serotonin and agression
- Created by: 2015amensah
- Created on: 09-05-22 06:50
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- Serotonin
- a neurotransmitter that carries electrical impulses around the brains network of neurons
- acts as a chemical carrier, transferring messages across the synaptic gap
- exerts a calming, inhibitory effect in neural firing in the brain
- reduces aggressive behaviour by inhibiting responses to the electrical stimuli
- lowered levels reduce this ability (serotonin deficiency hypothesis) and increases the incidence of impulsive behaviour
- Raleigh et al
- studied vervet monkeys and used diet to manipulate levels of serotonin in the brain
- diets with high tryptophan exhibited lower aggression levels
- suggests a difference in aggression could be linked to serotonin levels
- methodological weakness- lacks validity
- humans have high order thinking
- can't generalise
- humans have high order thinking
- Evaluation
- There is research support for the role of serotonin in aggression
- Duke et sl- meta analysis of 175 studies
- found small inverse relationship between serotonin levels and anger
- effect sizes tended to diminish over time
- suggests that the relationship between serotonin and aggression is more complex than originally thought
- effect sizes tended to diminish over time
- found small inverse relationship between serotonin levels and anger
- Duke et sl- meta analysis of 175 studies
- A strength of this is that there has been evidence applied to the real life
- Mann et al administered a drug which depleted serotonin to the brain to 35 healthy adults
- used a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels which rose as drug levels increased amongst males but not females
- however, demonstrates beta bias- males and females may not be subject to the same physiological factors when explaining aggression
- used a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels which rose as drug levels increased amongst males but not females
- Mann et al administered a drug which depleted serotonin to the brain to 35 healthy adults
- There is research support for the role of serotonin in aggression
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