Principles of Aggression Theories and the Underlying Cause of Bullying Behavior

Resumen o Introducción

Aggression has emerged as a social and public health issue that calls for advanced understanding, as well as the adoption of appropriate interventions. Its contemporary prominence has attracted an immense focus from social scientists and clinical experts. In explaining what aggression entails, the concerned groups have advanced diverse perspectives; on the one hand, theorists have always sought to explain why individuals express aggressive behavior as part of their core personality traits. On the other hand, biologists have been investigating possible neural basis of aggression, arguing that aggressive behavior is innate; whereas a majority of psychologists hold that aggression attitudes are a product of social and environmental interactions. Based on these diverse perspectives, an unprecedented debate, the nature versus nurture controversy, has emerged to explain the causes of aggression. Surprisingly, clear disagreements over the origin of aggression exist among psychologists. Some have upheld the tenets of psychodynamic approach to describe human aggressive behavior as an instinctive construct hence innate, whereas cognitive theorists hold that aggression is learnt. Despite the lack of consensus on the basis of human aggression, it is explicit that this behavior bears undesirable consequences. Of great concern is bullying, an aspect that has become a serious social problem among the global community, and which will be interrogated in depth in this discussion. According to Swearer, Wang, Berry and Myers, bullying has emerged as a disastrous social relationship problem. In theory, bullying can be described as a form of aggression that is characterized by a systematic and repeated abuse of power. Over the past few decades, bullying has been blamed for an increase in suicidal cases and delinquency, especially among the youth. In summary, this paper focuses on discussing the social psychological basis of bullying behavior in a manner that is consistent with the principles of aggression theories.