Topic 1.1 Aggressivity or violence?
Aggressiveness is a natural instinct, that human beings have and share with the rest of the animal kingdom.
The purpose of this instinct is to make us be alert, to drive us to defend ourselves and to enable us to adapt to our environment.
It is a biological instinctive response and it is regulated by neurochemical reactions.
Thanks to Culture, we modulate this instinct and change it to a social instinct.
It is, therefore, a biological response related to a survival instinct.
Violence, on the other hand, is not a natural behaviour of the human being. It is a cognitive and sociocultural product fed by social roles, values an ideologies, etc.
This behaviour doesn’t exist in any other animal species
It is relational and utilitarian and produces social disfunction
It is, therefore, a learned behaviour with a huge load of premeditation and intentionality.
Violence, is different from aggressiveness because its objective is power and getting control. In is not defending something vital. It is always related to power. All forms of violence are aimed to keep or increase the power someone already has.
Violence goes in one only direction: from someone(s) in a higher position to/against someone(s) in a lower position. There is subjugation and it is defined by the perpetrator’s control and the victim’s learned defencelessness.
