Aggression Flashcards
(66 cards)
1
Q
- What is the limbic system?
A
- Subcortial structures in the brain (including hypothalamus and amygdala) thought to be closely involved in regulating emotional behaviour including aggression
2
Q
- What was James Papez and Paul Maclean’s role in terms of the existence if the lambic system?
A
- The first attempt to link limbic structures to emotional behaviours such as aggression was by JAMES PAPEZ and later revised PAUL MACLEAN
3
Q
- What is the limbic system said to be made up of?
A
- Cingulate gyrus
- Septal area
- hypothalamus
- fornix
- amygdala
- part of hippocampus and thalamus
4
Q
- State and define the most important role in the limbic system:
A
- The most important structure by far is the AMYGDALA
- This has a key role in humans and non human animals in how an organism assesses and responds to environmental threats and challenges
- The reactivity if the amygdala has proven to be an important predictor of aggressive behaviour
5
Q
- What was Katarina Gospic’s study?
A
- Used a well established lab method of assessing aggressive behaviour= Ultimatum Game
- Featured 2 players
- Proposer offers to split money in a certain way with responder
- If responder accepts, the money is split as proposed
- if responder rejects offer, both receive nothing
- Participants in this study played as responders while having their brains scanned by fMRI- which highlights activity in different areas of the brain
6
Q
- What were the findings in Katharine Gospic’s study?
A
- Researchers found that when responders rejected unfair offers (aggressive reaction to social provocation) scans revealed a fast and heightened response from the amygdala
- They also found that a benzodiazepine drug (reduces arousal of ANS) taken before the game had 2 effects on responses to unfair offers- it halved the number of rejections (i.e. reduced aggression) and decreased amygdala activity
- This is strong evidence of an association between reactive aggression and amygdala activity
7
Q
- Define serotonin:
A
- A neurotransmitter with widespread inhibitory effects throughout the brain; it slows down and damps neural activity
- It has a key role in aggressive behaviour
8
Q
- What is normal levels of serotonin associated with?
A
- Normal levels of serotonin in the orbitofrontal cortex = linked with reduced firing of neurons which is associated with a greater degree of behavioural self-control
9
Q
- What is decreased levels of serotonin associated with?
A
- Decreased serotonin may well disturb this mechanism, reducing self-control and leading to an increase in impulsive behaviour including aggression
10
Q
- What was Matti Virkkunen’s study?
A
- Compared levels of serotonin breakdown product (metabolite called 5-HIAA) in cerebrospinal fluid of violent impulsive and violent non-impulsive offenders
11
Q
- What were the findings in Matti Virkkunen’s study?
A
- The levels were significantly lower in impulsive offenders and they also suffered from sleep irregularities
- This is significant because serotonin regulates sleep patterns
- Disturbance of this pattern strongly implies some disruption of serotonin functioning, further supporting the role of serotonin in reactive aggression
12
Q
- What is a hormonal mechanism in aggression?
A
- Testosterone
13
Q
- Define testosterone:
A
- A hormone from the androgen group and is mainly produced in the male testes (and in smaller amounts in the female ovaries)
- Associated with aggressiveness
- responsible for development of masculine features
- has a role in regulating social behaviour via its influence on certain areas of the brain implicated in aggression
14
Q
- What have animal studies suggested (Giammanco)?
A
- Animal studies have demonstrated that experimental increases in testosterone are related to greater aggressive behaviour in several species
15
Q
- What was Mairead Dolan’s study and findings?
A
- Some evidence from a similar association in humans come from studies of prison populations ,e.g. violent offenders.
- Dolan found a positive correlation between testosterone levels and aggressive behaviours in a sample of 60 male offenders in the UK Max security hospitals
- These men mostly suffered from personality disorders (e.g. psychopathy) and had histories of impulsively violent behaviour
16
Q
- Evaluation- Neural And Hormonal Mechanisms In Aggression:
A
- Role of other brain structures
- Effects of drugs on serotonin
- Explaining the role of testosterone
- Other hormones
17
Q
- Define genetic factors:
A
- Genes consist of DNA strands
- DNA produces ‘instructions’ for general physical features of an organism (e.g. eye colour, height) and also specific physical features (e.g. neurotransmitter levels and size of brain structures)
- These may impact on psychological features (e.g. intelligence and mental disorder)
- Genes are transmitted from parents to offspring, i.e. inherited
18
Q
- Twin studies- Emilio Coccaro:
A
- Several twin studies have suggested that heritability accounts about 50% of variance in aggressive behaviour
- E.g. Coccaro studied adult male MZ twins and DZ twins
- MZ twins share 100% of their genes but DZ share only 50% (on average) - expect to find greater similarities in aggressive behaviour between MZ twins if aggression is mostly influenced by genetic factors
- both MZ and DZ twins are raised together in the same environment, but MZ twins have a greater degree of genetic similarity than DZs
- For aggressive behaviour = direct physical assault- concordance rates of 50% for MZ twins and 19% for DZ
- Verbal aggression = 28% (MZs) and 7% (DZs)
19
Q
- What do similarities in aggressive behaviour between an adopted child and their biological parents suggest?
