Psychology Studies Flashcards

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1
Q

Kluver & Bucy

A

They destroyed the amygdala in a dominant monkey causing it to lose its dominant place in the social group. Monkeys failed to recognise the ‘emotional importance of events’.

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2
Q

Boccardi et al

A

habitually violent offenders exhibited abnormal hippocampal functioning

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3
Q

Scerbo & Raine

A

correlational analysis found consistently lower levels of serotonin in people described as aggressive

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4
Q

Mann et al

A

gave 35 healthy participants dexfenfluramine (depletes serotonin) and found an increase in hostility and aggression scores on a questionnaire.
(his findings only applied to males not females)

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5
Q

Wagner et al

A

aggression levels in mice decreased following castration, and then increased when the mice were later injected with testosterone

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6
Q

Dabbs et al

A

measured salivary testosterone in violent and non-violent criminals. Those with the highest levels had a history of violent crimes

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7
Q

Pardini et al

A
  • conducted a longitudinal study whereby participants with varying histories of violence were subjected to MRI scans.
  • the participants with lower amygdala volume exhibited higher levels of aggression and violence, even when confounding variables were controlled
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8
Q

Rosado et al

A
  • compared a sample of dogs that had been referred due to their aggressive behaviour towards humans, with a control sample that did not exhibit aggressive behaviour
  • the aggressive dogs had significantly lower serotonin levels than the non-aggressive dogs
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9
Q

Albert et al

A

positive correlations have been found between levels of testosterone and self-reported levels of aggression among prison inmates

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10
Q

Coccaro et al

A
  • studied adult male twins:
  • For direct physical assault: 50% concordance rates for MZ twins and 19% for DZ twins
  • For verbal aggression: 28% concordance rates for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins.
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11
Q

Hutchings & Mednick

A
  • studied over 14,000 adopted males in Denmark
  • found that the adoptee was most likely to become a criminal if both their biological and adoptive parents were criminals.
  • biological parents (particularly fathers) had a greater influence on criminality.
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12
Q

Brunner et al

A
  • studied 28 male members of a large Dutch family, who were repeatedly involved in aggressive criminal behaviours, e.g. rape and assault.
  • these men were found to have abnormally low levels of MAOA
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13
Q

Caspi et al

A
  • boys with the MAOA-L variant were significantly more likely to grow up to exhibit anti-social behaviour, but only if they had been maltreated as children
  • boys with the MAOA-H variant who were maltreated and those with MAOA-L who were not maltreated did not display anti-social behaviour.
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14
Q

Stuart et al

A

-Men with MAOA-L =most violent perpetrators of IPV

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15
Q

Miles and Carey

A
  • conducted a meta-analysis by combining the results of 24 twin and adoption studies
  • they concluded that aggressive anti-social behaviour was largely a product of genetic contributions
  • they also found that the influence of genes increased with age
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16
Q

Niehoff

A

-suggested that the reason why the MAOA gene may explain uneven violence rates between males and females, may be a consequence of the differential genetic vulnerability that males and females have to the MAOA gene, as it is linked to the X chromosome.

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17
Q

Lorenz

A
  • suggested that the main function of aggression is adaptive as it is beneficial to survival= a ‘defeated’ animal is rarely killed, but gets territory elsewhere
  • He also noted that little actual physical damage was done during fights= most aggressive encounters consist mainly of ritualistic signalling, e.g. displaying claws and teeth.
  • This allows contestants to assess relative strength of opponent before fighting
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18
Q

Tinbergen

A
  • He presented sticklebacks with a series of wooden models of different shapes
  • Found that regardless of shape, if the model had a red spot (sign stimulus) the stickleback would display an aggressive FAP and attack it
  • if there was no red spot, there was no aggression, even if the model looked more realistic
  • FAPs were stereotyped, universal and ballistic.
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19
Q

Lehrman

A

-suggested that Lorenz had underestimated the role of environmental factors in the development of aggression

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20
Q

Chagnon

A
  • He describes how, among the Yanomamö people of South America, chest pounding and lcub fighting contests can settle a conflict short of more extreme violence
  • male warriors in traditional societies have more sexual partners and children
  • aggression in combat can also increase status and so strengthen bonds between in-group males.
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21
Q

