Aggression

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Kluver and Bucy (1937) - The amygdala
Found that destroying the amygdala of a monkey who was dominant in a social group caused it to lose its dominant place.
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Pardini et al (2014) - Evidence for the role of the amygdala in aggression
Longitudinal study of male participants from childhood and adulthood had some participants subjected to brain MRI scans. Showed that participants with lower amygdala volumes exhibited higher levels of aggression and violence.
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Mann et al (1990) - Serotonin
Gave male participants dexfenfluramine, a drug which depletes serotonin, and found an association with dexfenfluramine and hostility and aggression scores.
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Sapolsky (1998) - Testosterone
Summarised research in that removing the source of testosterone in species typically caused much lower levels of testosterone and reinstating normal testosterone levels led to a return in aggressive behaviour.
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Daly and Wilson (1998) - Testosterone
Found that when testosterone levels are highest (21-35), there is an increase in male-on-male aggressive behaviour.
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Albert et al (1994) - Inconsistent evidence of hormonal influences
Found positive correlations between testosterone levels and self-reported levels of aggression in prison inmates. But, no correlation was found between testosterone levels and actual violence in prison inmates.
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Mazur (1985) - Aggression or dominance; Hormonal influences
Claims that aggression is a form of dominance behaviour done to achieve or maintain status.
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Eisenegger et al (2001) - Aggression or dominance; Hormonal influences
Found that women could become nicer rather than more aggressive due to testosterone. Testosterone doesn’t directly lead to aggressive behaviour but promotes status-seeking behaviour.
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Genetic factors
Refers to the likelihood that a behaviour is determined a person’s genetic make-up.
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Twin studies - Genetic factors in aggression
Most twin studies have focused on criminal behaviour.
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Coccaro et al’s study (1997) - Twin studies
One of the few studies which specifically focused on aggressive behaviour. It involved adult twin pairs and found that nearly 50% of the variance in direct aggressive behaviour (aggression towards others) was due to genetic factors.
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Hutchings and Mednick (1975) - Adoption studies
Involved over 14,000 adoptions in Denmark and found that a significant no. of boys with criminal convictions had biological parents (particularly fathers) with convictions for criminal violence, showing a genetic effect.
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MAOA - A gene for aggression?
A gene responsible for producing the enzyme MAOA has been associated with aggressive behaviour. MAOA regulates the metabolism of serotonin in the brain and low levels of serotonin are linked with impulsive and aggressive behaviour.
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Brunner et al - MAOA gene
Study of a Dutch family found that many of its male members behaved in an aggressive and impulsive way and many had been involved in series violent crimes. It was found that these men had abnormally low levels of MAOA.
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The 'warrior gene' - MAOA gene
MAOA-L is more frequent in countries with a history of warfare – two-thirds of people in these populations have this variation; only one-third of people in Western populations have this version.
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Tiihonen et al (2015) - Evidence for the influence of the MAOA gene
Found that the MAOA-L in combination with another gene (the CDH13) was associated with extremely violent behaviour. These genes were not found in non-violent offenders, suggesting that this combination of genes was specific to violent offending alone
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The ethological explanation of aggression
States that all members of the same species (i.e. conspecifics) have a range of stereotyped behaviours that occur in specific conditions and do not require learning and so are innate.
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Tinbergen - FAPs and IRMs
Studied sticklebacks and found that a male stickleback fish will produce a pattern of aggressive behaviours when another male enters its territory; the sign stimulus is the sight of the fish’s red underbelly.
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Lea, 1984 - Characteristics of FAPs
Stereotyped, universal, independent of individual experience, ballistic, specific triggers
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Stereotyped - Characteristics of FAPs
The behaviour occurs in the same way.
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Universal - Characteristics of FAPs
The behaviour is the same in all conspecifics.
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Independent of individual experience - Characteristics of FAPs
The behaviour is innate and not learned.
