Aggression

Question 1

Neural Influences - The Limbic System

Answer 1

• A system of structures such as the amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus that is associated with emotional behaviour.

Question 2

The Amygdala

Answer 2

-Responsible for quick evaluation of the emotional importance of sensory information and prompting an appropriate response.

Question 3

The Hippocampus

Answer 3

-Involved with the formation of long-term memories, and so allows an animal to compare the conditions of a current threat with similar past experiences.

Question 4

Serotonin

Answer 4

• A neurotransmitter that in normal levels exerts an inhibitory calming effect on neuronal firing in the brain.
  -Low levels of serotonin remove the inhibitory effect with the consequence of individuals being less able to control impulsive and aggressive behaviour (the serotonin-deficiency theory).

Question 5

Evidence for Serotonin’s Effect on Aggression - Dexfenfluramine(DXF)

Answer 5

-Mann et al (1990) gave 35 healthy ppts DXF which is known to deplete serotonin.
-Then using a questionnaire to assess hostility levels, they found DXF treatment in males was associated with an increase in hostility.

Question 6

Hormonal Influences - Testosterone

Answer 6

-Produced mainly in the testes in males is associated with the development of secondary sexual characteristics, and has been associated with aggressive behaviour.

Question 7

Genetic Factors - Twin Studies

Answer 7

• MZ twins share all their genes, whereas DZ twins only share 50%, if MZ twins are more alike in terms of aggressive behaviour, this should be due to genes rather than environment.

Question 8

Limitation of Twin Studies

Answer 8

-Higher concordance rate in monozygotic twins may be due to a bigger similarity in their environment.
One limitation of adoption studies is that adopted children are also matched with families that are similar to their biological families.

This means that any similarity between the child and their biological parent might be due to similarities in their environment, as well as their genetics.

Question 9

Limitation of Twin Studies

Answer 9

-They assume that the environment will have the same impact on the behaviour of both monozygotic and dizygotic twins.

Question 10

Genetic Factors Adoption Studies

Answer 10

-Helps untangle the effects of environment and heredity in aggression.
-If a positive correlation is found between aggressive behaviour in adopted children and aggressive behaviour in their biological parents = a genetic correlation is established.
-However, if a positive correlation is found between adopted children and aggressive behaviour in their adoptive parents = an environmental correlation is established.
-Lack internal validity

Question 11

Research Support for the Genetic Explanation

Answer 11

Christiansen conducted a twin study comparing the concordance rate for criminal behaviour for monozygotic and dizygotic twins.
-He found a concordance rate of 55% for the monozygotic twins and a concordance rate of 22% for the dizygotic twins, indicating that genetics plays a role in determining aggression.

Question 12

Gene for Aggression: MAOA

Answer 12

-Whilst there is no individual gene for aggression, the MAOA gene regulates serotonin production in the brain, low levels have been associated with impulsive and aggressive behaviour.

Question 13

Brunner’s Dutch Family Study
-Support for MAOA Gene

Answer 13

-A Dutch family found that many of its male members behaved in a particularly violent and aggressive manner, these men were to have abnormally low levels of MAOA in their bodies. - (MAOA-L)

Question 14

MAOA-L

Answer 14

Those with the MAOA-L gene variant were significantly more likely to grow up to exhibit anti-social behaviour.

Question 15

Ethological Explanation

Answer 15

-Focuses on understanding innate behaviors, particularly aggression, by studying animals in their natural environments
-Stresses the adaptive value of animal behaviours.

Question 16

Innate Releasing Mechanism(biological structure)

Answer 16

-A neural network that when stimulated by the presence of a sign stimulus, activates the fixed action pattern associated with sign stimulus.

Question 17

Fixed Action Patterns

Answer 17

-A repertoire of stereotyped behaviours which occur in specific conditions.

