Amygdala and Aggression: Flashcards
What is the Amygdala?
It is one of the control centres in the brain for regulating emotion so damage here could cause a lack of emotional response or an excessive response to a situation as the person lacks control.
What does damage to the right Amygdala lead to?
Leads to a greater deficit in decision making and appropriate social behaviour in men.
What does increased activity in the right amygdala lead to?
More impulsive behaviour and it tends to react quicker than the left so fear stimuli so could explain antisocial behaviour.
What happens if the Amygdala is activated?
It can trigger the fight or flight response.
Supporting Evidence: Pardini et al:
I: Found that people with smaller amygdala are 3 times more likely to exhibit aggression, violence and psychopathic tendencies than those with larger amygdala.
J: Showing that the amygdala is very important in causing criminal behaviour.
Supporting Evidence: Yang et al:
I: Found a significant correlation using MRI scans between reduced volume in the amygdala and psychopathic scores especially emotion and interpersonal skills for psychopaths and controls.
J: Which supports how the brain is constructed can help predict those more likely to commit crime.
Supporting Evidence: Glenn et al:
I: Found that the functioning of the amygdala is just as important. Using fMRI scans they found reduced activity during moral reasoning tasks.
J: Which supports the view that psychopaths worry less about committing crime or hurting others.
Critical Evidence: Eysenck et al:
I: Found that the criminal scored more highly on E, N and P scales than non-criminals.
J: Suggesting that personality has a role in criminality, rather than the amygdala malfunctioning.
Critical Evidence: Polman:
I: Found that playing violent video games had a bigger influence on aggression levels of males than simply watching TV violence.
J: Showing that it is not the amygdala but getting the opportunity to observe and imitate that leads to an increase in violent behaviour.
