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Sarah's Psychology > Neural & Hormonal explanations of Aggression & Genetic Factors > Flashcards

Neural & Hormonal explanations of Aggression & Genetic Factors Flashcards

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0
Q

Name neurotransmitters associated with aggression

A

Serotonin

Dopamine

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1
Q

Name the brain regions associated with aggression

A

Amygdala

Prefrontal cortex

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2
Q

Where is the amygdala located?

A

Temporal lobe

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3
Q

What does the amygdala affect?

A

Emotional responses

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4
Q

The amygdala has been shown to be connected to the….

A

Prefrontal cortex

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5
Q

What does the term lesioning mean?

A

Damaging the brain on purpose

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6
Q

What’s an amygdalectomy?

A

Removal of the amygdala

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7
Q

What did research show when monkeys brains were lesioned?

A

Led to a reduction in fear and increase in aggression.

In humans, the removal of the amygdala can affect emotional responses

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8
Q

What happens if someone’s prefrontal cortex is damaged?

A

Show impulsive behaviour, immaturity, altered emotion, short tempers and are easily provoked

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9
Q

What effect does serotonin give?

A

A calming effect

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10
Q

What is dopamine responsible for?

A

Rewarding sensations

Pleasure. E.g. Sex and eating

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11
Q

Low levels of serotonin…

A

Increased aggression

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12
Q

Why is dopamine associated with aggression?

A

May seek out rewarding sensations aggression releases

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13
Q

Research into the neural explanation of aggression

A

Raine et al
Tateno
Zagrodzka

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14
Q

Research of Raine et al

A

PET scans of 41 murderers (39 males, 2 females) who were pleading NGRI
Had low activity in their prefrontal cortex

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15
Q

Research of Tateno et al

A

89 male patients with TBI
Aggression measured from various sources - family interviews, police records, accounts from friends
Those who were classified as aggressive, were more likely to have frontal lobe damage

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16
Q

Van Elst

A

Amygdala was reduced by 20% in violent offenders

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17
Q

Research of Zagrodzka

A

Damaged cats central nucleus of their amygdala. Predator like attacks

(Supported by Potegal - aggressive hamsters have more active neurons in the medial nucleus of the amygdala)

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18
Q

What is testosterone?

A

A hormone involved with aggression

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19
Q

Evaluation of the neural explanation of aggression

A

Supporting research for the role of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Too simplistic

Scientific

Based on animal research (can you apply the research to humans)

Deterministic

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20
Q

What is the endocrine system?

A

It produces several hundred hormones that interact with each other and the nervous system to regulate many different behaviours.

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21
Q

What’s the role of hormones?

A

To regulate and control bodily functions

22
Q

When do levels of testosterone peak in males?

A

Around the start of puberty

23
Q

What is castration?

A

To remove the testes

24
Q

Castration….

A

Decreases aggression by removing the testes you are removing testosterone

25
Q

Testosterone acts on the ‘_____’ system..

A

Serotonin system.. Lowers amount of serotonin (low levels of serotonin = less calm)

26
Q

Name the research for the hormonal explanation of aggression

A

Archer
Edwards
Van Goozen

27
Q

Research of Archer

A

Meta analysis of 5 studies and found a low positive correlation between testosterone and aggression

29
Q

Research of Edwards

A

Injected testosterone into neonate female rats, made them act like males when they were injected again as adults.
However, the female rats only given testosterone as adults did not react in this way.
Suggests early exposure to testosterone is important

29
Q

What is cortisol?

A

Another hormone associated with agg. Released from adrenal medulla and is important in the body’s response to stress.
The lower the levels of cortisol the higher the levels of aggression

30
Q

Research of Van Goozen

A

15 male to female
35 female to male

Questionnaires assessed ‘proneness to aggression’ completed before and after receiving hormone treatment

Research showed female to male transsexuals reported an increase in aggression proneness, male to females found decrease

31
Q

People with high testosterone and low cortisol…

A

More likely to be aggressive than those with high testosterone and high cortisol

32
Q

Evaluation of the hormonal explanation of aggression

A 
Supporting research 
Too simplistic
Animal research 
Methodological problems (testosterone - spine) 
Correlation all research
33
Q

Genetic explanation of aggression is assessed by researching…

A

Twins and adoptees

34
Q

What are identical twins called?

A

MZ twins

35
Q

DZ twins are…

A

Non-identical twins

36
Q

Why is research on twins interesting?

A

If aggression is genetic, if one twin is aggressive you would expect the other to be too

37
Q

Why are adoptees interesting?

A

If biological parents are aggressive adoptees should be too regardless of the environment

38
Q

Name the 2 twin studies

A

McGuffin and Gottesman

Christiansen

39
Q

Name the 2 adoption studies

A

Hutching and Mednick

Rhee and Walden

40
Q

What is a concordance rate?

A

The likelihood that if one twin is aggressive, the other one will be too

41
Q

Research of McGuffin and Gottesman

A

Found concordance rate of 87% for aggressive and anti-social behaviour for MZ twins and 72% for DZ twins

Suggests genetics are important
But that environment also plays a role

42
Q

Research of Christiansen

A

Reviewed 3568 pairs of twins born between 1881 and 1910 in a region of Denmark
926 were registered by the police for criminal activity
35% concordance rate for MZ male twins and 21% for MZ female twins

12% concordance rate for DZ male twins and 8% for DZ female twins

43
Q

Research of Hutching and Mednick

A

Study in Denmark involving a review of 14,000 adoptions in Denmark

Found a significant positive correlation between the number of convictions for criminal violence among the biological parents (particularly the gathers) and the number of convictions for criminal violence among their adopted sons

44
Q

Research of Rhee and Walden

A

Meta-analysis of 51 twin and adoption studies involving 87,000 individuals.

Operationalised aggression as:
1 psychiatric diagnoses (antisocial personality disorder
2 delinquency
3 behavioural aggression

They suggested aggression could be explained in terms of 40% resulting from genes and 60% from environment

45
Q

How many neurotransmitters are thought to be involved in aggression? Name them!

A

1) Noradrenaline
2) Dopamine
3) Serotonin

46
Q

Imbalances of the three neurotransmitters lead to what?

A

Aggression

47
Q

What is noradrenaline?

A

Related the fight/flight response and leads to increased alertness.
The fight/flight response may therefore be over active if noradrenaline is not broken down.

48
Q

What is MAOA?

A

A chemical that keeps the neurotransmitters noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin in check
If MAOA is not produced it leads to imbalances in the 3 chemicals

49
Q

If the gene that produces MAOA is faulty…

A

No production of MAOA which leads to imbalances in chemicals which leads to aggression

50
Q

Evaluation points for twin research studies

A

Twins are likely to share the same environment

Twins are often treated the same

51
Q

Evaluation of adoption research studies

A

The adoption process may influence aggression

The contamination effect may play a role

52
Q

Evaluation of the genetic explanation of aggression

A

Too simplistic

Deterministic

Sarah's Psychology (4 decks)

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