Aggression

What are the neural mechanisms of Aggression

The limbic system and seritonin

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The limbic system

Inside the brain their is a network of structures that all regulate emotional behaviour like aggression.

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What is the limbic system comprised from?

The limbic system is comprised mainly of the hippocampus the hypothalamus and the amygdala.

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What is the most important structure?

Th most important structure is the amygdala when it comes to understanding aggression this is because it assesses and responds to environmental threats and challenges.

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Info about amygdala overactivity...

When the amygdala becomes overreactive it means that someone is more likely to display aggressive behaviours.

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Gospics Study

Gospics used a laboratory method to assess aggression using the ultimatum game. There were two players the prosper and responder. The prosper offers to split the money a certain way with the (R).Who can either reject or accept the money.Gospic found that

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What else was found

They also found that when the drug benzodiazepine was taken (which reduces the arousal of the automatic nervous system) rejections were halved and activity in the amygdala decreased. Shows evidence of an association between reactive aggression and amygdal

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Sumers study

Sumer looked at the case study of a 14 ear old girl who was presenting aggressive behaviour for no visible reason. He conducted an MRI scan of her brain and found that there as a mass pressing on her amygdala causing it to be overreactive which explained

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Serotonin

-Its's a neurotransmitter involved in the communication of impulses in the brain
-it has an inhibitory effect so there for slows activity in the brain.
-normal levels of serotonin in the OFC are linked to reducing firing of neurons which is associated wit

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Serotonin continued...

Decreased serotonin might disturb this mechanism therefore reducing self control and an increase in impulsive behaviour.

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Virkkunen

He compared levels of serotonin breakdown product (called 5-HIAA) in the cerebrospinal fluid of violet impulsive and non impulsive violet offenders and found that the levels were a lot lower in the impulsive offenders and they also had sleep irregularitie

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Evaluation: The role of other brain structures:

One limitation is that the neural explanation does not account for other non limbic brain structures that are also involved in aggression.OFC is not part of the limbic system it is responsible for self control but works alongside the limbic system support

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continued...

According to him people with psychiatric disorders that feature aggression have reduced activity in the OFC which mean lack of self control ad an increase in aggressive behaviour. This shows that regulation of aggression is much more complex than theories

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Evaluation: Drugs and serotonin

Research into the effects of drugs supports the serotonin explanation. Drugs that increase serotonin levels in he brain paroxetine have been found to reduce aggressive behaviour supported by Burmans study. This suggest that there is a causal link between

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Hormonal mechanisms in aggression

Testosterone.

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What does the hormonal mechanism in aggression suggest.

The hormonal mechanism in aggression suggests that males tend to be a lot more aggressive than females are and this is as a result of the male sex hormone testosterone which plays a role on regulating social behaviour in certain areas of the brain.

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Studies...

Giammanco did an animal study where he found that castration leads to reduction in aggressive behaviour and injecting testosterone into these animals leads to greater aggression.

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Studies...

There was also study conducted by Dolan that found a positive correlation between testosterone levels an aggressive behaviours in a sample of 6o male offenders in a UK maximum security hospital. These mean suffered from personality disorders and had impul

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Evaluation:Dual hormone hypothesis

A limitation of this explanation is that there is mixed evidence for a link between testosterone and aggression.Carre and Mehta suggest that the stress hormone cortisol blocks the testosterone influence on aggression meaning high levels of testosterone ca

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Evaluation: Issues of cause and effect

Most research into both hormonal and neural influences on aggression are correslational.Thee are good ethical reasons for this because it means opportunities to experimentally manipulate brain structures and hormones are limited. However when two variable

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Evaluation: Animal research and counter.

Support that involved not just humans but also non humans like in GIamnncos study.
Confirms role of testosterone in range of species however cognitive factors also play a role in human proactive aggression where aggression is used to achieve a goal wher

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Genetic factors in aggression:

There are multiple ways in which research is conducted into genetic factors influencing aggression:
Twin studies and adoption studies

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Twin studies:

-They are a popular way of researching the genetic basis of behaviours. Monozygotic wins share 100% of their DNA
where dizygotic twins share just 50%
concordance rates would be higher in MZ twins if aggression is mostly influenced by genetics.

