Social Science 105-01 Professor Hallie Chillag Dunlap Josiah Richardson

Violence: A learned Behavior?

Is violence a learned behavior or is this just a sidestep to the question of why there is violence in the world? We all have a different genetic makeup and are therefore more susceptible towards different characteristics than others. Obviously, there are many practices that must be taught to us that we can learn either from example or from tutoring in the subject. When someone uses the toilet, was that a learned behavior? Yes, it was. Had no one taught that person how and why to use the toilet, he wouldn't. Hence, why there are such things as diapers to use until one is properly educated in hygenics and how to use the restroom. Also, there are people who unfortunately suffer from chronic somnambulism, which is hard to learn from example. Conversely, there are practices that do not need to be taught or learned. If you have or are around children, you know that lying is a common habit that affects them. Was it learned from example or was it an in-born problem? Nobody taught them how to lie, but they are experts at it. In fact, any good parent tries to teach and give an example of the opposite. In the same way, violence isn't a learned trait, but rather something we are all born with.

Anger can consume us at times and it forces us to either contain it and try to simmer down, or to let it out in violent ways. In the documentary, The Interrupters, one of the biggest problems the organization, Ceasefire tried to fix was the temper of the citizens in the Chicago area who at the very slightest aggravation would lash out at the offender. They realized that the short tempered people were also to blame for the violence. Rather than just walking away, their motto was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They don't realize the implications of retaliation in Chicago. Normally, when someone is killed, with a day, 3 others are killed as Pay-back and then those 3 deaths are avenged and so on.

But the question still remains, were they taught the violence, or was violence already a part of their nature and where they live is a prime place to expel it? I submit to you that it is the latter. We can clearly see from the aforementioned

documentary, that although a lot of the gangsters and violence starters have parents who were a part of gang early on in life, the majority had parents that taught against violence and led an example of non-violence through their lives. One could argue then, that it was peer examples and peer pressure that taught them violence. But even then, those violent peers had to learn violence from somebody and that is just circular reasoning.

The first violent act can be traced back to Cain and Able, when Cain killed his brother (Able) because Able was acting in accordance with God's will and blessed because of it. When Cain became jealous and didn't get his way, his depraved nature took hold of him and he committed the first murder. Can we logically say that he learned violence from example when there was no example to learn from? Isn't it more likely that he already was prone to violence? In The Interrupters, we saw how two brothers who were raised by their mother chose a life of violence, despite their mother trying to curb their desire to be wild. Eventually, CeaseFire was able to bring them together and talk about their troubles. Even though they were brought up in a civilized manner, they still went for violence and it took time to get them on the road to recovery.

What can we say then? If violence is a learned behavior, then we can all feel good about ourselves morally, knowing that someone showed us how to do wrong and that's not our fault. If it's not a learned behavior, then the problem lies within each and every one of us. So who's to blame? Somebody else? Or us?