborated on their response, noting other satisfactions associated with offending. Many of the offenders noted at some stage in the interview that they found the risks associated with offending exciting.

Below are some illustrative examples of the comments made by the burglars.

-Any burglar will tell you that when he's on the job he is excited. It's obvious because the adrenaline is running, you are keyed up, and anybody would say that it was exciting.

-I really do believe that there was a little bit more than just the money. It was using your intelligence and everything else, pitting your wits against the police and the locks and everything else. It definitely gave me an uplift, a charge.

-I think it's the challenge, because you're risking your freedom. It's partly the challenge, and the challenge is part of the excitement.

Whether all criminal behavior is exciting or not, the use of the word "aggression" is still somewhat confusing. The term aggression is employed to describe angry violent behavior with intent to hurt a person or cause damage to property. "Aggressive" behavior is also used to depict a strong and somewhat adventurous effort. Thus an aggressive sales person or athlete, for example, may be perceived as obnoxious or violent by some and motivated and hard working by others.
Baron (1977, p. 12, cited in Cox, 1990, p. 266) offers the following definition for aggression: "Aggression is any form of behavior directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment."
Bredemeier (1983) defined aggressive behavior in sport as:"The intentional initiation of violent and or injurious behavior. 'Violent' means any physical, verbal or nonverbal offense, while 'injurious behaviors' stand for any harmful intentions or actions."
An accidental foul or injury inflicted on another athlete resulting from inferior skills will not be considered as aggression. An intentional foul, although not resulting in any harm or injury, is considered as sport aggression.
A drive-based model of aggression was originally proposed by Dollard, Dobb, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears (1939). The F-A model proposes that aggression is a universal reaction to frustration. Initially the F-A hypothesis predicted that: incidents of frustration lead to some expression of aggression, and acts of aggression result from some form of frustration. The F-A model differs from Instinct theory in that aggression may be the result of instigators other than biological instincts. A more recent view of the F-A hypothesis suggests that the magnitude of the expressed aggression is dependent on:

The amplitude of the frustration
The individual's threshold for frustration
The amount of frustrating incidents, and
The magnitude of the anticipated retaliation to one's expressed aggression

Based on the view that all behaviors are a by-product of various degrees of natural and environmental influences on the living organism, Berkowiz reformulated the initial F-A hypothesis. Thus, frustration does not automatically invoke aggression. Neither does exposure to aggressive models always lead to expressed aggression. Instead, Berkowitz postulated that frustration acts as a "readying mechanism" for an aggressive reaction. Frustration, and more frustration, gradually augments one's likelihood to display an aggressive response.
Berkowitz's conclusion that biological instincts and learning are closely intertwined is crucial to the derivation of solutions to the problematic infiltration of aggressive behaviors into all levels of sport participation and competition. Young athletes promptly learn that they can get away with certain foul behaviors that they would otherwise find quite difficult to justify in an every day, off-the-field situation. In some cases small, and in other cases significant modifications to the existing rules would gradually inculcate newly learned, more restrained reactions to incidents of on-field (erroneous calls by contest officials, fouls, etc.) frustration provoked aggression.
While acknowledging the existence of physiological mechanisms for aggression and rage, Albert Bandura (1973, 1977) is strongly critical of the instinct and the F-A hypothesis of aggression. Bandura's work led him to believe that aggressive behaviors are modified and shaped by learning and experience and seldom represent the work of isolated biological instincts. Successful, unchallenged aggressive acts, according to Bandura, lead to further aggression. The circular pattern of aggression may continue and escalate until a counteracting reinforcer interrupts this vicious cycle.
Referring to Bandura's social learning theory of aggression, Cox (1990, p. 282) states that it "provides the single most viable explanation for the continued rise of aggression and violence in amateur and professional sports."
More recent studies conducted in the sport and nonsport environment present few differences between male and female athletes. In fact, the more competitive females become, the more they display "male like" aggressive attitudes and conduct. When females display a higher threshold for F-A it is often the outcome of our societal sexist socialization process. Still, under high stress and provocation women display a F-A response that is very similar to their male counterparts.
Aggressive behavior does not always have to be deemed in a negative context, i.e. sports, business buyouts, car buying, etc. We have found that the majority of people do not necessarily view aggression negatively unless it personally affects them or has personally affected them. Dating from the times of gladiators, people have had a natural draw and desire to witness moderate aggressive acts. It is not unusual to have entire stadiums filled to capacity with spectators that paid money to watch such events as football games, wrestling and boxing matches, or even hockey rivalries. Even above competition, large groups of people generally circle around when a fight in a crowd breaks out. Although they may not be involved, there is a certain rush experienced by watching people pummel one another.
We believe that aggression can be traced to genetics and environment, however we tend to think that it is foolish to assume that one is totally dominant over the other. It is through a combination of the two that a person develops aggressive tendencies. Yet, one could also reason that the genetic argument has lost its valor because our hunter-gatherer ancestors died nearly 30,000 years ago. It is possible to draw aggressive tendencies from these deceased ancestors, but how present are their traits within us, and how dominant?

