Aggression Flashcards
Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms; Genetic Factors; Evolutionary Explanations; Ethological Explanations; Frustration Aggression Hypothesis; Deindividuation; Social Learning Theory; Media Influence; Institutional Aggression
What type of mechanism is the limbic system?
Neural
What is the limbic system?
Area of the brain that helps coordinate behaviours that satisfy motivational emotional urges
What are the two areas of the brain in the limbic system that are key to aggressive responses?
Amygdala
Hippocampus
What role does the amygdala play?
Assessing emotional importance
Forming a response to environmental threats
What originates in the amygdala?
Aggressive thoughts or behaviours
What is the role of the hippocampus?
Formation of LTM
Comparing between previous and current threats
What type of mechanism is serotonin?
Neural
What is the role of serotonin?
Inhibits neurons
Linked to greater behavioural self-control
Where have abnormal levels of serotonin been found?
Orbitofrontal cortex
What effect do low levels of serotonin have?
Increase aggression
Reduce self-control
Increase impulsive behaviours
Strength of neural (amygdala) - research support
Gospic
Created a laboratory method of assessing aggression and the amygdala
If treated unfairly, amygdala was activated (fMRI)
Strength of neural (hippocampus) - evidence
Raine et al
“Unsuccessful” psychopaths (caught, impulsive acts) compared to “successful” psychopaths (evaded law, cold and calculating)
MRI scans revealed hippocampus in either hemisphere differed in size in “unsuccessful” group
Asymmetry presumed to arise early in brain’s development
Leading individuals to process emotional information incorrectly
Strength of neural - practical application
Reducing aggression
Drug treatment to increase serotonin levels
What type of mechanism is testosterone?
Hormonal
What is testosterone?
Androgen that produces male characteristics
What gender is testosterone found in?
Males and females
What is the role of testosterone?
Observed that males are more aggressive than females so the belief is that testosterone is associated with aggression
Strength of hormonal - research support
Mehta and Johnson
Measuring testosterone before and after a loss
After they all lost, asked if they’d like a rechallenge
High testosterone = 73% rechallenge
Low testosterone = 23% rechallenge
Strength of hormonal - practical application
Reducing aggression
Chemical castration of violent offenders
Limitation of neural and hormonal mechanisms - legal system
This theory is biologically deterministic
Means that criminals aren’t guilty?
Legal system doesn’t believe in determinism
What has been found out about aggression in twin and adoption studies?
Genes have been associated with high levels of testosterone, dopamine and serotonin receptors
What is the MAOA enzyme?
Enzyme which breaks down other neurotransmitters once they have been activated
What does the MAOA enzyme affect?
Serotonin in the brain
What variant of MAOA gene is the warrior gene?
Low
Does having the MAOA gene mean that you are immediately aggressive?
No
Must have low MAOA
What gene is the MAOA chromosome on?
Mutation on X chromosome
Strength of genetic - Brunner et al
Dutch family case study
28 male family members repeatedly involved in impulsively violent criminal behaviours (rape, attempted murder, assault)
Men had both abnormally low levels of the enzyme MAOA in their brains and the MAOA-L variant (the “Brunner” syndrome)
Counterpoint genetic - Brunner et al
Problems with case studies
Cannot be generalised
Is the evolutionary explanation human or animal?
Human
What is mate competition?
Men are worried about cuckoldry
Want to ensure that the child is theirs but can never be 100% sure
Use aggression to ward off any potential males who may try to take their partners
What physical differences do men have due to physical fights?
Stronger jawlines, brow bones and skulls
What is cuckoldry?
Having to raise another man’s offspring
What are mate retention strategies?
Men will be aggressive towards their partners as well
Negative inducements and direct guarding
What are negative inducements?
When a partner says negative things to say the other is not good enough for the relationship and doesn’t deserve to be loved
What are examples of negative inducements?
Emotional blackmail
Lowering partner’s self-esteem
What is direct guarding?
Controlling behaviours
What are examples of direct guarding?
Checking their phone
Restricting
Strength of evolutionary - practical application
Education about healthy relationships
Charities, support, resources for domestic violence
Limitation of evolutionary - temporal validity
If only reason is cuckoldry
Paternity tests should remove that
And homosexual relationships
Adoption, donors
Strength of evolutionary - can explain gender differences
Campbell
Suggests women don’t display aggressive behaviour as it would be maladaptive (not beneficial) as it would put her and her child’s survival at risk
Why females are verbally aggressive
Counterpoint evolutionary - can explain gender differences
Females can be physically aggressive
AO3 of evolutionary - nature vs nurture
Is it biological?
Is it societal pressures/norms?
Are ethological explanations human or animal?
Animal
What does the ethological explanation believe?
