Aggression
 
There are different reasons why a person may act
aggressively towards another human being. They may act that
way because of their culture or the way they where brought
up in their society. They do not, however act this way
based on instinct alone. Aggression is a molded, learned
behavior. A human being must have both environmental and
instinctual factors in order to display aggression. Some of
a person's natural instincts are to desire food, reject
certain things, escape from danger, fight when challenged,
have sex desire, care for the young, seek dominate, to
accept inferior status. The combination of instincts and
environment determines a person's behavior. This is based
on the theory that everything that human being do would
have had to learn from some other human beings. Aggression
must be learned rather then it just being there from birth.
A person's behavior is taught to them rather then being an
instinct that can not be controlled. In order for an
individual to display aggression it must be driven by an
instinct interacting with that person's surroundings.
McDougall defines the word "instinct" as "as an inherited
or innate psycho-physical disposition which determines its
possessor to perceive, and to pay attention to, objects of
a certain class, to experience an emotional excitement, of
a particular quality upon perceiving such an object, and to
act in regard to its particular manner, or, at least, to
experience an impulse to such action." This definition
basically explains that people have different reactions for
different stimulus. Therefore, an individual is prone to
act a certain way when he stimulated to do so from his
surrounding environment. The Eskimo does not have an innate
instinct that allows them to survive in their climate. They
are taught to work together in order to survive when they
are young. When people are brought up in a society they
learn certain customs and traditions. These customs are
usually taught to them because its part of their society's
way of life, even though some of the customs may seem cruel
and repulsive to someone else. Cannibalism is abhorrent to
us, but in some primitive cultures to eat an enemy is to
gain his or her strength.5 This aggressive behavior was
taught to the people of this culture and is the reason for
its existence. People need to have exposure to
aggressiveness in society in order to act aggressive. For
example, there was a tribe in New Guinea who were fierce
warriors that were always fighting and killing. The
Children of these people learned this hostility from their
parents and then acted in the same way.6 A parents methods
of child rearing lay the base for aggression. The child
rearing practices themselves are the overall design of a
particular culture.(Agress man 47) When a group of people
are isolated their behavior does not change unless they
ineract with other people. The Tasaday tribe is an example
of a group of people who were completely isolated. They
showed no signs of aggression due to the fact that they had
no words for weapon, hostility, anger or war. The Tasaday
were a food gathering tribe and had no use for weapons. The
tribe only used knives and other things that might be
classified as weapons as tools to gather food. They also
rejected the spear and the bow and arrow because they could
not use them to gather food.4 There could not have been
anything in their genetic make up that made them act
aggressive or peaceful. This was their way of life that was
taught from generation to generation, and the tribe did
what was needed to survive .