When we think of violence, we usually associate it with the rudeness, brutality and crime that we are told about in the media. However, we often overlook other types of violence, which are closer and more everyday. And although these extremes are a real cause for concern, which may even be affecting our daily lives and activities, these other forms of violence are equally harmful, to the point of being one of the possible factors that trigger greater violence.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “violence is one of the main causes of death, worldwide, for people between 15 and 44 years old.” On average, 14% of deaths in men and 7% in women are attributed to violence. And for every person who dies as a result of extreme violence, there are many others who suffer consequences derived from physical or psychological violence in the form of child abuse, mistreatment or intimidation, domestic and gender violence, workplace harassment and social discrimination.
The origin of violent behavior in humans has been an important topic of research in philosophy, sociology, biology, psychology and psychiatry. More recently, neurobiology and neurophysiology have joined this effort, searching in the brain for the keys to studying and preventing violence. With the help of these disciplines, together with new tools that allow brain imaging, progress has been made, but there are still many unknowns about this phenomenon. One of them is whether violence is inherent to humans, or is culturally acquired.
Thus, for example, in the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau stated that man is good by nature and that “artificial civilization” is what corrupts him. On the contrary, thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, Sigmund Freud and Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz have argued that humans are naturally aggressive and selfish, and this is only contained by culture. This controversy has not yet been resolved, but much evidence suggests that, as always, there seems to be the double influence of nature and the environment (see “Aggressive by nature?”, As you see? No. 17).
For better and for worse Dr. Feggy Ostrosky, director of the Neuropsychology and Psychophysiology Laboratory of the Faculty of Psychology (FPSI-), and an expert in the biological bases of human violence, points out that “we are born with a predisposition to aggression, to later learn when we can and should express or inhibit these tendencies. She adds that the biological perspective tells us that “aggression is inherent to human beings as a means of survival”; a behavior for adaptive purposes, selected during evolution.
The biological bases of aggressive behavior are regulated by certain brain structures and by neuronal messengers: hormones and neurotransmitters. Feggy Ostrosky specifies that these messengers do not produce aggressive behavior by themselves, so this is where the importance of social learning comes into play in the modulation or manifestation of this behavior.
Aggression is not necessarily violence. In the words of Dr. Ostrosky, aggression can even be positive, when it is a “spontaneous and brief reaction to protect ourselves from some danger that stalks us.” In this sense, “positive” aggression fulfills an important biological and evolutionary function. In contrast, negative aggression, or violence, as defined by the WHO, is “the intentional use of physical force or power, actual or threatened, against oneself, another person, or a group.” or community, and that results in a high probability of causing injury, death, psychological harm, developmental problems, or deprivation.”
In addition to fear, which forces us to face the well-known dilemma of fleeing or attacking, anger is an emotion that triggers our aggression. Getting angry from time to time is totally natural; A certain amount of anger is necessary for survival, and when well channeled it can prompt us to act assertively to solve a problem. However, chronic anger is harmful and sometimes masks other emotions. If anger goes from being an occasional feeling to being part of the personality, it can turn into hostility. Likewise, when we fail to “get out” or express our anger in a healthy way through communication, and we prefer to hide it or try to suppress it, it can transform into passive aggression, that is, a behavior where feelings of aggression are not expressed openly, but through resentment, stubbornness and blaming others to avoid one’s own responsibility.
We must emphasize the importance of anger being expressed in a healthy way, because if it is extreme and uncontrolled it can trigger anger. And this excessive emotion easily leads to violence.
In his book, killer minds, violence in your brain, Feggy Ostrosky points out that although it is a very complex issue, violence can be classified as primary when there is a certain genetic predisposition; or secondary, when other factors intervene such as personality disorders, damage from blows to the head, depression, alcohol or drug abuse, also daily frustrations, sleep deprivation, excessive heat and, of course, abuse chronic. At the same time, violence can also be exercised physically, psychologically, in a more subtle, but equally harmful way, in areas such as school, work and home.
school bullying
Although the shootings and mass murders that have occurred in schools in the United States, and to a lesser extent in those in Mexico, are cause for alarm and require measures to prevent and control violence, there are other activities in which children and adolescents participate that also They imply a degree of violence that must be addressed, not only for its immediate consequences, but also for its possible function as an indicator of greater violence in the future. Among these risk factors for developing or suffering violent behavior is the so-called bullyingor bullying, generally between classmates.