Pennsylvania State University sociologist Alan Booth. "Many types of crime can best be understood by examining both biological and social factors and the way they work together. Neither is a primary cause. Both are essential in understanding crime."
Men with moderately above average testosterone levels are 28% more likely to buy and sell stolen property, deal drugs, and use a weapon in fights than those with moderately below average levels. "Thus, rather than being a direct cause, higher levels of
testosterone set the stage for criminal conduct." Research has shown that testosterone is related to aggression, risk-taking, and low impulse control. Ingrained early in life, these
behaviors interfere with educational achievement, membership in organizations, steady employment, and marriage, all of which commit people to conventional social goals and reduce the propensity toward crime. "On the other hand, these same testosterone-related behaviors increase the likelihood of juvenile delinquency, which predisposes individuals to adult criminalbehavior," Booth points out. Anonymous Title: Does testosterone trigger crime? Appears In
USA Today. v122n2580 Sep 1993. p.6

These factors seem to be facilitators of aggression. They interact with other variables to produce aggression in situations in which the likelihood of violent behaviors is high
-HEAT
-NOISE
-CROWDING
-ALCOHOL/DRUGS

Aggression is an act not a cognitive state
Aggression is not accidental; it is an intentional act to harm
Aggressive acts involve both bodily and psychological harm Aggressive acts involve only living beings; harm to objects does not count as aggression
The receiver of aggression does not want to get hurt

Males are thirteen and a half times as likely to commit fraud,
Males are thirteen times as likely to be arrested for carrying or possessing a weapon,
Males are ten times as likely to steal a car,
Males are nine times as likely to commit burglary,
Males are nine times as likely to steal a car,
Males are eight and a half times as likely to be arrested for drunkenness,
Males are eight times more likely to be arrested for vagrancy,
Males are eight times as likely to vandalize,
Males are seven and a half times to fence stolen property,
Males are seven times more likely to commit arson,
Males are six and a half times as likely to be arrested for gambling offenses,
Males are six and a half times as likely to be stopped for drunk driving, Males are five and a half times more likely to arrested for sex offenses (excluding prostitution and forcible rape),
Males are five times more likely to be arrested for drug abuse offenses,
Males are four and a half times as likely for offenses against children and other members of the family,
Males are over twice as likely to commit larceny,
Males are almost twice as likely to commit forgery or counterfeiting
Males are one and a half times more likely to commit embezzlement.

Frequency Distribution of "Very Important" Motivations for Crime Among Inmates who Said They Know the Experience of Persons who Committed that Crime "Very Well"

Shoplifting Burglary Robbery Rape Assault
(N=99) (N=114) (N=70) (N=26) (N=62)
Easy opportunity,
had the chance to do it 37% 53% 59% 54% 39%

The thrill or excitement 42% 49% 64% 62% 49%

The amount of money
or property to be stolen 52% 75% 89% 16% 35%

The difficulty or challenge 36% 38% 46% 62% 34%

Anger/frustration/rage 15% 8% 30% 56% 82%

Power/control 28% 28% 58% 73% 75%

Sexual relief/satisfaction 7% 5% 2% 69% 10%

Revenge/hatred/payback 13% 27% 39% 54% 85%

Because the person is
on drugs 42% 49% 53% 39% 54%

The "high" one gets 26% 40% 48% 58% 51%

The figures and information above are miscellaneous facts that we have come across during the research process of our project. We feel that this data is representative of our project and adds cognitive facts to it. Although this information is not our own, we believe that it adds interesting details to an otherwise complete project.
Below are the graphs and figures from our specific research. The two pie graphs depict the general feeling of how the sexes on this campus consider the idea of walking alone at night. It is easy to see that a significant number of females feel less safe walking alone at night than their sexual counterpart. The correlation between feeling safe at night and loss of temper is interesting in the sense that those who do feel safe at night tend to loss their temper more often and following the F-A theory tend to be more aggressive. Another noteworthy correlation is the fact that those who tend to lose their temper also tend to be tense and wound up throughout their daily lives. From the second set of graphs it is easy to see that males tend to lose control far more than females. Surprisingly enough the role is reversed when the question concerning loss of temper is proposed.
Overall, we have come away from this project with a better understanding of aggression and human nature. We feel that no one will ever prove that nature is more influential than nurturing or vice versa. It is difficult to say what the exact cause of aggressive behavior is; even through our extensive research all we can offer is an opinion.
As stated earlier, we still believe that neither nature nor nurture is explicitly responsible for aggression, rather different combinations of upbringing and inherent qualities lead a person down the path of criminal behavior.

Bibliography:

1. "The assessment of criminal behaviors of clients in secure settings" McMurran, May Hodge, John E
London, Bristol PA:Jesica Kingsley Publishers, 1994

2. "Criminal Behavior: a process psycology analysis"
Pallone, Nathaniel J, James Hennessy
New Brunswick (USA): transaction Publishers, c 1992

3. "The criminal lifestyle: patterns of serious criminal conduct"
Walters, Glenn D
Newbury Park, Calif: Sage Publications, c 1990

4. "Everbody Does It" Crime by the Public
Gabor, Thomas
Toronto, Buffalo: University of Toronto Press c1994

5. Male criminal activity from childhood through youth: Multilevel and developmental perspectives
LeBlanc, Mark, Frechette,Marcel
New York: Springer-verlag c1989

6. http://www.evoyage.com/criminal.html
7. http://www.doc.state.ok.us/DOCS/OCJRC/OCJRC94/940650g.htm
8. http://www.violence.de/prescott/bulletin/article.html
9. http://www.globelectron.com/attitudes.html

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