Paper 3 Aggression Flashcards
Discuss the role of neural mechanism in aggression
limbic system
- responsible for aggressive behaviour
= correlational research showing amygdala key role in how mammals assess and remind to environmental threats
- fMRI scans show heightened amygdala activity during aggressive response
= fast and heightened response by amygdala in fMRI scans
= with benzodiazepine drugs decreased activity of amygdala and reduced aggression
Orbitofrontal cortex band serotonin
- normal levels of serotonin in the orbitofrontal cortex = greater behavioural self control
- decreased serotonin = reducing self control - increase impulsive behaviour (aggression)
AO3:
strength - effectiveness
- other frugs have found to reduce levels of aggressive behaviour = comparison of drug and placebo
= goes beyond correlational findings
Limitation - non limbic brain structures are also involved in aggression
- orbitofrontal cortex involved in impulsen regulation and initiation of aggressive behaviour
= shows neural regulation of aggression is more complex than theories focusing primarily on amygdala suggest
discuss the role of hormonal mechanisms in aggression
testosterone
- men are more aggressive than women
- men are more aggressive towards the men at time of development (testosterone levels are highest)
- testosterone has a role in regulating social behaviour via its influence on certain areas of the brain implicated in aggression
- animal research shows removing the testes reduces aggression = injecting testosterone restores aggressive behaviour
AO3:
strength - supporting research in animals
- monkeys have increase in testosterone and aggressive behaviours during the mating season
- injecting testosterone in female rats = increase mouse killing
= range of animal species
BUT:
humans are more complex than other mammals
= cognitive factors play a greater role - cold blooded proactive aggression
Limitation - mixed evidence of the link between testosterone and aggression in humans
- dual hormone hypothesis = high levels of testosterone lead to aggressive behaviour but only when cortisol levels are low = when cortisol is high testosterone influence on aggression is blocked
Discuss the role of genetic factors in aggression
twin studies
= genetic factors account for 50% of variance in aggressive behaviour
- similarities are higher for monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins
- direct physical assault higher for monozygotic twins
adoption studies
= biological parent similarities account for genes
= adopted account for environmental factors
MAOA gene
- research shows men from a large family had abnormally high levels of enzyme MAO-A as well as MAOA-L variant which accounted for their aggressive behaviour (criminal activity such as rape)
Gene environment interactions
- MAOA gene activity is only related to adult aggression when combined with early traumatic life events
- higher levels of antisocial aggression and the low activity of MAOA gene variant in males = child trauma
- didn’t account for those without childhood trauma and low activity of MAOA variant
= gene environment interaction described as diathesis stress
AO3:
strength - supporting evidence
Limitation - environmental factors in aggression
- traumatic event (diathesis stress)
= presence of the gene cannot account alone for aggression
Limitation - lack validity
- twins having equal environments assumptions challenge by the way twins can be treated differently by other people
= concordance rates inflated and questioning credibility of genetic influence on aggression
Describe and evaluate the ethological explanation of aggression
aggression as an instinct
adaptive functions of aggression
access to resources
- defeated animal is forced to establish territory elsewhere = reduces competition pressure and possibility of starvation
dominance hierarchies
- animals this give mating rights to females
- seen in children to access resources such as food and friends
ritualistic aggression
- a series of behaviours carried out in a set order
- reproach showed fights and actual psychical damage was very little and instead they showed claws, teeth, and facial expression of threat
innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns
- fixed action pattern produced by innate releasing mechanism = environmental stimuli triggers IRM releases specific sequence of behaviours (fixed action pattern)
AO3:
strength - research related to genetics and evolution
- MAOA is associated with aggression = innate mechanism
- twin adoption studies
BUT: aggressive behaviours differ across cultures
- southern US reactive aggression ‘culture of honour’ not prevalent in the northern US
= aggressive behaviour is a result of social norm than instinctive
Limitation - aggression against members of the same species is not just ritualistic
- a war between chimps showed aggression carrie out in a systematic way but the violence continued even though the victims offered appeasement signals = didn’t inhibit aggressive behaviour of the attackers as predicted by ethnological explanation
Describe and evaluate the evolutionary explanations of human aggression
individual survival and reproductive success
- human brain is a product of evolution by natural explanation = adaptions to cope with various challenges associated with group living
- aggressive individuals are more likely to compete for food/ females = reproduces successfully = aggressive genes are passes on to subsequent generations
evolutionary explanation of sexual jealousy
- men avoiding evolutionary cuckoldry = reproductively successful
= psychological mechanism evolved to increase anti cuckoldry behaviours in males
- sexual jealousy in men = aggressive strategies to retain partner
mate retention strategies
- direct guarding = male vigilance over partners behaviour
- negative inducements
Physical violence against partner
- whether women agreed with retention strategy comments by partner = women who agreed were twice as likely to experience physical violence from partner
AO3:
strength - explanation for why males and females differ in their use of aggression
- not adaptive for a female with offspring to be physically aggressive because such behaviour would put
her own survival at risk and that of her child.
