Aggression or Aggressiveness? : A research hypothesis on aggression, videogames and executive functions in preschool age

The scientific evidence found in the literature shows that aggression is innate in humans, in a reactive and proactive form. This work proposes a distinction between an aggressive act and a predisposition to aggression, highlighting how this type of behavior is normative and natural in child’s development. Aggressiveness reaches its peak between two and four years old and tends to decrease sensibly and permanently throughout the life. This work traces genetic and temperamental correlates of aggressiveness, highlights the relationship between aggression and decision making and explores the elements that lead to the choice of implementing aggressive behavior. Finally, we discuss the preliminary research proposal for the development of a gaming software, structured with a set of decision tasks, including measurement of reaction times, in order to detect the predisposition to chose aggressive behavior. This will enable the correlation between the collected data and the results obtained from the temperamental tests.