Aggression= the intention to deliberately attempt to hurt someone
Outline and evaluate the genetic explanations for aggression (16marks)
The genetic theory explains that aggression is due to certain genetics that have been
inherited from parents that can influence aggressive characteristics in their offspring-
emphasising the innate nature of aggression. Furthermore, the genetic theory states that
behaviour of aggression may be polygenetic so influenced by more than one gene and their
overall interactions. One key aspect of the genetic explanation is the interaction of a gene
called the MAOA gene which regulates serotonin levels within the body. Brunner carried out
a study on a Dutch family and found that those who had a variation of the MAOA gene
(MAOA-L) had low levels of serotonin detected and produced more aggressive behaviour
than the control group with ‘normal’ levels of serotonin with the MAOA-H variant of the
gene. This shows how there is a potential relationship between the interaction and
variations of a gene influencing serotonin levels and aggression levels. In addition, there is
the idea of testing aggression links between adopted children who are violent to see if their
biological parents show similar traits to emphasise the idea of inheriting aggressive
characteristics. Hutchings and Mednick carried out a study with 14000 adopted children
with criminal convictions and found a positive relationship with children who had
convictions generally had parents who also had convictions, giving us the idea that this may
be something inherited by the offspring from their family even when not living with them.
One advantage of genetic explanations for aggression is that the sample sizes used in
studying the impacts of genetics was large, for example, Hutchings and Mednick used 14000
participants which allows for us to make a more reliable correlation analysis of results and
easier to generalise results to a larger population as it reduces bias of participants selected
as they will have a range of characteristics and overall wellbeing and upbringing. Therefore
this means that more accurate conclusions can be drawn to generalise and thus doesn’t
raise the potential concerns of sample bias and extraneous variables as much within the
studies.
Another advantage of genetic explanations for aggression is that there is supporting
research that genetics can influence our aggressive behaviour and may be inherited. For
example, Coccaro conducted a study on MZ and DZ twins comparing their aggressive
behaviour with genetics. They found that with MZ/identical twins, there was a 505
concordance correlation rate of aggressive behaviour with eachother therefore providing
evidence that genetics inherited have an impact on our aggression phenotype thus
increasing the external reliability of the theory.
One disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that it doesn’t consider the
diathesis-stress model when genes are interacting for aggressive characteristics. For
example, Cadoret carried out a similar study to Hutching and Mednick and found that the
violence around them and atmosphere of their living conditions alongside having biological
parents with convictions worked hand in hand to impact aggression levels in the adopted
participants. Therefore, there is an emphasis on environmental interactions as well as
genetics which can trigger the aggressive behaviour with this theory thus additional factors
need to be considered.
,Another disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that it can have some
ethical implications. This is because a person who has committed a violent act / crime using
aggressive behaviour may blame it on the fact they have no control over this as this was
how they were born. Therefore, this theory can raise concerns on whether criminals at court
can be given alternative sanctions depending on inheritance as it suggests there is a genetic
influence on their behaviour thus this doesn’t create a positive impact on justice court.
Furthermore, a disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that some
studies such as Coccaro’s used only males within his study in which the results have been
generalised for females too. However, this is inaccurate as women and men have different
genetic and neural interactions which could impact aggression which means that they would
produce different results. Therefore, studies within genetic explanations have gender bias
called beta bias as it believes that the behaviour of one gender can be implies on the
opposite gender, therefore more studies need to be conducted on female aggression before
coming to a conclusion on genetic influences on aggressive behaviour.