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Ballistic - Characteristics of FAPs
The FAP can’t be changed or stopped once it has been triggered.
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Specific triggers - Characteristics of FAPs
Each FAP has a specific trigger (sign stimulus).
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Fox (1978) - Ritualistic aggression
Found that on Tory Island, off the coast of Ireland, threat displays had appeared to take the place of actual aggression.
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Lehrman (1953) - Criticisms of an instinctive view of aggression
Believed that Lorenz had underestimated the importance of environmental factors which interact with innate factors to produce behaviour patterns for conspecifics.
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Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1972) - Human FAPs?
Identified some human FAPs, like smiling as a sign of greeting. But, the environment changes so rapidly that Eibl-Eibesfeldt suggests that FAPs for aggression are no longer adaptive.
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Chagnon (1992) - Benefits of ritualised aggression
Found that with the Yanomamö people of South America, club fighting and chest pounding could settle conflicts and prevent injury as it would not let this aggression revert to more extreme violence.
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Chagnon (1992) - Benefits of ritualised aggression
Found that with the Yanomamö people of South America, club fighting and chest pounding could settle conflicts and prevent injury as it would not let this aggression revert to more extreme violence.
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Evolutionary explanation of aggression
Focuses on the adaptive nature of behaviour i.e. modern behaviours have evolved to solve challenges faced by our ancestors. E.g. aggression is a strategy that would have helped to solve problems.
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Puts (2010) - Sexual competition
Argues that various male traits show that there was competition between ancestral males e.g. males have thicker jawbones, which Puts believes came from men hitting each other.
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Archer (2013) - Sexual jealousy
Described how male aggression could occur due to paternal uncertainty.
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Sexual jealousy
Men can never be sure they are the fathers of their children, as they are at risk of cuckoldry. This would result in men unknowingly investing their resources in offspring that are not their own. Sexual jealousy would therefore have been adaptive.
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Buss (1988) - Sexual jealousy
Suggests that males have some strategies for keeping a mate: violence, threats of violence and violence towards a love rival.
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Dell (1984) - Sexual jealousy
Concluded that 17% of all cases of murder in the UK was due to sexual jealousy.
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Aggression in warfare
War is dangerous and costly so it is difficult to see why humans would engage in wars. Displays of aggressiveness and bravery are attractive to females and when there is a lack of these attributes, the male is seen as less attractive.
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Chagnon (1988) - Aggression in warfare
Showed that male warriors tended to have more sexual partners and more children, suggesting a direct reproductive benefit.
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Aggressive behaviour may not always be adaptive
Aggressive behaviour can result in social ostracism, injury or death. Aggression can be seen as more maladaptive than adaptive in some cases.
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Duntley and Buss (2004) - Aggressive behaviour may not always be adaptive
Note that the benefits outweigh the costs on average, meaning that natural selection will favour aggressive behaviours, causing them to be a fundamental part of human nature.
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Gender bias
Evolutionary explanations do not show how women would behave in warfare.
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Adams (1983) - Gender bias
Proposed that this was because in most societies, women warriors are very rare.
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Limitations of evolutionary explanations of aggression
These explanations do not explain the high levels of cruelty found in human conflicts which are not evident with non-human animals.
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Dollard et al
Proposed the frustration-aggression hypothesis.
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The frustration-aggression hypothesis
Claims that all aggression is the result of frustration - aggression is caused by there being an obstacle to a goal (getting something they want).
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What does frustration cause?
Aggression (the arousal of an aggressive drive which then leads to aggressive behaviour) and catharsis.
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Catharsis
An emotional release that happens when a person engages in aggressive behaviour.
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When does frustration increase?
When our motivation to achieve a goal is very strong, when we expect gratification and there is nothing we can do about it.
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Brown et al (2001) - The frustration-aggression hypothesis
Surveyed British holidaymakers who couldn’t travel by ferry to France as French fishing boats were blocking the port. They found an increase in hostile attitudes towards the French due to their frustration.