A
- Suggests that genetic influences are operating
20
Q
- What do similarities with the adopted parents suggest?
A
- suggests that environmental influences are operating
21
Q
- What was Soo Rhee and Irwin Waldman’s study?
A
- They carried out a meta-analysis of adoption studies of direct aggression and antisocial behaviour, a prominent feature of which is aggressive behaviour
22
Q
- What were the findings of Soo Rhee and Irwin Walding’s study?
A
- They found that genetic influences account for 41% variance in aggression
- more or less in line with findings from twin studies
23
Q
- What is the MAOA gene?
A
- The gene responsible for the activity of the enzyme monoamine oxidase in the brain
- The low activity variant of the gene is closely associated with aggressive behaviour
24
Q
- What is the role of the monoamine oxidase A enzyme?
A
- To ‘mop up’ neurotransmitters in the brain after a nerve impulse has been transmitted from one neuron to another
- It does this by breaking down the neurotransmitter- especially serotonin- into constituent chemicals to be recycled or excreted (process called catabolism)
- The production of this enzyme is determined by the MAOA gene
25
* What happens when there’s a dysfunction in the operation of the MAOA gene?
* May lead to abnormal activity of th MAOA enzyme, which in turn affects levels of serotonin in the brain
26
* What does the variant of the MAOA gene (‘warrior gene’) lead to?
* Leads to low MAOA activity in areas of the brain and has been associated with various forms of aggressive behaviour
27
* What did Han Brunner study?
* Studied 28 male members of a large Dutch family who were repeatedly involved in impulsively aggressive violent criminal behaviours - rape, attempted murder and physical assault
28
* What were the findings of Han Brunner’s study?
* Researchers found that these men had abnormally low levels of MAOA in their brains and the low activity version of the MAOA gene
29
* Gene-environment interactions:
* Genes are crucial influencers on aggressive behaviours but they don’t function in isolation
* low gene activity is only related to adult aggression when combined with early traumatic experiences
30
* What was Giovanni Frazzetto’s study (GXE interactions)?
* Include: findings
* He found an association between higher levels of antisocial aggression and the Low-activity MAOA gene variant in adult males, as expected
* This was only the case in those who had experienced significant trauma (sexual or physical abuse) during first 15 years of life
* Those who hadn’t experienced such childhood trauma didn’t experience such childhood trauma, didn’t have particularly high levels of aggression as adults, even if they possessed low-activity MAOA variant
* This is strong evidence of gene-environment interaction
31
* Evaluation- Genetic Factors In Aggression:
* Isolating genetic factors
* Multiple gene factors
* Measuring aggression
* Research supoort for role of MAOA gene
32
* What is the ethological explanation?
* An explanation that seeks to understand the innate behaviour of animals (including humans) by studying them in their natural environments
33
* Adaptive functions of aggression:
* Ethnological explanation suggests that the main function of aggression is adaptive
* aggression is beneficial for survival because a ‘defeated’ animal is rarely killed, but rather forced to establish territory elsewhere
* This means that members of a species spread out over a wider area and have to discover resources in a different place = reduces competition pressure and possibility of starvation
34
* What is another adaptive function of aggression?
* Establish dominance hierarchies
* Male chimpanzees use aggression to climb their troop’s social hierarchy
* Their dominance gives them special status (e.g. mating rights over females) - happens in humans too
35
* What did Gregory Pettit study?
* Studied play groups of young children and observed how aggression played an important role in development of some children's dominance over others
* This would be adaptive (naturally selected) because dominance over others brings benefits such as power to get your own way and access to resources
36
* What is ritualistic aggression?
* A ritual is a series of behaviours carried up out in a set order
* Lorenz’s intriguing observations of fights between animals of same species = how little actual physical damage was done
* Most aggressive encounters consisted of ritualistic signalling (e.g. displaying claws and teeth, facial expressions of threat) and rarely reached the point of becoming physical
37
* What else did Lorenz point out about ritualistic aggression?
