Aggression Studies Flashcards
Describe study into neural influences
Method - 692 male prisoners
Measured testosterone levels from saliva
Recorded type of crime committed and whether broken prison rules
Findings - those with higher testosterone levels were more likely to have committed crimes involving sex and violence and break the prison rules
Describe study into neural influences
Method - 49 monkeys living on an island were tested.
Findings - those with lowest levels of serotonin were more likely to be injured or die young
Describe study into genetic factors
Concordance rates for MZ twins was 85% and DZ twins was 72% for aggressive and anti social behaviours
Describe study into genetic factors
Found a family in Hollander, had very high rates of extreme violence in many of males. Those males who were violent had abnormally low levels of MAO-A gene
Describe study into ethological explanations
Method - demonstrated the existence of SS and FAPs using the male stickleback fish. The sticklebacks were then either presented with another male or a female stickleback.
Findings - all of the males attacked the male model suggesting evidence for SS which is the red belly and an FAP which is the attack
Describe study into evolutionary explanations
Method-
Men - completed a mate retention inventory concerning their use of 104 MRS in previous month. Also asked how often performed violent acts and how often partners got injuries
Women - answered questions about their partners use of MRS and the degree to which they had been violent towards them
Findings-
Men - 2 main MRS positively correlated with violence scores. Negative inducements and direct guarding
Women - MRS were violent towards partner
Describe study into frustration aggression hypothesis
Found that when participants were queuing, if you cut in front of them when they were one place from the front, they were significantly more likely to elicit verbal aggression than if they were right at the back of the line
Describe study into institutional aggression
Found that there were a number of variables which positively correlated with violence within prison. They were-
Greater periods of unemployment
Lower levels of education
Being young
Describe study into media aggression
Method - 295 German secondary school pupils aged 13-16 . Longitudinal study assessed students video game usage and various aggressive tendencies using a questionnaire at the start of the study and then again 30 months later
Findings - found that aggressive beliefs and behaviours were associated with exposure to violent video games
Describe study into cognitive priming
Method - scanned the brains of 8 children who were watching both violent then non violent films
Findings- when watching violent films increased activity in brain areas associated with emotion together with areas linked with personal memories
