aggression

Question 1

what are the two parts in the neural explanation for aggression?

Answer 1

the limbic system
orbitofrontalcortex and serotonin

Question 2

how is the limbic system linked to aggression?

Answer 2

the limbic system contains the amygdela, reactivity in the amygdela is a predictor of aggression in humans and mammals so the more reactive someones amygdela the more aggressive the person is

Question 3

what type of neurotransmitter is serotonin and what does this mean?

Answer 3

serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter meaning it calms neural activity, reducing the firing of neurons

Question 4

how is the orbitofrontal cortex related to serotonin?

Answer 4

normal levels of serotonin in the orbitofrontal cortex (so reduced neurons firing) is related to better behavioural self-control. decreased serotonin levels are disrupts this so self control is reduced and impulsive (aggressive) behaviours is increased

Question 5

what are the two hormones assosiated with aggression?

Answer 5

testosterone and progesterone

Question 6

what reasons do people have to believe testosterone has impacts on aggression?

Answer 6

men are observed to be generally more aggressive than women. In development when testosterone levels reach its highest, men become more aggressive to eachother

Question 7

how do animals support the testosterone link?

Answer 7

in many animal studies done on many species, castrating males reduces aggression.
giving them testosterone injections then restores their aggressive behaviours

Question 8

what reasonings are there for a progesterone-aggression link?

Answer 8

in women progesterone levels vary during the ovulation cycle and are at its lowest just after the menstruating.
in one study, women self-reported hightened aggression when progesterone levels were low.

Question 9

what do twin studies tell us about aggression?

Answer 9

that its hereditable, with concordence rates found in 50% of MZ twins and 19% in DZ twins.

Question 10

how do adoption studies also support that aggression is hereditary?

Answer 10

in a meta-analysis study, they wanted to research if there were simularities between adoptive children and their biological parents or their adoptive parents. they found that 41% of aggression was accounted for by biological influences (very simular to the twin study findings)

Question 11

what is the MAOA gene?

Answer 11

a gene that controls the production of an enzyme called MAO-A. this enzyme regulates serotonin which is linked to aggression. the gene comes in varients ranging in activity levels. a MAOA-L (low) varient results in low activity in the MAO-A enzyme, so poor serotonin regulation and high aggression levels.

Question 12

why is the MAOA gene nicknamed the warrior gene?

Answer 12

research found the MAOA-L varient in just over half of New Zealand Maori men, these guys have a reputation for being warriors

Question 13

what does the diathesis-stress model (gene-environment interations) propose about the MAOA gene?

Answer 13

the MAOA-L varient is only linked to aggression when combined with an early life traumatic event. Studies have shown that people with the MAOA-L varient were only aggressive if theyd suffered a trauma in the first 25 years of their life.

Question 14

the ethological explanation suggests that aggression is adaptive/ a survival mechinism in what two ways?

Answer 14

to ensure the species is widespread. same-species aggression rarely leads to the other being killed but instead is about forming territories, if the species is spread out theres more resources to go around

to form social/dominance heirarchies. having dominence leads to having a special status with certain rights, it means that the strongest males have access to females, so their strong genes can be passed down.

Question 15

what is a ritual?

Answer 15

a series of behaviours carried out in a set order

Question 16

who observed ritualistic aggresion and what does it mean?

Answer 16

Lorenz, he observed that most same-species fights resulted in little physical damage. the fights mostly consisted of a series of ritualistic signaling, like showing teeth, claws, threatening size etc, then ended with apeasement displays (if the encounters ended in death, this could be the end of the species and no one wants that)

Question 17

what are appeasement displays?

Answer 17

when an animal shows acceptance of defeat, stopping further aggression with eg, rolling over to show their underbelly or neck (vulnerable).

Question 18

what is an innate releasing mechinism (IRM)?

Answer 18

an inbuilt physiological process or structure (eg a neuron network in the brain) that when triggered by something in the environment, releases a specific sequence of behaviours known as a FAP.

