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Discuss Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggressive Behaviour

chloe.brandon Psychology A-Level English 65 cards

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  1. 1What does the biological approach to aggression encompass?neural and hormonal mechanism
  2. 2What does this approach assume?aggression is the result of an individual's biological makeup rather than being a product of environmental factors
  3. 3What is the first factor in this explanation?neurotransmitters
  4. 4What are neurotransmitters?chemicals that transmit impulses from one area of the brain to another
  5. 5What are the two main neurotransmitters associated with aggression?serotonin and dopamine
  6. 6What combination of these neurotransmitters is most associated with aggressive behaviour?low serotonin and high dopamine
  7. 7How is serotonin thought to reduce aggression?by inhibiting responses to emotional stimuli that may otherwise lead to an aggressive response
  8. 8What have lower levels of serotonin also been associated with?increased susceptibility to impulsive behaviour as well as aggression and in some cases violent suicide
  9. 9Which drug is known to deplete serotonin?dexfenfluramine
  10. 10Who conducted an experiment to assess the effects of lowered serotonin levels?Mann et al (1990)
  11. 11What did they do?They administered the drug to 35 healthy participants before using a questionnaire to assess their levels of hostility and aggression
  12. 12What did their results show?dexfenfluramine treatment in males (but not females) was associated with an increase in aggression and hostility scores
  13. 13Who provided evidence for the link between high dopamine levels and aggression?Lavine (1997)
  14. 14What did they find?increases in dopamine activity via the use of amphetamines were associated with aggressive behaviour
  15. 15What did Buitelaar (2003) point out in addition to this?antipsychotics which reduce dopamine activity in the brain have been shown to reduce aggression in violent delinquents
  16. 16Who provided research support for this?Scerbo and Raine (1993)
  17. 17What did they do?They conducted a meta-analysis by analysing neurotransmitter levels in antisocial adults and children from 29 different studies.
  18. 18What did they consistently find?lower levels of serotonin in individuals described as being aggressive, but not significant rise or fall in dopamine levels
  19. 19What was present in all antisocial groups and particularly in those who had attempted suicide?reduced serotonin levels
  20. 20What do these findings suggest?serotonin depletion leads to impulsive behaviour which in turn may lead to aggression in different forms.
  21. 21Where did other supporting evidence for the link between serotonin and aggression come from?non-human studies
  22. 22Who conducted one of these studies?Raleigh et al (1991)
  23. 23What did they conduct their study on?vervet monkeys
  24. 24What did they find?the monkeys that fed on experimental diets of tryptophan (which increases serotonin levels) showed decreased levels of aggression
  25. 25What did the monkeys who fed on diets low in tryptophan display?increased aggression
  26. 26What does this suggest?the difference in aggression could be attributed to their serotonin levels
  27. 27What provides empirical support for the impact of low serotonin levels?antidepressants
  28. 28What did Bond (2005) set out to do?show that low serotonin levels are associated with low impulse control and aggressive behaviour
  29. 29What did she therefore suggest?drugs that clinically raise serotonin levels should reduce aggression
  30. 30What did she establish?This is exactly what happens in clinical studies of antidepressant drugs that elevate serotonin levels
  31. 31What do these drugs also tend to do?reduce irritability and impulsive aggression
  32. 32What can we conclude from this?serotonin levels affect our behaviour and a possible treatment for aggressive individuals could be drugs which clinically raise serotonin levels
  33. 33What is the contradictory evidence related to the role of dopamine in aggressive behaviour?high levels of dopamine are consequential as opposed to causal
  34. 34What did Couppis and Kennedy (2008) find?that in mice there is a reward pathway in the brain that becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved as a positive reinforcer in this pathway
  35. 35What does this suggest?individuals will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter soleley because they experience a rewarding sensation from it
  36. 36What is a limitation of the studies by Couppis and Kennedy and Raleigh?h
  37. 37Why is this an issue?monkeys and mice are different species to humans and have a different biological makeup and mental capacity
  38. 38What can we conclude from this?the same results may not necessarily have been found had the experiments been conducted on humans, the results cannot be generalised
  39. 39What is the second factor in this explanation of aggressive behaviour?hormonal mechanisms
  40. 40What is the hormone in question?testosterone, a male sex hormone thought to influence aggression from young adulthood
  41. 41What did Dabbs et al (1987) do?measured salivary testosterone in violent and non-violent criminals
  42. 42What did they find?those with the highest testosterone levels had a history of primarily violent crimes whereas the lowest levels had committed only non-violent crimes
  43. 43What did Lindman et al (1987) do?conducted a study on a non-prison population to see if the same trends occurred
  44. 44What did they find?young males who behave aggressively when drunk have higher testosterone levels than those who did not act aggressively
  45. 45What did Wingfield et al (1990) propose?the challenge hypothesis
  46. 46What is the challenge hypothesis?in monogamous species, testosterone levels should only rise above baseline breeding level in response to social challenges such as male-male aggression or threats to status
  47. 47What was supportive of these claims?Two meta-analyses
  48. 48What did they both establish?A weak but positive relationship between testosterone and aggression
  49. 49What did Archer (1991) do?analysed the results of 230 males over 5 studies
  50. 50What did they find?a low positive correlation between testosterone and aggression
  51. 51What differed substantially between studies?the type of participant and the form and measurement of aggression
  52. 52Who conducted the larger second meta-analysis (24 studies)?Book et al (2001)
  53. 53What did they establish?a mean correlation of 0.14 between testosterone and aggression
  54. 54However, what did Archer et al (2005) claim?methodological problems with this study meant that a correlation of 0.08 was more appropriate
  55. 55What can we conclude from this?testosterone does appear to have an impact on aggression however due to relatively weak evidence we cannot assume that it is the main or significant cause, other factors most likely come into play
  56. 56What is the gender bias in this research?most of it focuses on male participants, even when testosterone (despite being a male sex hormone) has the same effect in females, if not more so (Archer et al, 2005)
  57. 57What did a study by Baucom et al (1985) show?women with higher testosterone levels had higher occupational status, possibly as a result of being more assertive
  58. 58What do these studies indicate?women may also respond to challenging situations with increased testosterone levels, displaying aggressiveness and dominance
  59. 59What did Eisenegger et al (2011) find?testosterone could make women act 'nicer' rather than more aggressively in a particular situation
  60. 60What does this suggest?that rather than directly increasing aggression, testosterone promotes status-seeking behaviour, of which aggression is one type.
  61. 61What is the real world application related to?an increase in gun-related crime in the UK
  62. 62What did Klinesmith et al (2006) set out to test?whether the presence of a stimulus such as a gun or knife triggers increased testosterone (gun/knife seen as a threat), which in turn increases aggressive behaviour
  63. 63What did they do?had male college students provide a saliva sample (to measure testosterone), before they interacted with either a gun or a child's toy for 15 minutes and then providing a second saliva sample
  64. 64What did they find?males who interacted with the gun showed significantly greater increases in testosterone and behaved more aggressively toward another participant compared to those who played with the child's toy
  65. 65What can we conclude?the presence of things such as guns and knives don't have to be used in order to increase aggression, it is merely their presence that individuals perceive as a threat to their lives which increases their testosterone and therefore aggression

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everything you need to know for an essay on neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression
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