AGGRESSION

• LIMBIC SYSTEM?

  AO1:

  • coordinates behaviour satisfy motivational/ emotional urges
  • amygdala (emotional significance to sensory information), hippocampus (long-term memories, compare conditions), hypothalamus (stress response)

  AO3:

  + Kluver + Bucy (amygdala, dominant monkeys) but animal studies, extrapolation

  + Boccardi et al (habitually violent offenders, abnormalities in hippocampus) but correlation not causation

  + Raine et al (psychopaths, different sized hippocampus hemispheres), predict but socially sensitive research, biological determinism

  + Pardini et al (longitudinal study, lower amygdala volume, higher aggression)

  -. Papez Maclean Theory (reactive not proactive)
• SEROTONIN?

  AO1:

  • neurotransmitter
  • calming, inhibitory effect on neuronal firing (amygdala, reduce fear/ anger)
  • serotonin deficiency hypothesis (low, amygdala stimulated more, less control over impulses)

  AO3:

  + Mann et al (35, dexfenfluramine, questionnaire, higher in males) but beta bias

  -. Duke et al (meta-analysis, small inverse relationship, vary with year/ methods/ self-reports)

  -. no cause and effect, unscientific, treatments
• TESTOSTERONE?

  AO1:

  • hormone
  • male characteristics
  • influences brain areas associated with aggression (amygdala)
  • removing source, decreases
  • concentrations not static (fluctuate with social environment)
  • lower serotonin activity

  AO3:

  + RWA (antisocial behaviour, treatment, justice system, NHS) but positive relationship in self-reports not actual violence, cause and effect

  -. Mazur (aggression method of dominance), Eisenegger et al (females nicer) but females lower testosterone
• GENETIC FACTORS?

  AO1:

  • MAOA gene, X chromosome, sex-linked
  • enzyme metabolises noradrenaline, serotonin, dopamine
  • hypersensitivity to threats, impulses, reward

  AO3:

  + Brunner et al (Dutch males, 1960s, low MAOA) but methodological issues, unrepresentative sample, similar environments, social learning theory

  + Caspi et al (500 boys, MAOA-L, mistreated) but diathesis-stress model, multiple genes/ environmental factors

  + explains gender differences (sex-linked) but deterministic, self-fulfilling prophecies, legal system
• ETHOLOGICAL?

  AO1:

  • innate, evolutionary, ritualistic, dominant
  • sign stimulus (environmental feature trigger IRM)
  • innate releasing mechanism (hard-wired brain networks, initiate FAP)
  • fixed action pattern (universal, stereotyped sequence of behaviours, completion)

  AO3:

  + Tinbergen (male sticklebacks) but extrapolation, social factors, culture, not scientifically proven on humans

  -. Nisbett (South/ North American white males) but social learning theory (modal action patterns, dogs)
• EVOLUTIONARY?

  AO1:

  • survival and reproductive success, adaptive
  • sexual jealousy + aggression (cuckoldry, parental uncertainty, prevent infidelity)
  • deter other males (threats/ real)
  • deter partner (direct guarding/ negative inducements/ intimate partner violence) - mate retention strategies
  • bullying (status, threat to others, dominance, acquisition of resources, control of territory)

  AO3:

  + Shackelford et al (107 married, male retention inventory/ spouse influence report, 0.42) but social desirability, ethical issues

  + RWA (relationships, bullying) but alpha bias, Gavin, judge, deterministic

  -. evolved homicide model (uxoricide higher in younger)
• SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY?

  AO1:

  • Bandura
  • direct/ indirect (vicarious) reinforcement
  • observation, imitation, role models, modelling, media, school, consequences, mediational processes

  AO3:

  + Bandura, Bobo doll (or Bandura and Watson, adults rewarded/ punished/ neither) but demand characteristics, gender differences (Dabbs et al, higher testosterone, violent criminals)

  + Phillips (USA, homicide, 12.4%, victims), RWA but Christianson (Kung San, Kalahari desert, rare, cultural bias)
• FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS?

  AO1:

  • Dollard
  • consequence of frustration (goals)
  • motivation/ gratification/ nothing
  • catharsis
  • displaced (abstract/ powerful/ unavailable)

  AO3:

  + Geen (jigsaw, insult/ unsolvable/ interrupt, shock, intense (insult highest, unsolvable lowest) but not explain no aggression, Negative Affect Theory (Berkowitz, one possible consequence)

  -. Berkowitz + LePage (frustrated, shocks, 4.5, 6, aggressive cues) but RWA (carrying gun)

  -. Harris (field, 320, queue, status clothing) but target too powerful

  -. Bandura (frustration = arousal, aggression depends on success)
• DEINDIVIDUATION?

  AO1:

  • psychological state, lost self-awareness, shared responsibility
  • group, disguise, substances
  • social identity group
  • Le Bon (anonymity, suggestibility, contagion)

  AO3:

  + Zimbardo (females, creativity under stress, shock, coats/ hoods/ group vs name tag/ own clothes/ name, cubicles, longer shocks) but beta bias, internal validity, not measure of aggression, cause and effect

  + Johnson + Downing (females, KKK/ nurse/ own, shocks) but nurses fewer/ lower/ compassionate, normative cues, aggression or prosocial behaviour

  + Dodd (229, 36% antisocial, 26% criminal) but dispositional differences, Dabbs et al (higher testosterone, violent criminals)

  + Watson (23, warriors, 12/13, 3/10) but cultural factors internalised by social learning (sports)
• INSTITUTIONAL AGGRESSION?

  SITUATIONAL - DEPRIVATION MODEL

  • Clemmer's prisonisation, Sykes deprivation of:
  • goods + services (status)
  • freedom
  • independence
  • safety (anxiety, edge)
  • heterosexual relationships
  • lack of control, frustrating

  + Cox (Mississippi, 30%, 60%) but Henley et al (256, Mississippi, conjugal visits, no link with decreased aggression)

  -. Light (25%, no reason) but hide motives but hard to measure credibility

  + RWA (Maslow's hierarchy of needs) so improve prison conditions

  DISPOSITIONAL - IMPORTATION MODEL

  • Irwin + Cressey
  • characteristics, norms, values of prisoners
  • cohabitation of aggressive dispositions

  + Delisi et al (813, male, negative, anger/ irritability/ substance, higher physical violence than control group) but androcentric research
• MEDIA?

  AO1:

  • desensitisation (witnessing = arousal, sympathetic nervous system, less threatening)
  • disinhibition (social norms = empathy/ fear, inhibit aggression, new norms, rewards, ignore consequences)
  • cognitive priming (one stimulus influences another, no conscious intention, video games, priming effect, learned aggressive responses/ schemas activate memories)

  AO3:

  + Engelhardt et al (35 low/ 35 high, EEG, low/ normal/ low ERP, TCRTT, more aggressive noise blasts) but laboratory, mundane realism, retaliation fear, overestimate

  + Wiegman and Shie (278, 10-14, Netherlands, games/ aggressive/ prosocial, score, preference) but file drawer effect (Valadez et al, no difference, overestimated)