, Outline and evaluate the role of hormonal explanations for aggression (16 marks)
Aggression can be influenced by a variety of factors, hormones being one and the two
primarily important hormones that can impact our aggression levels are serotonin and
testosterone. Firstly, serotonin is known as a calming hormone with an inhibitory effect on
the amygdala which activates fear, however low levels of serotonin is known as serotonin
deficiency hypothesis. This hypothesis was used to understand the impact of low serotonin
on aggression so a study by Raleigh was conducted on vervet monkeys which were given a
diet high in tryptophan which increases serotonin and then a different group was given the
opposite. Raleigh found that the monkeys with the high tryptophan had shown less
aggressive behaviour than those with low tryptophan diets. This leads us to the conclusion
that there is a relationship between low levels of serotonin and aggressive behaviour and an
increase in serotonin can inhibit these effects. Additionally, testosterone is another
hormone which can influence aggressive behaviour and is known to produce more male
characteristics (associated with violence). To understand the effects of testosterone on
aggression, Dabbs conducted a study on non-violent and violent criminals where their saliva
was sampled to test the amount of testosterone. Those with high testosterone had
committed a violent crime whilst those who had low levels had committed a non-violent
crime. This emphasises the idea that high levels of testosterone increases violent behaviour
in someone.
One advantage of the role of hormones to explain aggression is that research such as Dabbs’
has produced empirical results because testosterone levels in saliva can easily be plotted on
a graph to understand the influence it has on violence. Therefore this makes it easier to
produce a clear cause and effect/ correlational analysis of the results and come to a
conclusion on the influence of testosterone on aggression thus making it readable and
obvious on the relationships of the results which can be replicated and analysed by other
researchers.
Another advantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that studies such as Raleigh’s
were conducted in experimental lab conditions which means that variables were controlled.
Therefore, this reduced the effects of any extraneous variables that could influence the
results and produce inaccurate findings thus increasing the internal validity of the study and
increase the ability of replicability of the study by other researchers to produce similar
results.
However, to counteract this, a disadvantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that
using lab conditions can reduce the mundane realism of the study because it will be harder
to apply these conditions to day to day lives where variables are not controlled. Therefore
this reduces the ecological validity of the study and theory due to not being able to apply
the same study to real life conditions thus more studies and research needs to be conducted
in natural settings to see if similar results are produced to make true cause and effect
conclusion of the impacts of serotonin on aggression.
Another disadvantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that studies such as
Raleigh’s used animals instead of humans within their study. However, humans and
monkeys are cognitively and biologically different which means that they may not produce
Outline and evaluate the genetic explanations for aggression (16marks)
The genetic theory explains that aggression is due to certain genetics that have been
inherited from parents that can influence aggressive characteristics in their offspring-
emphasising the innate nature of aggression. Furthermore, the genetic theory states that
behaviour of aggression may be polygenetic so influenced by more than one gene and their
overall interactions. One key aspect of the genetic explanation is the interaction of a gene
called the MAOA gene which regulates serotonin levels within the body. Brunner carried out
a study on a Dutch family and found that those who had a variation of the MAOA gene
(MAOA-L) had low levels of serotonin detected and produced more aggressive behaviour
than the control group with ‘normal’ levels of serotonin with the MAOA-H variant of the
gene. This shows how there is a potential relationship between the interaction and
variations of a gene influencing serotonin levels and aggression levels. In addition, there is
the idea of testing aggression links between adopted children who are violent to see if their
biological parents show similar traits to emphasise the idea of inheriting aggressive
characteristics. Hutchings and Mednick carried out a study with 14000 adopted children
with criminal convictions and found a positive relationship with children who had
convictions generally had parents who also had convictions, giving us the idea that this may
be something inherited by the offspring from their family even when not living with them.
One advantage of genetic explanations for aggression is that the sample sizes used in
studying the impacts of genetics was large, for example, Hutchings and Mednick used 14000
participants which allows for us to make a more reliable correlation analysis of results and
easier to generalise results to a larger population as it reduces bias of participants selected
as they will have a range of characteristics and overall wellbeing and upbringing. Therefore
this means that more accurate conclusions can be drawn to generalise and thus doesn’t
raise the potential concerns of sample bias and extraneous variables as much within the
studies.
Another advantage of genetic explanations for aggression is that there is supporting
research that genetics can influence our aggressive behaviour and may be inherited. For
example, Coccaro conducted a study on MZ and DZ twins comparing their aggressive
behaviour with genetics. They found that with MZ/identical twins, there was a 505
concordance correlation rate of aggressive behaviour with eachother therefore providing
evidence that genetics inherited have an impact on our aggression phenotype thus
increasing the external reliability of the theory.
One disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that it doesn’t consider the
diathesis-stress model when genes are interacting for aggressive characteristics. For
example, Cadoret carried out a similar study to Hutching and Mednick and found that the
violence around them and atmosphere of their living conditions alongside having biological
parents with convictions worked hand in hand to impact aggression levels in the adopted
participants. Therefore, there is an emphasis on environmental interactions as well as
genetics which can trigger the aggressive behaviour with this theory thus additional factors
need to be considered.
,Another disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that it can have some
ethical implications. This is because a person who has committed a violent act / crime using
aggressive behaviour may blame it on the fact they have no control over this as this was
how they were born. Therefore, this theory can raise concerns on whether criminals at court
can be given alternative sanctions depending on inheritance as it suggests there is a genetic
influence on their behaviour thus this doesn’t create a positive impact on justice court.
Furthermore, a disadvantage of using genetic explanations for aggression is that some
studies such as Coccaro’s used only males within his study in which the results have been
generalised for females too. However, this is inaccurate as women and men have different
genetic and neural interactions which could impact aggression which means that they would
produce different results. Therefore, studies within genetic explanations have gender bias
called beta bias as it believes that the behaviour of one gender can be implies on the
opposite gender, therefore more studies need to be conducted on female aggression before
coming to a conclusion on genetic influences on aggressive behaviour.
, Outline and evaluate the role of hormonal explanations for aggression (16 marks)
Aggression can be influenced by a variety of factors, hormones being one and the two
primarily important hormones that can impact our aggression levels are serotonin and
testosterone. Firstly, serotonin is known as a calming hormone with an inhibitory effect on
the amygdala which activates fear, however low levels of serotonin is known as serotonin
deficiency hypothesis. This hypothesis was used to understand the impact of low serotonin
on aggression so a study by Raleigh was conducted on vervet monkeys which were given a
diet high in tryptophan which increases serotonin and then a different group was given the
opposite. Raleigh found that the monkeys with the high tryptophan had shown less
aggressive behaviour than those with low tryptophan diets. This leads us to the conclusion
that there is a relationship between low levels of serotonin and aggressive behaviour and an
increase in serotonin can inhibit these effects. Additionally, testosterone is another
hormone which can influence aggressive behaviour and is known to produce more male
characteristics (associated with violence). To understand the effects of testosterone on
aggression, Dabbs conducted a study on non-violent and violent criminals where their saliva
was sampled to test the amount of testosterone. Those with high testosterone had
committed a violent crime whilst those who had low levels had committed a non-violent
crime. This emphasises the idea that high levels of testosterone increases violent behaviour
in someone.
One advantage of the role of hormones to explain aggression is that research such as Dabbs’
has produced empirical results because testosterone levels in saliva can easily be plotted on
a graph to understand the influence it has on violence. Therefore this makes it easier to
produce a clear cause and effect/ correlational analysis of the results and come to a
conclusion on the influence of testosterone on aggression thus making it readable and
obvious on the relationships of the results which can be replicated and analysed by other
researchers.
Another advantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that studies such as Raleigh’s
were conducted in experimental lab conditions which means that variables were controlled.
Therefore, this reduced the effects of any extraneous variables that could influence the
results and produce inaccurate findings thus increasing the internal validity of the study and
increase the ability of replicability of the study by other researchers to produce similar
results.
However, to counteract this, a disadvantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that
using lab conditions can reduce the mundane realism of the study because it will be harder
to apply these conditions to day to day lives where variables are not controlled. Therefore
this reduces the ecological validity of the study and theory due to not being able to apply
the same study to real life conditions thus more studies and research needs to be conducted
in natural settings to see if similar results are produced to make true cause and effect
conclusion of the impacts of serotonin on aggression.
Another disadvantage of hormonal explanations for aggression is that studies such as
Raleigh’s used animals instead of humans within their study. However, humans and
monkeys are cognitively and biologically different which means that they may not produce
