neural and hormonal explanations

• what is a strength of the neural explanation?

  • Research support 
  • Kluver and Bucy 

  limbic areas were removed from monkeys 

  • When removed the monkeys showed a lack of emotional responses associated with situations that normally stimulate fear or anger.  
  • Shows a strong association netween neural pathways that have been linked to aggression 
  • Shows that the limbic system is hugely important in the regulation of aggression.
• limitation of research support for neural explanation?

  • Difficulty in extrapolating animal findings to humans 
  • Cannot be sure that limbic system in animals and humans are the same 
  • Therefore, 
  • Should be cautious when generalising animal studies to humans 
• strength of hormonal explanation

  • Research support  
  • Role of testosterone 
  • When mice are castrated it leads to a reduction in aggression in the mice. 
  • Suggests a clear link between this hormone and levels of aggression 
  • Could be why men are more aggressive then women 
  • Furthermore, 
  • Suggests that aggression peaks in males in their teenage years  
  • Provides a link between testosterone and aggression since testosterone peaks during teenage years 
  • Makes the hormonal explanation more credible 
• limitation for explanations

  • Falls firmly on the side of nature. 
  • Both explanations focus on biological factors (limbic system and hormones) 
  • A problem is they fail to consider other important factors e.g. observational learning, social learning theory. 
  • Ignored other reasonable explanations  
  • E.g. Bandura’s Bobo Doll 
  • Neural and hormonal explanations limit our understanding of aggression 
  • Assumes that individuals have a predisposition to aggression due to their biology.  
  • All behaviour is an interaction of many factors which may trigger aggressive responses 
• limitation of explanations

  • Negative implications on the real world 
  • Criminal justice system 
  • Could be argued that their aggressive criminal behaviour is due to biological factors
  • Leads to reduced sentences or unfair judgments being passed.  
  • Links to how the explanations are biologically deterministic as they suggest one has no control over their aggressive behaviour and there is nothing they can do.  
  • Whereas they could change their environment in order to change behaviour and not be aggressive 
  • Shows the damage that explanations can have in explaining aggressive behaviour