COME AT ME! Aggressive Display Behaviors of Adolescent Male Homo sapiens

Research into the aggressive behavior of nonhuman animals has revealed a general pattern of high intensity aversive signaling displays at the start of an aggressive encounter that gradually progress towards more overt physical attacks as the duration of the encounter increases. The present study sought to further the comparative psychological insight into how conflicts progress between human and nonhuman animals. Drawing some analogies from the aggressive display behaviors of Siamese fighting fish (Beta splendens), we studied 100 videos ranging from 1-5 minutes in length. The aggressive display behaviors of adolescent male Homo sapiens was extrapolated and coded from videos on the video site YouTube. Specific behaviors coded for were chest beating, arm flaring, aggressive vocalization (swearing, yelling, and insults), aggressive darting, feinting attacks, and genuine attacks. We recorded both the frequency and duration of the aggressive responses. Results from this study correspond with reported results from the animal literature indicating that aggressive encounters follow a typified pattern of aversive signaling to overt physical attacks in humans in the same manner as nonhuman animals