Unit 3 (aggression) Flashcards
what is aggression
Behaviour intended to cause harm to others (physical or psychological)
what are the two types of aggression
1-REACTIVE HOSTILE AGGRESSION
2-CONTROLLED INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION
what is reactive hostile aggression
(Hot aggression) occurs when the person is in a heightened emotional state
what is cold instrumental aggression
(Cold aggression) Pursuing a goal and causing harm to other in order to achieve that goal
what is important when it comes to aggression
Success/outcome isn’t important but the intent is
What would a bio psychologist say about the cause of aggression
They would say it’s caused by having a different structured/functioning CNS/brain in comparison to someone who is less aggressive
why is aggression not localised
Because it is caused by several diff brain structures interacting with each other, not just one
what does the amygdala do
Allows us to recognise emotions like fear and anger in other people as well as interpreted info as a threat(fear) or provocation (anger)
what does the OFC do
exercises inhibitory control (stop and go)
what does the hypothalamus do
Activates specific aggressive behaviour
what does the hippocampus do
Recalls memory from previous experiences
what are the 5 things we should consider when choosing to accept or reject an explanation
1)is it supported/challenged by objective observations or empirical evidence
2)how many people agree (consensus/creditability)
3)are there any alternative explanations?
4)is it useful in solving practical explanations (application)
5)does it align with the other things we know
what was the aim of Raine Et Al’s 1997 study?
assess brain dysfunctions in brain areas associated with violence
describe the PPs used in the experiment
-82 people split into two groups;39 males and 2 females
-experimental group consisted of 41 criminals with convictions of murder or manslaughter and claimed to be NGRI
what are some conditions the experimental group had
-6 had schizophrenia
-23 suffered from brain damage/head injury
-3 were substance abusers
-2 had an effective disorder
-2 had epilepsy
-3 suffered with hyperactive/learning disability
-2 diagnosed with passive aggressive/paranoid personality disorder
how were the participants screened/controlled?
1)free from any medication 2 weeks prior to scan to reduce its effect on the brain
2)control and experimental group were matched based on age and gender
3)screened for general health
4)PPs excluded if they had a history of seizures ,head trauma or substance misuse
5)consent gained prior to PET scan
give a brief description of the procedure
1)PPs were given a continuous performance task (CPT) consisting of a sequence of blurred numbers to focus on
2)PPs started the CPT as a practical trial 10 mins before being injected with FDG
3)after 32 mins on the CPT, the PET scan was done to measure the metabolic rate in diff areas of brain to look at the activity
what was concluded from the experiment
supported the hypothesis that brain dysfunction in the NGRI group was found in areas that previously implicated violent behaviour
compared to the control group, the murderers showed;
1)lower activity in the PFC
2)lower activity in parietal areas
3)higher activity in occipital lobe
4)identical activity in temporal lobe
in the subcortical areas, the murderers showed;
1)lower activity in corpus collosum
2)asymmetrical activity in amygdala
3)asymmetrical activity in medial temporal lobe
4)higher activity in right of hypothalamus
what are some strengths of the experiment
1)large sample size
2)any affects of medication on brain activity removed
3)PET scans allow reliable comparison as used on all PPs
what are some weaknesses/limitations of the experiment
1)only represents a small n0 of severely violent offenders as those pleading NGRI=not representative
2)study focuses on a subgroup of violent offenders so findings cant be used to explain other types of violent behaviour/criminality
3)possible extraneous variables so can’t relate brain dysfunction directly to certain behaviours (could be biological or env)
GENERALISABILITY
RELIABILITY/REPLICABILITY
OBJECTIVITY
VALIDITY
ETHICS
what are hormones
chemical messengers that transmit info around the body ,they dont cause changes but influence them.
