A level psychology Aggression aqa questions and answers

A level psychology Aggression aqa questions and answers Neural and hormonal influences - Answer-Limbic system (amygdala and the hippocampus) Serotonin Testosterone Neural influences (limbic system) Kluver and Bucy - Answer-The Amygdala relates emotional info with a physical action For example when an animal is confronted by another dangerous animal then the first animal may adopt an aggressive stance. (So relates fear with the stance) Kluver and Bucy- when the amygdala is removed, the animal no longer responds to the fear stimulus with an aggressive posture -also they removed the amygdala of a dominant monkey in a group and found that they were no longer the most dominant. Limbic system still (The Hippocampus) Boccardi - Answer-The hippocampus is involved in long term memory. So when an animal experiences a situation in which they have before (being approached by a vindictive malicious animal and being attacked) they will remember the attack and know to dip Boccardi- violent offenders tended to have an impaired hippocampus Neural factors (Serotonin) Mann et al Lindberg et al Passamonti et al - Answer-Serotonin at normal levels inhibits the firing of the amygdala (chills out the amygdala) Low levels of serotonin no longer does this efficiently, so they cannot correctly relate emotional feelings with physical actions - so there's a tendency to be aggressive or afraid more than usual (The amygdala is able to be stimulated much more easily) Mann et al- gave participants drugs that reduce serotonin in the brain, and using a questionnaire to assess aggression they found that aggression increased. Lindberg et al- compared violent criminals to non violent criminals. And measured levels of 5-HIAA in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) -low levels of the 5-HIAA means low serotonin. -they found that the lowest levels were amongst those who had committed suicide or killed someone. Passamonti et al-altered levels of serotonin in participants by feeding them different levels of tryptophan (less tryptophan=less serotonin) -then used a questionnaire to again assess aggression. -found that in the low level of tryptophan condition the participants were more aggressive Criticism of the serotonin (if ya want) - Answer-Sometimes a high level of serotonin results in aggression (MAOA gene) So can't be just one neurotransmitter. Hormonal causes (testosterone) Wagner et al Kouri et al - Answer-Male sex hormone (androgen- don't have to remember this term tho) -there's an obvious link between this and aggression (men tend to be more aggressive than women---- (Archer)) -women have less testosterone and men have more. (Dabbs) