AGGRESSION - GENERAL

Limbic System

The central area of the brain that regulates motivational and emotional urges.

Amydala

Main role is to process emotion.

Serotonin

Exerts a calming inhibitory effect on neuronal firing in the brain, and the amygdala.

Hippocampus

Involved in the formation of long term memories which allows us/animals to compare a current threat with similar past experiences .

What do animal studies show about the amygdala?

If certain areas of the amygdala are stimulated electrically then the animal will respond aggressively, however if these areas are removed, the animal wont respond in the same way.

Pardini et al (limbic system)

studied 56 participants with history of violence using an MRI and found those with lower amygdala volumes displayed higher levels of aggression and violence even after confounding variables were controlled.

Sumer et al (limbic system)

Case study of an aggressive 14 year old girl, an MRI scan discovered a tumour in the limbic system and after it was treated the aggression returned to normal.

Is the role of the limbic system clear cut?

No- it is made of many components so its not clear which parts may also be implicated. Different elements may interact leading to aggression, not just the hippocampus or amygdala.

Is the research linking brain abnormalities to violence correlational?

Yes- theres only a relationship between limbic system and aggression however many individuals have abnormalities there but don't demonstrate violence. Difficult to establish cause and effect.

What do humanists argue about using animals to measure aggression?

Humans are qualitatively different to animals so we're unable to generalise lab findings with animals, therefore issue with ecological validity.

What is the deterministic explanation for aggression?

Biochemistry removes the free will and choice over out aggressive responses and instead lays the blame on neurochemistry in the brain.

What do humanists say about aggressive behaviour?

That we have free will over our actions and therefore aggressive behaviour is a choice.

What is testosterone?

A male hormone produced in the testes and is mainly associated with sexual and aggressive behaviour.

What is said about male and female aggression levels?

Male aggression levels are mainly higher than females.

What is said about the result of a change in testosterone levels?

influences aggressive behaviour by increasing amygdala activity

Wagner (1979)- testosterone

Observed reduced levels of aggression in mice after being castrated, it returned to normal levels after supplemented with testosterone injections.

Dolan et al (2001)- testosterone

Found positive correlation between testosterone and aggressive behaviours in a sample of 60 offenders in Max security hospitals

Higley et al (2006)- testosterone

Found testosterone can affect how an individual feels but not how they behave, may be other factors relating to the SLT theory influencing this response.

What is said about the predictive validity of aggression?

It is poor due to it normally being measured using responses to hypothetical scenarios, as responses may be more passive in nature.

MAOA

Causing low levels of serotonin linked to aggression

Genetic explanation

individuals may be predisposed to criminal behaviour.

What is Brunner Syndrome?

analysed 28 dutch families DNA with convictions for rape and attempted murder, discovering they shared MAOA gene

What is said about males who have an extra Y chromosome?

may be predisposed towards violent crime, however it may be there latter characteristic that accounts for their representation in prison populations.

McDermott - genetic

78 male Uni students and asked them to complete a online vocab task to earn money, after being told an anonymous partner could chose to take their money, they decided to either punish them or not. Low activity MAOA subjects more likely to issue punishment.

Mednick - genetic

Adoption research compared conviction rates of their parents and found 20% conviction rates of adoptees whose parents had been convicted, and 13.5% conviction rates for those whose parents hadn't.

Frazzetto (2007)- genetic

Found an association between MAOA and aggression, but only if individuals had experienced significant trauma such as sexual or physical abuse when younger .

Vassos et al (2014)- genetic

Meta anyalsis study- found no evidence for a single gene and aggressive behaviour, casting doubt that there is a single gene responsible for aggression and may require hundreds of thousands of genes in complex interactions for there to be any effect at all.

What do genetic explanations not help us understand?

Don't help us understand why others who possess the mutated gene may act aggressively. Also doesn't explain why females become aggressive\= beta bias.

What is ethology?

study of animal behaviour

What do ethological explanations for aggression see aggression as?

Adaptive meaning essential for survival

Does all aggressive behaviour involve fighting?

No it may be ritualised in the form of threat displays.

What is an example of this ritualised aggression?

Include Gorillas who use a variety of vocalisations (such as hooting) and gestures (chest pounding) to intimidate an opponent without physical contact.

Gardner and Heider (1968)- ethology

Described how the Dani of New Guinea engaged in ritualised patterns of intergroup hostility.

Jane Goodall (2010)- ethology

observed "four year war" where male chimps from one community systematically slaughtered all members of another group in a coordinated and premeditated fashion- doesn't fit concept of ritualised fighting.

What research challenges the notion that Ethology can be applied to Human aggression?

