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With reference to relevant theory and research, critically discuss the stereotype that men are more aggressive than women.

Although the mind-sets of the traditional societies have changed, expectations of differential sex role are so deeply imprinted in everyday mentality that affects peoples immediate perception of our society (Stanculescu, 2009). It is known that resistance to change of stereotypical concepts depends on how deeply rooted they are in the collective mind. Traditional descriptions of men and women were tributary to stereotypical representations, according to which masculinity is associated with: assertiveness, competitiveness, aggressiveness, objectivity, rationality, and

femininity is associated with: emotions, compassion, obedience, passivity and sensitivity to social relations (Ruble and Ruble, 1982). Starting with the twentieth century, social psychologists research has been engaged in peoples prejudices against others gender, religion, age or nationality (Gough, McFadden and McDonalds, 2013). Walter Lippman (1956) claimed that humans have a limited cognitive capacity and they tend to simplify world perception by generating general categories related to self and others. This pro cess is a part of the social cognition, which has been defined as the process by which people come up to understand others (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner, 2012 , p. 463). In other words, social cognition refers to the cognitive structures and processes that shape our understanding of social situations and that mediate our behavioural reactions to them (Schacter et al., 2012). By generating these general categories, people create a fixed set of beliefs about a group of people that may or may not be accurate, which are also known as stereotypes (Franzoi, 2011: p. 609). Stereotypes facilitates information processing, allowing the observer to rely on the information previously stored in memory and not the one that comes from the outside at the time of observation. Stereotypes also occur in response to environmental factors such as different social roles (Eagly, 1995, as cited in Hilton, von Hippel,

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1996), group conflict (Robinson et al., 1995, as cited in Hilton, von Hippel, 1996) or differences in power and status (Fiske, 1993). In other cases, the stereotypes appear as ways to justify the social status quo (Jost and Banaji, 1994; Sidanius, 1993 as cited in Hilton, von Hippel, 1996) or in response to the need for social identity (Hogg and Abrams, 1988). All these examples from the literature are merely to point out that stereotypes have contextual functionality helps in adaptation. Put simply, they serve specific functions in specific contexts. However, social cognition theories suggest that in stereotyping and cognitive schemata may occur faulty categorization even though they are generally advantageous cognitive processes (Gough et al., 2013). Moreover, Hamilton and Trolier (1986) believe that people pay more attention to activities that confirm their pre-formed beliefs. A research that confirms this affirmation is Synder and Uranowitz study (1978) on homophobic stereotypes, which showed that people use category information to interpret information and recall memories. Furthermore, as members of society, people are all subjected to the influence of social stereotypes so often during the process of socialization that they form internal mental representations. The most common stereotypes are those regarding sex, age and nationality. A very common gender stereotype is that males are more aggressive than females. However, what counts as gender or aggression in any applied sense depends heavily on social judgements, which are sensitive to the social context and heavily influenced by the values of the individual and the perceiver. By definition, human aggression is any behaviour that is intended to harm another person who wants to avoid the harm (Baumeister and Vohs, 2007, p.66). Finding examples of aggressive behaviour does not require special efforts, as we are unfortunately witnessing almost daily different manifestations of aggression (wars, murders, robberies, rapes, arson, destruction etc.). For instance, in the U.S., every 6 minutes somebody commits rape; every minute another person becomes the victim