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Adoption studies :

Adoption studies can also tell us about the genetic basis of behaviours, Similarities in aggression between adopted children and their biological parents suggest genetic influences are operating whereas similarities in aggression between adopted children

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Research (Coccaro) twin studies:

For direct physical aggression Coccaro et al found concordance rates of 50% for MZ twins and 19% for DZ twins. For verbal aggression the figures were 28% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins.

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Research adoption studies:

Adoption studies indicate that genetic influences account for 41% of the variance in aggression

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The MAOA gene

The MAOA gene codes fort he enzyme monoamine oxidase A that normally deactivates neurotramitters especially serotonin. There is a high and low activity variant of this gene. Some people inherit the low activity version which causes low activity in the enz

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What's is it's nickname

The warrior gene this is because lea and chambers found that 56% of New Zealand Maori men possessed the low variant gee and historically the Maori people have had a reputation for being ferocious warriors.

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Studies...

Brunner et al found that male members of a large Dutch family who were repeadtly involved in impulsive aggressive behaviour had abnormally low levels of MAOA-A as well as the MAOA-L gene variant.

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Studies...

Stuart studied 97 men who had been involved in intimate partner violence who were also part of the batterer treatment programme. Men with the low activity MOAO gene were found to be the most violent perpetrators and inflicted the worst injuries and had t

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Gene and environment interactions:

Genetics are an important part of aggression but they do not work alone.Frazzetto et al found a link between the low activity MAOA gene variant and aggression but only in those who experienced childhood sexual o physical abuse those who were not abused di

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Evaluation: Population validity

One limitation of research into explaining aggression is that t could lack population validity. Many studies use men for example in Brunner's study involving men from a Dutch family or mertins research with the money distribution game. This creates issues

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Problems with twin studies:

Another limitation of genetic explanations is that twin studies may be impacted by the equal environment assumption. It is assumed that as a pair of twins are raised together they share the same environment. However DZ twins might not share their environm

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Measuring aggression

Methods of measuring aggression differ significantly between studies and include self reports, parent and teacher reports and direct observations. Rhee and Waldmen found though a metanalysis of 51 twin and adoption studies genetic factors had a greater in

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Research support:

A strength of the MAOA explanation is that there is research support from mertin et al.They found that participants with the high activity variant made fewer aggressive moves and were more cooperative in money distribution game than the low activity varia

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Ethological explanation

The ethological explanation of aggression suggests that the main function of aggression is adaptive.Agression is beneficial to survival because a defeated animal is rarely killed but forced to settle elsewhere

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What does this do....

This..
-Reduces the competition for resources like food as the loser moves to another territory
-It establishes dominance hierarchies where the victories animal earn special status which increases their access to resources such mates
-And facilities the s

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Ritualistic aggression

Lorenz suggests that members of the same species engage in a ritualistic performance of aggression. Most intra species aggressive encounters involve a lot of ritualistic signalling like displaying teeth and appeasement displays like exposing the neck but

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Innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns

An innate releasing mechanisms is a built in physiological mechanism ( network of neurons in the brain) that is triggered by an environmental stimulus and which in turn sets off a fixed action pattern (FAP)

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Fixed action patterns:

According to Leas FAP's have six main features
-They are stereotyped or relatively unchanging behavioural sequences
-universal because the same behaviour is found in every individual of species
-Unaffected by learning same for every individual regardless

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Continued...

-Ballistic - once the behaviour is triggered it follows an inevitable course and cannot be altered before it's complete
-Single purpose - the behaviour only occurs in a specific situation and not in any other
-A response to a specific stimulus

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Studies...

Tin Berger
Sample - Male stickleback fish who are highly territorial during mating season when they develop a red spot on their underside.
Method: He presented male sticklebacks with a series of three dimensional wooden models to act as an intruder to the

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continued

some of the wooden models were realistically shaped and others were not a few of each type of model had a red spot.
in another trial a mirror was put in the stickleback tank.
Tinbergen observed and recorded behaviours such as charging and biting.

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Results

Regardless of the shape if the wooden model had a red spot then the male stickleback would perform series of aggressive actions in response e.i jerky movements or adopting a vertical position to worn off other males to increase mating chances.
without an

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conclude

Suggest res spot on underside was the sign stimulus which was detected by the innate realising mechanism which would initiate a FAP of aggressive behaviour and this s an innate and species specific response to certain visual cues.

