14. Key Question Flashcards
What is our biological key question?
What are the implications for society if aggression is found to be caused by nature not nurture?
What is aggression defined as?
-Aggression is defined as the intentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or against a group.
-There is much debate about whether children learn to be violent or are born with aggressive.
What did Richard Tremblay suggest about aggression?
-Children are born innately aggressive however, the vast majority of children do learn to control their aggression by the age of 5.
-However, he points out that a small proportion of children never grow out of being aggressive suggesting that aggression must have a strong tie to nature.
According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending March 2023, what percentage of people aged 16 to 59 experience domestic abuse in the last year?
5.1%
This shows it’s clear that many adults have a problem with being unable to control their aggression. So aggression is a significant problem for individuals in the UK.
How do we discourage aggression in society in the UK?
-Punish offenders with prison sentences and try to prevent future aggression by rehabilitating prisoners prior to their release.
-The UK spent approximately £6.09 billion on its prison system in 2022/23, an increase when compared to the previous year and approximately £47k is spent per prisoner each year which shows this is a key question for society, as this money is raised though taxation and is increasing each year.
What are the implications of aggressive has a nature explanation?
If aggression has a nature explanation, perhaps the money spent on rehabilitation in prisons is not effective, as a biological explanation could mean that people will not change their aggression as the root cause cannot be altered.
How can evolution be used to explain the negative implications of using nature as an explanation of aggression?
-Evolution suggests that males are genetically inclined towards aggression, through the process of natural selection.
-The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA) of our ancestors was hostile, meaning that aggressive behaviour shown in males was more beneficial to their survival, as they needed to collect food and shelter and ensure paternity, hence this tendency for aggression was passed on.
-This hostile EEA is reinforced by some modern environments such as gang cultures where aggression is still a beneficial trait as it is in prisons.
-Therefore, the negative implication of evolutionary factors causing aggression is that punishment through prison sentences would not be an effective way to deal with aggression because they will continue to be violent in a hostile prison setting.
How can evolution be used to explain the positive implications of using nature as an explanation of aggression?
However if the environment of prison could be changed to be less hostile, this would stop inmates from being aggressive towards each other and focus on their rehabilitation.
What study can be used to support the evolution explanation of our key question?
Daly and Wilson who concluded that young males in high crime areas are more prone to committing homicide because the hostile environment forces them to fight for power and status.
What study can be used to refute the evolutionary explanation of our key question?
However, research evidence to support the evolutionary explanation of our key question by Daly and Wilson is based on correlational evidence. This weakens the relevance of the key question because Daly and Wilson could not draw cause and effect conclusions.
How can brain structure be used to explain the negative implications of using nature as an explanation of aggression?
-The prefrontal cortex is in charge of decision making, judgemental and behavioural control.
-If there’s abnormality with your prefrontal cortex (underdevelopment/injury) it effects your behavioural control and judgement making aggression more likely.
-If people were to use a damaged brain structure as an excuse for their crimes then the victims would not feel there were appropriate punishments for the perpetrators of aggression, damaging the fabric of society.
How can brain structure be used to explain the positive implications of using nature as an explanation of aggression?
-If we know aggression comes from a dysfunctional prefrontal cortex when a person is aggressive we can give them a brain scan to check for abnormalities and rehabilitate the person so they are less aggressive and help to prevent aggressive behaviour in the future.
-This could prevent having to send people to prison for domestic abuse, benefitting society as prison costs (£6.09 billion per year, £47k per prisoner) will be lowered.
What study can be used to support the brain structure explanation of our key question?
Raine’s study concluded that murders pleading NGRI had significantly lower glucose metabolism and activity than control participants in their lateral and medial prefrontal areas. This suggests that less activity in the prefrontal areas may cause aggression and violence as the murderers had less activity in their prefrontal cortex.
What study can be used to refute the brain structure explanation of our key question?
However, there are issues with Raine’s research as it is only correlational, so we cannot infer cause and effect between brain structure and aggression. This means there may not be negative implications that people could claim they don’t have responsibility for their actions which would be bad for individual victims of crime and have implications for the legal system in society.
How can hormones be used to explain the negative implications of using nature as an explanation of aggression?
-Hormones such as testosterone are linked to aggressive behaviour. This is an androgen thats secreted from the adrenal gland in the endocrine system.
-Androgens are linked to the development of male characteristics such as increased muscle mass and aggression.
-Understanding aggression is biological allows an alternative to prison sentences in the form of medical treatments such as hormone therapies.
-However, a negative implication would be social control. Those who are aggressive will be tested to see if they have high levels of testosterone and if this is the case, they may have to lower testosterone using suppressants in order to control their aggression.
-Therefore those tested for high levels of testosterone could be forced to take the hormone blockers regardless of how they behave.
-This could cause long term side physical and mental effects and go against individual wishes which is a problem of social control.
