to what extent can reductionist explanations explain aggression

In psychology there is much debate about the meaning of the term ‘aggression,’ as many different people have different views on how to define it, one definition comes from berkowitz 1993 and states aggression is ‘behaviour that is intended to injure someone physically or psychologically.’ Many explanations have been proposed for aggression and there is a split between the highly reductionist biological approach and the less reductionist social psychological approaches. Each of these explanations have proven extremely useful in answering certain questions surrounding aggression and helping us to gain more of an understanding of aggressive behaviour, however their limitations must also be acknowledged.

Psychologists with a biological and physiological background tend to view aggression as being singularly influenced by underlying internal systems. The genetic explanation, for example, states that genes influence elements of our biology that contribute to aggressive behaviour. The theory proposes it is a combination of structural and functional effects that contribute to an animal’s aggressive behaviour. (Renfrew 1997)

Many twin studies offer support for the genetic approach and although correlation study findings have varied, what remains constant across all studies is a greater association of aggressiveness with MZ than Dz twins, whether reared together or apart, strongly indicating a genetic contribution. McGuffin et al found MZ twins aggression levels correlated more highly at 0.87 than DZ twins at 0.72, O’Connor 1980 found a correlation of 0.72 between MZ twins whereas canter found a weak correlation of 0.14 thus suggesting other factors played a bigger role.

Correlation findings clearly show genes are an important factor howe...

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...tion were 76% better off than the control group. Internet ref The effectiveness of this treatment thus lends support to psychological theories of aggression, Jenson suggests, however, that psychosocial therapy in conjunction with medication may be more effective in treating aggression than medication alone.

In conclusion reductionist approaches can be helpful in explaining aggression, however it depends on what questions are being asked around a topic, the more meaningful a question the less it can be explained by a reductionist approach. Alone, reductionist approaches do not explain all aspects of behaviour and an integrated approach such as looking at the role of biology on aggression as well as possible social and environmental factors may be more beneficial in fully explaining what contributing factors can influence a person to engage in aggressive behaviour.