Aggression

Question 1

What is social learning theory?

Answer 1

Branch of behaviourism developed by Bandura, he saw a role for cognition and environmental factors. He called the process of monitoring our behaviours self regulation.

Question 2

What are the four stages of SLT?

Answer 2

1. Observation- observing an aggressive behaviour of a model
2. Retention- the aggressive behaviour is remembered
3. Reproduction- the aggressive behaviour is imitated at a seemingly appropriate moment
4. Motivation- positive reinforcement or punishment determines if the aggressive act is repeated

Question 3

What are the 3 factors affecting the likelihood of imitation in SLT?

Answer 3

Self efficacy- our perceived ability to repeat the act successfully
Similarity- refers to our shared features or beliefs with the person who showed the aggressive behaviour
Vicarious reinforcement- the reaction the model receives- positive reinforcement or punishment

Question 4

Describe Bandura’s Bobo doll study that supports the role of observation and imitation

Answer 4

Group 1 and 2- put in a room with toys and a Bobo doll, an adult enters the room and attacks the Bobo doll (punches, kicks, “pow”) The children were taken to a new room which also contained toys but were told they were for better children to frustrate them. In a third room they were observed playing with the toys.
Group 3 and 4- same procedure but watched a film
Group 5- watched a cartoon character “Herman the Cat”
Group 6- control group who saw nothing
1-5 shown to imitate the behaviour they had seen

Question 5

Describe Bandura’s Rocky and Johnny study that supports the role of vicarious reinforcement

Answer 5

All children watched a 5 minute film of two adults- Rocky and Johnny
Group 1- J playing with toys, R asks if he can, J says no, R hits J, J left sat in corner while R plays (positive reinforcement
Group 2- R is punished
Group 3- R and J play non aggressively
Group 4- saw no film
All groups taken into a room with the same toys as seen in the film- group 1 showed the highest levels of aggression

Question 6

Evaluate Bandura’s research in terms of ecological validity

Answer 6

Low ecological validity- contrived and artificial
Onyskiw
11,000 children aged 4-11, questionnaires completed about aggression. Children who witnessed more aggression were often more aggressive themselves- high ecological validity study.
Werner
2 samples of 9 yr olds, one sample had high aggression levels, the other low. The children were asked to give their 3 best friends who were assessed for aggression. Over a year, those with low aggression levels became more aggressive if their friends were aggressive.

Question 7

Evaluate Bandura’s research in terms of population validity

Answer 7

Low population validity- only used children
Philips
Looked at heavy weight boxing matches between 1973 and 1978 and found a 12.5% rise 3 days after the match which decreased 6.6% after 4 days. When a white boxer was defeated the victims were likely to be white.

Question 8

Evaluate Bandura’s research in terms of issues and debates

Answer 8

Nurture side of the nature-nurture debate- sees a role for cognition but not an important role for biology.
Deterministic- ignores the role of free will

Question 9

What are the social psychological explanations of aggression?

Answer 9

SLT

Deindividuation

Question 10

Define deindividuation

Answer 10

Loss of personal identity and a sense of anonymity which contrasts from our usual state of individuation where we feel responsible for our actions

Question 11

Give possible factors which could create a sense of deindividuation

Answer 11

Crowds
Costumes
Darkness

Question 12

Give a real life example of deindividuation

Answer 12

Ku Klux Klan

American white supremist group who wear a head to toe costume

Question 13

How does deindividuation cause aggression?

Answer 13

Weakens inhibitions- release from normal constraints of being scared of being found out.
Heightens responsiveness to external cues- infected by violence in a crowd
Increases conformity to norms- don’t want to be the odd one out, states we keep a rational state of mind

Question 14

Evaluate deindividuation in terms of issues and debates

Answer 14

Deterministic- feeling deindividuated will make you act aggressively- this isn’t strictly true- there are many peaceful protests which show people using their free will

Question 15

Evaluate deindividuation with supporting research

Answer 15

Zimbardo
Females required to give shocks as an aid to learning
Half wore bulky lab coats, hoods that hid their faces and the others wore their own clothes, name tags and were introduced to each other by name and could dimly see the person they were giving shocks to. The hooded participants gave twice as much shock.