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Unjustified frustration
When there is no explanation for something unpleasant to happen and provokes higher levels of aggression.
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Justified frustration
When there is a reason for something unpleasant to happen and this produces much lower levels of aggression.
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The 'scapegoat'
People have a drive to be aggressive but often they cannot behave aggressively towards the source of the frustration and so their aggression is displaced onto something or someone else.
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The 'kicking the dog effect'
People need to find a ‘scapegoat’ so that they can experience catharsis.
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Berkowitz (1989)
Proposed the revised frustration-aggression hypothesis.
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The revised frustration-aggression hypothesis
Argues that frustration is one of the several types of unpleasant experiences that lead to aggression. These unpleasant experiences create negative feelings and it is these which trigger aggression.
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Unanticipated interference
Increases the likelihood of an aggressive reaction, because when something interferes with our ability to reach an anticipated goal, this is a more unpleasant experience.
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Anticipated interference
Decreases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
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Staub (1996) - Real-world application for the frustration-aggression hypothesis
Suggests that mass killings are often due to frustration caused by social and economic difficulties in a society. These frustrations often lead to scapegoating, and discrimination and aggression towards this group.
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Reifman et al - Not all aggression arises from frustration
Studied US baseball games and found that as temperatures increased, it became more likely that pitchers would display aggressive behaviours towards the batters.
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Social learning theory
Argues that children become aggressive because they are either directly rewarded for aggressive behaviour or they observe someone else being rewarded for aggression.
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Observation - Social learning theory
A way children learn aggressive responses through watching the behaviour of role models and then imitating this.
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Vicarious reinforcement - Social learning theory
Children observe and learn the consequences of aggressive behaviour by seeing others being reinforced or punished.
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Mental representation - Social learning theory
SLT involves a kind of cognitive schema: the script. When children have learned about the rewards and punishments for aggression, this determines their expectancies for future aggression.
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Maintenance through direct experience - Social learning theory
If a child is rewarded, they are likely to repeat the same behaviour in similar situations in the future.
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Self-efficacy expectancies - Social learning theory
Children develop confidence in their ability to carry out the necessary aggressive actions. If aggression has not been useful for a child in the past, they have less confidence (lower sense of self-efficacy) in their ability to use aggression.
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Gee and Leith (2007) - Research support for SLT
Analysed penalty records from 200 games. When US players were young, they were more likely to have been exposed to aggressive models and less likely to have been punished for aggressive play. Found US players were penalised more for aggressive play.
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Lack of realism in research - Social learning theory
A lot of early research followed the procedure of Bandura’s study. The doll would not retaliate when hit, unlike a human. Bandura did another study where children watched a film of an adult model hitting a clown and found the children imitated these.
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Cultural differences in aggression - Social learning theory
Aggression is rare among the !Kung San. When children argue or fight, their parents separate them and distract them onto other things. Parents don’t use physical punishment and aggression is devalued by the society as a whole.
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Rehm et al (1987) - Research support for de-individuation
Watched games of handball in German schools in which one team wore the same colour shirts and the other team wore different coloured shirts. They found that the uniformed teams exhibited significantly more aggressive acts than the non-uniformed team.
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Postmes and Spears (1998) - Inconclusive support for de-individuation
Meta-analysis found that disinhibition and anti-social behaviour (the main elements of DI theory) are not common in large groups, but instead de-individuation increases people’s responsiveness to situational norms.
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Cannavale et al (1970) - Gender differences in de-individuation theory
Found that in the all-male groups there was an increase in aggression under de-individuation conditions but this was not found in the all-female groups.
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Eagly (2013) - Gender differences in de-individuation theory
Explains these differences in that males tend to respond to provocation in more extreme ways compared with females and these tendencies are exacerbated under de-individuation conditions.
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Institutional aggression
Refers to aggressive behaviours in particularly violent individuals, including prisons.
