Contemporary Study Flashcards
What is the contemporary study in biological psychology
Brendgen (2005)
What were Brendgen (2005) three aims?
To see if social aggression is caused by genes or the environment
To see if physical aggression has the same cause as social aggression
To see if one type of aggression leads to another
Why was Brendgens aim useful to consider?
Furthers our understanding of potential causes of aggression, which could lead to strategies to reduce aggression
Also supplying evidence for the nature / nurture debate
Who were Brendgen (2005) pp?
332 pairs of twins were originally recruited
Only 234 pairs finished the study
There were 94 MZ twins and 140 DZ twins
With a mix of male and female pp
What type of research was Brendgen (2005)
Longitudinal
When was data gathered
5, 18, 30, 48 and 60 months
And a follow up at 6 years
What were the two ways Brendgen collected their data?
Two standardised questionnaires for the teachers
And from the twins peers via a booklet method
What did the two questionnaires the teachers had to do measure?
One was to measure social aggression the other was to measure physical aggression
It is important to note teachers could only respond using a Likert scale and so quantitative data was gathered
How did Brendgen (2005) gather data from the twins peers?
Via a booklet method
The peers were asked to identify certain behaviour descriptors with their classmates
What were Brendgen (2005) findings?
The concordance rate for physical aggression was higher in MZ twins
The concordance rate for social aggression was equal in MZ and DZ twins
Those who had a higher physical aggression tended to have a higher social aggression
Definition of social aggression
Behaviour that is intended to hurt someone without physically touching someone
Examples include malicious gossip, taunting etc
What do these findings suggest
Physical aggression has a genetic basis
Social aggression has an environmental basis
Also that some people have a genetic basis for aggression but that is only expressed when exposed to the right environment
Generalisability of Brendgen (2005)?
High,
large number of pp
Low,
All children
Reliability of Brendgen (2005)?
High,
Questionnaires can be easily repeated as they collected objective data, increasing reliability
Applicability of Brendgen (2005)?
Yes,
If we know social aggression is caused by the environment we can try and develop strategies to alter the environment to reduce social aggression
No,
Hard to apply this in society as society doesn’t have lots of controls
