Aggression Evaluation Flashcards
Hormonal Influences
-Limitation
-Inconsistent Evidence
Ev- Albert et al found a positive correlation between levels of testosterone and self-reported levels of aggression in prison inmates. However no correlation was found between testosterone levels and violent behaviour among inmates in prison
Genetic Explanation
-Strength
-Significant body of evidence
Ev- Tihonen et al - Finnish prisoners - revealed that the MAOA-L gene was associated with extreme violent behaviour.
Genetic Explanation
-Strength
-Evidence of sex differences in aggression
Ev- MAOA gene linked to the X chromosome, women have two chromosomes, men have one, when men inherit an X-linked gene from their mothers they are more likely to be affected by it, whilst women already have another X chromosome with a ‘normal’ gene that prevents the expression of the abnormal version.
-Offers a creditable explanation for why males typically show more aggression
Genetic Explanation
-Limitation
-Unclear mechanism of the MAOA-Serotonin-Aggression link
Ev-Duke et al (2013) linked low levels of serotonin to aggression - However the MAOA-L gene causes low activity of the MAOA enzyme which, in turn should lead to higher serotonin as the low activity enzyme does not catabolise serotonin, leaving more serotonin behind. Contrasting explanaions for the role of serotonin in aggression.
Genetic Explanation
-Limitation
-Difficulties in establishing genetic contribution to aggressive behaviour.
Ev-More than one gene contributes to a given behaviour. Many non-genetic influences aggressive behaviour, interactionist approach. Therefore only studying the contribution of genes is impractical and oversimplifying the cause for aggression.
Neuronal Influences
-Strength
-Research support for the amygdala’s influence
Ev- Pardini et al 2014 longitudinal study of male ppts showed 56 ppts who had exhibited violence showed lower amygdala volumes exhibited higher levels of aggression
Ethological Explanation
-Strength
-Suggests ritualistic aggression poses an adaptive advantage in human cultures
Ev- Chagnon stated that tribes in South America that used chest pounding and club fighting settled conflicts shorter of extreme violence. Rituals have the effect of reducing actual aggression and preventing injury or death
Ethological Explanation
-Limitation
-The applicability of the theory to human aggression is criticised because FAPs such as aggression no longer serve as an adaptive advantage in modern times.
Ev- As human environment is constantly changing, aggression is no longer an adaptive advantage, flexibility is proved to be more effective than the production of stereotypical fixed patterns. Human behaviour is less predictable than the ethological explanation suggests.
Ethological Explanation
-Limitation
-Conflicting evidence for the hydraulic model within the explanation.
Ev- Whilst it is believed that when levels of ASE reached a critical point this would lead to a reduction in biological energy and a corresponding reduction in the likelihood of aggressive behaviour, some psychologists have showed that the performance of an aggressive behaviour could itself provide a further stimulus which would make aggressive behaviour more likely.
Evolutionary Explanation
-Strength
-Research support for the notion of aggression linking to the increase in social status
Ev- Many tribal societies bestow increased status and honour to men who have committed murder - also evident in industrialised societies such as the United States where the most violent gang members often have the highest status among their peers.
Evolutionary Explanation
-Limitation
-Fails to account for wide-scale acts of aggression/cruelty
Ev- In the Rwandan genocide where there was evidence off wide scaled slaughter of whole groups, the evolutionary explanation does not explain why humans torture opponents when they have already been defeated. The evolutionary explanation may not account for all examples of aggression that we see in modern society.
Evolutionary Explanation
-Limitation
-Issues with social sensitivity
Ev- The explanation provides an account and therefore potentially an excuse for domestic abuse, this explanation suggests that aggression directed from males to females within sexual relationships can be attributed to evolutionary needs to prevent cuckoldry - providing an alibi for serious domestic assault. Questions the evolutionary explanation’s relevance in modern psychology.
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
-Limitation
-Not all aggression arises from frustration.
- Reifman et al found that as temperatures increased so did the likelihood that pitchers would display aggressive behaviour towards the batters. Frustration is only one of a large number of aversive events that can lead to aggression.