- more adaptive strategy for females is to use verbal
aggression to retain a partner who provides resources.
BUT: be better explained by socialisation.
- parents are more likely to physically punish boys for bad
conduct, whereas when girls misbehave, parents tend to explain to them why their actions were wrong.
strength - supporting sexual jealousy
- strong positive correlation between mate retention behaviours and physical
violence, when he asked married men and women to complete different questionnaires
= men who used guarding or negative inducements were more likely to use physical violence against their partners.
Limitation - substantial cultural differences in aggressive behaviour.
- western Botswana ‘harmless people’ = very negative attitudes towards
the use of aggression. Aggressive behaviour is discouraged from childhood in both boys and girls and is
therefore rare.
= question validity of the evolutionary explanation of aggression because behaviour is learned rather than evolutionary
Describe and evaluate research into the frustration-aggression hypothesis as an explanation of aggression
frustration aggression hypothesis
- The cause of frustration may be abstract, such as the economic situation, the government, or the music industry.
- The cause may be too powerful and we risk punishment by aggressing against it, for example, the teacher who gave you a lower grade than you expected.
- The cause may just be unavailable at the time, for example, perhaps the teacher left before you realised what
grade you got.
the weapon effect
- the presences of aggressive cues when frustrated in the environment make acting upon aggression more likely
- with the presence of the weapon the number of shocks given to confederate were greater
reproach into frustration aggression
- impossible to solve puzzle
- ran out of time with student interfering
- confederate in room insulted participant as they failed
= insulted participants gave strongest shocks but all groups gave more intense shocks than non frustrated
AO3:
strength - supporting research
Limitation - link between frustration and aggression is complex
- its not an automatic link = some may feel helpless or determined
= inadequate because it only explains how aggression arises in some situations
BUT: reproach taking this criticism into account concluded that frustration is just one of many aversive stimuli that create negative feelings = frustration can form part of a wider explanation of what causes aggression
real world application - gun control
- US having weapons on show = presence of weapon act as a cue to aggression
Discuss the social learning theory of aggression
observational learning and vicarious reinforcement
- learning aggressive behaviour through observation of a role model
- models aggressive behaviour is rewarded the child learns aggression can be effective in getting what they want = vicarious reinforcement (imitation of models aggressive behaviour)
Cognitive conditions for learning aggressive behaviour
- attention = take notice of action
- retention = remember so metal representation of how behaviour is formed
- reproduction = able to transform mental representation into physical action
- motivation = reason to imitate behaviour
Self efficacy = a Childs confidence in their ability to be aggressive grows as they learn aggression can bring rewards = Childs efficacy develops with every successful outcome
AO3:
strength - real world application to reduce aggression
- reduce aggression is
to provide rewarded non-aggressive models. The same learning processes that can lead to aggressive behaviour
can produce non-aggression.
= practical steps to reduce the development of aggressive behaviour in children.
Limitation - underestimates the influence of biological factors
- urge to be aggressive that is instinctive in nature and equally learned through nurture
- but it is established that there are powerful genetic, evolutionary, neural and
hormonal influence on aggression.
= SLT is an incomplete explanation of aggression because it underplays the role of biological factors.
Describe and evaluate the de-individuation as an explanation of aggression
crowd behaviour
= lose our senses of individual self-identity and responsibility for our behaviour. We disregard norms and even laws. Responsibility becomes shared throughout the
crowd, so we experience less personal guilt about directing harmful aggression at others.
de individualisation leading to aggression
- de-individuated behaviours are emotional, impulsive, and irrational; most importantly they are anti-normative and disinhibited.
= lose self-awareness, we stop monitoring and regulating our own behaviour, ignore social
norms and ‘live for the moment’, failing to form longer-term plans.
