brengden

Question 1

what were the 3 aims

Answer 1

1. to see if social aggression is caused by genes or environment
2. to see if social aggression shares the same cause as physical aggression
3. to see if one type of aggression leads to another

Question 2

what was the sample at the beginning

Answer 2

322 pairs of DZ and MZ(same sex and mixed sex) twins from Quebec new-born twin study

Question 3

how many sets of twins had complete data

Answer 3

234

Question 4

when was data collected

Answer 4

5,18,30,48 and 60 months old and again at 6 years old

Question 5

what was the method

Answer 5

longitudinal study

Question 6

at what time of the year was data collected and why

Answer 6

it was collected in the spring term to ensure that twins were well known by classmates and teachers

Question 7

describe the procedure

Answer 7

peers were given booklets with photos of each child in their class and were asked to circle 3 pictures that matched a certain behaviour description(eg. tells others not to play with a child, gets into fights)

teachers rated aggression based on their agreement with statements using a 3 point scale and their answers were compared to the peers answers

Question 8

what was the 3 point scale

Answer 8

0= never
1= sometimes
2= often

Question 9

what were the results for aim 1

Answer 9

scores for social aggression were roughly equally correlated in MZ and DZ twin pairs

much higher correlation between ratings of physical aggression in MZ twin pairs than DZ same sex twins

Question 10

what were the results for aim 2

Answer 10

a correlation was found between physical and social aggression in children that was best explained by genes than sharing the same environment

meaning that this could be the result of aggressive tendencies caused by genetics but the way they are expressed could be due to environmental factors like exposure to aggressive behaviours

Question 11

what were the results for aim 3

Answer 11

data suggested that physical aggression may leas to social aggression but not the other way around

expression of aggressive tendencies as children may grow as they learn ‘socially acceptable’ ways to express anger
as young children they can only express anger physically but as language and cognitive skills develop so do their ways to show aggressive behaviour

Question 12

evaluate the generalisability

Answer 12

234 twin pairs is a large quantity and they were mixed sex but they were only from Quebec, Canada and were only born between November 1995- July 1998 so its not representative of all ages

Question 13

evaluate the reliability

Answer 13

used standardised questionnaires for teachers and class peers, making sure that the questions didn’t influence their judgement of physical and social aggression so it was good

Question 14

evaluate the applications

Answer 14

could be developments in strategies to reduce/prevent social aggression in MZ twins by teaching them coping strategies so it was good

Question 15

evaluate the validity

Answer 15

questions were asked in spring term so peers and teachers would be more familiar with each other so the accuracy of their judgement was increased

questionnaire was only completed once so they may give inaccurate judgements of social aggression due to arguments that may have happened on the day

Question 16

evaluate the ethics

Answer 16

children could be targeted because of their answers

parents gave consent for children