Frustration-Aggression
-Strength
-Real world Application
Ev- Straub suggested that mass killings are often rooted in the frustration caused by social and economic difficulties within a society. These frustrations typically lead to scapegoating and then discrimination and aggression to this group.
-Following the First World War, many Germans blamed Jews both for the loss of the war and the severe economic problems that followed.
Frustration-Aggression
-Limitation
-Lack of support in research or real life
Ev- Early critics of the hypothesis claimed that many of Dollard’s predictions had no support, for example the concept of catharsis has not been supported by research. Bushman found that aggressive behaviour is likely to lead to more rather than less aggression in the future.
Social Learning Theory
-Strength
- Research Support
Ev- Gee & Leith carried out a study of ice hockey players that supports the SLT explanation. North American players in the National Hockey League were found to be much more likely to be penalised for aggressive play than other countries as they would have been exposed to more aggressive models on television when young.
Social Learning Theory
-Strength
- Cultural Differences
Ev- Among the !Kung San tribe aggression was found to be more comparatively rare as their child-rearing practises do not reward or punish children for arguing or fighting, but instead physically separates them and try to distract their attention onto other things.
-Consequently the absence of any direct reinforcement of aggressive behaviour and the absence of aggressive models means there is little opportunity to acquire aggressive behaviour. Highlighting the importance of modelling and reinforcement.
Social Learning Theory
-Strength
-Usefulness
Ev- Raised widespread availability of aggressive models. The American Psychological Association believes the ACT Against Violence intervention programme which aims to educate parents and others about the dangers of providing aggressive models and to encourage parents to provide more positive role models instead.
Social Learning Theory
-Limitation
-Testability
Ev- There is criticism regarding the lack of realism in research. For example there are significant methodological problems in studies in Bandura’s Bobo doll study - how the doll is not a living person and so does not retaliate when hit - the lack of consequences - which are usually an important feature in the likelihood of showing aggression towards other individuals- highlights a lack of realism
De-individuation
-Strength
-Supporting Evidence - effects of uniform and disguises.
Ev- Watson collected data on the extent to which warriors in 23 societies changed their appearance prior to going to war and the extent to which they killed/tortured their victims.
Ex- Those which changed their appearance (war paints) were more destructive towards their victims compared to those who did not change their appearance.
L- Supports the link between uniform and increased anonymity - more aggressive behaviour.
De-individuation
-Strength
-Support - Rehm’s study on effects of increased anonymity on aggressive behaviour in sports
Ev- In his study, 30 games of handball were observed in Germany, in each game one team all wore the same orange shirt, whilst the other team wore their own different coloured shirts.
Ex- The researcher found the uniformed teams showed significantly more aggressive acts during the game than the team without uniforms.
L- Supporting the claim that de-individualisation through increased anonymity leads to more aggressive acts.
De-individuation
-Strength
-Practical Application
Ev- The theory can help us understand aggressive behaviour in baiting crowds or online gaming services. The services have many features that promote a psychological state of de-individuation such as personal identity and players using handles to refer to themselves.
-We can prevent aggressive behaviours in de-individuation situations by moving towards ID verification on social media platforms.
De-individuation
-Limitation
-Does not always lead to aggression
Ev- Gergen’s 1973 ‘deviance in the dark’ study - groups of 8 ppts who were all strangers to each other were placed in completely dark rooms where it was impossible to identify each other.
-Ppts started kissing and touching each other - when repeated but this time ppts were told they would come face-to-face post-study, the amount of kissing declined dramatically. De-individuation does not always lead to aggression.
Institutional Aggression
Importation Model -Strength
-Supporting evidence for the importation Model
Ev- Mears et al tested the view of inmate behaviour stemming from cultural belief systems which they imported into prison - supporting that the ‘code of the streets’ belief system affects inmate violence - was pronounced in inmates who lacked family support and had previously been involved in gangs.
Ex- Suggests that values/behaviours that prisoners hold outside of prison are imported in.
Institutional Aggression
Importation Model -Limitation
-Research which challenges Importation Model
Ev- DeLisi et al found that inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence.
Ex- Suggests contrary to the importation model, attitudes associated with gang membership that are imported do not increase aggression levels
Institutional Aggression
Deprivation Model - Strength
-Supporting Evidence
Ev- McCorkle et al found in a study of 370 US prisons, situational factors such as overcrowding and lack of privacy significantly influenced inmate-on-inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff assault.
