Neural and Hormonal explanations of Aggression Flashcards
What is the Limbic System?
A network of subcortical structures in the brain.
What structures are included in the Limbic System?
-Hypothalamus
-Hippocampus
-Thalamus
-Amygdala
What is the Amygdala’s role in the Limbic system?
To assess and respond to threats and challenges.
How does the Limbic system link to aggression?
If the Limbic System is overactive it results in more aggressive behaviour.
How does Charles Whitman support the Limbic system influencing aggression?
He wildly killed 25 people and in his post mortem then found a huge tumour in his amygdala.
What does decreased serotonin lead to?
This decrease may lead to overactivity in the limbic system, which results in increased aggression.
How does Chen et al support serotonin influencing aggression?
Mice were mutated to release more serotonin and they became more aggressive.
How does a mutation of the MAOA gene influence serotonin levels?
The MAOA gene breaks down serotonin to its normal levels.
Brunner found that a mutation of the MAOA gene causes a lack of enzymes to break down serotonin.
This means the overall levels of serotonin will be increased and should result in a reduction of aggression in families with this genetic mutation.
What would high MAOA activity result in?
More serotonin, more aggressive.
How does testosterone link to aggression?
Thought to influence aggression due to its action in brain areas involved in controlling aggression.
How does Dolan support testosterone influence on aggression?
Dolan found that in a prison, the most aggressive prisoners had the highest testosterone levels.
What does the reciprocal model of testosterone effect suggest?
Suggests that it could be the other way round, and increased aggression may increase testosterone levels instead.
Give an advantage of neural and hormonal explanations.
+Supporting evidence from Gospic et al for the amygdala.
His research supports the correlation between the amygdala and aggression. However, we can’t establish cause and effect because the findings are correlational.
Give disadvantages of neural and hormonal explanations.
-Carre claims high levels of testosterone only lead to aggression if there are high levels of cortisol (stress).
We should look at the two combined instead of testosterone individually.
-All of the supporting data has correlational findings, so we can’t establish cause and effect.
For example, we don’t know if aggression causes less serotonin or if less serotonin causes aggression.
