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"Why are we so aggressive?"

Our continuing exploration of the male psyche uncovers the science behind our lairy gene and reveals the path to peace, self control and emotional balance.

On 9 July 2006 over one billion people saw an intelligent, supremely talented man self-destruct with a senseless act of aggression. And when Zinedine Zidane imprinted his angry epitaph on Marco Materazzi's chest he brought to the world's biggest stage a very male curse. Whether we're barging into queues, laying into colleagues or "pruning" our neighbour's light-blocking leylandii, our aggression seems beyond our control.

The statistics speak for themselves: figures published in the Sunday Times show 90% of violent offenders are male; 88% of murders are perpetrated by men; 92% of angry horn-tooting is done by men and we're three times more likely to commit road rage than women.It was, unsurprisingly a man who recently settled a dispute with his Essex neighbours by demolishing their house and two cars with a bulldozer.

Aggression isn’t just mentally damaging, it’s bad for our bodies, too: US research tracked men for 30 years found those with the high aggression levels were four times more likely to have died than calmer types.

Of course, some aggression can be useful – it drives us to compete and achieve. But according to sports psychologist Andy Barton, who regularly counsels Premiership players, when aggression isn’t contained the effects soon become counterproductive. Consider the ancient Samurai saying: “The angry man defeats himself in life as well as in battle.”

So why the short fuses? “Unfortunately, for many men aggression is the only coping strategy they know,” says Professor Louis Appleby, the government’s mental health “tsar”. “It’s how they deal with stress or difficult emotions.”

According to the British Association of Anger Management (BAAM), 20% of men would react to being dumped by immediately destroying something. Though presumably not the Sky digi-box.

“We don’t teach boys aggression,” says psychologist Allan Pease, author of Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps I (Orion, £7.99). “We try to condition them away from it, so it’s a male trait that can’t be explained by social conditioning.” So, is evolution the culprit? According to Dr Sean O’Hara, have changed, the rules of the game haven’t. “Aggression and competitiveness are still useful traits for attracting females as men still have to compete to be chosen,” says O’Hara.

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