Brain activity explanation of aggression

Question 1

The Amygdala
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Answer 1

The source of emotion, higher activity in the amygdala leads to higher levels of aggression

Question 2

The hypothalamus
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Answer 2

Responsible for homeostasis and hormones levels such as testosterone , higher levels of testosterone leads to higher levels of aggression

Question 3

The pre frontal cortex
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Answer 3

controls emotions such as aggression and predicts the consequences of actions, can generate a more aggressive response

Question 4

The midbrain

Answer 4

coordinates behaviour in response to internal and external threats such as aggressive stimuli

Question 5

Supporting
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Answer 5

Raine found NGRI murders had higher activity in the right amygdala- credible explanation
OTOH- 39/41 were males, cannot be generalised to females

Question 6

Conflicting
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Answer 6

Bandura- social learning theory, aggression is learned through a person (child) imitating the behaviour of a role model (adult)

Question 7

Other explanations
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Answer 7

Hormonal explanation- low levels of cortisol (stress hormone) leads to higher levels of aggression- credible as can be measured via a blood test

Question 8

Testability
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Answer 8

Can test via brain scans, more blood flow= higher activity so higher levels of aggression- credible
OTOH- a lot of research done on animals so cannot generalise to humans.