Aggression Terms Flashcards
What is aggression?
A range of behaviour that can result in both psychical and psychological harm to others or oneself.
What is the Limbic System?
A network of structures located beneath the Cerebral Cortex involved in many of our emotions and motivations.
What is the Cingulate Gyrus?
A fold in the brain involved with sensory input concerning emotions and regulation of aggressive behaviour.
What is the Hypothalamus?
An important emotional centre, controls molecules that make you feel exhilarated, angry, unhappy.
What is the Hippocampus?
A memory indexer that sends memories to the appropriate part of the hemisphere for long-term storage and retrieval.
What is the Amygdala?
Involved in emotional responses, hormonal secretions and memory and is responsible for the fear conditioning and the associative learning process.
What is Serotonin?
A neurotransmitter that exerts a calming inhibitory effect on neuronal firing in the brain.
What is Testosterone?
An androgen responsible for the development of masculine features. Also has a role in regulating social behaviour via its influence of areas of the brain.
What is MAOA?
An enzyme that breaks down Serotonin.
What is the Warrior Gene?
MAOA-L (low activity of MAOA).
What is meant by Ethological Explanations?
The idea some aggressive behaviours are innate.
What are Reflexes?
‘wired-in’ responses to specific forms of stimulation.
What are FAPs?
(Fixed Action Patterns) Complex behaviours necessary for survival.
What is Sexual Jealousy?
The idea that men can never be truly certain about whether or not they fostered a child leading to anti-cuckoldry behaviour.
What is Cuckoldry?
When a female partner commits sexual infidelity.
What is the Frustration-Aggressive Hypothesis?
Aggression is a consequence of feeling frustrated (Dollard).
What is De-individuation?
A psychological state in which an individual loses their personal identity and takes on the identity of a group.
What is Private Self-Awareness?
How much we pay attention to our own thoughts and feelings.
What is Public Self-Awareness?
How much we pay attention to what a group thinks of our behaviour.
What is an Institution?
An organisation or a place of confinement with its own rules and social roles.
What is the Importation Model?
The idea that inmates’ willingness to use violence reflects their outside life.
What is the Deprivation Model?
The idea that situational factors cause aggression as it is stressful.
What is Desensitisation?
The way in which people become less anxious and shocked by media violence.
What is Disinhibition?
The idea that watching or playing violent media may change the standard of what is acceptable or not.
What is Cognitive Priming?
When violence ‘primes’ us for how to behave in aggressive situations in real life.
What is meant by Instrumental Aggression?
A premeditated aggressive action that is carried out in order to achieve a specific goal.
What is meant by Hostile Aggression?
Violent attitudes/actions that are associated with anger and a desire to dominate situations or others.