Aggression is adaptive
Promotes survival by protecting resources and establishing dominance
How is aggression used in protecting resources?
When animals are defeated, they will leave the group and spread out
Reducing competition for resources
How is aggression used in establishing dominance?
Used as a way of establishing the troop’s hierarchy
And as such allocation of resources
What is ritualistic aggression?
Many aggressive behaviours within animals do not involve physical violence and instead are aggressive displays
What are examples of ritualistic aggression?
Snarling
Showing claws
What does ritualistic aggression do?
Improve survival chances
What does IRM stand for?
Innate releasing mechanisms
What are innate releasing mechanisms?
Neural mechanisms triggered by specific stimuli in the environment and resulting in FAP
What does FAP stand for?
Fixed action patterns
What are FAPs characterised by?
Stereotyped
Universal
Independent of individual experience
Ballistic
Single purpose
Specific triggers
What does it mean that a FAP is stereotyped?
Behaviour always occurs in the same way
What does it mean that a FAP is universal?
Behaviour is the same in all species
What does it mean that a FAP is independent of individual experience?
Behaviour is not learned and occurs regardless of individual experience
What does it mean that a FAP is ballistic?
Once the behaviour is triggered, it cannot be stopped before completion
What does it mean that a FAP is single purpose?
Behaviour only occurs in specific situation
What does it mean that a FAP has specific triggers?
IRMs are triggered in response to a specific sign stimulus
Strength of ethological - Tinbergen
Fish have a red spot when males are ready to mate
Sign stimulus is seeing the red spot
Fish went and attacked the model with the red spot but didn’t attach model without red spot
AO3 of ethological - extrapolation
Animals and humans are both aggressive about mates and food
Both use ritualistic aggression
- animals = claws, snarling
- humans = haka
ONLY humans fight over religion and politics
Limitation of ethological - Goodall
Chimps were battling against each other
If the losing side would show defeatist symbols, the winning side would still continue
Goes against the theory as they are putting themselves at risk
What are the three social psychological explanations?
Frustration aggression hypothesis
Deindividuation
Social learning theory
What is catharsis?
The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions
What does the frustration aggression hypothesis beleive?
Aggression is a biological drive like hunger
Frustration ALWAYS leads to aggression and aggressive behaviour
Cathartic as the frustration is satisfied
What does the frustration aggression hypothesis believe is the sole cause of aggression?
When our goals are blocked
What are the displacement factors in the frustration aggression hypothesis?
Abstract
Punishment
Unavailable
How do environmental cues affect aggression?
If we see aggressive environmental cues, we are more likely to become aggressive when frustrated
Strength of frustration aggression hypothesis - practical application
Federal laws
Not having open carry guns
Strength of frustration aggression hypothesis - Berkowitz and LePage
Once students became frustrated in a lab task, were more likely to give a (fake) electric shock when they could see a weapon next to them
Weapon effect shows frustration only creates a readiness for aggression
Cues increase likelihood of actual aggression
Limitation of frustration aggression hypothesis - Bushman
Study on boxers
When letting out anger through boxing, participants became more angry
Like adding petrol to a fire
What happens when we are individuated?
Comply with social norms
What happens when we are deindividuated?
Lose our identity (private self-awareness) and become disobedient
What is private self-awareness?
Less attention to our own actions and focus on the events, making us less critical
What is public self-awareness?
Less attention to how others view our actions and feel less accountable
What are the different ways a person can be made to feel anonymous?
Mask
Internet
Crowds
Labels/identity/social roles
Unknown
Behalf of someone else
Hidden vote
Dark
What is a “mob mentality”?
Not thinking as an individual but as a group
Strength of deindividuation - Zimbardo SPE
Prison guards
Mask - dark sunglasses
Crowds - part of the prison guard crowd
Social roles - prison guards
Unknown - in a basement
Dark - not well lit
Counterargument deindividuation - Zimbardo SPE
Unknown - parents visited
Dark - CCTV
Strength of deindividuation - Zimbardo female study
Groups of 4 female participants
Group 1 = large name tags
Group 2 = large hoodies to wear
Asked to shock another participant
Group 1 = less severe shocks for a shorter time
Group 2 = more severe shocks for longer
Strength of deindividuation - Dodd’s study
Asked 229 psychology students “if you could do anything humanely possible with complete assurance that you would not be detected or held responsible, what would you do?”
Students knew the answers were anonymous
36% = antisocial behaviour
26% = actual criminal acts (“rob a bank” most commonly)
9% = prosocial behaviour
Limitation of deindividuation - gender differences
Cannavale
Found male and female groups responded differently with deindividuation conditions
Findings suggested that males may be more prone to disinhibition of aggressive behaviours when deindividuated than females
Strength of deindividuation - practical application
Explain internet trolls and why there is a rise of aggressive comments as the trolls are anonymous
Douglas and McGarty found a strong correlation between anonymity and “flaming”
What does SLT believe about aggression?