Question 16

Give a problem with Zimbardo’s study

Deindividuation

Answer 16

The uniform given may have resembled that worn by the Ku Klux Klan and so may have acted as a demand characteristic.

Question 17

Give details of a research study which supports the criticism of demand characteristics in Zimbardo’s study

Answer 17

Johnson and Downing
When participants wore surgical masks and gowns (to cause deindividuation) they gave significantly less shock than those whose names were emphasized. This suggests that the participants clothing, rather than deindividuation, may have led to differences in behavior.

Question 18

Give details of two supporting studies of Zimbardo’s research

Answer 18

Mullen
Analysed lynch mob violence reported in newspapers from 1899 to 1946. They found that the more people involved in the mob, the more violent the lynching.
Rehm et al
German children were divided into five a side teams to play handball, one team played in their normal clothes and the other played in orange shirts. Those who wore orange shirts played significantly more aggressively.

Question 19

Give details of a study which refutes the idea of deindividuation causing aggression

Answer 19

Gergen et al
6 men and 6 women into a normally lit room or a dark room and were left for an hour. The first 15 minutes were spent exploring the room and chatting idly. The next 30 minutes were spent in deeper conversation. The final 15 minutes turned physical- half hugged each other, some became intimate and 80% reported feeling aroused. They dark caused individuation and so should’ve caused aggression.

Question 20

What 5 studies do you need to know for SLT?

Answer 20

Bandura- Bobo doll and Rocky and Johnny
Onyksiw
Werner
Philips

Question 21

What 5 studies do you need to know for deindividuation?

Answer 21

Zimbardo
Johnson and Downing
Mullen
Rehm et al 
Gergen et al

Question 22

What are the 3 biological explanations of aggression?

Answer 22

Neural
Hormonal
Genetic

Question 23

When talking about the neural explanation what is the brain structure and the 2 neurotransmitters involved in aggression?

Answer 23

Amygdala
Serotonin
Dopamine

Question 24

Describe how the amygdala could cause aggression (include 2 illustrative studies)

Answer 24

The amygdala is part of the limbic system. One function of the limbic system is to control emotions and so would be possible for it to be responsible for aggressive outbursts.
Kluver and Bucy
They removed the temporal lobe (much of the limbic system) from monkeys and found they became much more docile. Further studies found removal of the amygdala alone caused a decrease in aggression.
Charles Whitman
Killed his mother and wife and then shot at students. He killed 14 and injured 44. A post mortem showed he had a cancerous tumour on his amygdala which would have put pressure on it and therefore stimulated it.

Question 25

Evaluate the role of the amygdala in aggression

Answer 25

Narabayashi
Developed a procedure called the amygdalotomy which involves destroying the amygdala. It was used on patients with extreme aggression levels. He reported great success with 43/51 patients showing a decrease in aggression.
(However this could have been due to general brain damage.)
Raine et al
PET scans carried out on murderers and a group of controls and found the murderers to have abnormalities in the amygdala.
(However there were many differences and so it may not have been the sole responsibility of the amygdala)

Question 26

Describe the role of serotonin and dopamine in aggressive behaviour

Answer 26

Serotonin is a chemical that keeps us calm and stops us overreacting to emotional stimuli. If levels become too low this calming effect is reduced and aggression is more likely to result.
Dopamine at high levels is linked to aggressive behaviour

Question 27

What studies do you need to know to evaluate the role of serotonin and dopamine in aggression?

Answer 27

Raleigh et al
Mann et al 
Ferrari et al 
Scerbo and Raine 
Couppis and Kennedy

Question 28

Outline Raleigh et al’s study

Neurotransmitters

Answer 28

Two groups of monkeys, one fed diets high in tryptophan and one low. Tryptophan is a building block for serotonin. They found the group with more serotonin showed a decrease in aggression and the group with less showed an increase in aggression.