Human aggression appears to have a deep- rooted desire to inflict harm on another human being, examples include weekend violence, domestic abuse, murder or violent robbery.

What is a fixed action pattern?

A sequence of behaviours that follow the innate releasing mechanism

What is the innate releasing mechanism?

An innate mechanism that prompts a behaviour

According to Lorenz, what is aggression like?

a drive like hunger or sleep that needs to be satisfied.

What is an example of the Fixed Action pattern?

Male sticklebacks attack other males in their nests. (Actually simple presence of red leads to attack)

According to Lea, what 5 features does Fixed action patterns have?

Stereotyped- behaviour follows certain patterns
Universal- all animals in species use same threat
Innate- animals seem to be born with it
Ballistic- once it starts it cannot be stopped
Specific triggers seem to set it off

Chagnon (1992) - ethology

The Yanomamo people of South America use chest pounding and how club fighting contests can settle minor conflicts and prevent even more extreme violence.

Sackett (1966) - ethology

Researched old world vipers and new world pit vipers to show FAP occur in reptiles. After biting prey, they release chemical signal to locate body later.

Why is generalising animal research to humans problematic?

The environment in which an animal and human develop is entirely different and there are difficulties trying to generalise findings.

Nisbett- ethology

these differences are due to culture and a learned social norm- found by white males from the South America more likely to respond aggressively in the North.

Another problem of Fixed Action Patterns?

Made up of several aggressive behaviours in a series and vary in both in duration animal to animal and even in the same animal from one encounter to another- they are more flexible than ethology suggests.

What are mental modules?

They tell us what to do in order to deal with situations similar to those of our ancestral humans.

What is sexual competition?

caused by ancestral males seeking access to females, whilst competing with other males, which would have lead to aggression.

What is sexual jealousy?

men can never be truly sure about whether they have truly fathered a child

What may sexual jealousy lead to?

direct guarding- leading to male vigilance over a partners behaviour, such as reading text messages and also leading to negative inducements: "I will kill myself if you leave me"

Why does bullying occur?

Due to power imbalance

Support for sexual competition provided through anthropological evidence?

the male jaw bone is thicker than females, suggesting that it is because males often fought with eachother

Tony Volk (bullying)

argues that the characteristics associated with bullying behaviour are attractive to opposite sex as it shows dominance and has benefits of warding off potential rivals.

The King San people of Kalahari-

Have very negative attitudes towards aggression and aggression is discouraged from childhood ad as a result is a rare occurrence- aggression may be cultural.

Is aggressive behaviour always adaptive?

not always adaptive and can result in social ostracism, injury or even death. Violent males aren't perceived to be attractive by all females, warriors may die in battle- makes it maladaptive.

Frustration aggression?

The result of blocked goals.

What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis?

based on the psychodynamic concept of catharsis and views aggression as a psychological drive similar to a biological one such as hunger.

Example of abstract frustration

How the Government is dealing with the BREXIT negotiations or the state of the economy

Geen - frustration

Participants who were insulted gave out the strongest shocks on average, when they where competing a puzzle compared to other 2 groups.

Berkowitz- frustration

Adds additional elements of environmental triggers- "trigger may be pulling the finger" debate in the US, because some states allow open carry where weapon doesn't have to be concealed.

Bushman- frustration

participants who were permitted to hit a punch bag repeatedly to vent their anger become more aggressive rather than less aggression.

Is aggression always prompted by aggression?

No- someone may find themselves in a threatening situation and opt to fight rather than flight, or others may cry.

What does many pieces of research into frustration aggression lack?

Mundane realism- it's not possible to allow individuals to be physically aggressive towards people in controlled settings, hypothetical situations are created instead.

What is vicarious reinforcement?

seeing others getting rewarded for aggression

What is vicarious punishment?

Seeing others getting punished for aggressive behaviours

State the 4 cognitive factors of the social learning theory of aggression?

Attention
Memory
Motor Reproduction
Motivation to perform

Describe attention as a cognitive factor to SLT aggression?

person must first pay attention to models aggressive behaviour

Describe memory as a cognitive factor to SLT aggression?

they must then encode and form a memory of the aggressive behaviour the model performs

Describe motor reproduction as a cognitive factor to SLT aggression?

does the individual feel like they are able to reproduce the aggressive behaviour they have observed and memorised

Describe motivation to perform as a cognitive factor to SLT aggression?

observers motivation to be aggressive themselves may be affected if they believe reinforcement is available if they imitate.

Paulin and Bolvin- SLT

Most aggressive boys form friendships with other aggressive boys describing these as training grounds for aggressive behaviours. Means they were frequently exposed to aggressive models who were able to see positive outcomes of being aggressive.

