The study of violent behaviour is a complicated issue with many researchers coming up with assumptions on what motivates the human actions and the best way to study it. Similarly, the assumptions help them to understand their interests, intrinsic structures, needs or choices that explain the phenomenon. The assumptions are very basic and are subjective forming the base for academic theories. Violence can be conceptualized as a form of conflict that occurs when it reaches a given point. Violent behavior is an act by an individual that harms, injuries or threaten an individual or others including property. It can begin with verbal threats escalating to physical harm (Demmers, 2012). Violence occurs throughout the world and can affect individuals of different ages. Many negative effects can be experienced by individuals exposed to violence with children facing more harm. Violence can be in the form of assault, homicide, robbery or rape. Similarly, violence can be categorized on the basis of motivation; reactive and proactive. Additionally, violence can be categorized into predatory and effective. There are many causes of violence and researchers agree that there is no single cause (Ng & Chow, 2016). The purpose of this research paper is to determine whether violent behaviour is environmental or behavioural. The paper will review available literature to establish the causes as shown by different studies
Objective
To investigate whether violent behaviour is caused by environmental or biological factors
Hypothesis
Violent behavior is caused by the environment, but an aggressive gene can be triggered by the environment
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Literature Review
According to the world health organization, violence is the use of force or power intentionally threatened or actual against someone, oneself, group or community resulting in injury, death, psychological harm deprivation or mal-development. Violence can be positive or negative depending on the motivating factor. Self defence or defending loved ones, social groups or even the culture is acceptable. Such acts are adaptable and are carried .out for the defence of someone. Extreme violence however is a form of violence where the risks far outweigh the benefits (Ferguson & Beaver, 2009).
Violence is a serious issue that can be observed from different religious groups, races, economic or social standards and educational occupation. It includes a range of intentional physical, mental verbal and emotional violent behavior that affect the physical and mental health of an individual including their self-concept. The violent behavior continues to increase in different countries becoming a major social concern. Many factors including poverty, tendency to have fun, diminishing attention to spirituality and humanity, deteriorating family structure as well as educational values and expansion of mechanisms have contributed to increased pessimism, aggressiveness, fear of the future and violence (Heidari et al., 2014).
Trying to separate the environment and the genetics is becoming an impossible and unproductive approach to studying a phenomenon. The two interact to affect the behavior of an individual in a complex and hard to understand the mechanism. However, the debate rages on as different studies try to identify the impact of one phenomenon on the behavior. Some of the studies have tried to show how some of the behaviors are acquired at birth while others are obtained from the surrounding environment. Research into the genes of an individual and how they affect violence can be helpful in trying to reduce the behavior. The challenge is that biological issues are used to explain the social issues affecting behavior. Biological factors have received more attention given that they are seen as more critical being there from birth and re more difficult to change (Levitt, 2013).
In a study to establish the influence of behavior in a child, the respondents identified nurture as the main factor. Parents and the family were seen as an important influence on the babies, children all the way to a young person. Violence in an individual had to do with the nurture or environment and the person and the continued weakening of the relationship in explaining behavior. The participants also identified the people around them as significant influencers of their behavior. Similarly, educational experiences were important to the participants. The participants identified the influence of their parents and teachers in their early life as having affected their behavior (Levitt, 2013).
The environment/nurture have the ability to affect genes or nature and vice versa. It is therefore difficult to separate nature and nurture. Children develop within families where the parents also develop parenting approaches based on their previous experiences including how the children react. Genes and environment affected the participants even though the role of the genes is still unknown. It is, therefore, true that some individuals will react in a given way due to the influence of their genes and the environment. Some individuals are likely to require additional help or treatment once they have committed a violent act. An individual can only be regarded as having no choice to act in a particular way if they are insane. It is possible to affect the behavior of an individual by considering the biological and environmental factors that shape their behavior (Levitt, 2013).
Studies show that nature and nurture affect the behavior of an individual and it its suicidal to try and separate the two. Neither can be studied individually and none affects a person without the other. The understanding of the environment is, however, more profound than genes. The influences of the two are however more complex as the two interact but have to be separated to explain the causes of some behaviors (Levitt, 2013).
From the discussion, it is evident that many factors are associated with violence and it is inappropriate to assume that the environment is the main contributor to violent behavior. This research paper wanted to test the hypothesis that violent behavior is caused by the environment, but an aggressive gene can be triggered by the environment. From the literature review, the hypothesis is untrue as violent behavior is not only caused by the environmental factors but by a myriad of complex issues that are yet to be studied conclusively to arrive at a generalized conclusion. Assuming that violent behavior is attributable to the environment alone and that such environmental factors trigger the genes of an individual narrows down the understanding of violent behavior and restricts the exploration of other factors might contribute, to such behavior. However, it is true that the environment plays a significant role in determining the violent behavior of an individual. It is, however, advisable to study the two factors together rather than trying to separate them in order to understand the concept.
References
Demmers, J. (2012). Theories of Violent Conflict . Milton: Taylor and Francis.
Ferguson, C., & Beaver, K. (2009). Natural born killers: The genetic origins of extreme violence. Aggression And Violent Behavior , 14 (5), 286-294. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2009.03.005
Heidari, K., Davari, H., Espanani, M., Poursalehi, M., Naeini, S., & Rastkerdar, Z. et al. (2014). The relationships between environmental factors and violent behaviors in adolescent students of Isfahan, Iran. International Journal Of Preventive Medicine , 5 (14), 97. doi: 10.4103/2008-7802.157664
Levitt, M. (2013). Perceptions of nature, nurture and behaviour. Life Sciences, Society And Policy , 9 (1), 13. doi: 10.1186/2195-7819-9-13
Ng, H., & Chow, T. (2016). The effects of environmental resource and security on aggressive behavior. Aggressive Behavior , 43 (3), 304-314. doi: 10.1002/ab.21690