Question 29

Outline Mann et al’s study

Neurotransmitters

Answer 29

Gave 35 healthy participants dexfenfluramine which is known to decrease serotonin. From questionnaires they found the drug caused an increase in aggression in their male participants but not their female

Question 30

Outline Ferrari et al’s study

Neurotransmitters

Answer 30

Allowed a rat to fight every day for 10 days, on the 11th the rat wasn’t allowed to fight and measured serotonin and dopamine which were low and high respectively supporting both theories of serotonin and dopamine
However, there’s the issue of cause and effect

Question 31

Outline Scerbo and Raine’s study

Neurotransmitters

Answer 31

Meta analysis of 29 studies published looking at neurotransmitter levels and antisocial adults and children. They found lower levels of serotonin but stable levels of dopamine and so supports serotonin but not dopamine theory.

Question 32

Outline Couppis and Kennedy’s study

Neurotransmitters

Answer 32

In mice, performing an aggressive act led to the award pathway being triggered and dopamine levels increasing. This would explain why aggressive acts would continue but not why they begin.

Question 33

Evaluate the neural theory using issues and debates

Answer 33

Nature side of the nature nurture debate as they solely look at the role of biology
Reductionist as they attempt to explain the cause of aggression in really limited terms- each neurotransmitter is responsible for a number of behaviours
Socially sensitive as it could be seen to excuse aggressive acts in humans

Question 34

Describe hormonal mechanism in aggression

Answer 34

High levels of testosterone is linked with aggression Woman produce 10X less than men
The link is that women produce less testosterone and aggression levels are lower in women
Kalat noted that the most violent crimes are by males aged 15-25 which is the time where testosterone peaks
Beeman castrated male mice and found their aggression reduced

Question 35

What studies do you need to know to evaluate the role of testosterone?

Answer 35

Van Goozen et al
Dabbs et al 
Bain et al 
Bernhardt
Klinesmith

Question 36

Describe Van Goozen et al’s study

Testosterone

Answer 36

35 female to male and 15 male to female transsexxuals.
Completed questionnaires before and after receiving hormone treatment about aggression.
Female to males received testosterone and reported an increase in aggression proneness and male to females received anti-androgens and reported a decrease.
Questionnaire could’ve resulted in people responding in a way they thought appropriate for their gender.

Question 37

Describe Dabbs et al’s study

Testosterone

Answer 37

Saliva of 692 adult male prisoners and found those who committed crimes involving sex and violence had higher testosterone levels than those who committed crimes like burglary and theft.

Question 38

Describe Bain et al’s study

Testosterone

Answer 38

Found no significant differences in the testosterone levels of men charged with murder or violent assault and those charged with non violent crimes.
Casts doubt on Dabb et al’s study leading to questionable reliability.

Question 39

Describe Bernhardt’s study

Testosterone

Answer 39

Believed testosterone played a role but in conjunction with low levels of serotonin.
He said that testosterone was produced in response to issues involving dominance and low levels of serotonin will mean he can’t control his need to show it.
This would also explain why not all mean show an aggressive response when threatened.

Question 40

Describe Klinesmith’s study

Testosterone

Answer 40

Found exposure to a gun caused an increase in testosterone and so this study questions the role of cause and effect.

Question 41

Evaluate the role of testosterone in terms of issues and debates

Answer 41

Nature side of the nature nurture debate and so ignores environmental roles
Deterministic because it implies it is inevitable that a man will behave aggressively if they have high levels of testosterone
Socially sensitive as could be seen to excuse behaviour which could lead to legal issues

Question 42

Describe the role of genes in aggressive behaviour

Answer 42

This argues that aggression is carried in genes and therefore if your parents are aggressive there’s a high chance you will be too. This is illustrated by the animal kingdom as there are certain breeds of dog hence The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

Question 43

Describe research supporting the role of genes in aggressive behaviour

Answer 43

Stevenson and Goodman used 828 randomly selected children and assessed them at age 3 for behaviours like temper tantrums and inability to get along with siblings. As adults 82 committed crimes, 26 of them violent. Those who committed the violent crimes were those who showed the most aggression at age 3. Shows a weak link between genes and aggression.