where are hormones produced
produced by the endocrine system/glands outside the CNS
what is the endocrine system
system of glands that secrete hormone messages around the body using the circulatory system
what is an androgen
a chemical that develops or maintains male characteristics eg testosterone
how does testosterone contribute to aggression
critical period after birth where T stimulates clel growth in areas of the hypothalamus+amygdala which later causes adult aggression
what is testosterones effect on aggression and how does it do this
-weakens the link between the OFC and amygdala so that T is more reactive to the amygdala.It also reduces inhibitory control so a person is more likely to respond to aggression
what were the three studies used to investigate T and aggression
dabbs tricker and albert
what was the aim of DABBS ET AL
investigating the influence of testosterone on aggression using male prisoners
describe the procedure of dabbs’s study
took saliva samples of 692 male prisoners
what were the findings of dabbs et al’s study
found that men with higher levels of T were more likely to commit ‘worse’ crimes involving sex and men with lower levels were only in for crimes like burglary etc
what were some limitations to this study
-lacks generalisability as only used male PPs
-cannot apply findings of criminals to general public
-
what was the type of study was Trickers study and why
describe the procedure of Trickers study
gave 43 men either 600mg of T for 10 weeks or given a placebo. During the study they were given anger questionnaires
What were the findings from Tricker’s study
didn’t find any significant difference/correlation
what were some strengths/limitations of Tricker’s study
what was the aim of ALBERT ET AL’s study
castrated male rats to investigate the influence of T on aggression
describe the procedure of ALBERT ET AL’s study
what were the findings of ALBERT ET AL’s study
aggressive behaviours in the rats increased when T levels were high and vice versa
why can we not apply this study to humans
-a rats brain functions differently from a humans
what type of studies were each of these
what are the 3 distal influences
1)physical environment
2)psychosocial influences
3)biological influences
what is ACES
emotionally distressing event that a child is exposed to in their childhood eg neglect abuse that puts them at greater risk of developing mental illnesses later in life
what is a psychosocial influence
something that effects the development of the CNS and therefore causes changes in cognition, emotion and behaviour.
what is the effect of something in the physical environment
something in the environment that effects the nervous system and therefore causes changes in cognition. emotion and behaviour eg a neurotoxin like lead (inc aggression)
what are 3 potential causes of aggression and explain them
1)genes
2)physical env;is it aggression facilitating or inhibiting?
3)psychosocial influences;where they exposed to aggression and violence at a young age? (more prone to it later)
what are the two ways of separating genetic and environmental influences?
adoption (env) and twin studies (genetic)
what is a twin study
a method of estimating the size of a genetic influence by seeing weather identical twins are more similar than non identical twins on a specific trait
what are MZ (monozygotic) twins
identical twins ,share 100% same genes AND environment
what are DZ (dizygotic) twins
non identical twins,share 50% same genes but same environments
how do we interpret the findings of a twin study?
if the identical twins are more similar than the non identical twins on a trait then there is a genetic influence and if they’re equally similar,there is no genetic influence
how do we compare the size of the influence
-using a correlation coeffecient,the closer it is to one the higher the influence is genetic but if its far from one then there is likely to also be an env influence. MZ>DZ then its genetic
how do we calculate the exact size of the genetic influence
square the MZ correlation and turn it into a percentage
what is an adoption study?
a method for estimating the size of genetic influence by seeing weather the adopted individual is more similar to their adopted or biological parent.
how do we interpret the data found in an adoption study
-if they’re more similar to their biological parent then influence is genetic
-if they’re more similar to their adopted parents then influence is environmental
what is a weakness of adoption studies
-they don’t tell you the size of the influence, only which factor it is caused by.
-rare to get data from both biological parents
-relies on adoptees being adopted straight from birth
what are some weaknesses of a twin study
-twins are relatively rare so difficult to get a large sample size
-not safe to assume that MZ+DZ have identical env as likely that MZ are treated more similarly as usually same gender
what are 2 things a good twin study has
1)a large sample
2)uses same sex DZ twins
what were the 3 aims of BRENDGEN ET AL’s 2005 study
1)see if social agg was caused by genes or env
2)see if social agg shared same cause as physical agg
3)see if one type of agg leads to another
describe the sample used
-234 pairs of twins
-44 sets of MZ male
-50 sets of MZ female
-41 DZ males(non identical)
-32 DZ females (non identical)
-67 DZ mixed gender twins
describe the procedure
what were the results for physical aggression
MZ=0.61,DZ=0.25
what were the results for social aggression
MZ=0.36,DZ=0.34
what was concluded from the results
-that physical agg was better explained by genetics and social agg by env
-physical agg can lead to social agg but not the other way
-agg tendencies may be more likely to show as learn more socially acceptable ways to be agg
-is someone is physically agg then likely to also be socially agg
G
-large sample so representative of target pop
-poorer twins dropped out=biased sample
R
-standardised proc and use of questionnaires=easy to replicate
-strong correlation between teacher and student results=reliable
-translation from french to eng may have had errors=unreliable
O
-ratings may have been subjective depending on twins relationship with a classmate or teacher
V
-MZ twins were guessed by visuals
-one twin may be stereotyped to a certain behaviour and so given the same scores
