Aggression Essays Flashcards
What is Pardini et al’s procedure into the Amygdala?
A longitudinal study into male ppts from childhood to adulthood, some 56 of ppts had histories of violence and were subjected to MRIs at the age of 26.
What did Pardini et al find in their study into the Amygdala?
Ppts with lower Amygdala volumes had higher levels of aggression and violence.
How is the Amygdala involved in aggression?
Quickly evaluates the emotional importance of sensory information, forming an appropriate response and this may lead to an aggressive response.
How is the Hippocampus involved in Aggression?
It allows comparison of previous memories to a recent one, meaning that past threats may lead to people acting aggressive to recent threats.
What was Raine et al’s procedure into the Hippocampus?
Studied two groups of violent criminals: one were the ‘successful psychopaths’ (evaded the law) and the other were the ‘unsuccessful psychopaths’ (faced convictions).
What did Raine et al find in their study into the Hippocampus?
Found that the ‘successful’ group were described to be “cold/calculating criminals” whereas the others were impulsive. Found the Hippocampus in the ‘successful’ group were different sizes in either hemisphere, which was though to have arisen in early brain development.
How is Serotonin involved in Aggression?
It exerts a calming effect on neuronal firing in the brain and inhibits the Amygdala from firing. Low levels of this means that there is no inhibitory effect so the Amygdala is more active and therefore there is no reduction of aggression.
What was Duke et al’s procedure into Serotonin?
A meta-analysis of 175 studies involving 6500 ppts.
What did Duke et al find in their study into Serotonin?
Found a small relationship between serotonin levels and aggression but the magnitude depended on the methods used, the year the study was conducted or whether it was self-reported or not.
How is Testosterone involved in Aggression?
Assumes that there is a role in regulating behaviour and it is thought men are more aggressive as they have a higher concentration.
What was Dabbs et al’s procedure into Testosterone?
Measure salivary testosterone in non-violent and violent criminals.
What did Dabbs et al find in their study into Testosterone?
Those with high-levels of testosterone had a history of violent crimes and those with low-levels had a history of non-violent crimes.
What did Carré and Olmstead suggest about Serotonin?
Claimed that the levels fluctuate and this is due to the context of changes in the environment. This appears to influence aggressive behaviour by increasing Amygdala reactivity during the processing of social threats.
What are the Neural and Hormonal explanations of Aggression?
Limbic System (Amygdala and Hippocampus)
Serotonin
Testosterone
What was Coccaro’s procedure into Twin Studies?
Adult male MZ and DZ twins were studies for the concordance rate of aggression.
What did Coccaro find in his study?
MZ twins had a concordance rate of 50% and DZ had a concordance rate of 19%.
What is Hutchings and Mednick’s procedure into Adoption Studies?
Studied over 14000 adoptions in Denmark.
What did Hutchings and Mednick find in their study?
Adopted boys with criminal convictions had biological parents with convictions for criminal violence.
How is MAOA involved in Aggression?
An enzyme that breaks down serotonin and a dysfunctional one produces low levels of Serotonin which leads to aggression.
What was Brunners procedure into MAOA?
28 male members of a large Dutch family who were involved in impulsively aggressive crimes like rape, attempted murder and physical assault.
What did Brunners find in his study?
The 28 men had low levels of MAOA in their brains.
What was Caspi et al’s procedure into the MAOA gene?
Studied 500 male children.
What did Caspi et al find in their study?
Two variants of the MAOA gene, which were MAOA-H and MAOA-L. Children with the MAOA-L variant were more likely to exhibit anti-social behaviour, but only if they were mistreated. This is also known as the warrior gene.
What are the Genetic Explanations of Aggression?
Twin and Adoption studies
MAOA gene
What is a negative of the Genetic Factors affecting Aggression? (Animal Studies)
MAOA was originally found in animals meaning that it lacks population validity as it cannot be generalisable.
What is a positive of the Genetic Factors affecting Aggression? (Research Support)
Ppts decided whether to give money for good or not and it was found that males with the H variant were more cooperative and friendly compared to L variant.
What is a negative to the Genetic Factors in Aggression? (Gender Bias)
The research is only into males meaning that it is not generalisable to women and it assumes women act this way.
What is negative to the Genetic Factors affecting aggression? (Other Factors)
Neural and Hormonal factors may be at play meaning that we cannot just assume it is genetic.
What was Lorenz’s theory into Aggression?
Proposed certain behaviours are inherited and innate behaviours appear in reflexes and Fixed Axrion Patterns (FAPs).
What is the process of the FAPs?
Stimulus > Innate Releasing Mechanism > Fixed Action Pattern
What is the procedure into male Sticklebacks?
Sticklebacks were presented with a series of wooden models varying in shape as they are highly territorial during spring mating season.
What did the study in Sticklebacks find?
Regardless of the shape, the fish attacked the model if it had the same red spot. The Sticklebacks initiated their FAP and this was unchanging and once started could not be stopped.
What are the Ethological Explanations into Aggression?
IRMs
FAPs
What is a positive of the Ethological Explanations of Aggression? (Explanatory)
The explanations have explanatory explanations as it has allowed for an expansion of how we think about the causes of human behaviour as theories have emphasise causes of behaviours.
What is a negative of the Ethological Explanations of aggression? (Animal)
It lacks population validity as animals are used meaning that it cannot be fully generalised to humans.
What is a negative of the Ethological Explanations of Aggression? (Culture)
Research has found that aggressive behaviour may be more common in some human cultures as there was a north-south divide with the south having more common killings in the US.