We all observe and imitate our role model’s aggression
How does vicarious reinforcement affect aggression?
If see a role model being rewarded for being aggressive, more likely to imitate the aggression
If see a role model being punished for being aggressive, less likely to imitate aggression
What are the mediational processes in relation to aggression?
Attention - observe role model’s aggressive behaviour
Retention - remember the aggressive behaviour
Motor reproduction - see if can also do aggression
Motivation - imitate aggressive behaviour if have motivation
Strength of SLT - bobo doll study
Young children observed male or female being aggressive or non-aggressive
If saw aggression, behaved aggressively
if didn’t see aggression, didn’t behave aggressively
Boys = higher physical aggression
Girls = higher verbal aggression
Counterargument SLT - bobo doll study
SLT can’t explain differences in gender but hormonal aggression can
Counterargument SLT - counterargument to bobo doll study
Factors outside the experiment could explain gender differences
Strength of SLT - practical application
Weymouth and Howe
Created a programme called ACT against violence which teaches parents about SLT
Helped create positively parenting and be used to decrease aggressive behaviour
Limitation of SLT - secondary factor
Poulin and Boivin
Boys who were aggressive would make friends with other aggressive boys, reinforcing each other’s behaviours
Would approve of each other’s bad behaviours and gain respect
Nature influences nurture
Strength of SLT - can explain cultural differences
!kung San tribe
No aggressive behaviour showed in the whole tribe
As adults, no one shows aggressive behaviours
If children show aggression behaviour, they are taken away from each other to calm down
Counterargument SLT - can explain gender differences
If there are no aggressive role models, why do the children fight/act aggressive?
What is desensitisation?
Regularly playing violent games leads to a reduction of normal physiological response to violent stimuli
What is cognitive priming?
Repeated exposure to violent computer games gives a script leading to readiness to act aggressively when see cues in real life
What is disinhibition?
Anonymity of gaming increasing aggression and makes aggression seem normal
Strength of media influence - practical application
Two older boys took a toddler, bribed him to come with, it eventually ended with the toddler dying
Blamed aggressive behaviour on horror video “Child’s Play 3”
Ratings of BBFC
Strength of media influence - research support
Carnagey
Participants played a violent or non-violent video games for 20 minutes then watched 10 min clip of real-life violence whilst heart rate and skin response was measured
Those who played violent video game showed lower response levels
Counterpoint media influence - research support
Can create prosocial behaviour too
Greitemeyer and Mugge found in meta-analysis
What are dispositional factors for institutional aggression?
Importation model
Gang membership
What is the importation model?
Bring outside factors into the prison:
Low-self control
Impulsivity
Age - young (18-25/35)
Anti-social personality disorder
Anger
Race - white
Sex - male
How does gang membership affect institutional aggression?
Drury and Delisi 2011
Studied over 1000 inmates in USA prisons
Significantly more likely to commit crimes in prison such as carrying weapons if in a gang
Pre-prison gang membership seems to be an important factor of prison aggression
Several studies found gang members show higher levels of violence compared to non-gang members
What are the situational explanations of institutional aggression?
Deprivation model
Overcrowding
What is the deprivation model?
Inmates don’t have certain things:
Freedom
Material goods
Relationships
Independence
Safety
How does overcrowding affect institutional aggression?
Government report 2014 stated reason for increased violence in prisons was due to overcrowding
Strength of dispositional/limitation of situational - Mears et al
Measured street code belief system and prison experience of inmates
Found a ‘code of the street’ belief system affect inmate violence
Effect particularly pronounced among those inmates who lack family support and are involved in gangs prior to incarceration
Strength of dispositional/limitation of situational - Poole and Regoli
Best indicator of violence among juvenile offenders was pre-institutional violence
Regardless of any environmental factors in the institution
Strength of situational/limitation of dispositional - McCorkle et al
Major study of 371 US prisons
Overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity all significantly influenced inmate on inmate assaults and inmate on staff assaults
Strength of dispositional/limitation of situational - Harer and Steffensmeier
Collected data from more than 24000 inmates from 58 prisons across US
Included variables such as race, criminal history, staff to prisoner ratio and security level
Tested which variables predicted the individual likelihood of aggressive behaviour while in prison
Race, age, criminal history were only significant predictors in prison violence
Strength of situational/limitation of dispositional - HMP Woodhill
Created two areas for violent prisoners
Less claustrophobic (had view of outside), played radio music and had lower temperatures
Virtually stopped all violence from prisoners
Limitation of situational and dispositional - cause and effect
Problems of showing cause and effect
Difficult to carry out controlled research manipulating the prison conditions