Question 18

Action-specific Energy
-The Hydraulic Model

Answer 18

-The buildup of a motivational drive or pent-up aggression within an organism.
-After performing the FAP, the reservoir of ASE is empty and the behaviour cannot be repeated until the ASE has built up again - The Hydraulic Model

Question 19

Ethological Explanation Process

Answer 19

-Sign Stimulus(environmental cue)
triggers
-Innate Releasing Mechanism(biological structure)
triggers
-Fixed Action Pattern

Question 20

Ritualistic Aggression

Answer 20

-Not all aggressive behaviour involves fighting and may be ritualised in the form of threat displays.
-Ritualistic aggression makes acts of violence less likely to occur-threat displays make an opponent back down and are the last step before an animal either fights or submits.

Question 21

Lorenz’s Research

Answer 21

-Claimed species have instinctive inhibitions that prevent them using weapons against members of their own species.
-E.g. When two wolves fight, the losing individual will expose its neck to. its adversary to show submission - then instinctive inhibitions prevent the dominant animal from continuing the fight.
-Lorenz claimed as humans do not have powerful natural weapons- we have no instinctive inhibitions against killing one another.

Question 22

Evolutionary Explanations
-Sexual Competition

Answer 22

1)Ancestral males seeking access to females would have had to compete with other males - eliminating the competition through aggression.
2)Those who successfully used aggression
3) More successful in acquiring mates
4) More successful in passing on their genes to offspring.
5) Leading to the development of a genetically transmitted tendency to be aggressive to other males.

Question 23

Evolutionary Explanations
-Sexual Jealousy

Answer 23

-Aggression in the form of sexual jealousy results from paternal uncertainty.
-Men are always at risk of cuckoldry - and there is therefore an adaptive function of deferring a mate from sexual infidelity - minimises risk of cuckoldry.

Question 24

Aggression in Warfare

Answer 24

-Any behaviour associated with warfare would have evolved because of the adaptive benefits for the individual and their offspring.
-Livingstone Smith claimed that human warfare originated to obtain valuable resources and to attract mates and forge intagroup bonds.

Question 25

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - Dollard

Answer 25

-Sees aggression being the consequence of frustration, defined as any event or stimulus that prevents an individual from attaining some goal and its accompanying reinforcing quality.

Question 26

Frustration-Aggression -Catharsis

Answer 26

-The hypothesis states that aggression can cause catharsis - a form of emotional release that is achieved by the person engaging in aggressive behaviour.

Question 27

Justified Aggression

Answer 27

-Aggressive behaviour that is perceived as socially acceptable or even warranted due to a perceived wrongdoing.

Question 28

Unjustified Aggression

Answer 28

-Aggressive behaviour that isn't perceived as a legitimate response to a situation or provocation. -Produces more anger and aggression.

Question 29

Displaced Aggression

Answer 29

-Dollard et al assumed that aggression is sometimes displaced from the source of the frustration on to someone else. -This may be due to the source of frustration being too: -Distant -Abstract -Animated

Question 30

Revised Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - Berkowitz

Answer 30

-Claimed that frustration is only one of many different types of unpleasant experiences that can lead to aggression.

Question 31

Social Learning Theory - Observation

Answer 31

-Children primarily learn their aggressive behaviours by watching the behaviour of role models and then imitating that behaviour. -Vicarious Reinforcement - Children witness many examples of aggressive behaviours at home, school, on tv and in films. -By observing the consequences of aggressive behaviour for those who use it, a child gradually learns what behaviour are punishable and what behaviours should be repeated.

Question 32

SLT - Mental Representation

Answer 32

- Bandara claimed that children must form mental representations of events in their social environment including possible rewards and punishments for their aggressive behaviour.

Question 33

Self-Efficacy

Answer 33

-Children develop confidence in their ability to carry out necessary aggressive actions - those who have been less successful in past aggressive behaviours have a lower self-efficacy.

Question 34

SLT : Key Study

Answer 34

-Bandura's Bobo Doll

Question 35

De-individuation

Answer 35

- A psychological state in which individuals have lowered levels of self-evaluation and decreased concerns about evaluation by others.

Question 36

Nature of De-individuation

Answer 36

-Presence of large crowds gave people a cloak of anonymity that diminished any personal consequences for their actions. There is a diminished fear of the negative evaluation of actions and a reduced sense of guilt.

