NEURAL EXPLANATION

• What is aggression?

  An act carried out with the intention to harm another person
• what is pro-active aggression?

  cold blooded, planned method
• what is reactive aggression?

  hot blooded, angry and impulsive, accompanied by physiological arousal
• what is the limbic system?

  subcortical structures in the brain, closely involved in regulating emotional behaviour. includes the cingulate gyrus, hypothalamus and amygdala
• what is the amygdala?

  part of limbic system responsible for attaching emotional significance to sensory information and how we respond to threats and challenges. reactivity is shown to be an important predictor of aggressive behaviours
• Gospic et al

  carried out FMRI scans in a lab based game that provoked aggression. Scans showed aggressive reactions were associated with a fast and heightened response by the amygdala.

  Benzodiazepine (reduces ANS arousal) taken before, halved number of aggressive reactions and decreased amygdala activity
• what is the role of the hippocampus?

  involved with long term memory formation, allows to compare current threat with past experiences
• what is the role of the hypothalamus?

  regulation of ANS, in turn regulates responses to emotional circumstances. damage could result in inappropriate responses to perceived threats
• what is serotonin?

  neurotransmitter that influences mood, impulsivity and behaviour. has an inhibitory effect on neurons
• How does serotonin influence aggression?

  low serotonin results in reduced self control and more impulsive behaviours such as aggression
• Evaluation point 1

  STRENGTH of role of serotonin

  Supporting evidence, Bearman et al. Research shows drugs that increase serotonin level also reduce levels of aggressive behaviour. but this was only true of participants who had a history of aggressive behaviour
• what was Bearmans research?

  lab experiment where participants were given option to give electric shocks in response to provocation. Independent groups : half were given paroxetine (SSRI increases serotonin) and half a placebo. SSRI group consistently gave fewer and less intense electric shocks
• What was Virkkunen et al’s research?

  compared levels of serotonin breakdown product in cerebrospinal fluid of violent impulsive and violent non impulsive offenders. Levels were significantly lower in impulsive offenders, also more sleep irregularities. Disturbance in this pattern strongly implies disruption of serotonin functioning
• evaluation point 2

  LIMITATION limbic system excludes other possibilities

  the amygdala functions in tandem with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to maintain self controls and inhibit aggression. research showed the OFC activity is reduced in patients with psychiatric disorders that feature aggression, shows the regulation of aggression cannot be explained by the limbic system alone, it is highly complex