-Prisons which partook in educational/vocational programmes had a lower incidence of violence against staff and inmates.
-Hinting that deprivation of meaningful activity increases likelihood of violent behaviour.
Institutional Aggression
Deprivation Model - Strength
-Supporting Evidence
Ev- Prison Governor David Wilson reasoned that if most violence occurs in environments that are hot, noisy and overcrowded - this could be avoided by reducing these three factors.
-Wilson set up two units for violent prisoners that were less claustrophobic and ‘prison-like’ as well as gave a view to the outside - temps and typical noise were lowered.
Ex- These changes eradicated assaults on prison staff and other inmates, providing powerful support for the claim that situational variables are the main course of prison violence.
Institutional Aggression
Deprivation Model - Limitation
-Research which contradicts the deprivation model
Ev- Harver - collected data from thousands of inmates - included importation variables and deprivation variables, testing which variables predicted institutional aggression.
Ex- The psychologists concluded that race, age, criminal history(importation variables) were the only significant predictors of prison violence, whereas none of the deprivation variables were significant in that respect.
Media Influences
- Limitation
-Failure to account for other variables.
Ev- Ferguson et al claimed that the effects of violent media content on aggressive behaviour disappears when other potential influences such as trait aggression, family violence and mental health are taken into consideration.
- Researchers suggest these risk factors are the primary cause of aggressive and violent behaviour - opposed to media violence exposure.
Media Influences
-Limitation
-Research may be overstating the relationship.
Ev- Studies have found that an effect attributable to exposure to violent media, have typically reported only small to medium effect sizes. Ferguson noted that when aggression towards another person/violent crime is the measure of aggression, the relationship between media violence and aggressive behaviour is actually close to zero.
- Suggesting the research may be over exaggerating the role of the media on aggressive behaviour.
Media Influences - Experimental Research
-Strength
-High internal validity
Ev- Control over extraneous variables that could influence outcome
-Can randomly assign ppts to conditions - allows us to make more confident casual links between the role of the media and aggression
Media Influences
- Limitation
-Aggressive behaviour may be mediated by game difficulty
Ev- One psychologist suggested that behaviour may be linked to a player’s experiences of failure and frustration rather than the game’s violent content. That the lack of mastery and difficulty players had in completing the game that led to frustration and aggression, evidenced across both violent and non-violent games.
-Suggesting even non-violent video games can lead to aggression if the game is too difficult.
Media Influences - Experimental Research
-Limitation
-Lacks mundane realism and ecological validity
Ev- Tasks measuring aggression have to be ethical and so unlikely reflect true aggression in everyday life - e.g. blasting white noise doesn’t reflect violence we see.
-Furthermore the tasks are devised in a way that means there is no consequence/punishment for aggression - so behaviour may be more likely.
Media Influences - Longitudinal Research
-Strength
-Avoids need for retrospective self-report and allows for the study of the dynamic nature of media influences on aggression over time.
Media Influences - Longitudinal Research
-Limitation
-Difficulty in controlling confounding research
Ev- Many other sources of aggression interact with the media influences, such as role models - becomes difficult to separate all the different causes.
Media Influences - Meta-analysis
-Strength
-Allows us to see an overall trend
Ev - If multiple studies are supporting the same notion of media influencing aggression, we can be more certain of this link.
Media Influences - Meta-analysis
-Limitation
-Findings that are statistically significant are usually more likely to be published than those that find no statistically significant result.
Ev- Creates a bias in the published research available to include in a meta-analysis as evidence refuting the link between media and aggression are failing to be included in the research.
Media Influences - Video Games
-Limitation
-Game Difficulty rather than content may lead to aggression
Ev- One study suggested that aggressive behaviour may be linked to a player’s experiences of failure and frustration during a game rather than the game’s violent storyline.
Media Influences - Video Games
-Limitation
-Problems with research on the effects of computer games
Ev- Researchers cannot measure real-life aggression - therefore they must use measures of aggressive behaviour that have no relationship to real-life aggression, can only measure short-term effects.