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Evaluation: Limitation of Ritualistic aggression

A limitation of the ethological explanation that not all intraspecies aggression is just ritualistic. Goodall observed male chimps from one community systematically slaughter the members of another group in a coordinated manner. This happened despite the

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Evaluation: FAPS are not fixed

A further limitation is that Lorenz's original view of FAPS is now considered outdated. Hunt points out that FAPs are much more influenced by the environment now and through learned experiences. Many ethologists prefer the term modal action pattern. Map's

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continued...

The differences in behaviour may be down to training therefore patterns of aggressive behaviour are much more flexible than Lorenz thought especially in humans.

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Cultural differences

There is evidence that aggressive behaviour is more common in some human culture than in others. For example Nisbett found that there was a north south divide in the US for homicide rate. Killing are much more common amongst white males in the southern st

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Supporting research

In genic influences and research conducted by Brunner with the maoa gene and with neural explanation like the limbic system it has shown that aggressive behaviour in humans is innate and provided evidence for the existence of innate realising mechanisms

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Evolutionary explaination:

An account of changes in species over millions of years characteristics that enhance survival and reproduction are naturally selected.

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Sexual jealousy

Men unlike women can never be sure that they are really their child's parent (paternity uncertainty) and consequently run the risk of cuckoldry - wasting their resources on a child that is not their own. Sexual jealousy evolved as a psychological mechanis

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Types of mating strategies:

Wilson and Daly identified two major mating retention strategies involving aggression:
Male vigilance
and
Negatives inducement

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Male vigilance

Male vigilance is the where male partner monitors over a partners behaviour by keeping tabs on their movements or checking who they've been seeing

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Negative inducements

Negative inducements means threatening to harm either the partner or the self in the event of unfaithfulness. like saying ill kill myself if you leave me.

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Consequences of mate retention strategies

Male jealousy leads to aggression in the form of domestic violence which discourages a mans partner from cheating on him to ensure paternity success. Wilson et al found that women who said their partners used mate retention strategies were twice as likely

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Bullying behaviour

Bullying may not be the product of poor social skills or dysfunctional upbringing by might actually have an evolutionary advantage.

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Male bullying

In men bullying can ensure access to females and reduces threats from competing males Men who bullied other men using physical aggression established dominance and more resources.

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Female bullying

For Women bullying helps her to secure a partners fidelity. Females are more likely to use verbal aggression as a method of controlling partner through threats and monitoring
loyal partner = provide resources for future offspring.
increases chances of su

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Intimate partner violence
research

Shackleford: studied intimate partner violence in heterosexual couples. Men and women in 107 married couples completed different questionnaires. Men completed Mate retention inventory assessed mate retention behaviours and woman completed spouse influence

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Evaluations: Gender differences

One strength of the evolutionary theory is that it is able to explain the differences between female and male aggression. Research indicates that males engage more often than females in physical aggressive acts. The theory also explains how aggression in

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Cultural differences:

One limitation of the evolutionary explanation is that there are wide cultural differences in aggressive behaviour
The Kung San people had very negative attitudes towards he use of aggression and was discouraged in there childhood Whereas in other culture

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Methodological issues

It's hard to test hypotheses about evolution of behaviours to solve problems of adaptation in our evolutionary past because most of the research done is correlational like finding the association of mate retenion behaviours and aggression and can not allo

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Real word application

One strength of evolutionary explanations is that they point us towards ways to reduce bulying.Several interventions are based on the assumption that addressing a bully's decencies will reduce their bullying yet bullying is still prevelent.Ellis suggest

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continued...

aims to increase the costs of bullying and the rewards of prosocial alternatives. For example bullies might be given roles in school that provide them with a different source of legitimate status. Showing how bullying can be adaptive in real word situatio

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The frustration aggression hypothesis

This is a social psychology explanation of aggression that argues that anger ,hostility and even violence are always the outcome when we are prevented from achieving our goals.