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of a robbery attack; every 22 seconds a car theft is committed, every 25 minutes somebody commits murder and so on (Karmen, 1990). A number of theories have been put forward by psychologists to explain aggression in terms of social or psychological factors. It is said that are as capable of aggression as any other animal, and better at it than most (Anderson and Bushman, 2002; Geen, 1998). Social psychologists distinguished two types of aggression, namely: hostile and instrumental aggression (Berkowitz, 1990; Geen, 1998; Anderson and Bushman, 2002). Hostile aggression has historically been conceived as being impulsive, thoughtless (i.e., unplanned), driven by anger, having the ultimate motive of harming the target, and occurring as a reaction to some perceived provocation (Berkowitz, 1990). It is sometimes called affective, impulsive, or reactive aggression. Instrumental aggression is conceived as a premeditated means of obtaining some goal other than harming the victim, and being proactive rather than reactive (Schacter et al., 2012). Wrangham and Peterson (1997) believe that the best predictor of hostile (impulsive) aggression is sex or gender. Based on comparative studies of the aggressive behaviour in adult men and women, Eagly and Steffen (1986) came up with the conclusion that men are more aggressive than women. Moreover, Eagly and Steffen (1986) have specified that the gender differences are more distinct in physical aggression rather than the psychological one. By analysing other studies this article showed that men tend to produce more physical aggression, such as pain whether women prefer the psychological aggression and social harm. In addition, this article supports the stereotypical assumption of men being more aggressive than women. From a cultural perspective, there is support for this stereotype in all cultures for which documentation exists (Block, 1983; Brislin, 1993). Males account for a disproportionate amount of violent crime in both industrialized and non-industrialized societies. Most societies encourage males to be more aggressive than females,

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however male aggressiveness is not merely the product of socialisation (Schacter et al., 2012). Impulsive or hostile aggression is also correlated with the presence of testosterone (Schacter et al., 2012). On the basis of the evidence available, it appears that hormones may contribute to some degree to aggressiveness, but culture and the environment can certainly act to encourage or discourage its emergence (Berry, Poortinga, Segall and Dasen, 1992). Some researchers (Berry et al., 1992; Segall, Dasen, Berry and Poortinga, 1999) offer another possible explanation for gender differences in aggression across cultures. They suggest that male aggression may be a compensatory mechanism to balance the struggle produced by a young males identification with a female care provider (mother) and his initiation into adulthood as a male. In this model, aggressiveness is viewed as gender marking behaviour. On the other hand, some research suggests that women can be as aggressive as men are (Schacter et al., 2012). Some research shows that in fact women are more calculate when express their aggression by considering the advantages and disadvantages of their actions and the impact upon both themselves and their victim and they may be even more likely than man to aggress by causing social harm (Crick and Grotpeter, 1995). Women use the psychological form of aggression more often than men use their preferred form of aggression, than that of physical pain (Shute, Owens and Slee, 2002). Moreover, recent studies have shown that women may be more physically aggressive than men. A good example is the research of Fries, Grogan-Kaylor, Bares, Han and Delvas (2013), which was conducted in Chile and its purpose was to test the gender differences in self-reported physical aggression among adolescents from a Latin American country. This study showed that adolescent women were more likely to report engaging in open physical aggression than men. Fries et al. (2013) discovered that both men and womens aggressive behaviour is related to dysfunctional families, dating violence and drug use. In other words, a lower level in parental involvement in adolescent decision making is associated with

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higher levels of physical aggression in both adolescent men and women. In addition to this, it was found that positive relationships with the persons who take care of these adolescents were associated with low levels of aggression among boys and girls. Furthermore, women tend to be more aggressive, or even violent in intimate relationships. The meta-analyse conducted by Archer (2000) showed that women are more likely than men to use one or more acts of physical aggression and to use such acts more frequently. Archer (2000) suggested that women aggression is correlated with her independence. He believes that these circumstances occur when women are not subject to the power of their husbands' families and they are economically independent of men. In addition, US Centre for Disease Controls Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (2011) suggested that the rates of men being molested by women over a year was identical to the rates of women reporting being raped. These findings are baked up with a large number of studies that examined the issue of men as victims of women's sexual aggressive behaviour (Aizeman & Kelley, 1988; Anderson 1996; Anderson, 1998; Anderson and Aymami, 1993; Fiebert and Tucci, 1998 ; OSullivan and Byers, 1993; etc.). Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson (1994), found that most men who experienced unwanted female contact had mild negative reactions . However about one fifth of the men had strong negative reactions some were traumatised, damaged, psychologically harmed by the experience. It is true that this number is lower than the proportion of women who are extremely traumatised by sexual assaults by men but there is also research (Sarrel and Masters, 1982) demonstrating severely negative psychological consequences to male victimization. Last but not least, a very extreme example of women aggression towards the opposite sex is the SCUM Manifesto, which was wrote and self-published by Valerie Solanas (1968). This manifesto called for male gendercide and the creation of a superior, all-female society. This radical manifesto declared that women must overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete

