Psychology-aggresion Flashcards
Aggression is….
Behaviour that is threatening and intends to hurt others, these can be non-verbal and verbal
What role does the Hypothalamus have in aggression
Detects threats and triggers the flight or flight response. And also triggers the production of aggression.
The Amygdala..
Determines the emotional meaning of an event, which then activates the Hypothalamus
What is the brain system that controls Aggresion
The Limbic system
If the behaviour is inappropriate then the …. sends electrical signals to the amygdala, that inhibits neurons which generates less signals to the hypothalamus
frontal cortex
If the frontal cortex is damaged, what will happen
will not be able to inhibit the amygdala which still means that neurons are still fired which leads up to aggressive behaviour
what neurotransmitter reduces aggression
Serotonin
How does Serotonin affect aggression
It inhibits neurons in the amygdala which =creates fewer nerve impulses to the hypothalamus which reduces aggression.
what are low levels of serotonin associated with
Impulsive and aggressive behaviours.
what hormone increases our chance of being aggressive.
Testosterone
what did Sumer et al find
Did a case study on a 14 yr. old girl and found that, she had a tumour pressing on her amygdala, which increased her amygdala activity which suggests that increased amygdala activity creates aggressive behaviours
Mpakopoulou
did a review of 13 studies of patients with seizures who had undergone an amygdalotomy after surgery there aggressive behaviours reduced between 33% and 100%, which suggests the link
what are limitations of the research into the role of the Amygdala
inconsistent results some found decrease whilst others found an increase
Crockett- study support for role of serotonin
when participants were given drugs which increased serotonin they behaved less aggressively, but when give money that decreased there serotonin they acted more aggressive
Evaluating the role of testosterone -DABBS ET AL.
Found a correlation between testosterone and violence in prison inmates.
Limitation of the role of testosterone
Not replicated, also they are conducted on male participants
Limitations of the neural and hormonal explanations of aggression
ignore non-biological factors such as environmental and social factors
The genetic explanation of aggression states that
aggression is influence by our genes
What is one gene that helps control Aggression
MAOA gene
What does the MAOA gene do
produces a chemical which controls how much neurotransmitters which is available at the synapse
What are the two different alleles of the MAOA gene, and which tends to be more aggressive
the short and long, the short alleles tend to create more aggressive behaviour
Twin studies- Christiansen
MZ twins had a concordance rate of 55% for criminal behaviour, where as DZ twins only had 22% concordance rate.
Hutchings and Mednick- Adoption studies
children who displayed criminal behaviour were significantly more likely to have biological parents with also displayed criminal behaviour
Brunner- Support for the MAOA gene
DNA analysis on 5 ditch men from one family who all displayed aggressive behaviour, all 5 men had a mutation of the MAOA genes, which impaired the production of serotonin
limitations of the research method used to investigate genetics on aggression
Twin studies assume the impact of Environment is the same for MZ and DZ twins, MZs may share more environment
Adoptions studies are matched with families in a similar environment as they would be with there biological families
Genetic explanation- gene-environment interactions- CASPI et al
Children with the MAOA gene were more likely to become hyperaggressive as adults, but it depended on the environment, the children who were maltreated became aggressive
What does the evolutionary explanation of aggression suggest
That aggression is an adaptive behaviour
What are the 3 reasons that aggression is adaptive
gain access to resources and mates, gain respect and dominance, prevent infidelity
Why haven’t women evolved to be aggressive
They didn’t have to face competition for reproductive partners
buss et al - evolutionary explanation
Questionnaire on whether men or women are more jealous of sexual or romantic infidelity, men were more likely to be upset by sexual infidelity then women, 51% whereas women had 22% .
What are the 2 limitations of the evolutionary explanation
Ignores environmental factors, Prinz, ignores sex differences in aggression are caused by differences in social norms
Gender bias overexaggerates the difference saying all men are aggressive and jealous and women aren’t
Ethology is the study of…
animal behaviour
what does the ethological explanation argue
That aggression has evolved through natural selection because it is adaptive
RITUALISTIC:
Aggression is used to threaten other members of the species without harming them
Fixed action plan
innate, fixed set of behaviours which occur in response to a specific stimulus.