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The frustration aggression hypothesis
Dollard

Dollard et al stated that frustration always results in aggression and aggression is always caused by frustration. Frustration occurs when our goals are blocked by an external factor which leads to an emotional tension which can only be reduced by an aggr

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How likely is aggression

The likelihood of aggression a occurring is dependent on the proximity to the goal if someone was close to their goal and is then blocked frustration is likely to be more intense and so is aggression compared to someone who was not that close.
The person

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what is the frustration aggression hypothesis based on

It's based on the psychodynamic concept of caatharisis.Freud believed that aggression is an innate feature of our psychological drive like hunger. In order to feel better an individual must engage in activity which releases it.

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what it catharsis...

Performing an aggressive behaviour is cathartic meaning satisfying, the release of built up frustration which makes further aggression less likely as a psychological drive has been reduced

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According to the F–A hypothesis:

1.the attempt to achieve a goal is blocked
2.frustration occurs
3.An aggressive drive is created
4.An aggressive behaviour is physically/verbally displayed or fantasied about.
(catharises)

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Geens study

Geen carried out a study to see the effects of frustration on agression. Male university students were given a puzzle to solve. For come it was impossible to solve for others they ran out of time because of the confederate interfering and for the third gr

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continued

on another task .The insulted participants gave the strongest shocks on average followed by the interfered group and the impossible task group. All three selected more intense shocks than a non frustrated control group.

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Defence mechanisms ...

The hypothesis recognises that aggression can not always be expressed directly to the source of frustration for three reasons.
1.the cause of the aggression may be abstract the government or economy
2.the cause may be too powerful and we may risk punishme

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defence mechanisms continued...

In these situation e use ego defence mechanisms to protect ourselves examples include sublimation and displacement. Sublimation is where the aggression is channelled into an acceptable activity or sport.
Displacement is where we redirect our anger onto s

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The revised frustration aggression hypothesis

Berkowitz argued that frustration does not always lead to aggression as the original hypothesis predicts. Instead he suggests that frustration creates the readiness to be aggressive but the presence of aggressive cues make this more like.

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model..

frustration
|
(from blocked goal)
Increased arousal
(anger)
if there are a presence of aggressive cues
|
aggression is more likely
If there are no aggressive cues aggression is less likely to happen

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Berkowitz and La page study..

Berkowitz an LePage did a study on the weapon effect. Participants were given real electric hocks by a confederate which created anger
later had the opportunity to (fake) shock the confederate if they wanted to
objects were placed next to the shock contro

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continued...

Berkowitz's revised frustration aggression hypothesis sates that aggression will only occur in the presence of a certain environmental cues such as weapons.

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Limitation of the role of catharsis

A limitation is that that aggression may not be cathartic as the hypothesis suggests. Bushman founds hat participants who vented their anger by hitting a punch bag became angrier and more aggressive rather than less. He suggested that using venting to red

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Research support for displaced agression

A strength of the hypothesis is that there is research support for the ideas of displaced aggression.Marcus-Newhalls meta analysis showed that frustrated participants who were prevented from being aggressive towards the source of frustration were likely t

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Frustration-aggression link: Double whopper

A limitation is that the link between frustration and aggression is more
complex than the hypothesis suggests.Research indicates that frustration does not always lead to aggression;
for example, helplessness and determination are also potential responses

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continued

This means the hypothesis lacks validity because it fails to explain how
aggression arises only in some situations but not in others.

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negative affect

Berkowitz therefore reformulated the F–A hypothesis as negative affect
theory, which argues that frustration is just one of many aversive stimuli
that create negative feelings (affect). Negative feelings include not just
anger but also jealousy, pain and

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continued...

Therefore it is more appropriate to suggest that aggression is triggered
by negative feelings generally rather than frustration specifically.

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social learning theory of agression

Social learning theory suggests that aggression is learned through a mixture of direct and indirect reinforcement and punishment.in addition to direct experiences of operant conditioning children observe aggressive models performing a behaviour and they a

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continued...

If the aggressive behaviour is rewarded then it is most likely that it will be imitated this is called vicarious reinforcement and if the behaviour is seen to be punished it is unlikely it will be copied. Vicarious punishment

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Bandura Mediational processes

Bandura points out that 4 mediational processes are needed for observational learning:
Attention - noticing a behaviour
Retention - remembering a behaviour
Motor reproduction - physically imitating behaviour
Motivation - wanting to imitate the behaviour.

