aggression

Question 1

strength of amygdala

Answer 1

-pardini et al found reduced amygdala volume predicts aggression. longitudinal study of male pp, some of the 56 pp had MRI scan at age 26 and it was found that lower amygdala volume was associated wuth high aggression

Question 2

weakness of amygdala

Answer 2

exact role of amygdala is unclear. muller showed 6 psychopaths and 6 controls positive and negative images. found that the psychopaths had much higher activity in amygdala from FRMI. some studies say low amygdala volume equals aggression but others say the opposite

Question 3

limbic system

Answer 3

area of brain that coordinates behaviour that satisfy emotional and motivational urges e.g aggression and fear

Question 4

amygdala

Answer 4

evaluates emotional importance of sensory information to prompt an appropriate response

Question 5

support for hippocampus

Answer 5

• raine studied successful (cold and calculated) and unsuccessful (impulsive) criminals. MRI scan found assymetries in the hippocampus of the unsuccessful group. assymetry may impair the ability of the hippocampus and amygdala to work together leading to aggression
• sumer studied 14 year old girl who was aggressive and had epileptic siezures. she had a tumour in the limbic system diagnosed from MRI. treated with drugs and aggression levels were normal

Question 6

weakness of the hippocampus/limbic system

Answer 6

-not clear cut as made of many components which are hard to isolate to see the impact of each alone, may be the interaction between these components that causes aggression

Question 7

strengths of serotonin

Answer 7

• crockett used game playing and moral dilemmas to observe aggression. one group of pp had their serotonin levels lowered through manipulation of diet. others had levels increased by ssri. those who had lower levels of serotonin had higher levels of retaliation and those with higher levels responded with compassion
• raleigh found vervet monkeys fed diets high in tryptophan which increases serotonin had lower levels of aggression. those with low levels of tryptophan showed more aggression

Question 8

weaknesses of serotonin

Answer 8

• crocketts supportive study has low external vaildity. game playing is not a direct physical aggressive response, lacks generalisability to real life
• deterministic and does not follow idea of free will. implications for criminals as they may not be responsible for their actions as our levels of serotonin are beyond our own control

Question 9

strength of hormonal explanation

Answer 9

• wagner et al. mice who were castrated showed lower levels of aggression. when injected with testosterone they had increased aggression
• mcburnett studied longitudinally. 38 boys with problem behaviours in a clinic. the boys with lower cortisol level, measured by saliva tests, showed 3x more aggressive symptoms compared to boys with high levels. they were rated the meanest and most aggressive by peers

Question 10

weaknesses of hormonal explan.

Answer 10

• inconsistent evidence and usually uses correlations which do not show cause and effect
• studies on animals e.g wagner cannot be generalised to humans

Question 11

strengths of genetic factors

Answer 11

• support for twin studies by coccaro. found concordance for physical aggression 50% for MZ and 19% for DZ. verbal aggression= 28% MZ and 7% DZ. support for adoption studies by hutchings and mendick. studied 14,000 adopted boys in denmark and found many who had criminal convictions also had biological parents convicted for violence
• miles and carey. meta analysis of 24 twin and adoption studies demonstrating genetic basis. genetic influence could account for as much as 50% of the variance in aggression

Question 12

weaknesses of genetic factors

Answer 12

• studies may be affected by other variables e.g age, assessment method etc
• deterministic

Question 13

strength of MAOA

Answer 13

• caspi used 500 male children and found those with low varient of MAOA were more likely to have anti social behaviours
• morely and hall says there are strengths of research into genetic factors as it can help develop treatments for offenders or people with personalilty disorders that are risk factors for criminality

Question 14

weaknesses of MAOA

Answer 14

• caspi study found those with low MAOA variant would only show anti social behaviours if maltreated as children, so evidence for environment
• links to free will vs determinism if genes are cause of aggression this is against the law and order system

Question 15

media influences:

1. experimental
2. correlation
3. lognitudinal

Answer 15

1- bartholow and anderson, pp played either violent or non violent game for 10 mins then completed taylor competitive reaction time task. those who played violent game gave blast of white noise much louder (5.9 decibels) compared to 4.6 for non violent

2- delisi. 227 juvenile offenders with histoy of violence. used structured interviews and found aggression correlated with how often they played video games and how much they enjoyed them

3-anderson. studied children aged 7-9 at two points in school year. those who had high exposure to violent video games were more verbally and physically aggressive and less prosocial

Question 16

strengths of media influences

Answer 16

• lab studies have high validity, causal link, standardisation, high control etc
• correlations offer greater level of realism

Question 17

weaknesses of media influences

Answer 17

• lab studies are artificial, unrealistic situations e.g blasting white noise as a measure of aggression in bartholow and anderson study
• correlations offer no cause or effect
• ferguson meta analysis showed effects of violent media disappears when other influences like family aggression and mental health are taken to consideration so other causal variables
• game difficulty rather than violent content may cause violence. przybylski found lack of mastery and difficulty caused frustration and aggression

Question 18

strengths of desensitisation

Answer 18

• carnagey had pp play a violent or non violent game for 20 mins then watch a 10 min clip of real life violence. had heart rate and skin conductance measured. those who played violent game were desensitised as had lower HR and skin cond.
• can be adaptive for people e.g troops. can become desensitised to horrors of combat and reduce sympathy towards victims which can make job very hard

Question 19

weakness of desensitisation

Answer 19

• belson found no link between exposure to violence and anti social behaviour in study of 1500 teen boys
• bushman and anderson say it can reduce helping behaviour. can become comfortably numb to the pain and suffering of others and fail to feel empathy

Question 20

strength of disinhibition

Answer 20

-berkowitz and alioto. pp who saw film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more fake electric shocks. media violence disinhibits aggression when it is seen as justified. vengeance is a powerful justification meaning it is more socially acceptable. shows removal of social constraints leads to aggression when justified

Question 21

weaknesses of disinhibition

Answer 21

• depends on other factors e.g a child is more likely to be affected because they are drawn into high action films without considering the motives or consequences of violence. the way a child is treated may affect it as if they are physically punished they may identify with violent heroes
• effects of disinhibition may only last whilst engaged in the media

Question 22

strength of cognitive priming

Answer 22

• anderson and dill found pp who played a violent video game had more aggressive thoughts. a single incident can prime aggressive thoughts demonstrating the power of priming
• practical applications as interventions could reduce aggression by encouraging habitually violent media users to use other methods not violence e.g humour or negotiation. also may make parents consider the games and tv they allow their children to engage with

Question 23

weaknesses of cognitive priming

Answer 23

• ignores other explanations e.g desensitisation

- may only affect someone if they have a predisposition to a certain type of behaviour