Aggression: Hormones - Evaluation

Question 1

C > Can we infer cause and effect?

Answer 1

• a lot of evidence is correlational
• e.g. link between cortisol and aggression (Barzman)
• there might be other factors that influence the pattern of one co-variable

Question 2

C > Credibility? Reliability?

Answer 2

no

• relationship between testosterone and aggression is often measured using saliva tests
• most accurate measurement is blood tests
• however this is not done for research purposes so measures used might lack credibility

Question 3

C > Is the research fully generalisable?

Answer 3

• lots of research uses animals

- might not be generalisable to humans

Question 4

C > Is generalisability possible?

Answer 4

• humans and animals (e.g. rodents) share over 90% of their genes
• we also share a basic brain structure
• we can assume that many bodily functions work in the same way

Question 5

D > Alternative explanations?

Answer 5

Freud

- root cause of aggression is unresolved conflict: penis envy and castration fear

Question 6

+ > Reductionist?

Answer 6

• theories of human aggression are separated into brain functioning, structure, hormones, etc.
• research should be more holistic and acknowledge the complexity of human behaviour and the interrelation of these factors
• hormone factor doesn’t consider the role of the environment, like SLT

Question 7

+ > Reliable?

Answer 7

• both human and animal research has found a relationship between hormone levels and aggression
• this gives scientific credibility to findings