Goodall

A
  • observed chimpanzees
  • male chimps from one community slaughtered all the members of another group in a co-ordinated and premeditated fashion
  • The violence continued despite the fact that the victims were offering signals of appeasement and defencelessness
  • these signals did not inhibit the aggressive behaviour of the attacking chimps
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22
Q

Wilson and Daly

A
  • They identified strategies used to prevent mate infidelity:
  • Direct guarding: vigilance over a partner’s behaviour, restricting autonomy e.g. checking who they have been seeing, coming home early, installing tracking apps on their phone etc.
  • Negative inducements: issuing threats or consequences for infidelity, e.g. “I’ll kill myself if you leave me”.
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23
Q

Wilson et al

A
  • found that women who reported mate retention strategies in their partners were twice as likely to have suffered physical violence at the hands of their partners
  • of these women, 73% required medical attention and 53% said they feared for their lives.
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24
Q

Dobash & Dobash

A

-studies of battered women have shown that in the majority of cases, women cite extreme jealousy on the part of their husbands/boyfriends as the key cause of violence directed towards them

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25
Q

Livingstone Smith

A
  • human warfare is adaptive for obtaining valuable resources, mates and forging intragroup bonds
  • displays of aggressiveness and bravery are attractive to females.
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26
Q

Shackelford et al

A

-found a positive correlation between men’s reports of their mate retention behaviours and women’s reports of their partners’ physical violence

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27
Q

Prinz

A

-argues that differences in aggressive behaviour of males and females may also be the product of different socialisation experiences

28
Q

Smetana

A
  • found that 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
29
Q

Campbell

A

-argues that a female with offspring is motivated to be less aggressive because such behaviour would not only put her survival at risk, but also that of her child

30
Q

Dollard et al

A
  • Frustration aggression hypothesis= suggests that frustration always leads to aggression, and aggression is always the result of frustration
  • based on catharsis (psychodynamic)
  • aggression = psychological drive.
  • aggressive drive is caused by frustration.
  • we experience drive reduction by ‘getting it off our chest’ using aggressive behaviour
31
Q

Geen

A

-gave male university students the task of completing a jigsaw puzzle
-Level of frustration was experimentally manipulated
-There were 4 groups:
Impossible to solve
Interfering confederate
Insulting confederate
Control group
-Participants then gave electric shocks to confederate when they made a mistake on another task.
-Insulted participants gave strongest shocks on average, followed by an interfered group, then impossible task. All gave more shocks than the control group.

32
Q

Berkowitz

A

-frustration only creates a readiness for aggression. The presence of aggressive cues in the environment make acting upon this more likely

33
Q

Berkowitz & LePage

A
  • A confederate gave student participants electric shocks.
  • Participants then had the opportunity to give electric shocks to the confederate.
  • The number of shocks given depended on the presence or absence of weapons in the lab.
  • The average number of shocks given when 2 guns were present was 6.07, whereas when no guns were present only 4.67 shocks were given.
34
Q

Marcus-Newhall et al

A
  • studies of displaced aggression (situations in which aggressive behaviour had to be directed against a target other than the one that caused frustration).
  • Participants who were provoked but unable to retaliate directly against the source of their frustration were significantly more likely to aggress against an innocent party than people who were not provoked.
35
Q

Berkowitz (2)

A

-reformulated the frustration aggression hypothesis in 1989 and argued that frustration is just one of many aversive stimuli that create negative feeling = negative affect theory

36
Q

Bushman

A
  • found that participants who vented their anger by repeatedly hitting a punchbag actually became more angry and aggressive rather than less
  • In fact, doing nothing was more effective at reducing aggression than venting anger
  • argues that using venting to reduce anger is like using petrol to put out a fire, but this is the advice given by many therapists.
37
Q

Bandura

A
  • he acknowledged that aggression can be learned directly, through operant conditioning
  • Bandura argued that often aggressive behaviour can’t be explained by direct forms of learning
  • Instead, an indirect mechanism accounts for social learning of most aggressive behaviours
  • Established 4 cognitive conditions; attention, retention, reproduction and motivation
38
Q