Question 44

Describe the role of the MAOA gene in aggression

Answer 44

The MAOA gene’s job is to produce an enzyme to break down serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine which are involved in alertness and regulating mood. If these aren’t broken down properly it is thought aggression could result. The MAOA gene can be faulty through mutation or by inheriting the L variant it won’t produce as many enzymes to break down the neurotransmitters. The gene is passed in the X chromosome meaning only men will be negatively affected because women will have another functioning X chromosome.

Question 45

What studies do you need to know about the MAOA gene?

Answer 45

Brunner et al

Caspi et al

Question 46

Describe Brunner et al’s study

MAOA gene

Answer 46

Studied the case of a Dutch family that had a history of violence in its male members. A female member came forward to talk about the horrific acts committed. The researchers examined 28 members of the family. They found all had a defective MAOA gene showing inheriting this gene is likely to lead to aggression.

Question 47

Describe Caspi et al’s study

MAOA gene

Answer 47

Longitudinal study of 1037 children over 25 years. They found those with the MAOA-L variant were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with a conduct disorder and three times as likely to be convicted of a violent crime by the time they’re 26. However, not everyone in the sample with the MAOA-L gene showed aggression.

Question 48

Evaluate the role of the MAOA gene in terms of issues and debates

Answer 48

Takes the nature side of the nature nurture debate and so ignores environmental factors such as aggressive role models.
Deterministic because it implies that if people are aggressive they are victims of their own biology- Caspi et al showed not everyone with the MAOA-L gene was aggressive.
Socially sensitive as it suggests people who are aggressive aren’t responsible if they have this gene which has implications on the legal system.

Question 49

Define institutional aggression

Answer 49

Any aggression that is influenced by the institution in which is takes place. An institution is any organisation to which people can belong.

Question 50

What is the importation model and who presented it?

Answer 50

Irwin and Cressey developed the model to explain institutional aggression. They argued that it’s the person that causes the aggression not the place and so import their aggression into the institution. The importation model also explains why some people are drawn to certain groups or professions e.g. the army.

Question 51

What studies do you need to know for the importation model?

Answer 51

Harer and Steffensmeier
Keller and Wang
Zimbardo et al
Sorensen et al
DeLisi

Question 52

Describe Harer and Steffensmeier’s study

Importation model

Answer 52

Collected data from 58 prisons and found black inmates had higher rates of violent behaviour and lower rates of alcohol and drug related misconduct than white inmates. These patterns parallel those patterns in US society and so show prisoners were acting as they would normally and so had imported their behaviours.

Question 53

Describe Keller and Wang’s study

Importation model

Answer 53

Found violence is more likely to occur in facilities with the most troublesome inmates. Prisons holding the maximum security inmates had higher levels of assault.

Question 54

Describe Zimbardo et al’s study

Importation model

Answer 54

US college students were checked for physical and mental well-being and randomly allocated guard or prisoner in a fake prison environment. They found the prisoners didn’t show violence but the guards became quite brutal. This doesn’t support the importation model as we wouldn’t expect the guard to show violence as none were found to be violent in the checks beforehand. Also the random allocation would make it extremely unlikely that those who had a tendency for violence ended up being allocated as guards.

Question 55

Describe Sorensen et al’s study

Importation model

Answer 55

Prisoners serving sentences for violent offences were more likely than other prisoners to assault staff. Prisoners with a history of violence were 4 times more likely than property and other non violent offenders to commit serious assault against staff. Shows aggression isn’t equal amongst inmates and so suggests inmates import their aggression.

Question 56

Describe DeLisi’s study

Importation model

Answer 56

831 male inmates from South Western USA to look at the prison violence records of inmates involved in gangs. There was a small but significant relationship between gang membership and prison aggression.

Question 57

Evaluate the importation model in terms of issues and debates

Answer 57

Nature side of the nature nurture debate and in doing so ignores important environmental factors.