Question 37

The Situational Explanation: The Deprivation Model

Answer 37

-Emphasises the causes of a particular behaviour as being due to the context in which it occurs rather than any enduring characteristics of the individuals involved -The specific deprivations that inmates experience are linked to the increase in violence, including: -Loss of liberty -Loss of autonomy -Loss of security -This explanation argues that prison violence is due solely to prison-specific. variables, rather than inmate characteristics.

Question 38

Institutional Aggression in Prisons

Answer 38

-Refers to aggressive acts that are found in particular violent institutions such as prisons, two models explain the aggression found in these places - The Deprivation Model & The Importation Model

Question 39

The Deprivation Model: The Role of Prison Characteristics

Answer 39

- Cooke et al claimed prisons are only violent in these circumstances: -Overcrowding -Heat & Noise -Job Burnout

Question 40

The Dispositional Explanation: The Importation Model

Answer 40

-Emphasises the causes of a particular behaviour as being due to the enduring characteristics of the individuals involved. -Claims that inmates bring their violent pasts into prison and draw on their experiences in an environment where toughness and physical exploitation are important survival skills. -In many cities, street culture has evolved into a 'code of the streets' which sets violence as a precedent.

Question 41

The Importation Model: Gang Membership

Answer 41

-Many studies have found that gang members disproportionately engage in acts of prison violence - members of street gangs offend at higher levels while in prison than their non-gang counterparts. -They account for a majority amount of serious and violent crimes in prison.

Question 42

Media Influences on Aggression -Violent Films & TV - Laboratory & Field Experiments

Answer 42

-Researchers randomly assign participants to either an experimental condition where they view violent film scenes - or a control condition where they watch non-violent film scenes. -A consistent finding in both experiment types is that those who watch violent scenes subsequently display more aggression.

Question 43

Media Influences on Aggression -Violent Films & TV - Longitudinal Studies

Answer 43

-Allow researchers to track individuals over time in order to assess the impact of early experiences on behaviour in life.

Question 44

Longitudinal Studies - Example

Answer 44

-Huesmann et al 2003 studied 500 children between the ages of 6 and 10 - 300 of these children were studied 15 years later - Huesmann found that habitual early exposure to TV violence was predictive of adult aggression later in life.

Question 45

Media Influences on Aggression -Violent Films & TV - Meta-analysis

Answer 45

-Allow researchers to aggregate the findings of many different individual studies of the effects of media violence.

Question 46

Media Influences on Aggression -Violent Computer Games

Answer 46

-Research suggests that intervative violence in video games has the potential to exert even more influence than TV violence. -As the viewer plays a more passive role watching TV - whereas during violent game play, aggression is rewarded and is portrayed as being both appropriate and effective.

Question 47

Media Influences on Aggression -Violent Computer Games - Experimental Studies

Answer 47

-Anderson & Dill found that ppts blasted their opponents with white noise for longer and rated themselves higher on the state hostility scale after playing a violent video game compared to those who played a slow-paced puzzle game.

Question 48

Explanations of Media Influences -Desensitisation

Answer 48

-Assumes that under normal conditions, anxiety about violence inhibits its use - media violence may lead to aggression by removing this anxiety. -The more televised violence a child watches, the more acceptable aggressive behaviour becomes for that child - frequent viewings of television violence may cause children to be less anxious about violence.

Question 49

Effects of Desensitisation

Answer 49

-A child who becomes desensitised to violence may therefore perceive it as more normal and be more likely to engage in violence themselves.

Question 50

Explanations of Media Violence - Disinhibtion

Answer 50

-States that exposure to violent media legitimatises the use of violence in real life because it undermines the social sanctions that usually inhibit such behaviour.

Question 51

Explanations of Media Violence -Cognitive Priming

Answer 51

-Refers to a temporary increase in the accessibility of thoughts and ideas. E.g. violent media activates thoughts about violence which activates other aggressive thoughts - through association in memory pathways.