Neural & Hormonal explanations of Aggression & Genetic Factors

Question 0

Name neurotransmitters associated with aggression

Answer 0

Serotonin

Dopamine

Question 1

Name the brain regions associated with aggression

Answer 1

Amygdala

Prefrontal cortex

Question 2

Where is the amygdala located?

Answer 2

Temporal lobe

Question 3

What does the amygdala affect?

Answer 3

Emotional responses

Question 4

The amygdala has been shown to be connected to the….

Answer 4

Prefrontal cortex

Question 5

What does the term lesioning mean?

Answer 5

Damaging the brain on purpose

Question 6

What’s an amygdalectomy?

Answer 6

Removal of the amygdala

Question 7

What did research show when monkeys brains were lesioned?

Answer 7

Led to a reduction in fear and increase in aggression.

In humans, the removal of the amygdala can affect emotional responses

Question 8

What happens if someone’s prefrontal cortex is damaged?

Answer 8

Show impulsive behaviour, immaturity, altered emotion, short tempers and are easily provoked

Question 9

What effect does serotonin give?

Answer 9

A calming effect

Question 10

What is dopamine responsible for?

Answer 10

Rewarding sensations

Pleasure. E.g. Sex and eating

Question 11

Low levels of serotonin…

Answer 11

Increased aggression

Question 12

Why is dopamine associated with aggression?

Answer 12

May seek out rewarding sensations aggression releases

Question 13

Research into the neural explanation of aggression

Answer 13

Raine et al
Tateno
Zagrodzka

Question 14

Research of Raine et al

Answer 14

PET scans of 41 murderers (39 males, 2 females) who were pleading NGRI
Had low activity in their prefrontal cortex

Question 15

Research of Tateno et al

Answer 15

89 male patients with TBI
Aggression measured from various sources - family interviews, police records, accounts from friends
Those who were classified as aggressive, were more likely to have frontal lobe damage

Question 16

Van Elst

Answer 16

Amygdala was reduced by 20% in violent offenders

Question 17

Research of Zagrodzka

Answer 17

Damaged cats central nucleus of their amygdala. Predator like attacks

(Supported by Potegal - aggressive hamsters have more active neurons in the medial nucleus of the amygdala)

Question 18

What is testosterone?

Answer 18

A hormone involved with aggression

Question 19

Evaluation of the neural explanation of aggression

Answer 19

Supporting research for the role of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Too simplistic

Scientific

Based on animal research (can you apply the research to humans)

Deterministic

Question 20

What is the endocrine system?

Answer 20

It produces several hundred hormones that interact with each other and the nervous system to regulate many different behaviours.

Question 21

What’s the role of hormones?

Answer 21

To regulate and control bodily functions

Question 22

When do levels of testosterone peak in males?

Answer 22

Around the start of puberty

Question 23

What is castration?

Answer 23

To remove the testes

Question 24

Castration....

Answer 24

Decreases aggression by removing the testes you are removing testosterone

Question 25

Testosterone acts on the '_____' system..

Answer 25

Serotonin system.. Lowers amount of serotonin (low levels of serotonin = less calm)

Question 26

Name the research for the hormonal explanation of aggression

Answer 26

Archer Edwards Van Goozen

Question 27

Research of Archer

Answer 27

Meta analysis of 5 studies and found a low positive correlation between testosterone and aggression

Question 29

Research of Edwards

Answer 29

Injected testosterone into neonate female rats, made them act like males when they were injected again as adults. However, the female rats only given testosterone as adults did not react in this way. Suggests early exposure to testosterone is important

Question 29

What is cortisol?

Answer 29

Another hormone associated with agg. Released from adrenal medulla and is important in the body's response to stress. The lower the levels of cortisol the higher the levels of aggression

Question 30

Research of Van Goozen

Answer 30

15 male to female 35 female to male Questionnaires assessed 'proneness to aggression' completed before and after receiving hormone treatment Research showed female to male transsexuals reported an increase in aggression proneness, male to females found decrease

Question 31

People with high testosterone and low cortisol...

Answer 31

More likely to be aggressive than those with high testosterone and high cortisol

Question 32

Evaluation of the hormonal explanation of aggression

Answer 32

``` Supporting research Too simplistic Animal research Methodological problems (testosterone - spine) Correlation all research ```

Question 33

Genetic explanation of aggression is assessed by researching...

Answer 33

Twins and adoptees

Question 34

What are identical twins called?

Answer 34

MZ twins

Question 35

DZ twins are...

Answer 35

Non-identical twins

Question 36

Why is research on twins interesting?

Answer 36

If aggression is genetic, if one twin is aggressive you would expect the other to be too

Question 37

Why are adoptees interesting?

Answer 37

If biological parents are aggressive adoptees should be too regardless of the environment

Question 38

Name the 2 twin studies

Answer 38

McGuffin and Gottesman Christiansen

Question 39

Name the 2 adoption studies

Answer 39

Hutching and Mednick Rhee and Walden

Question 40

What is a concordance rate?

Answer 40

The likelihood that if one twin is aggressive, the other one will be too

Question 41

Research of McGuffin and Gottesman

Answer 41

Found concordance rate of 87% for aggressive and anti-social behaviour for MZ twins and 72% for DZ twins Suggests genetics are important But that environment also plays a role

Question 42

Research of Christiansen

Answer 42

Reviewed 3568 pairs of twins born between 1881 and 1910 in a region of Denmark 926 were registered by the police for criminal activity 35% concordance rate for MZ male twins and 21% for MZ female twins 12% concordance rate for DZ male twins and 8% for DZ female twins

Question 43

Research of Hutching and Mednick

Answer 43

Study in Denmark involving a review of 14,000 adoptions in Denmark Found a significant positive correlation between the number of convictions for criminal violence among the biological parents (particularly the gathers) and the number of convictions for criminal violence among their adopted sons

Question 44

Research of Rhee and Walden

Answer 44

Meta-analysis of 51 twin and adoption studies involving 87,000 individuals. Operationalised aggression as: 1 psychiatric diagnoses (antisocial personality disorder 2 delinquency 3 behavioural aggression They suggested aggression could be explained in terms of 40% resulting from genes and 60% from environment

Question 45

How many neurotransmitters are thought to be involved in aggression? Name them!

Answer 45

1) Noradrenaline 2) Dopamine 3) Serotonin

Question 46

Imbalances of the three neurotransmitters lead to what?

Answer 46

Aggression

Question 47

What is noradrenaline?

Answer 47

Related the fight/flight response and leads to increased alertness. The fight/flight response may therefore be over active if noradrenaline is not broken down.

Question 48

What is MAOA?

Answer 48

A chemical that keeps the neurotransmitters noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin in check If MAOA is not produced it leads to imbalances in the 3 chemicals

Question 49

If the gene that produces MAOA is faulty...

Answer 49

No production of MAOA which leads to imbalances in chemicals which leads to aggression

Question 50

Evaluation points for twin research studies

Answer 50

Twins are likely to share the same environment | Twins are often treated the same

Question 51

Evaluation of adoption research studies

Answer 51

The adoption process may influence aggression | The contamination effect may play a role

Question 52

Evaluation of the genetic explanation of aggression

Answer 52

Too simplistic | Deterministic