Effects of Sadness on Aggression

Abstract

The purpose of our thesis is to a) Examine the differences in pre and post intervention aggression scores among experimental group and control group. b) Test hypothesis – H1- There will be significant difference in pre and post aggression scores of experimental groups among young adults. H2 – There will be no significant difference in pre and post aggression scores of control group among young adults. H3 – There will be no significant difference in post intervention aggression scores of experimental group and control group among young adults. Aggression and depression are discussed extensively by examining a broad range of literature that points to environmental, social, individual, psychological, and biophysiological influences. First, aggression and depression are discussed separately in terms of their underlying theory, biosocial perspectives, typologies, behavioral and personality abnormalities, brain structures related to each, and neurochemical/neurological influences. The final sections of the literature review discuss how aggression and depression intersect. These subsections are meant to provide the reader with different lenses through which to frame a deeper understanding of aggression and depression and to expose the reality that aggression and depression are highly complex behavioral outputs for which there are a multiplicity of causes. A methodological outline including hypotheses, research design, sample characteristics, measurements of aggression and depression and covariates, and an analytical strategy frame this study. Lastly, results from the analyses are reported and discussed, contextualizing the findings drawn in this paper in light of extant research.