Neural and Hormonal
- Created by: Katie Langley
- Created on: 15-01-13 13:20
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- Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggression
- NEURAL
- BRAIN INJURIES - Phineas Gage (pole). After this he became aggressive. Aggression related to frontal lobe?
- PROBLEM - brain damage or chemical changes in brain? Also, damage may have been to other parts of brain, not just frontal lobe.
- AMYGDALA - neural processes surrounding amygdala can cause aggressive changes. Amygdala recognising others' emotions.
- REMOVAL OF AYGDALA - when the amygdala is removed, it reduces aggression. Does not directly cause aggression but gives empathy.(Blair et al, 2001)
- PSYCHOPATHY - Blackwood (2012): Psychopaths have lack of grey areas in brain that are important to understanding others' emotions.
- SEROTONIN- reduces aggression.
- NON-HUMAN STUDIES - Raleigh et al (1991): monkeys fed diets high in tryptophan, increases serotonin. Showed decreased levels of aggression and vise versa.
- ANTIDEPRESSANTS - antidepressants raise serotonin levels, reducing aggression.
- DOPAMINE - increases aggression
- INFLUENCE - influence of this may be a consequence of aggression rather than cause.
- BRAIN INJURIES - Phineas Gage (pole). After this he became aggressive. Aggression related to frontal lobe?
- HORMONAL
- TESTOSTERONE - impacts areas thought to be involved with aggression.
- DABBS ET AL (1987): measured saliva of criminals and non-criminals. The higher the tesosterone, more chance of person having history of violence.
- LINDMAN ET AL (1987): young males who behaved aggressively when drunk had higher testosterone levels.
- CHALLENGE HYPOTHESIS - Wingfield et al (1990) testosterone rises in social challenges e.g. over a female.
- INCONSISTENT EVIDENCE - Albert et al (1993) no such relationship between testos. and agg. Most studies showing pos. correlations are done with prisoners using self-report - unreliable.
- AGGRESSION OR DOMINANCE? - Mazur (1985): aggression used to inflict injury. Dominance to maintain status.
- GENDER BIAS - studies mainly focus on males, but testosterone is also important in females.
- CORTISOL - high levels of cortisol inhibit testosterone and therefore aggression.
- MCBURNETT ET AL (2000): supported with boys with behaviour problems. Low cortisol levels leads to antisocial behaviour.
- TESTOSTERONE - impacts areas thought to be involved with aggression.
- NEURAL
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