Biological: Hormones And Studies

Question 1

What is a hormone?

Answer 1

A chemical substance that circulates in the bloodstream and only effect target organs. They are produced by glands but disappear quickly.

Question 2

What are the key glands in the endocrine system?

Answer 2

The pituitary gland located underneath the hypothalamus.

Question 3

What is the role of testosterone? Give a study to back this up.

Answer 3

Main role is aggression. Dabbs et al found that testosterone levels were higher in those who had been convicted of a violent crime.

Question 4

What is the role of cortisol?

Mention where it comes from.

Answer 4

Comes from the adrenal glands and helps to protect the body from stress. Low levels of cortisol also seem to inhibit aggression.

Question 5

Explain female aggression

Answer 5

Although testosterone levels in females are lower than in males aggressive behaviour in females can be enhanced by this hormone.

Question 6

Evaluate hormonal explanation of aggression S

Answer 6

A strength is DABBS AND HARGROVE measured the testosterone in females in a maximum security prison and found that the level of violence these women committed had a positive correlation with their testosterone levels.

Question 7

Evaluate the hormonal explanation of aggression O

Answer 7

Many studies of hormonal influences on humans are correlational for ethical reasons. However we cannot establish a casual behaviour. Elevated testosterone may be an outcome of aggression but may be the result of another hormone.

Question 8

Evaluate the D of the hormonal explanation of aggression

Answer 8

Behaviourism.
Behaviours such as aggression are learnt from the environment the individual grows up and is around. E.g: social learning Bandura. Bono doll experiment showed the children were likely to show more aggression if they saw the model doing it and being rewarded.

Question 9

What is the A of hormonal explanation of aggression

Answer 9

Understanding aggression can help us improve drugs to reduce aggressive behaviour. E.g: anti testosterone drugs may have positive consequences for society against sexual offenders.

Question 10

What was the aim of raine et als study?

Answer 10

He aimed to use brain scanning to identify brain impairments in people charged with murder who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Question 11

What was raine et als independent variable?

Answer 11

Murderer or non-murderer.

Question 12

What was raine et als group design?

Answer 12

Matched pair design

Question 13

What was raine et als sample?

Answer 13

41 murderers and 41 non-murderers
Murderers: 39 men 2 women
23 had brain damage 
3 druggies
6 had schizophrenia 
2 epilepsy

Question 14

What was raine et als dependent variable?

Answer 14

Activity in specific brain areas.

Question 15

What was raine et als procedure?

Answer 15

Physical examination and psychiatric interview. None were on medication or had past mental illnesses.
Each ppt underwent a PET scan of their brain. Each then completed a continuous performance task. Which involved identifying targets on a screen and pressing a button. The scan took 10 images of the brain.

Question 16

What were the the findings of raine et al’s study?

Answer 16

Murderers had lower activity in the cortical regions (low activity in left amygdala and left temporal lobe more in the right amygdala and right temporal lobe and thalamus)

Question 17

What was raine et al’s conclusion?

Answer 17

Murderers that plead to NGRI had different brain activity to the nonviolent offenders. The researchers concluded that dysfunctions of a single area cannot explain violent behaviour and that it is a network.

Question 18

Evaluate raine et al V

Answer 18

There was a high degree of control in the study. E.g: standardised procedures were used to control variables (same continuous performance task was used)
However the ppts weren’t randomly allocated to the experimental groups. Matching was used to partly overcome this however the matching was not thorough.

Question 19

What is a weakness or raine et al V?

Answer 19

PET scan may have given misleading results. The technique scanned the brain into 10 slices across a line from the outer eye to the mid ear however this varies so it can be difficult to locate
= lower internal validity and low credibility

Question 20

How can raine et al be applied?

Answer 20

TREATMENT
Might be possible to treat people who suffer from these brain deficits. If the deficient parts of the brain can be stimulated then they may be less likely to engage in aggressive behaviour.

Question 21

Evaluate the G of raine et als study?

Answer 21

Large sample of 82 however NGRI criminals aren’t representative of typical murderers as they either don’t remember doing it or were too confused to stand trial.

Question 22

Evaluate the R of raine et als study

Answer 22

PET is a reliable imaging technique that has been used for a long time. It produced objective and replicable results that can be tested many times.

Question 23

Evaluate the E of raine et als study

Answer 23

The NGRIs agreed to have the PET test because it would help their court case so they or a lawyer gave presumptive consent.
PET is an invasive procedure as the ppts have to be injected with a radioactive tracer. The controls would not have undergone this procedure if not involved increasing the risk of the research.

Question 24

What was the aim of Brengden et al?

Answer 24

To investigate wether physical aggression is caused by genes or the environment

Question 25

What was the sample size of brendgen et al?

Answer 25

234 twin pairs from Quebec
94 MZ
140 DZ

Question 26

What was the procedure of brendgen et al?

Answer 26

6yr= behaviour ratings ( physical and social aggression score) taken from 2 sources who knew the twins well (teacher and classmates)

Question 27

What were the questions like given to the teachers in the brendgen study?

Answer 27

To what extent does your child try to make others dislike a child or to what extend does your child get into fights?

Question 28

What were the questions given to the children in brendgens study

Answer 28

They were given pictures of every child in the class and each child had to select three pictures that they thought matched four different behaviour descriptions .

Question 29

What were the findings of brendgens study?

Answer 29

In both teacher and peer rating scores higher concordance rates for physical aggression was found in MZ twins compared to DZ twins suggesting physical aggression is a consequence of genetics. Similar concordance rates were found for social aggression between MZ and DZ twins suggesting social aggression is a consequence of environmental factors.

Question 30

What were the conclusions of Brendgens study?

Answer 30

Physical aggression has a strong biological component, whereas social aggression is a consequence of environmental factors.

Question 31

Evaluate G of brendgen et al?

Answer 31

A large sample of 234 twin pairs meant anomalies would not affect the data making the sample representative. However it’s worth noting that 88 twin pairs disappeared from the Québec newborn twins study before the age of six. (Sample attrition)

Question 32

Evaluate R of brendgen et al

Answer 32

Used established questionnaires to measure aggression these can be easily replicated making the study reliable.

Question 33

Evaluate A of Brendgen et al

Answer 33

If social aggression is strongly linked to the environment it must be possible to reduce the worse effects of verbal bullying by children by using early intervention. Classes and workshops may help children to help learn less aggressive ways of interacting

Question 34

Evaluate V of brendgen eg al

Answer 34

Twin studies are valid way of studying nature versus nurture since MZ twins share 100% DNA but DZ twins share 50%. However these conclusions are never certain and correlations do not prove causation. An MZ twin Maybe stereotype based on the other twins behaviour.

Question 35

Evaluate E of brendgen et al

Answer 35

The parents of the twins agreed for the children to be in the study giving presumptive consent. The study gets children to look at pictures of their classmates and judge them meaning it may have an impact on their friendships and lead to hurt feelings going against social responsibility.