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automation, and destroy the male sex. Although Solanas (1968) took a large risk in presenting her claims, she did provoke the readers into re-evaluating societys established gender roles. By effectively using aggressive factual claims and calls to action in her revolutionary SCUM Manifesto, Solanas (1967) shocked her audience out of complacency with societys sexism and into action against it. This extreme act of aggression also contributed to the second and third wave or feminism movements. Regardless of the precise mechanisms that produce gender differences in aggression, it is clear that although the gender stereotype of aggressiveness may be generally true, considerable differences do exist across cultures. What is true for one culture may not be true for another. Future research needs to examine the precise mechanisms accounting for these differences, taking into account the complex relationship between biology, culture, and psychology. This research will need to be sensitive to the context specificity of aggressive acts. Hence, rather than simply stating that males are more aggressive than females, it is more accurate to state that both sexes can behave aggressively, but they tend to engage in different types of aggression.

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Crick, N. R. and Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational Aggression, Gender, and SocialPsychological Adjustment. CHILD DEVELOPMENT.

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Perspectives In Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 2(4), 255-268. doi:10.1037/a0034533 Gough, B., McFadden, M. and McDonalds, M. (2013). Critical Social Psychology. Great Britain: Palgrave MacMillan. Hilton, J., & Von Hippel, W. (1996). Stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 237-271. Jost, J. T. and Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology33: 127.doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1994.tb01008.x

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Karmen, A. (1990). Crime, Victims. An Introduction to Victimology (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, California, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. O'Sullivan, L. F. & Byers, E. S. (1993). Eroding stereotypes: College women's attempts to influence reluctant male sexual partners. Journal of Sex Research. 30, 270-282. Robinson, C., Mandleco, B., Olsen, S. F., & Hart, C. H. (1995). Authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting practices: Development of a new measure. Psychological Reports, 77, 819-830. Ruble, D. N. and Ruble, T. L. (1982). Sex stereotypes in the eyes of the beholder, in A. G. MILLER (Ed.), Contemporary issues in stereotyping, New York, Praeger, 1982. Sarrel, P. & Masters, W. H. (1982). Sexual molestation of men by women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 11, 117-131. Schacter, D., Gilbert, D. and Wegner, D. (2012) Psychology: European Edition. London, Palgrave Macmillan. Segall, M. H., Dasen, P. R., Berry, J. W., & Poortinga, Y. H. (1999). Human behaviour in global perspective (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Shute, R., Owens, L. and Slee, P.T. (2002) You just look at them and give them daggers: Adolescent girls use of nonverbal aggression. International Journal of Adolescence, 10, 353-372. Snyder, M. & Uranowitz, S. W. (1978). Reconstructing the past: Some cognitive consequences of person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 941-950. Lippman, W. (1965). Public Opinion. New York: Free Press. Solanas, V. (1968). The SCUM Manifesto

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/rants/scum.html#ednotes Stanculescu, E. (2009). Gender Stereotype from the Social Cognition Perspective. https://www.academia.edu/808113/STEREOTIPURILE_DE_GEN_DIN_PERSPECTI VA_COGNITIEI_SOCIALE

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Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman-Johnson, D. (1993). College men and women's reactions to hypothetical sexual touch varied by initiator gender and coercion level. Sex Roles, 29, 371-385. US Centre for Disease Controls Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. (2011).The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Summary Report. http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf Wrangham, R. W., & Peterson, D. (1996). Demonic males: Apes and the origins of human violence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.