Tinbergen- ethological
Observed stickle backs when they observed other male looking things, they displaced the same set of behaviours
aggression isn’t always ritualistic…..
Goodall.. chimpanzees will fight and kill other chimpanzees from a neighbouring groups, this behaviour isn’t seen as adaptive
Nisbitt - ethological explanation
Southerners were more likely to be prone to aggressive behaviours, cultural factors affect behaviour
Based on non-human animal studies….
animals don’t act the same as humans
Frustration is..
the negative experience people feel after being blocked from achieving there goals
What does the frustration-aggression model suggest: frustration
causes aggression
when we cannot put the aggressive behaviour on the person or thing we call it
displacement
3 factors witch affect aggression in the frustration-aggression hypothesis
proximity, effectiveness of aggression, justifiability
Doob and sears- frustration-aggression model
Gave hypothetical scenarios to the participants, and they reported that they would be angrier in a frustrating scenario than in a non-frustrating scenario.
Pastore- frustration-aggression model
justifiability on aggression, would feel less aggressive if the frustrating stimulus was justified.
application to real world priks- frustration aggression
Swedish football fans displayed more aggression when there team was performing worse then expected.
Limitation of frustration-aggression hypothesis- bushman
Bushman made the participants angry then tested the affect of letting them express there anger, expressing anger doesn’t lead to catharises
Social learning theory suggests…..
that aggression is learnt through observation and imitation of models
identification affects aggression by
if we relate to the model we are more likely to show aggression
Vicarious reinforcement affects aggression by
if we see someone be rewarded for acting aggressive we are more likely to be aggressive
mediational processes of SLT
attention, motor reproduction, retention and motivation
deindividualization theory, states people are more likely to behave aggressively when
they are in a large group of people as they loose there self-identity
what increases the likely hood of increasing deindividualization
size of group and wearing anonymous clothing
Bandura- SLT
offer support, children who watched aggressive adult was more likely to experience aggressive
Cultural differences- evaluating the social learning theory of aggression
kung society children are less aggressive as they observe less aggression and aggression isn’t rewarded
Social learning theory ignores genetic factors…
such as the MAOA gene, may be gene-environment interaction
Zimbardo -deindividualization
Tested to see if people would give more electric shocks if they were anonymous or identifiable. they found that the anonymous group administered more electric shocks
Postmus and spears-deindividualization
Deindividualization gad a weak effect on aggression and larger group also lead to some prosocial behaviour
what is aggressive behavior called when seen in hospitals or prisons
Institutional aggression
what does the dispositional explanation of institutionalization say
prison is caused by the personal characteristics which predispose them to violence
Who created the importation model
Irwin and Cressey
Who imports violent attributes into prisons in the importation model
Prisoners
Situational explanations to institutionalized aggression say
cause by the unpleasant environment in prisons
Who created the deprivation model
Sykes
what are the 5 key things which cause aggression in the deprivation model
security, goods, heterosexual relationship, deprived of autonomy,deprivation of liberty
Support for the dispositional explanations for aggression. Mears et al
joined Gangs were more likely to behave aggressive .
support for dispositional explanations, kane and janus
violent behavior was associated with low levels of education, unemployment and past history of violence, which predispose people
Support for situational explanations..mccorkel
overcrowding and violence had a positive correlation
limitations of situational explanations…Harer and steffensmeir
personal characteristics, like age and history had a much stronger correlation then level of violence
Limitation of the dispositional and situational…. Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando
importation model best explained violence to others where as deprivation best described towards staff.
What is desensitization
when a persons emotional response to a stimuli diminishes, after repeated exposure.
Dis-inhibition is when..
peoples behavior becomes less restrained by social norms
Cognitive priming is when ..
thoughts and ideas are more accessible in ones mind
Lab studies offer support for affect of media on aggression. Bjorqvist
violent non violent films, children who watched the violent acted more violently than non violent
Lab studies offer support for affect of media on aggression. Anderson and dill
made participants play non violent and violent games, in which they then did a study, people who played violent video games were more likely to blast higher levels of white noise into there participants ear