Practical applications of SLT for reducing aggression

Pro- social behaviour should be rewarded and antisocial behaviour should be punished. Parents should encourage children to form friendships with polite children and censorship of sources of media.

What do children who are experienced in using proactive aggression have high levels of?

self- efficacy meaning that they are confident that their aggressive behaviour will bring benefits. In this sense they actively use aggression to achieve goals and support SLT.

What is the issue of the Bobo doll study?

mundane realism due to the lab based experiment- trying to replicate potential causes of aggression in artificial setting does not reflect real life

What is deindividuation?

Where an individual loses their personal identity normally when in a crowd or a group

Mahendran- Deindividuation

anonymity shapes crowd behaviour as we have less fear of retribution because we are a small and unidentifiable part of a larger group and there is less opportunity for others to judge us negatively.

Private self- awareness

concerned with how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviour which is reduced when we are part of a crowd as we become less self critical of our own actions

public self-awareness

concerned with how much we care about what others think, in a crowd we become less accountable to be more aggressive

Douglas and McGarty (2001)- deindividuation

investigating aggressive behaviour online, found evidence for flaming, means a positive relationship between anonymous and the posting threatening and hostile messages.

Gergen et al (1973)- deindividuation

participants were placed in a dark room for an hour and told to do whatever they wanted and instead began kissing, however when they were told their anonymity was lifted, kissing behaviour declined.

Downing- deindividuation

Found when participants were deindividualized by wearing either KKK or nurses or asked to give electric shocks, nurses acted less aggressively and showed compassion towards their victim.

What is institutional aggression?

Aggression within a social context eg prison

What is dispositional aggression?

Aggression linked to personality

What is the importation model?

argues that prisons aren't completely insulated from the happenings of everyday life outside in the real world. Prison inmates are products of their actual lives and bring with them subcultural set of criminal norms.

What is the criminal/thief subculture?

Code of honour, stipulates that you mustn't tell on fellow inmates when they have committed a misdemeanour in prison. Promotes honour, trust and loyalty.

What is convict subculture?

A strong hierarchy and much behaviour within the group depends on the position in the hierarchy itself. Aggression is used to exercise power over others.

What is conventional/ straight subculture?

Individuals will be new to prison and probably be one time offenders. They will try to steer clear of the other two sub cultures, be less aggressive and have more in common with prison guards.

Delisi (institutionalised aggression)

analysed 813 juvenile delinquents and looked at dispositional features such as childhood trauma, histories of substance abuse etc. Compared to control group, these inmates engaged in more aggressive behaviour.

Camp and Gaes- institutionalised aggression

studied over 500 inmates with similar histories where half were placed in high and low security prisons. The % of aggressive behaviour wasn't significant (3%) - showing how dispositional features matter more, not the situational features of how the prison is designed.

Dilulio- institutionalised aggression

claims that the importation model is inadequate- it ignores the role of prison officials and how the prison is ran. His research claim that poorly ran prisons leads to more inmate violence therefore dispositional factors such as the importation model are ignoring other influential factors.

Gaes et al- institutionalised aggression

overcrowding in prisons can be the cause of not just ill health and general misconduct, but aggression and violence.

Is the findings of violence in juvenile prisons generalisable?

similar findings haven't been found with adults

Situational explanations

the cause of aggression in prisons is due to the prison environment itself which may include other people

the deprivation model

aggression is the result of harsh prison conditions

what are the 5 factors of Syke's deprivation model?

liberty, autonomy, goods and services, heterosexual relationship, security

Wilson- situational explanations

Wilson set up two units in HMP Woodhill where the overcrowding was reduced, music was introduced to reduce noisy conditions and the temperature was carefully controlled. He found that initiating these conditions was a successful way to lower levels of aggression.

what is a criticism of using video games as a cause of aggression?

aggression has always been a predominant feature of society, violent video games has not.

Anderson (video games)- Experimental research

students assigned to play either violent or non violent games for 10 mins then competed with a confederate in a reaction time task that allowed for provocation and retaliation. Those who played the violent game chose higher white noise levels (punishment for non existent opponent) compared with the control group.

Gentile and Anderson (video games)- correlational research

surveyed 600 adolescents- more time spent playing violent video games was positively associated with aggression. Even children who were naturally calm were involved with fights.

Anderson (video games)- longitudinal research

surveyed children at two points across the year. He found those who had high exposure to violent video games became more aggressive, both verbally and physically, and less prosocial.

Ferguson (video games)

lab results haven't translated into the real world as research into video game violence has failed to control for other variables such as mental health may impacted their results. Children more at risk are more likely to chose to play violent video games.