by Maureen Leung

Created on: August 31, 2009

The theory, survival of the fittest, by Charles Darwin, has taken its course even in this generation or the next. People have basic instinct: to survive in the society. They will do whatever it takes in order to survive, even killing. For example, it is humans' basic instinct that they would kill each other for food in order to stay alive. People who lost the fight or cannot survive anymore will eventually die. Therefore, violent behavior exists in humans, whether they know it or not, and it passes from generation to the next.

Look at the pre-historical times through the present time, people killed for food when there were famines, plagues, and wars. People also killed to gain power or territories or simply just to survive from other tribes. They also expressed violent behavior so that others would obey. The research of Asch and Milgram provides an example how people use power according to their social roles and situations that they were in. Researchers chose 24 students; part of the students took the role as guard while the rest of the students took the role as prisoner. The students who took the role as guard act like a guard, beating the students who took the role as prisoner, in order to the prisoners to obey (Weiten, 2008). This indicates that people learn to express violent behavior to deal with certain situations or in the environment that they live in. As violent continue to occur, people will eventually adapt violent behavior and pass in on to their children, siblings, and other members in the family or tribes.

Since violent behavior is born and raised, not all humans have the same degree or extent of violent behavior in them. It depends on three factors: the society that they live in, how they are raised, and the social roles that they play in society. For example, during the pre-historical times, males showed more aggressive behavior or violent than females. Males were dominant in the society because they hunted food for their tribes or families while females nurtured their children or gathered food for their tribes or families. Males were taught how to hunt, defense, and protect themselves by their father. On the other hand, females were taught by their mother how to nurture and gather food. Eventually, males and females adapted their roles in society that they were living in, and they passed it on to the next generation.

In conclusion, since all humans are born with violent behavior, how humans control their violent behavior depend how they were/are raised by parents, the society that they live in, and the roles that they play in society. As society changes, humans will either continue to adapt the violent behavior or adapt new behaviors to deal with situations. Some humans will change their behavior while others don't, but one thing that all humans will not change is their basic instinct, to survive. As the result of that, humans will always have violent behavior in them.

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