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Self efficacy

This also influences how aggressive we ae.When a person is confident in their abilities they are more likely going to try carry out a new behaviour they are exposed to. The more successful someone is when showing aggression to achieve an outcome the highe

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Research into social learning of aggression:

Banduras bobo doll study-Young children observed an adult model assaulting a inflatable plastic toy called a bobo doll.Ike kicking hitting screaming at it .It was also followed by a period where the children where not allowed to play with attractive toys

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continued...

when non aggressive behaviours were observed aggressive behaviour to the doll were non-existent.

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Supporting research Poulin and Bovin

They applied the social learning theory to aggressive boys aged 9-12.They found that the most aggressive boy formed relationships with other aggressive boy. The researchers described them such groups /clichés as training grounds for antisocial behaviour.

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Cannot explain all aggression

There are two categories of aggression hot blooded ( impulsive )
and cold blooded (calculated).Children who experience proactive aggression have high levels of self efficacy they are confident their behaviour will bring rewards. Used to achieve goals and

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Limitation : Biological influences

One limitation is that social learning theory underestimates the biological factors contributing to aggression. Bandura found that regardless of models boys were always behaved more aggressively than girl and this may be due to higher levels of testostero

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continued..

allow us to be empathic and imitate tohers.Therefore social learning theory is an incomplete explanation of aggression because it underplays the role of biological factors.

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deindividuation

Deindividuation is a psychological state in which a individual loses their personal identity and take on the identity of a social group. For example when in a crowd or when in uniform that represents a social group.

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Deindividuation and agression

In normal circumstances our behaviour is retrained by social norms by being deindividuated I frees us from the constraints of the social norms disregarding the law. Also we feel a lot less personal responsibility especially when we are in a crowd.

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Zimbardo and deinviduated behaviour

Zimbardo also distinguished between deindividuated and individuated behaviour he said that individuated behaviour is generally more rational and normative (prosocial) whereas deindividuated behaviour is irrational and anti-normative (anti-social).

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deindividuation and environmental condition and aggression

The deindividuated explanation suggests that aggression occurs as a result of certain environmental conditions like crowd and darkness which reduce constraints placed on aggression because it provides anonimity.Anonimity refers to when a person is unident

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Stanford prison deindivduasation.

The guards in Zimbardo’s experiment experienced deindividuation as they were
fully immersed in the group and took up the identity of their social group.
Furthermore, they had anonymity as they were given uniforms and reflective
goggles that obscured their

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Self-awareness

Anonymity whilst deindividuated reduces ourself-warness when we are pert of a crowd:
Private self-awareness is where we pay less attention to our own behaviours when deindivated because we are part of a larger group that is more important. Public self awa

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Dodd's research

229 undergraduate psychology students were asked if you could do anything humanly possible with complete assurance you would not be detected or held responsible what would you do?
-response were anonymous and they new that
three independent raters who did

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Dodd's research results

36% o the responses involved some sort of antisocial behaviour
26% were actual crimes
only 9% were prosocial
This study shows the link between anonymity aggression and deindividuation.

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Research support

A strength is that de-individuation has research support. Douglas and McGarty found a strong correlation between anonymity and flaming in online chatooms.The most aggressive messages were sent by those who hid their identities. This supports a link betwe

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Counter gergen

Some research has shown that conditions of deindividuation do not necessarily lead to agression in his deviance in the dark study. Gergen put strangers in a darkened room and told them to do what they wanted as they would never meet again. They soon start

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continued...

Therefore de-individuation may not always lead to aggression.

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Real word de-indivduation

Another strength is that de-individuation can explain the surprisingly aggressive behaviour o 'bating crowds'.Mann investigated cases of suicide jumpers and found that 21 examples in US newspapers of crowds gathering to encourage people to jump in aggress

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Real world application of deindividuation continued

Suggesting there is validity of the idea that people can become aggressive as part of a deindividuated faceless crowd.

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One limitation is the role of norms

A limitation of the theory is that de-individuated behaviour is not always anti-normative. The social identity model of deindividuation argues that de-individuation does not necessarily lead to any anti-normative behaviour including agression instead it c

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Institutional aggression

Institutional aggression refers to aggressive behaviour within the social context
of a prison, or other formal organised setting.