Question 58

Describe the deprivation model

Answer 58

Claims aggression is caused by the place. Sykes outlined 5 deprivations that come from being an inmate.
Deprivation of liberty- prisoners can’t be trusted to live in the free world and so are rejected by society.
Deprivation of autonomy- have no power and few choices to make on a daily basis, leading to feeling helpless, they’re unable to change things they’re unhappy with.
Deprivation of goods and services- Western emphasis on possessions to display success also makes prisoners feel frustrated.
Deprivation of heterosexual relationships- can lead to a feeling of reduction of self worth, also the proliferation of homosexual behaviour could lead to anxiety.
Deprivation of security- prisoners often fear for their own security, as many inmates are perceived as aggression.
As a consequence, prisoners feel they need to act aggressively to reduce stress or obtain resources and aggression may be directed at prison staff as they are the controllers.

Question 59

What studies do you need to know to evaluate the deprivation model?

Answer 59

Hodgkinson et al
Light
Wilson
McCorkle

Question 60

Describe Hodgkinson et al’s study

Deprivation model

Answer 60

Found trainee nurses are more likely to suffer violent assault than experienced nurses

Question 61

Describe Light’s study

Deprivation model

Answer 61

Found that the motives behind aggressive acts were consistent with the deprivation model. Found that over 25% of assaults committed on prison staff had no apparent motive. This suggests that they were brought about as a result of feeling stressed and frustrated. Many of the other assaults were brought about from a power battle between an officer and a guard. Such assaults would be motivated by a lack of control.

Question 62

Describe Wilson’s study

Deprivation model

Answer 62

Reducing levels of crowding, heat and noise at HMP Woodhill led to a dramatic reduction in aggressive behaviour among inmates. This shows the environmental factors that lead to feeling deprived are linked to violence.

Question 63

Describe McCorkle et al’s study

Deprivation model

Answer 63

They argue that the stresses of prison break are constant whereas serious outbreaks of violence are not. This suggests that the environment cannot be to blame, if this was the case we’d expect to see more frequent violence in prisons.

Question 64

Evaluate the deprivation model in terms of issues and debates

Answer 64

Nurture side of the nature nurture debate because it suggests environmental factors alone are responsible.

Question 65

Describe the study which gives an overall conclusion for the deprivation and importation model?

Answer 65

Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando
431 male prison records in USA and found that the deprivation model was the most likely explanation in inmate violence towards staff and the prisons with the most restrictive regimes had the highest incidences of violence. The importation model was most likely to explain inmate violence towards other inmates, as gang cultures persisted inside the prisons.

Question 66

What are the two evolutionary explanations for explaining aggression?

Answer 66

Sexual Jealousy

Infidelity

Question 67

What is sexual jealousy?

Answer 67

Being jealous that our partner may be having a sexual relationship with another person.

Question 68

What is infidelity?

Answer 68

When we are certain our partner has cheated on us.

Question 69

What is the evolutionary explanation for the gender difference?

Answer 69

Females carry their offspring and can always be sure that the child is theirs. Men have no such guarantee and run the risk of being cuckolded (bringing up another man’s child.) They wouldn’t want this in evolutionary terms because they’d want to put their energy and resources into ensuring the continuation of their own genes.

Question 70

What are the two types of aggression that a male may show to avoid being cuckolded?

Answer 70

Mate guarding- aggression to the rival male or threatening the partner
Killing the female mate- ensuring the female won’t be used to pass on the genes of the rival male

Question 71

Evaluate the evolutionary explanation of aggression in terms of issues and debates

Answer 71

Deterministic- states men will act aggressively to sexual jealousy and infidelity but many men demonstrate the ability to show free will and not act aggressively.
Socially sensitive- seems to legitimise aggressive acts towards women as describes it as an adaptive response. The implication of this is that it says it’s normal behaviour and so doesn’t help solve the problem of domestic abuse.

Question 72

What research studies do you need to know for the evolutionary explanation of aggression?

