Limbic System

• The Limbic system is a set of structures in the brain involved with controlling our emotions
• A part of the limbic system called the amygdala becomes more active when it recognises a threat. This initates the bodys fight ot flight resposnse, which also involves the hypothalamus instructing the body to release more testosterone.
• If someones amygdala is impaired due to damage or unusual development, it may activate in response to non-threats, initiating fight or flight too often. This could cause the person to be unusually aggressive
• Some research has found that higher amounts of neural activity in an area of the brain called to orbitofrontal cortex is linked to poorer self-control.
• Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning it reduces neural activity in the areas of the brain where it is released. Therefore having too little serotonin in the oribitofrontal cortex may lead to more activity so less self control.
• There is evidence to support that limbic system activity does influence aggression. In a study, researchers used PET scans and found that a group of murderers had more activity on the right side of the amygdala, and less activity on the left side commpared to non murderers. This suggests that activity in the amygdala may influence aggressive behaviour
• There is evidence to support serotonin levels influences aggression. A study found that a group of murderers had less of the chemical byprducts of serotonin compared to a control group of healthy non-murderers
• However these studies have an issue with direction of causality. Because they're quasi experiments, it wasn't possible to measure levels of amygdala/serotonin activity before participants committed murder.
• To suggest our neural activity causes aggression is dterministic because it implies that we have a lack of free will. This also implies that people who commit aggressive acts are not responsible for their actions, so cannot be punsihed. This is socially sensitive