Bandura et al

A
  • Young children individually observed an adult model assaulting a Bobo doll included throwing and hitting with a mallet
  • The children were then deliberately frustrated by showing them toys they weren’t allowed to play with.
  • The children were then taken to another room, where there was a Bobo doll and some other toys
  • Without being told to many of the children imitated the behaviour they had seen performed by the model
  • Closeness of imitation was remarkable in some cases, virtually a direct copy
  • Another group of children observed an adult interacting non-aggressively= Aggressive behaviour shown by the children in this condition was almost non-existent.
39
Q

Poulin & Boivin

A
  • applied a social learning analysis to aggressive behaviour in boys aged 9-12 years
  • They found that the most aggressive boys formed friendships with other aggressive boys
  • Researchers described these cliques as ‘training grounds’ for anti-social behaviour= alliances were mutually reinforcing
  • They were frequently exposed to models of physical aggression and to positive consequences for these actions.
  • They also gained reinforcement from the rewarding approval of the rest of the ‘gang’.
40
Q

Zimbardo

A
  • believed that being in a large group gave people a ‘cloak of anonymity’ that diminished personal consequences
  • assessed the effects deindividuation using groups of female undergrads= ppts required to deliver electric shocks to another student to ‘aid learning’
  • Half of ppts wore lab coats that hid their faces, sat in separate cubicles and were never referred to by name. -The other participants wore normal clothes, were given large name tags to wear and were able to see each other
  • Ppts in the deindividuation condition were more likely to give shocks to a ‘victim’
  • They also held their shock button for twice as long as did identifiable participants
41
Q

Dodd (psych teacher)

A
  • 229 undergraduate psychology students were asked: ‘if you could do anything humanly possible with complete assurance that you would not be detected or held responsible, what would you do?’
  • told their responses were completely anonymous
  • 36% involved some form of antisocial behaviour.
  • 26% were actual criminal acts
  • 9% of responses were prosocial behaviours
42
Q

Gergen et al (‘deviance in the dark’ study)

A
  • placed strangers in a completely darkened room for one hour
  • Ppts were told to do whatever they wanted to do, with no rules
  • It was impossible for ppts to identify one another, and they were given a guarantee that they would never encounter each other again= didn’t take long for them to start talking to, kissing and touching each other intimately.
  • The study was repeated, but this time the participants were told they would come face-to-face with each other after the hour of darkness. The amount of kissing and touching declined dramatically
43
Q

Watson

A
  • collected data on the extent to which warriors in 23 societies changed their appearance prior to going to war and the extent to which they killed, tortured or mutilated their victims.
  • Societies where warriors changed their appearance (e.g. through war paint, tribal costumes etc.) were more destructive toward their victims compared to those who did not change their appearance
44
Q

Johnson and Downing

A
  • conducted a study where female ppts gave fake electric shocks to a confederate
  • Clothing of ppts was experimentally manipulated: one group were dressed as the KKK, another group were dressed as nurses and the final group wore their own clothes.
  • Ppts in the KKK condition gave more (and more intense) shocks to the confederate, thus supporting the link between de-individualisation and aggression. However, the nurses group gave the fewest shocks and at the least intense levels. The nurses group were also more compassionate to the ‘victim’.
45
Q

Irwin & Cressey

A

The Importation Model is where prisoners are not blank slates, they bring their violent pasts with them

46
Q

De Lisi et al

A
  • studied 813 juvenile delinquents confined in institutions in California
  • These inmates had several negative dispositional features such as experiences of childhood trauma, high levels of anger and irritability, a history of substance abuse, and a history of violent behaviour.
  • they found that these inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity and sexual misconduct, and committed more acts of physical violence that were brought to the attention of the parole board, than a control group of inmates
47
Q

Clemmer

A

The Deprivation Model= IA is the product of stressful and oppressive conditions of the prison itself

48
Q

Cooke et al

A

-argued that violent prisoners are only violent in certain circumstances: such as overcrowding, heat and noise,
Job burnout

49
Q

Yuma

A

-Japanese prison population density had a significant effect on inmate-inmate violence rate, even after controlling for contributing factors. (Over crowding)

50
Q

Griffitt & Veitch

A

-in students, a combination of high temperatures and high population density produced more negative emotions
(Heat and noise)