Question 19

what 6 main features do fixed-action patterns (FAP) have?

Answer 19

stereotyped - an unchanging sequence of behaviours
universal - the same behaviour is in every animal in the species
ballistic - once the behaviour is triggered, its inevitable, it always follows through and cannot be altered until its complete
single-purpose - the behaviour only occurs in a specific situation
a response to an identifiable stimulus - its responding to a specific sign or a releaser

Question 20

what research did Tinbergen do?

Answer 20

he studied male stickleback fish. sticklebacks are very territorial. during mating season a red spot develops on their underbelly, if another male enters their terretory a FAP occours and the fish becomes very aggressive. (the sign/stimulus being the red spot)

he presented the fish with a range of fake wooden fish ranging in shape

regardless of shape , if they had a red spot the FAP occoured. even if the fish was super realistic it didnt happen without the red spot. the FAPs were unchanged between fish and once triggered they always ran its course

Question 21

what is one limitation of ritualistic aggression?

Answer 21

one study observed a group of chimps systematically killing all the members of another group, they were very violent and didn’t stop when shown appeasement - this goes against evolutionary explanations

Question 22

what is one limitation of FAPs?

Answer 22

Lorenz’ original FAP features are outdated. one researcher found that they can actually be affected by the environment and learning, they found the duration of behaviours varied between individuals and they even changed within the individual this means that aggressive behaviour is more flexible than once thought

Question 23

what two elements of human aggression are explained through evolution?

Answer 23

sexual jealousy
bullying

Question 24

why do men get sexual jealousy?

Answer 24

paternity uncertainty. they cant be 100% sure the woman is carrying their baby, cuckoldry (raising someone else’s child) is a waste of their resources and leaves him with less resources for his own children

Question 25

what do men have innately to help prevent cuckoldry?

Answer 25

male retention strategies and physical violence
these are adaptive because those who prevented their partner ‘straying’ passed their genes

Question 26

what are the two male retention strategies?

Answer 26

direct guarding - vigilance over their partners behaviour, keeping tabs
negative inducements - threatening them with dire consequences eg ill kill myself if you leave me

Question 27

what research was done on physical violence against female partners?

Answer 27

women completed a questionnaire about their partners male retention strategies (in a likert scale) women who agreed more with the questions were twice as likely to have experienced domestic violence. 73% requiring medical attention, 53% said they feared for their lives

Question 28

why does bullying happen?

Answer 28

bullying is a power imbalance. its seen an adaptive stratergy to increase our chances of survival, it promotes our health and created opportunity for reproduction

Question 29

why is bulying behaviour in men naturally selected?

Answer 29

bullying characteristics are attractive to women, dominence, resources, strengh, reduced rivals all mean that these males wouldve reporduced more

Question 30

why does female bullying occour?

Answer 30

its a method to control your partner, to secure their loyalty so they can continue to provide resources
(this is also naturally selected because these women wouldve reproduced more with that male)

Question 31

what is one strength with the evolutionary explanation?

Answer 31

it explains differences between genders and why males act differently to females, women are better off being verbally aggressive so to not risk her physical health and the child that needs looking after

Question 32

what is an issue with the evolutionary explanation?

Answer 32

it doesnt explain culteral differences, if traits are evolutionary then they should be universal, but they arent. some cultures are avidly against aggression, one even being known as the ‘harmless people’ this goes against the idea that some traits are adaptive

Question 33

what real world application does the evolutionary explanation of bullying have?

Answer 33

it can be used to reduce bullying because we can work out why its happening. giving bullies prosocial roles and responsibiities gives them that social status theyre after in a different harmless way

Question 34

what is the original frustration-aggression hypothisis?

Answer 34

it states that frustration always leads to aggression, and aggression is always the result of frustration

Question 35

why do we get frustrated and how does this lead to aggression?

