Violence and aggression

Question 1

What is the definition of violence by Allen and Anderson (2017)?

Answer 1

A behaviour that is intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid that harm

Question 2

What are the 5 components to Allen and Anderson’s (2017) definition of violence?

Answer 2

1. Aggression is a behaviour
2. The behaviour must be deliberate/intentional
3. The behaviour must aim to harm the recipient(s) in some form
4. The aggression must be towards another person
5. The action is aimed at a person who is motivated to avoid the harm

Question 3

What is the difference between proactive and reactive violence?

Answer 3

Proactive - for gain, unprovoked, planned/premediated, predatory, little emotion

Reactive - reacting to anger/frustration, provoked, impulsive, defensive, emotional

Question 4

How do we study violence?

Answer 4

Crime statistics, informants, laboratory behaviour, self-report

Question 5

What did Cohen et al. (1996) find when looking at Southerns vs Northerns reactions to insults?

Answer 5

Southerns had higher testosterone levels after the insults and much firmer handshakes compared to control and Notherners

Question 6

What is the problem with the Cohen et al. (1996) study comparing aggression in Southerners vs Northerners?

Answer 6

May be measuring anger not aggression

Question 7

What did Anderson and Bushman (1997) find when looking at aggression in laboratory vs real world experiments?

Answer 7

Laboratory experiments can test causal propositions and therefore discover theoretical relations among variables which are never properly isolated in the real world.

Confirmed same patterns for both types of studies (e.g., gender)

Question 8

What did Bartholow and Anderson (2002) find when looking at the effect of violent games on subsequent aggression?

Answer 8

Violent video games cause greater aggression and this effect is stronger for males

Question 9

What are some limitations of the Bartholow and Anderson (2002) study examining violent video games and aggression?

Answer 9

Small sample size and increase in aggression could be attributed to adrenaline rather than violence

Question 10

What are the differences in aggression between males and females?

Answer 10

Men show more physical aggression.

No differences in verbal aggression.

Females show more indirect aggression (e.g., spreading rumours).

Question 11

How might alcohol effect aggression?

Answer 11

Not through directly causing violence but through magnifying pre-existing problems

Question 12

What did Caspi et al. (2002) find in terms of genes vs environments effect on aggression?

Answer 12

Interaction between genes and environment.

Effect of childhood maltreatment but this effect was far greater for those with the gene for low MAOA activity

Question 13

What are implicit theories and how might they relate to aggression?

Answer 13

In the same way that scientists hold hypotheses about how the world works, so do individuals.

Ones related to aggression may influence this behaviour

Question 14

What are the 4 violence-related implicit theories Polaschek et al. (2008) found?

Answer 14

1. Beat or be beaten
2. I am the law
3. Violence is normal
4. I get out of control

Question 15

What is the relationship between self-esteem and violence?

Answer 15

Low self-esteem is not related to violence.

High self-esteem, especially if over-inflated (narcissism) or if threatened, is what leads to aggression.

Low SE is predictive of reactive violence, high narcissism is predictive of proactive violence.

Question 16

What is the amygdala involved in that could relate to aggression?

Answer 16

Fear processing, learning (aversive conditioning, appetitive conditioning)

Question 17

What did patient SM (had bilateral amygdala damage) show regarding fear?

Answer 17

When placed on situations to elicit fear, she verbally reported fear but did not act this way - so has cognitive ideas of fear but doesn’t actually feel emotion

Question 18

What did Pardini et al. (2014) find when following boys with antisocial behaviour with regards to their amygdala volume?

Answer 18

Those with no violence have bigger amygdalae on the left side

Strong negative relationship to overall aggressive behaviour

Left amygdala is more important to reactive aggression

Question 19

What did Lozier et al. (2014) find when looking at the responsiveness of the amygdala to fearful expressions in juveniles with conduct problems and controls?

Answer 19

CU traits were negatively correlated with amygdala activation

Externalising behaviours were positively related to amygdala activation

Not a simple relationship - too little activation may be related to a lack of fear/empathy and proactive aggression whereas too much activation may be related to reacting with anger/fear and reactive aggression

Question 20

What has damage to the PFC been linked to?

Answer 20

Explosive anger and violent histories

Question 21

What is alcohol’s effect on the PFC?

Answer 21

‘Shuts down’ the PFC - like a temporary lesion

Question 22

When does the PFC fully develop?

Answer 22

Around 25 years old

Question 23

What did Bechara et al. (1999) find when looking at people with PFC and amygdala damage and the Iowa gambling task and what does it mean?

Answer 23

People with damage to the PFC and amygdala don’t tend to show much difference in their choice patterns.

Controls changed to a safer method without being aware of why - seems like the PFC was guiding this.

PFC appears to be important in using emotions (reward and punishment) in guiding behaviour - even unconsciously.

Somatic marker hypothesis.

Question 24

What is the somatic marker hypothesis?

Answer 24

Emotional processes guide behaviour - particularly decision making - even if it’s unconscious

Question 25

What do lesions in the PFC result in?

Answer 25

Disibhibited aggressive behaviour

Question 26

What other region of the cortex might be associated with aggression?

Answer 26

Temporal lobe

Question 27

What did PET studies show in the temporal and frontal lobes of violent psychiatric patients?

Answer 27

Decreased glucose metabolism

Question 28

What has been found in Brodmann’s area 46 and 6 (prefrontal lobe) in patients with BPD?

Answer 28

Inverse relationship between history of impulsive aggressive behaviour and glucose metabolism

Question 29

Which areas of the frontal cortex have been found to be associated with aggression in men?

Answer 29

Lateral, medial, and orbital frontal cortices

Question 30

What has been found in patients with BPD characterised by anger dyscontrol when provocated?

Answer 30

Diminished responses in the medial frontal cortex and the anterior frontal cortex.
Greater responses in the orbital frontal cortex.