Biological: Hormones And Studies Flashcards
3.1.6 The role of hormones (e.g. testosterone) to explain human behaviour such as aggression.
What is a hormone and its role?
A chemical messenger that travels in the bloodstream and is produced by glands.
They affect behaviour and cause physical changes in the body.
What is the role of testosterone?
The main role is aggression and regulating sex drive.
High testosterone is linked to aggression.
What is the role of cortisol?
Mention where it comes from.
Regulates stress and aggression.
High levels of cortisol is linked to aggression.
Explain female aggression
Although testosterone levels in females are lower than in males aggressive behaviour in females can be enhanced by this hormone.
Evaluate the supporting evidence of the hormonal explanation.
Dabbs and Hargrove:
Measured testosterone in the salivas of 89 female inmates of a maximum security prison. Degree of violence positively correlated with testosterone levels.
Evaluate the opposing evidence of the hormonal explanation of aggression.
Correlational:
Hormonal influences on humans are correlational for ethical reasons, meaning we can establish a link but not causation. High testosterone may be an outcome of aggression but may be the result of another hormone.
Evaluate the different theory of the hormonal explanation of aggression
Social Learning Theory
Behaviours such as aggression are learnt from the environment the individual grows up and is around. E.g: social learning Bandura. Bobo doll experiment showed the children were likely to show more aggression if they saw the model doing it and being rewarded.
What is the A of hormonal explanation of aggression
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.
What was the aim of raine et als study?
He aimed to use brain scanning to identify brain impairments in people charged with murder who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
What was raine et als independent variable?
Murderer or non-murderer.
What was raine et als group design?
Matched pair design
What was raine et als sample?
41 murderers and 41 non-murderers Murderers: 39 men 2 women 23 had brain damage 3 druggies 6 had schizophrenia 2 epilepsy
What was raine et als dependent variable?
Activity in specific brain areas.
What was raine et als procedure?
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.
What were the the findings of raine et al’s study?
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)
What was raine et al’s conclusion?
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.
What is a weakness or raine et al V?
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
How can raine et al be applied?
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.
Evaluate the G of raine et als study?
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.
Evaluate the R of raine et als study
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.
Evaluate the E of raine et als study
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.
What was the aim of Brengden et al?
To investigate wether physical aggression is caused by genes or the environment
What was the sample size of brendgen et al?
234 twin pairs from Quebec
94 MZ
140 DZ
What was the procedure of brendgen et al?
6yr= behaviour ratings ( physical and social aggression score) taken from 2 sources who knew the twins well (teacher and classmates)