Neural and hormonal AO1

• What are neural and hormonal influences of aggression?

  The limbic system, serotonin deficiency hypothesis and testosterone
• What does the limbic system coorinate?


  Behavious satisfying motivational and emotional urges, including fear and aggression
• What subcortical structures are a part of the limbic system?

  Cingulate gyrus, septal area, fornix, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala
• What subcortical structure has been an important predictor of aggressive behaviour

  Amygdala
• What does the amygdala evaluate?

  Emotional importance of sensory information, prompting an appropriate response
• What does the amygdala moderate?

  Testosterone levels
• Why might the amygdala malfunction?

  tumour, damage or atypical development
• What might malfunction of the amygdala lead to?

  Rise in testosterone levels, making aggressive more likely
• What effect does serotonin have on the amygdala?

  Inhibiting
• What inhibition of the amygdala lead to?

  Emotional response such as fear and anger become less likely
• What does low levels of serotonin lead to?

  Removal of the inhibitory effect, resulting in individuals having less control over their impulsive aggressive behaviour
• What does the serotonin deficiency hypothesis posit?

  Without serotonin, the amygdala becomes more active when stimulated by external triggers - this making the person more impulsive due to lowered inhibition
• Define hormones

  Chemical messengers that travel in the blood stream to target organs
• What are androgens?

  Male sex hormones, such as testosterone, responsible for the development of masculine features and regulatin social behaviours via their influence on certain areas of the brain implicated in aggression
• Who does support for the role of testosterone in aggression come from?

  Dolan et al., (2001)
• What did Dolan et al., (2001) find?

  A positive correlation between testosterone levels and aggressive behaviours in a sample of 60 male offenders in UK max security hospitals
• What effect does castration of males have?

  Pacifying impact on aggressive behaviours in males
• When does the involvement of crime occur in males?

  Early teens to mid-teens; same time as testosterone levels rise