Answer 35

we get frustrated when out attempts to reach a goal are blocked by some external factor
this creates an aggressive drive which leads to aggressive thoughts/behaviours (violent fantace, verbal outbursts, physical ciolence) this behaviour is cathartic, the aggression is satisfied and the drive is reduced

Question 36

what 3 reasons are there for frustration not always being expressed directly to the source of frustration?

Answer 36

the cause of the frustration is abstract (the economy)

the cause is too powerful and you risk punishment (teacher)
the cause is unavaliable at the time (they left the room)

this means the frustration is displaced onto something else, not abstract, weaker and avaliable

Question 37

in an update of the frustration aggression, another researcher disagreed that frustration always leads to aggression, what did they say?

Answer 37

that frustration mearely causes a readiness for aggression but aggressive cues in the environment need to also be present to cause aggressive behaviour

Question 38

what is the weapon effect? (refer to research)

Answer 38

this is how having an aggressive cue in the environment can lead to aggression
participants were given real (mild) electric shocks by a confedirate to greate frustration, the participants then later have the opportunity to give fake shocks to the confedirate. the number of shocks were greater when there were guns on the table compared to there being no guns
this showed how the presence of an aggressive cue affected aggression

Question 39

what research has been done into frustration aggression?

Answer 39

uni students were to complete a jigsaw. one groups puzzle wasn’t possible to solve, one group ran out of time because someone kept interfering, one group was insulted by someone when they failed to solve it.
when later given opportunity to shock a confed, the group giving the strongest shocks were the insulted, the interupted then the not possible. all groups gave more shocks than controlls

Question 40

what does social learning theory tells us about direct learning?

Answer 40

we can learn aggression directly through operant conditioning, learning through consiquences with positive and negitive reinforcement and punishment
eg. child snatches a toy, theyre rewarded with now having the toy, they learn that this method works and so do it again

Question 41

what does SLT tell us about observational learning and vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 41

we aquire spesific aggressive behaviours through observing role models, repeting the behaviour is dependent on if they were rewarded/not punished

(note there are also the cognitive learning conditions ARMM)

Question 42

what is self-efficacy?

Answer 42

the extent to which we believe out actions will achieve the desired goals, how confident we are in our actions
self efficacy grows with every successful outcome

Question 43

how does self efficacy affect aggression?

Answer 43

a childs confidence grows if they learn their aggressive behaviour provided rewards
a child reguraly snatching toys and succeding learns they can easily get toys off others, with each success their self-efficacy grows

Question 44

briefly outline banduras bobo doll study

Answer 44

young children observe adults being aggro to a bobo doll, the adults has spesific behaviours like thowing, kicking, hitting with a mallet and being verbal.
the children were then shown toys they werent allowed to play with to create frustration
they then were taken to another rool with toys inclucing the bobo dolls

without instruction the children coppied the adults spesific behaviour, the phrases theyd used, the tools etc. boys were more physical than girls but verval was the same
a control group showed no aggression to the bobo dolls

Question 45

how can SLT be used to reduce aggression?

Answer 45

we can provide non-aggressive role models who are rewarded for being gentle, encourage friendships to other children who are rewarded for not being aggressive, provide gentle media characters etc

Question 46

what is de-individuation?

Answer 46

a psychological state where the person looses their personal identity and takes on the identity of a social group eg a crowd

Question 47

what is crowd behaviour?

Answer 47

usually (not in a crowd) were easily identified and so comply to social norms (eg dont be aggressive)
in crowds we loose restraint and have more freedom to act in ways we dont normally. out identity is lost and responsibility becomes shared throughout the crowd to we have less guilt about being aggressive

Question 48

what behavioural differenced are there between someone being individuated and de-individuated

Answer 48

someone individuated will act rationally and conform to social norms (normative)
a de-individuated person will be emotional, impulsive, irrational and anti-normative because weve lost that self awareness, stop monitoring out behaviours and live for the moment

Question 49

when de-individuated what conditions promote aggression?