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situational and dispositional explanations

There are various ways of explaining behaviour…

Situational explanations - focus on features of an individual’s surroundings.

Dispositional explanations - focus on aspects of an individual's personality.

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The importation model
(disposition explanation)

The importation model is a dispositional explanation which suggests that inmates bring into
prisons the existing characteristics and subcultures they possessed in the outside world; for
example a history of aggression, criminal norms or

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Delisi

DeLisi et al. (2011) found that juvenile offenders who imported several negative dispositional
features (e.g. history of violent behaviour, drug abuse, anger) committed the most acts of
physical violence compared with a control group of inmates with fewer

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The deprivation model
(situational explanation)

The deprivation model is a situational explanation which suggests that harsh prison conditions cause stress for inmates, who cope by behaving aggressively (Clemmer).
Prison-level factors predicting aggression include psychological factors (e.g. being depr

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continued...

e.g. an unpredictable prison regime that regularly uses ‘lock-ups’ to control behaviour could
disrupt the few benefits and positives that prisoners have (for example education or television
time), causing frustration.

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Dispositional:research support

A strength of the dispositional explanations for institutional agression is that there is research support for the importation model. Camp and Gaes placed half of their male inmate participants in low security Californian prisons and the others in high se

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continued.

less important predictors of aggression than characteristics of inmates.

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Dispositional: Ignores key factors

One limitation of the importation model is hat it ignores key factors linked to the running of prisons.Dilulio proposed an administrative control model which states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to experience the most serious forms of inmat

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Situational research support

A strength of situational explanations for institutional aggression is that there is research support for the deprivation model. Cunningham analysed inmate homicides in Texas prisons and found motivations for the behaviours were linked to some of the depr

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contiued

For examples many homicides followed arguments between inmates when boundaries were crossed often involving drugs or possessions. This supports the validity of the model.

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Situational contradictory research

A limitation is that there is research that contradicts the deprivation models predictions. The deprivation model predicts lack of freedom such as heterosexual contact might lead to high levels of agression in prison but violence does not support this. He

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continued

Shows tat situational factors do not necessarily affect prison violence and casts some doubt on the validity of the deprivation model.

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Media influences on agression :computer games

Media influences are changes in behaviour that are attributed to exposure to media such as films TV and computer games .Computer games can be defined as games played on a screen using a mouse keyboard or hand controller.

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How do psychologists study media influences:

Whichever form of media psychologists study they do so by using four basic methodologies
Experimental studies
Correlation studies
Longitudinal studies
Meta-Analyses

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Influences on aggression TV/film

The negative influences of tv and film are not as strong as often assumed. Paik and Comstock's meta analysis of around 200 studies found that media influence accounted for just 1-10% of variance in aggressive behaviour

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Influences on aggression computer games

Computer games may lead to aggressive behaviour for two main reasons. First the player takes a more active role in compared t a TV or film viewer also the game playing is more directly rewarding for a player so direct learning through operant conditioning

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experimental study
(computer game)

Bartholow and Anderson they got students to play either a violent computer game or a non-violent game for ten minutes. They all carried out the Taylor competitive reaction time task which is a standard lab measure of aggression in which students delivered

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Correlational study
(computer games)

Delisi studied 227 juvenile offenders all with histories of serious aggressive behaviours such as hitting a teacher or parent or gang fighting. Using structured interviews they gathered data on several measures of aggression and violent computer game play

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continued

established that I should be considered a public health issue.

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Longitudinal study
(Tv)

Robertson wanted to see if there was a link between excessive TV viewing in childhood and aggressive behaviour In adulthood. They studied 1037 people born in new Zealand in 1972 and 1973 and measured their TV viewing hours at regular intervals up to the a

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continued

Those who watched the most tv were also more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and have aggressive traits. Suggesting the amount of tv watched was more of an important factor rather than if it was violent or not.

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Met-analyses
computer games

Anderson performed a meta-analysis of 136 studies which included all three types of methodology outlined .They found that exposure to violent computer games was associated with increases in aggressive behaviors,thoughts and feelings. These findings were t

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Aggression

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