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Situational explanation: The deprivational model
Argues that prison violence is the result of the stressful and oppressive circumstances which inmates respond to with aggression.
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Sykes (1958) - Situational model: The deprivational model
Describes the deprivations inmates experience in prison as linked to an increase in violence, including the loss of liberty, the loss of autonomy and the loss of security.
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Kimmet and Martin (2002) - Situational explanation: The deprivational model
Studied over 200 inmates and found that prison violence is often a way of surviving the risk of exploitation. The most violent situations in prisons were more to do with the need for respect and fairness.
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Overcrowding - The role of prison conditions; The deprivational model
A 2014 government report attributed the high rates of murder, suicide and assaults to the increased overcrowding in British prisons.
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Heat and noise - The role of prison conditions; The deprivation model
High temperatures and noise exacerbate the effects of overcrowding and therefore may predispose inmates to aggressive behaviour.
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Job burnout - The role of prison conditions; The deprivation model
Job burnout in prison staff involves being psychologically worn out, exhausted from the job and gradually not caring about the people they work with.
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McCorkle et al (1995) - Research support for the deprivational model
Studied 371 US prisons. Found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity significantly influenced inmate on inmate assaults and inmate on staff assaults.
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Real-world application for the deprivational model
At HMP Woodhill, Prison Governor Wilson decided that if most violence occurred when prisons were hot, noisy and overcrowded, he would set up two units for violent prisoners. These changes eradicated assaults.
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Dispositional explanation: The importation model
Argues that prison violence is due to the enduring characteristics of the individuals involved rather than the situation they’re in.
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Irwin and Cressey (1962) - Dispositional explanation: The importation model
Claim that inmates bring their violent pasts to prisons and they will draw on their experiences in prisons as toughness and physical exploitation are important survival skills.
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A 'code of the streets' - Dispositional explanation: The importation model
A set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behaviour, including violence. At the heart of this is the issue of respect. These define how an individual behaves in prison.
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Gang membership - Dispositional explanation: The importation model
Pre-prison gang membership seems to be an important predictor in prison violence.
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Allender and Marcell (2003) - Gang membership; The importation model
Found that gang members disproportionately engage in acts of prison violence.
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Drury and DeLisi (2011) - Gang membership; The importation model
Studied over 1,000 prison inmates and found that individuals who had been in gangs before imprisonment were more likely to commit murder, hostage taking and assault with a deadly weapon.
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Anger, anti-social personality style and impulsivity - The role of dispositional characteristics
Wang and Diamond (1999) found that these characteristics were stronger predictors of institutional aggression than ethnicity and type of offence committed.
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Low self-control - The role of dispositional prison characteristics
DeLisi et al (2003) found that low self-control was a significant predictor of aggressive behaviour both before and during imprisonment.
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Poole and Regoli (1983) - Research support for the importational model
Found that the best indicator of violence among juvenile offenders was pre-institutional violence regardless of any environmental factors in an institution.
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DeLisi et al (2004) - Challenge to the importation model
Found that inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence. But, violent gang members tend to be isolated from the rest of the general inmate population, so they have less opportunity.
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Media influences
Changes in behaviour that are seen as due to exposure to media, like TV and computer games.
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Laboratory and field experiments - Violent films and TV
Participants often either watch violent film scenes or watch non-violent scenes and they are observed after to see how they interact with other people. Often found that those who watch violent scenes then behave more aggressively.
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Bjorkqvist (1985) - Laboratory and field experiments; Violent films and TV
Had 5 to 6 year old Finnish children watch either violent or non-violent films and found that those who watched violent films were rated much higher on measures of physical aggression afterwards.
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Huesmann et al (2003) - Laboratory and field experiments; Violent films and TV
Studied 557 children between 6 and 10 years old and 329 of these children 15 years later. They found that frequent early exposure to TV violence was predictive of later adult aggression.
