Many cultures have blatant expectations that one gender (generally boys) will behave in aggressive ways, and even have sayings such as ‘boys will be boys’. Indeed, in some cases, boys who do not...

Many cultures have blatant expectations that one gender (generally boys) will behave in aggressive ways, and even have sayings such as ‘boys will be boys’. Indeed, in some cases, boys who do not behave aggressively in some situations are looked upon with doubt. Do you think that one gender is more predisposed than the other to be aggressive? Does your answer depend on your definition of aggression? Do you think boys and girls can be aggressive in different ways? If you do see differences between the genders, do you think a non-biological explanation is possible?

Many of the arguments offered by Lorenz and other biological researchers are based on analogies to animal behaviour. In what ways do you think such analogies are or are not appropriate in trying to explain aggression?