Answer 49

darkness, drugs+alchohol, uniforms and masks

Question 50

what are the two types of self awareness?

Answer 50

private self-awareness: how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviour, this gets reduced in crowds
public self-awareness: how much we care about what other people think of us, this is also reduced in crowds as we are anonymous

Question 51

what research (commonly asked question in class) was done on students to study de-individuation?

Answer 51

students are asked ‘if you could do anything humanly possible with complete assurance that you wouldnt be detected or held responsible, what would you do?’ their answers were anonymous
36% of responses were antisocial behaviour, 26% were criminal acts, 9% were prosocial acts (helping people)

Question 52

what is the importation model in the dispositional explanations for aggression?

Answer 52

this argues that inmates bring in a subculture typical of criminality. their belifs, norms, attitudes, history, all contribute to how prisoners are disopsitioned to violence which is why prison environments are so violent
in simple terms, prison aggression is a product of the individuals charicteristics not the environment of the prison

Question 53

what research supports that prisoner charicteristics affect aggression in prisons?

Answer 53

they studied juvinile offenders with negitive backgrounds (childhood trauma, substance abuse etc) in comparrison to a control without negitive backgrounds, the group with the traumas were more likely to engaje in suicidal activity, sexual misconduct and physical aggression

Question 54

what is the deprivation model?

Answer 54

it states that the environment/situation the prisoners are in is why theyre aggressive. the harch conditions are the cause with deprivation of:
- freedom
- independence
- goods and services
- safety
- heterosexual intimacy
it also talks about frustration from lock ups, lack of stimulation etc

Question 55

prisons with certain factors have been shown to increase aggression, what factors?

Answer 55

a higher proportion of female staff
overcrowding
more prisoners in protective custody

Question 56

what two factors about TV are linked to aggression?

Answer 56

• excessive TV viewing: excessive Tv viewing is linked to aggression regardless if the content is violent or not
• watching violent film content: this is the most significant media influence on aggression

Question 57

what research shows the excessive TV viewing-aggression link?

Answer 57

one study measured TV viewing of New Zealanders up to 26, they found that time spent watching TV in childhood and adolesence was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour

Question 58

what was banduras updated bobo doll study that showed TV/films impacts?

Answer 58

they replicated their earlier study but the children watched a video of the adults this time rather than watching them and the outcome showed the same, the children coppied the adults behaviour

Question 59

what do some researchers say about the effects of TV on aggression?

Answer 59

that the effects arent strong, although meta analysis shows a TV-aggression link, TV only accounts for between 1 and 10% of varience in childrens aggressive behaviour

Question 60

why do computer games have more effect on aggression that watching violent TV

Answer 60

• you have an active role asoposed to being a passive viewer
• the game rewards you, eg money earned for every kill

Question 61

whats an issue with performing computer game-aggression lab studies?

Answer 61

its unethical to encourage aggressive behaviour in participants, it may have lasting aggressive effects

Question 62

what is TCRTT?

Answer 62

taylor competitive reaction time task, participants deliver blasts of white noise at their chosen volume to other participants as a punishment
students who played a violent PC game for 10 minutes selected significanylt higher volumes than this playing non-violent games

Question 63

what is desensitisation?

Answer 63

reduced sensitivity to a stimulus as a result of repeted viewing
when we witness violence we experience physiological arousal (fight/flight) eg inc. heart rate, sweating. repetedly viewing violence means we get used to its effects untill we stop reacting this way

Question 64

what is disinhibition?

Answer 64

a lack of restraint. inhibit-stop. most people think violence is bad, theres strong social inhibitions towards being violent. when these restraints are loosened in the media and violent people dont get any consiquenes they appear normal again as the effect on the victim in minimalised

Question 65

what is cognitive priming?

Answer 65

how viewing media can provide us with scripts on how to act when were in that situation. the aggressive script is stored, so we’re primed to be aggressive. this script is then triggered automatically when we enter the situation