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Bushman and Huesmann (2006) - Meta-analyses; Violent films and TV
Meta-analysis of over 400 studies - most looked at the impact of violent TV but others looked at the effect of video games, comic books and music. They found significant effect sizes for exposure to media violence on aggressive behaviours.
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Porter and Starcevic (2007) - Violent computer games
Suggest that violent video games may exert more influence than TV violence, where the viewer has a more passive role. Also, in violent video games, aggression is rewarded and is shown as being appropriate and effective.
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Anderson and Dill (2000) - Experimental studies; Violent computer games
Found that participants blasted their opponents with white noise for longer after playing Wolfenstein 3D (a first person shooter game) compared to those who played Myst (a puzzle game).
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Anderson et al (2007) - Longitudinal studies; Violent computer games
Studied 430 children aged between 7 and 9 years old at two points in the year and found that children with high exposure to violent video games became more physically and verbally aggressive and less prosocial.
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Livingstone (1996) - A lot of media violence research have bad methodologies
She suggests that field experiments conducted with better experimental conditions and a longer follow-up period would provide the strongest evidence.
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Problem with lab experiments on the effects of computer games
They can’t measure real-life aggression. They have to use other measures which are not very relevant to real-life aggression, like administering noise blasts or hot chili sauce to another participant.
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A lot a media violence research is overstating the case
Many studies that have found a relationship between media violence and aggression have only reported small to medium effect sizes.
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Ferguson and Kilburn (2009) - Very few media violence studies have measured aggression against another person
Claim that when aggression towards another person is the measure of aggression in research, the relationship between media violence exposure and aggression is close to zero.
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Desensitisation - Explanations of media influences
Explanations based on the idea that under normal conditions, anxiety about violence inhibits its use but media violence may lead to aggressive behaviour by removing this anxiety.
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Linz et al (1989) - Desensitisation
Described one indication of desensitisation as the reduction of physiological arousal (heart rate) when people are exposed to real violence after being repeatedly exposed to media violence.
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The good of desensitisation
It can be adaptive e.g. it can help troops be more effective in their role.
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Bushman and Anderson (2009) - The bad of desensitisation
Found that violent media exposure can reduce helping behaviour that might normally be offered to people in distress.
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Disinhibition - Explanations of media influences
Explanations based on the idea that normally, anxiety about violence inhibits its use but exposure to media violence can remove this anxiety and therefore result in aggressive behaviour.
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Heath et al (1989) - Disinhibition depends on other factors
Children growing up in households with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experience enough disinhibition for them to exhibit aggressive behaviour, whereas disinhibition is stronger when children are physically punished by their parents.
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Cognitive priming - Explanations of media influences
Refers to a temporary increase in the accessibility of thoughts and ideas.
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Who proposed cognitive priming?
Berkowitz (1984)
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What did Berkowitz claim about cognitive priming?
When people are constantly exposed to media violent media, this activates thoughts about violence, which in turn, activate other associated aggressive thoughts.
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Zelli et al (1995) - Cognitive priming
Found that priming of aggressive stimuli caused individuals to make hostile attributions about other people which can increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
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Bushman (1998) - Research support for cognitive priming
Undergraduates watched either scenes from a violent film or a non-violent film. Participants who watched the violent film subsequently had faster reaction times to aggressive words than those who saw the non-violent film.
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Card 2

Front

Longitudinal study of male participants from childhood and adulthood had some participants subjected to brain MRI scans. Showed that participants with lower amygdala volumes exhibited higher levels of aggression and violence.

Back

Pardini et al (2014) - Evidence for the role of the amygdala in aggression

Card 3

Front

Gave male participants dexfenfluramine, a drug which depletes serotonin, and found an association with dexfenfluramine and hostility and aggression scores.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Summarised research in that removing the source of testosterone in species typically caused much lower levels of testosterone and reinstating normal testosterone levels led to a return in aggressive behaviour.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Found that when testosterone levels are highest (21-35), there is an increase in male-on-male aggressive behaviour.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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