AQA Psychology - Aggression

Which neural mechanism has been linked to agression?

limbic system

What does the lymbic system consist of?

amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus

What is the role of the limbic system?

regulating emotional behaviour

What is the structure that is seen as the emotional centre in the brain?

amygdala

What happens when the amygdala malfunctions?

levels of testosterone can be raised

Which part of the brain is involved in forming long-term memories?

hippocampus

What is the role of the hypothalamus?

maintain the internal environment of the body

Who found through fMRI scans that the amygdala lid up when participants react aggressively?

Gospic et al (2011)

What is concluded in Groves and Schlesinger studies when they remove the amygdala?

amygdala does not directly cause aggression but is involved in processing associated emotions

What effect does serotonin has throughout the brain?

inhibitory effect

What does a normal level of serotonin do to the amygdala?

inhibits the firing of the amygdala

What does low levels of serotonin associate with?

individuals being less able to control impulsive and aggressive behaviour

Which part of the brain is serotonin linked to?

orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

What is the theory that low levels of serotonin lead to impulsive and aggressive behaviour called?

serotonin deficiency hypothesis

Which hormone is often associated with aggression in male?

testosterone

What model suggests that testosterone causes a change in a person's level of dominance?

Basal Model of Testosterone

What is a result of higher testosterone level?

more competitive and dominant

What is a potential weakness of research into the role of testosterone?

gender bias, ignore that aggression may be learned, determinist

What is a gene that plays a role in aggressions?

MAOA gene

What does MAOA gene stands for?

Monoamine Oxidase A (gene)

What is the role of the MAOA gene?

regulates the metabolism of serotonin

What is measured in twin studies?

concordance rate

Who found a defective MAOA gene in a Dutch family with a history of male violence?

Brunner (1993)

In Cases et al (1995) research, what was the effect on male mice when their MAOA gene are disabled?

become highly aggressive

In Cases et al research, what was the effect on female mice when their MAOA gene are disabled?

remained unaffected

What is a drawback of the study on mice from Cases et al?

findings are difficult to generalise to human aggression

What was the condition for 500 male children with a defective MAOA gene to exhibit anti-social behaviour (Caspi et al, 2002)?

being maltreated as children

What are drawbacks of the genetic explanation of aggression?

ignore the role of the environment, use of animal studies

What is the term used to describe research that argues that we are somehow pre-programmed to be aggressive and therefore have no free will over out aggressive behaviour?

biological determinism

Which explanation of aggression that suggests the main function of aggression is adaptive?

ethological explanation

Why is aggression seen as adaptive (good for survival)?

showing of dominance over others

What are repertoire of stereotyped behaviours in response to specific triggers called?

fixed action patterns (FAPs)

What in-built neural mechanism produced FAPs?

innate releasing mechanism (IRM)

What is the specific stimulus that can trigger a FAP called?

sign stimulus

Who proposed the idea that FAPs have six main features?

Lea (1984)

What are the six main features of FAPs?

stereotyped, universal, unaffected by learning, ballistic, single-purpose, specific triggers

Who found that fights between animals of the same species produced little actual damage and consisted of ritualistic signalling?

Konrad Lorenz (1966)

What is displayed to indicate acceptance of defeat and inhibit further aggressive behaviour in the victor?

appeasement displays

Who found evidence to support the idea that members of the same species have an IRM that is triggered by a sign stimulus through the use of male sticklebacks?

Tinbergen (1951)

What need to be present for the male stickleback to attack its opponent, regardless of whether it look similar to a real fish or not?

red spot (on their underbelly)

What does the ethological explanation failed to take into account that make it lack generalizability to humans?

flexibility of human behaviours

Which features of FAPs did Nisbett (1993) dismiss when he found the differences in homicide rates between the southern and northern states?

universal and unaffected by learning

What is the culture where people avoid intentionally offending others and maintain a reputation for not accepting improper conduct by others?

culture of honour

What is an example that question the notion that animals' aggression is ritualistic rather than real?

male lions killing off the cubs of other males / male chimpanzees routinely kill members of another group

Who argued that the role of the environment in developing behaviour patterns are underestimated?

Hunt (1973)

What term has ethologists use to replace the term "fixed action patterns"?

behaviour pattern

Which explanation of aggression explains aggression as a way to increase reproductive successes?

evolutionary explanation

What can aggression be used for in the evolutionary explanation?

acquiring and defending resources, eliminating male rivals, deterring mates from sexual infidelity

What term is defined as when a man is deceived into raising and investing in offspring that are not his?

cuckoldry

What are the strategies that males use to keep a mate (mate retention strategies)?

direct guarding and negative inducements

Which type of mate retention strategies involve male vigilance and monitoring of partner's behaviour?

direct guarding

Which type of mate retention strategies involve issuing threats of dire consequences for infidelity?

negative inducements

Who argue that the characteristics associated with bullying behaviour are attractive to females (dominance)?