- conditions = darkness, drugs, alcohol, uniforms, masks and disguises. A major factor is anonymity.
reduced self awareness
- Private self-awareness concerns how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviour. This is reduced when we
are part of crowd. Our attention becomes focused outwardly to the events around us, so we pay less attention to our
own beliefs and feelings.
- Public self-awareness refers to how much we care about what other people think of our behaviour. This is also
reduced in crowds. We realise that we are just one individual amongst many; we are anonymous and our behaviour
is less likely to be judged by others.
AO3:
strength - support for deindividuation.
- looked at aggressive online behaviour in chatrooms and uses of instant messaging.
= strong correlation between anonymity and ‘flaming’
= link between aggressive behaviour and anonymity, a key element of deindividuation.
BUT: in the dark experiment lead to intimacy whereas face to face there was a lower rate
Discuss explanations of institutional aggression in the context of prisons
dispositional explanations
- the importation model
= The willingness of inmates to use violence inside prison to settle disputes reflects their lives before they were
imprisoned.
- research compared inmates with negative backgrounds to control group without negative features
= ‘negative’ inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity, sexual misconduct and acts of physical aggression
AO3:
strength - support
- low security prison compared to high security prison = prisoners involved in aggressive misconduct didn’t vary a lot
= features of the prion environment are less important predictors of aggressive behaviour than characteristics of inmates
= strong evidence for importation because of random allocation of inmates.
limitation - model ignores key factors.
= Administrative control model (ACM) which states that poorly
managed prisons are more likely to have inmate violence. Poor management includes weak leadership, a thriving
culture of unofficial rules, staff who remain distant from inmates and few opportunities for education.
= institutional factors play a bigger role
Situational factors
deprivation model
- Harsh prison conditions are stressful for inmates, who have to cope by resorting
to aggressive and often violent behaviour.
- Deprivation of
material goods is closely linked to aggression because it increases competition amongst inmates.
- lock ups = frustration
- research = Inmate-on-inmate violence was more
common in prisons where there was a higher proportions of staff who were women, overcrowding and more inmates in protective custody.
AO3:
strength - support
- peer violence is used to relive the deprivation
experienced in prisons. = Many of the homicides followed arguments between cell-
sharing inmates, where ‘boundaries’ were judged to have been crossed. Particularly important were arguments over drugs, sexual activity and personal possessions.
= supporting validity
limitation - contradicting research
- lack of intimacy is a reason for aggression BUT in a prison where visitations primarily for intimacy didn’t reduce aggression rates
= interactionist model more valid
Describe and evaluate research into the effects of computer games on aggression
Discuss media influences on aggression. Refer to desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming in your
answer
role of desensitisation
- children in
particular repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games, they become used to effects of aggression
- Repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that
using aggression as a method of resolving conflict is socially acceptable. = Negative attitudes towards violence weaken, less empathy is felt for victims and their injuries are minimised and dismissed
AO3:
strength - supporting evidence
- Participants who were habitual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of arousal as they watched the violent video clips.
BUT: ecological validity
- most reproach carried out in lab = doesn’t account for real world factors or realism
limitation - cannot explain some aggression
- psychodynamic theory suggests that viewing violent
media is a safety valve, allowing people to release aggressive impulses without behaving violently.
role of disinhibition
- Exposure to violent media can legitimise the use of violence by the individual in their own lives because it undermines that social sanctions that usually inhibit such behaviour.
- It is not unusual
for computer games to show violence being rewarded at the same time as its consequences are minimised or ignored. This creates new social norms in the viewer.
AO3:
strength - explain effects of cartoon violence
- cartoons are unrealistic so Instead they learn that aggression in general is
acceptable (socially normative). This is especially true if the cartoon model is not punished. This disinhibits
aggressive behaviour.
cognitive priming
- Repeated viewing of aggressive media, especially game playing, can provide us with a ‘script’/schema about how violent situations may ‘play out’.
= stored in memory so it becomes automatic
= The script is triggered when we encounter cues in a situation that we perceive as aggressive.
strength - real world application
- someone who habitually watches violent media accesses stored aggressive scripts more readily. So they
are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive and resort to a violent solution without considering the
alternatives.
= interventions could potentially reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive
biases and encouraging habitual violent media users to consider alternative to aggression, such as humour or negotiation.
limitations - confounding variables
= violent games tend to be more complex in
their gameplay than non-violent games, and this complexity is a confounding variable