According to a recent study by the National Institute of Educational Evaluation, at least 10% of primary and secondary school students in Mexico are victims of bullying. In primary schools alone, 24.2% of students responded in a survey that they were constantly teased by their peers and 17% reported having been physically hurt by other students. For high school students things are not much better, as 13.1% indicated that they have been harassed by their peers. As this situation has two sides, 8.8% of primary school children and 5.6% of secondary school students confessed to having committed an act of violence.
The term bullying (of English bully, which means “harassment” or “bully”), which involves harassment, physical, psychological or emotional abuse as well as intimidation, mainly among schoolchildren, emerged “in the Scandinavian countries; curiously, those that we identify with a high degree of social and economic development “says psychology teacher Milagros Figueroa Campos, researcher in Educational Psychology and Development, at FPSI-. She says that it was when investigating the causes of the suicide of a boy in Sweden that it was discovered that he had been a victim of systematic aggression for a long time by his classmates. As a result of this tragic situation, interest in studying this phenomenon began.
Thus, explains teacher Figueroa, the person who exercises this form of harassment “is someone who has greater power”, physical or psychological, “with characteristics of authoritarianism, violence learned from the family or the environment, who imposes himself as a negative leader”, harassing other colleagues, and often inciting others to do the same. She points out that there are gender differences. Among men, acts of harassment and abuse can range from teasing and threats to theft or physical assault; while among women they use rumors, gossip and exclusion. “Although now there are also blows between the girls. Can we see it as natural?” says Milagros Figueroa.
This behavior can last a long time, and the victim does not easily leave this circle. In fact, Figueroa adds, the victims also have a certain psychological profile: they are generally isolated, shy boys; Maybe they have some characteristic that makes them different. “And they feel intimidated by threats, which paralyzes and blocks them.” He adds that some studies show that, as they grow up in adolescence, this behavior decreases, “so that, in high school, we no longer find physical bullying, although we can find psychological bullying.” And he points out that “currently there is another form of harassment, cyberbullyingor cyberbullying, which also has its variations.” For example, he describes that in England they distinguish something called happy-slapping, which consists of sending anonymous or pseudonymous email messages to a victim, or sending offensive, aggressive, insulting or threatening messages via cell phone. Or hitting a colleague while another films him with his cell phone to upload it to the Internet. Or steal identities on Facebook and put things in their name…
Milagros Figueroa points out that it is difficult to specify the causes of these behaviors. He specifies that some psychological theories indicate that a bully is a person who was born and raised in a violent environment, where he learns that when he wants something he has to take it or fight for it. This habituation in the family environment will be internalized by the individual, so that when he goes out to other environments and wants something, he will repeat that behavior.
This situation has serious consequences for the victims, which the family must detect: poor academic performance, a persistent state of generalized anxiety, with physical or emotional changes. “For example, on Sunday afternoons they start to feel bad, or they can’t sleep, they become withdrawn, or they have nightmares,” he explains. He adds that, when it comes to physical abuse, bruises, marks, scrapes, bumps may be observed, which the child may attribute to other circumstances, such as falls. But parents should talk to him, without questioning him, and be very attentive to his mood changes, physical discomfort, or a profound rejection of school.
Teacher Figueroa states that, apart from the fact that there are also cases of bullying or mistreatment from teachers to students, when it is between classmates, many studies indicate that teachers are often the last to find out, and once they do, they lack of strategies to intervene. “He bullying It’s nothing new; We have probably all experienced the situation in some sense, there are even places where it is accepted as something ‘natural’. But it shouldn’t be like that.”
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