Answer 72

Daly and Wilson x2

Miller

Question 73

Describe Daly and Wilson’s 1982 study

Evolutionary explanation

Answer 73

80 murders where the victim and murderer were married or living together. The victims were 44 husbands and 36 wives. 29% of the conflicts arose as a result of sexual jealousy. More wives murdered their husbands than vice versa but reports show that the conflicts were instigated by the husband and the wife killed him in self defence. However, it’s unlikely that other socio-economic factors didn’t play a role in these.

Question 74

Describe Daly and Wilson’s 1985 study

Answer 74

214 cases of murder and found sexual jealousy was the motivating factor in 58 of the cases. However, it’s highly likely that other factors other than sexual jealousy contributed to the murders.

Question 75

Describe Miller’s study

Answer 75

44 battered wives living in a women’s hostel in Ontario, Canada. 55% of the women said that the reason for their husbands aggressive behaviour was jealousy. Actual infidelity on the woman’s part was the reason for the assault in 11 of the cases but the beatings were often motivated by suspicion or fear of adultery. However, it was a limited sample.

Question 76

Give a final limitation to the evolutionary explanation for aggression

Answer 76

It cannot explain why females sometimes show aggressive behaviour towards their male partners in response to sexual jealousy. Females often do show extreme aggression in response to sexual jealousy.

Question 77

Describe the evolutionary explanation for group display in humans: warfare

Answer 77

Having the protection of a group- if they chose not to fight they would be on their own with no protection which would reduce the chance of survival.
Demonstrating the strength needed to attract a mate- if a male fights and comes back he will have demonstrated strength which may lead to having the pick of mates.
To gain needed resources such as land- they may turn to war if overpopulation threatens the survival of their people.
As a means of ‘kin’ preference- to ensure the continuation of the genes from your people from the creation of in groups and out groups.
To ensure procreation- in cases of war rape civilians may be raped by the enemy who fear for their own life.

Question 78

Evaluate the role of group display in humans: warfare in terms of issues and debates

Answer 78

Nature side of the nature nurture debate- there may be other reasons such as some countries have National Service where men are required to serve in the military.
It is socially sensitive as can be seen to excuse cases of war rape as they only resort to that as a biological need to procreate.

Question 79

What supporting research do you need to know for group display: warfare?

Answer 79

Yanomamo tribe
WW11
Diamond

Question 80

How does the Yanomamo tribe support the explanation for group display: warfare?

Answer 80

The men in this tribe have the most wives and children are the ones that are the most successful warriors. This shows that females find the strongest men attractive.
Also most people in the armed forces are men.

Question 81

How does WW11 support the explanation for group display: warfare?

Answer 81

Many wars have involved genocide of mass extinction of one group of people. For example, in WW11 the main group targeted were the Jewish people in the Holocaust.

Question 82

How does Diamond support the explanation for group display: warfare?

Answer 82

He reported that by 1991 63% of the countries involved in 20th century wars engaged in such for reasons that included land disputes and insufficient space for resources.

Question 83

What is a limitation of the evolutionary explanation for group display: warfare?

Answer 83

Unfalsifiable as it cannot be proven that the reasons people engage in warfare are based around an evolutionary drive to survive and procreate.

Question 84

Describe the evolutionary explanation for group display: sports

Answer 84

Many sports due to their competitive nature and potential elements of aggression such as in rugby or boxing can lead to aggressive acts. Doing well in sport will make a male attractive due to Salary, Demonstrating strength and Demonstrate group cohesion. These factors allow males to show they could provide or their offspring in terms of resources and protection.

Question 85

Evaluate the evolutionary explanation for group display: sports in terms of issues and debates

Answer 85

Nature side of the nature nurture debate as ignores social reasons why people may take part in sports such as need to conform for psychological wellbeing.

Question 86

What research study do you need to know for group display: sports? Describe it.

Answer 86

Cialdini et al found that after a university football team had done well the students at the university showed a greater tendency to wear clothes that identified them as belonging to that university. This supports the theory that fans bask in glory perhaps as a means to look more attractive to potential mates.

Question 87

Give two limitations of the evolutionary explanation of group display: sports

Answer 87

Cannot explain why females engage in sports.

Unfalsifiable as you cannot prove that men engage in sports because they want to look attractive.