* That intra-species aggressive confrontations end with ritual appeasement displays
* These indicate acceptance of defeat and inhibit aggressive behaviour in victor, preventing any damage to loser
* E.g. At end of aggressive confrontation a wolf will expose its neck to victor, deliberately makng itself vulnerable to single bite to its jugular vein
* This adaptive because if every aggressive encounter ended with death of one if the combats, this could threaten the existence of the species
38
* What is an innate releasing mechanism (IRM)?
* A biological structure or process (e.g. in the brain) which is activated by external stimulus that in turn triggers fixed action pattern
* An environmental stimulus (such as certain facial expressions) triggers IRM which then ‘releases’ specific sequence of behaviours = fixed action plan
39
* According to Stephen Lea what are the 6 main features of an action plan?
* Stereotyped, or relatively unchanging sequences of behaviours
* Universal, because the same behaviour is found in every individual of a species
* Unaffected by learning, the same for every individual regardless of experience
* ‘Ballistic’, once the behaviour is triggered it follows an inevitable course and can’t be altered before its completed
* Single-purpose, the behaviour occurs in specific situation and not in any other
* A response to an identifiable specific sign stimulus (or, if it involves communication between members of the same species = aka released)
40
* What was the procedure of the research into IRMs and FAPs?
* Male sticklebacks = highly territorial during spring mating season, when they also develop a red spot on their underbelly
* If another male enters their territory, a sequence of highly stereotyped aggressive behaviours are initiated (FAP)
* The sign stimulus that triggers innate releasing mechanism is sight of red spot
* Nino Tinbergen- presented sticklebacks with series of wooden models of different shapes
41
* What was the findings of the research into IRMs and FAPs?
* Regardless of shape, if model had red spot, stickleback would be aggressive and even attack it
* If there was no red spot, there was no aggression, even if the model looked realistically like a stickleback
* Tinbergen also found that these aggressive FAPs were unchanging from 1 encounter to another
* Once triggered, FAP always ran it’s course to completion without any further stimulus
42
* Evaluation- The Ethological Explanations Of Aggression:
* Supporting research
* Cultural differences in aggression
* Evidence against ritualistic aggression
* FAPs aren’t that fixed
43
* Define dispostional explanations:
* Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality (i.e. their disposition)
* Such explanations are often contrasted with situational explanations
44
* What is the importation model by John Irwin and Donald Cressey?
* Argues that prisons aren’t completely insulated from happenings of everyday life outside in the ‘real world’
* The real world is where inmates come and being with them a subculture typical of criminality
* This includes beliefs, values, norms, attitudes and a history of learning experiences as well as other personal characteristics, e.g. gender, race and class
* The willingness of inmates to use violence inside prison to settle disputes reflects their lives before imprisonment.
45
* Why do Inmates import such behaviours like aggression?
* For the means of negotiating their way through unfamiliar and frightening prison environments
* Existing inmates use aggression to establish power, status, influence and access to resources
* Therefore, aggression is the product of individual characteristics of inmates and not of the prison environment
46
* What was the procedure for the research into the importation model?
* Matt DeLisi + colleagues studied 813 juvenile delinquents confined in Cali institutions
* These were inmates who brought into confinement several neahatibe dispostional features, e.g. experiences of childhood trauma, high levels of anger and irritability, a history of substance abuse and history of violent behaviour
47
* What was the findings of the research into the importation model?
* These inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity and sexual misconduct and committed more acts of physical violence that were brought to the attention of parole board
48
* Define situational explanations:
* Any explanation that identifies causes of behaviour as existing within the environment
* May include other people
* contrasted to dispositional explanation
49
* What is the deprivation model?
* Places causes of institutional aggression within prison environment itself
* Harsh prison conditions = stressful for inmates, who have to cope by resorting to aggressive and often violent behaviour
* Conditions include deprivation of freedom, independence, goods and services, safety and heterosexual intimacy
* deprivation of material goods = important as it increases competition amongst inmates to acquire them and is accompanied by increase in aggression
* Nature of prison regime also accompanied by aggression because if it is unpredictable and regularly uses ‘lock ups’ to control behaviour, it creates frustration
50
* What is the procedure for research into the deprivation model?
* Benjamin Steiner investigated factors that predicted inmate aggression in 512 prisons in US
51
* What were the findings of the research into the deprivation model?