51
Q

Camp and Gaes

A
  • studied 561 male inmates with similar criminal histories. -Half were placed in a low-security prison and the other held in the second-highest category of prisons.
  • 33% of prisoners in the low security prison and 36% in the higher category prison were involved in aggressive misconduct within 2 years
  • This difference is not statistically significant
52
Q

Cunningham et al

A
  • analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons and found that motivations for behaviours were linked to some of the deprivations identified by Clemmer
  • particularly important were arguments over drugs, homosexual relationships and personal possessions
53
Q

Hensley et al

A
  • studied 256 male and female inmates of two prisons in Mississippi (a state which allows conjugal visits)
  • They found no link between involvement in these visits and reduced aggressive behaviour
54
Q

Bartholow & Anderson

A
  • students played either a violent video game (mortal kombat) or a non-violent game (PGA tournament golf) for 10 minutes
  • They then carried out the Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task (TCRTT) in which students delivered blasts of white noise at chosen volumes to punish (non-existent) opponent.
  • Those who played the violent game selected significantly higher noise levels compared with the non-violent players
55
Q

DeLisi et al

A
  • 227 juvenile offenders (all with histories of serious aggressive behaviours) were interviewed about aggression and violent computer game-playing.
  • They found that the offenders’ aggressive behaviour was significantly correlated with how often they played violent computer games and how much they enjoyed them.
56
Q

Robertson et al

A

-Studied 1037 people born in New Zealand in 1972-3, and measured their TV viewing hours at regular intervals up to the age of 26 years.
-They found that the time spent watching TV was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood, measured in terms of convictions for violent crimes.
Those who watched the most TV were also more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and to have aggressive personality traits.

57
Q

Anderson et al

A
  • Meta-analysis of 136 studies.
  • Found that exposure to violent computer games was -associated with increases in aggressive behaviours, thoughts and feelings.
  • This finding was true for both males and females, and across collectivist and individualist cultures
58
Q

Ferguson and Kilburn

A

-found that in studies where aggression was measured, the relationship between media violence exposure and aggression is almost zero

59
Q

Przybylski (Oxford uni)

A
  • analysed the relationship between violent video game exposure and aggression in British teenagers, which has concluded that there is no link between these variables
  • suggested it’s the players experience of frustration and failure during the game, not the violent storyline, that causes aggressive behaviour
  • they found in both violent and non-violent games that it was game difficulty and lack of mastery, that led to frustration and aggression
60
Q

Weisz & Earls

A

-Showed participants Straw Dogs (film featuring prolonged and graphic rape scene).
-Participants then watched a re-enactment of a rape trial.
Compared with those who watched a non-sexually violent film, male viewers of Straw Dogs showed greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression.
-They expressed less sympathy towards the rape victim in the trial, and were less likely to find the defendant guilty.
-No such effect of film type on female participants.

61
Q

Goranson

A
  • Showed participants a film of a boxing match where there were two alternate endings.
  • In one ending, there were no apparent consequences, but in the second ending, the loser of the fight was seen to take a bad beating and died.
  • Participants who did not see the negative consequences were more likely to behave aggressively after viewing the fight than were those who did see the consequences.
  • Disinhibition more likely when consequences unknown or not understood by the viewer.
62
Q

Fischer & Greitemeyer

A
  • Male participants listened to song lyrics featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women.
  • Compared with when they listened to neutral lyrics, they subsequently recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate.
  • Procedure replicated with female participants, using a ‘men-hating’ song lyric with similar results produced.
63
Q

Carnagey et al

A
  • tested the claim that playing violent computer games produces physiological desensitisation
  • Participants played either a violent or a non-violent video game for 20 minutes and then watched a 10-minute film clip containing scenes of real-life violence whilst their heart rate was monitored.
  • Participants who had previously played the violent computer game had a lower heart rate while viewing the filmed real-life violence
64
Q

Heath et al

A

-children growing up in households with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experience sufficient disinhibition for them to exhibit aggressive behaviour, whereas the disinhibition effect is stronger in families where children experience physical punishment from their parents and where they identify more with violent heroes

65
Q

Atkin

A

-suggests that film or game realism is an important factor in the relationship between exposure to violent media and the priming of aggressive thoughts and behaviours.