Volk et al (2012)

What does Volk et al suggest about the aim of female bullying?

to control a partner

What does the evolutionary explanation successfully explain?

reason why males engage more than females in aggressive act

Who argued that aggression may be better-explained by socialisation and the way parents punish boys and girls for bad conduct?

Smetana (1989)

What are some crime data that support the evolutionary explanation of aggression?

male sexual jealousy was the single most common motivation for killings in domestic disputes in America / sexual jealousy account for 17% of murder cases in the UK

What is a problem with suggesting violence is part of our evolution?

seen as determinist

What is the tendency to exaggerate differences between two groups called?

alpha bias

Who conducted a family conflict study to find that there were equal rates of aggressive assaults by women as there were by men?

Archer (2000)

Which explanation of aggression suggest that frustration always lead to some form of aggression and aggression is always the result of frustration?

frustration-aggression hypothesis

What is the process of releasing strong or repressed emotions to produce relief?

cartharsis

What are examples of aggressive behaviour?

violent fantasy, verbal outburst, physical violence

What leads to an aggressive behaviour, for example getting stuck in traffic and the car behind keeps on honking?

aggressive drive

Why is aggression not always expressed directly against the source of frustration?

- (source is) abstract
- (source is) powerful and we risk punishment
- (source is) not available at them time

What is the term used to describe when one become aggressive towards an alternative source that is not the source of frustration?

displacement

Who found evidence that catharsis increases aggression?

Bushman (2002)

Why did Bushman (2002) believe that having aggressively lead to more aggression?

aggressive behaviour kept aggressive thoughts and angry feelings active in memory

What is the newly-developed hypothesis that argues that it is negative feelings produced by any unpleasant experience that triggers aggression?

revised frustration-aggression hypothesis

Who found that an increase in temperatures in baseball games also correlates with pitchers' aggression?

Reifman (1991)

Who found that when Swedish football teams performed worse than expectations, more objects were thrown onto the pitch?

Priks (2010)

Who provided evidence for the role of SLT in aggression?

Bandura et al (1961)

Which theory argues that environmental influences underpin aggressive behaviour and that aggression is learnt?

social learning theory (SLT)

How can aggressive behavior be learnt?

modelling, vicarious reinforcement/punishment, imitation

What is the process of observing someone else being positively reinforced for their aggression called?

vicarious reinforcement

What is the mental processes involved in learning aggression called?

mediational processes

What is comprised in the mediational process?

attention, retention, reproduction, motivation

What is fuelled when a child's aggression is successful and they have more confidence?

self-efficacy

What practical application does SLT and aggression have?

shaping TV programmes (to censor aggression and promote pro-social behaviours)

What is defined as "a psychological state in which an individual loses their personal identity and takes on the identity of the social group"?

de-individuation

What are the factors that contribute to de-individuation?

anonymity, shared responsibility, intoxication

Why is anti-social and aggressive behaviour more likely when they are part of a large group or crowd or wearing a uniform?

free the individual from the constraints of moral responsibilities

Who carried out the hooded electric shock study?

Zimbardo (1969)

In Zimbardo’s research, participants in the de-individuated condition shocked the "learner" how much longer than the individuated participants?

twice as long

Who carried out the "Halloween experiment" to see if children were far more likely to steal money and sweets or not?

Deiner (1976)

When were children most likely to steal money and sweets in Deiner's study?

when they wore costumes and were in large groups

Why are social psychological theories of aggression said to be reductionist?

cannot account for the role of biological factors

What else do social psychological theories of aggression fail to explain?

gender differences in aggression

What are the two main theories explaining institutional aggression (aggression in prison)?

dispositional explanation and situational explanation

What model support the dispositional explanation?

importation model

Which explanation/model argues that institutional aggression happen because of the prisoner not because of the prison environment?

dispositional explanation/importation model

Who developed the importation model?

Irwin and Cressey

What are some behaviours/attitudes that are imported into the prison?

low self-control, impulsivity, anger, gang membership

What are the three prison sub-cultures that influence inmates?

criminal/thief sub-culture, convict sub-culture, conventional sub-culture

Which sub-culture involves the advocation of a criminal "code of honour" like trust and loyalty, but does not often get into violence act?

criminal/thief sub-culture

Which sub-culture involves individuals who are new to prison and would try to keep clear of the other two sub-cultures and are not generally aggressive?

conventional sub-culture

Which sub-culture has a strong power hierarchy and often exercise power over other inmates?

convict sub-culture

Who compared juvenile delinquents with negative backgrounds to a control group who did not possess the same traits and found that those from the "negative group" were more likely to engage in negative behaviours in prison?

DeLisi et al (2011)

Who found that inmates with a history of **gang membership** before being imprisoned were **no more likely** than other inmates to engage in prison violence?

DeLisi et al (2004)

Who found that isolating known gang members in a special management unit reduced the rates of serious assault by 50%?

Fischer (2001)