* Found that inmate on inmate violence was more common in prisons where there were higher proportions of female staff, African-American inmates, Hispanic inmates, and inmates in protective custody for their own food
* All prison level factors because they’re all independent of the individual characteristics of prisoners
52
* Evaluation- Institutional Aggression In Context Of Prisons:
* Support from research
* Alternative explanation
* Supporting evidence
* Contradictory research
53
* What are the 3 basic methodologies used when psychologists study media?
* Include: the general 4th one as well
* Experimental studies- usually lab based and look at short term effects
* Correlational studies- which can investigate real-life variables and may be short term
* Longitudinal studies
* Meta-analysis- brings together these 3 types to give overall judgement of size of effect of violent media on aggressive behaviour
54
* Experimental studies:
* Lab-based study by Bruce Bartholow and Craig Anderson
* Students played either violent computer game (Mortal Kombat) or non violent game (PGA Tournament Golf) for 10 mins
* They all then Carried out Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task (TCRTT) = a standard lab measure of aggression where students deliver blasts of white noise at chosen volumes to punish (non-existent) opponent
* Those who played violent game selected significantly higher white noise levels compared to non violent
55
* Correlational studies:
* Matt Delisi studies 227 juvenile offenders- all with histories of serious aggressive behaviour e.g. hitting teacher or parent or gang fighting
* using structured interviews, they gathered dats on several measures of aggression and violent computer game-playing
* found that offenders’ aggressive behaviour was significantly correlseyd with how often they played violent computer games and how much they enjoyed them
* Researchers argued that link is so well established that aggression should be considered public health issue, like HIV/AIDS
56
* Longitudinal studies:
* Lindsay Robertson wanted to see if there was a link between ‘excessive’ television viewing in childhood and aggressive behaviour in adulthood
* studied 1037 in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973 and measured their TV hours at regular intervals up to age of 26
* found that time spend watching TV = reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood, measured in terms of convictions for aggression and violent crimes
* Those who watched most TV = likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder with aggressive personality traits
57
* Meta-analyses:
* Craig Anderson- 136 studies and included all 3 types of methodology
* found that exposure to violent computer games was associated with increases in aggressive behaviours, thoughts and feelings
* Finding was true for both males and females across collectivist and individualist cultures
* higher quality studies in analysis showed even greater significant effect
* Researches claim that the effect of violent game playing on aggressive behaviour is greater than effect if second hand smoke on cancer
* Analysis also showed no indication that publication bias influenced results
58
* Evaluation- media influences on aggression: the effects of computer games:
* experimental studies
* correlational studies
* longitudinal studies
* non-equivalent problem
59
* Define desensitisation:
* Repeated exposure to violence reduces normal levels of physiological and psychological arousal associated with anxiety, making aggressive behaviour more likely to occur
60
* When experiencing physiological and psychological arousal , which area of the body is this associated with and what it’s symtoms?
1. Sympathetic nervous system:
* increased heart rate
* higher blood pressure
* Greater sweat activity
61
* What was the lab study conducted by Monica Weisz and Christopher Earls?
* Lab study which highlighted desensitising effects
* They showed their participants feature film- straw dogs which contains prolonged and graphic scene of rape
* participants then watched re-enactment if race trial
* compared with those who watched non-sexually violent film, male viewers of Straw Dogs showed greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression
* They also expressed less sympathy towards rape victim in trial and less likely to find defendant guilty- no such effect on females
62
* Define disinhibition:
* Normal social constraints against certain behaviours can be weakened by environmental triggers
* These behaviours then appear temporarily socially acceptable and therefore more likely
63
* What does the disinhibition explanation say?
* Usual restraints are loosened after exposure to violent media
* Aggressive behaviour is often made to appear normative and socially sanctioned in such media, especially if portrayals minimise effects of violence on victims and suggest it’s justified
* It’s not unusual for video games to show violence being rewarded at same time as consequence are minimised or ignored - creates new social norm for viewer
64
* Define cognitive priming:
* Violent images provide us with ready-made scripts about aggression which are stored in memory and triggered when we perceive aggressive cues in a situation
65
* Describe Peter Fischer and Tobias Greiremeyer’s study:
* They looked at priming of aggressive scripts in memory by investigating neglected form of media violence- song lyrics
* Male participants listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women
* compared with when listening to neutral lyrics, participants subsequently recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved Moore aggressively towards female confederate
* Procedure was replicate with female participants, using ‘men-hating’ song lyrics, with similar results
66
* Evaluation- media influences on aggression: desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming:
* Research support for desensitisation
* Research support for disinhibition
* Practical application of cognitive priming
* Alternative explanation for desensitisation
