Supporting studies

Question 1

Murdered his family and then killing spree before taking own life.

Answer 1

Charles Whitman (1966) – Pecan-sized brain tumour found pressing against amygdala, implicated in aggression

Question 2

Impaled in the head, taking out parts of his frontal lobe & brain.

Answer 2

Phineas Gage (1848) – Conscious enough to seek help and was intellectually fine but struggled with gauging social situations and had stark personality change (“No longer Gage”)

Question 3

Bloodwork then introduced intruder mice into enclosure for 10 days. On 11th day, took bloodwork w/o intruder mice.

Answer 3

Ferrari et al. (2003) – Found higher levels of dopamine (pleasure/addiction) and lower levels of serotinin (mood)

Question 4

Meta analysis of similar brain imaging studies on aggression in humans (to Raine)

Answer 4

Bufkin & Luttrell (2005) Found similiar conclusions – Prefrontal cortex & amygdala implicated (poor evaluation of social situations + heightened sense of danger + diffculty processing -ve emotions)
Construct Validitiy

Question 5

Study of Detroit murders in 1972

Answer 5

Daly & Wilson (1985) – Motive was status. Victims & offenders unemployed and unmarried young men with low status. Low risk, high reward. Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation

Question 6

Questionnaire of reavtion to jealousy-inducing scenario

Answer 6

Young (1978) – Males react angrily, getting drunk and threaten rival. Women cry, pretend to be apathetic and increase own attractiveness to regain male attention.

Question 7

Member of same-sex spills drink at party and doesn’t apologise.

Answer 7

Griskevicius et al. (2009) – Maj. men respond w/ direct aggression (e.g. pushing). Most (3/4) women walk away (bc not competing for a resource).

Question 8

Castrated mice and then reinjected testerone.

Answer 8

Wagner et al. (1979) – Lower levels of aggression post-castration and upon testerone injection, pre-castration levels of aggression. Implicates testerone & aggression.