In the study of psychology, particularly human behavior, both aggression and fear are highly debated topics among theorists. Aggression and fear are both inherent in our world and both serve different functions. Fear refers to a personal fear and can be observed on a personal level, while aggression is a group topic, usually affecting more than one person. These two primal emotions seem almost out of place in this modern world, and so competing theories, which attempt to explain both fear and aggression, can differ greatly in their attempt to rationalize this aspect of human behavior. The two topics I will discuss in this essay are, as I mentioned, still controversial today. By addressing them we can see the controversial nature of psychology. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Psychologists consider fear and anxiety to be almost exactly the same thing. Fear is 1. An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm (Oxford 2002), anxiety or anxiety is 1. feeling of worry or discomfort (op. sit.). The two are so similar in terms of psychological study that they were lumped together. There are many different theories in the psychological community regarding fear, its origins, and its meanings. Social learning psychologists, for example, take a very specific position on fear, they believe that it is a learned emotion and not a genetic reflex or understanding of who we are. born with. Social learning psychology proposes that “true fear requires a rather sophisticated level of cognitive development” (Schnell et. al. 1975, p. 167). Social learning psychologists suggest that true fear, what we think of as fear, can only be truly experienced when a child has learned about “fear.” To be afraid of something a child must have experienced something with negative effects or experience something that is described to them as scary. The child who is afraid must have a memory of the fear. A child, barring external influences, will never be able to fear something new. When 6-month-old Roberta approached the big hairy monster, she wasn't scared. She could have truly feared the monster only if a) she had already encountered it once and it had hurt her, roared loudly or something, or b) she had been told a story about a monster with descriptions of its appearance and actions negative. This means that even fear is experienced through gradual conditioning. John was slapped when he ate lollipops, so when he thinks about lollipops, John becomes anxious (Atkinson et. al. 1983). Social learning psychologists, when studying fear, are always fascinated in reporting the reinforcing nature of fear, that fear, if not analyzed and confronted, never gives the sufferer the chance to free him from fear. Jenny who is afraid of spiders, will scream and run away from them (which in itself is a self-perpetuating action as it increases anxiety) without ever allowing herself to see that the spiders are very unlikely to attack and, in effects, they are more inclined to move away from them. such an exciting atmosphere. (op. sit.) Another highly appreciated theory of fear is that of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that, firstly, there were two types of fear, objective anxiety and neurotic anxiety. Objective anxiety is described as the practical response to danger (Schnell et. al. 1975); Freud believed that objective anxiety was a positive and necessary reflex, and therefore did not explain this fear in great detail. He was much more interested in oursunjustified fears and so he wrote in depth what he considered a fascinating side of human fear: neurotic anxiety. Neurotic anxiety is a term coined by Freud to describe anxiety that arises from a person's unconscious. More specifically, anxiety is the result of an unconscious conflict between the Id and the Ego or the Super Ego, a subject is very often unaware of the root of their anxiety since it is hidden in the unconscious and in many cases. defense were used to divert consciousness from the cause and conflict. For example, Jeffery may have sexual feelings towards his sister (id) but knows, subconsciously, that it is morally unacceptable to feel that way (ego), and therefore has intense inner turmoil on an unconscious level. This produces anxiety, and since it is on a subconscious level it is neurotic anxiety. (Atkinson et. al. 1983) Neurotic anxiety is dealt with using defense mechanisms, another important part of Freud's theory. This could take many different forms such as; reaction formation, an unconscious dislike towards a friend might express itself as a clingy and overly loving relationship; repression, repressing anxiety and not dealing with it; or sublimation, someone might feel intense hatred towards a family member, but knowing that it would be unacceptable to act on it and having no other outlet, they might express themselves artistically. As anxiety has different schools of thought, so does the topic of aggression. Where we have looked at Freudian and social learning theory with anxiety, we will look at aggression from the perspective of behaviorists and John Dollard, one of the original authors of frustration-aggression theory. Aggression is a very interesting part of human behavior, what is of interest to psychologists is intraspecific aggression, or aggression towards one's own species. Aggression is a hostile or violent behavior or attitude (Oxford, 2002). And it is the explosion of aggression, the way it expresses itself and its strange manifestations in the human race that makes it such a popular subject of study. Behaviorists believe that intraspecific aggression is a positive act. Intraspecific aggression can disperse a population with the aggressive protection of territories, even in the case of aggressive behavior resulting from mating rituals; often means that the strongest males will breed (Carlson, 1987). This suggests, however, that in the case of humans, intraspecific aggressive behavior is no longer a necessary part of our evolution and sustenance, so why does it exist? Behaviorists answer this question with a typically biological answer, namely that aggression is learned. This is not often the result of a child being a victim or witness to domestic violence, but behaviorists believe that large amounts and prolonged exposure to violence on television and video games cause children to imitate aggressive behavior (op. sit .). For example, Paul, who watched his father beat his mother from an early age, is more likely to be aggressive, or Jessica, who watches large amounts of violent television programs, is more likely to play violently on the playground. The frustration-aggression hypothesis is a controversial theory of aggression. John Dollard and associates wrote the first frustration-aggression theory, in 1939. It proposed that frustration was the cause of aggression. Frustration is produced by the feeling of unachieved goals. This obstacle to someone's efforts to achieve their goals creates an aggressive drive, which inspires action to stop, hurt, or eliminate the person or object impeding their success and.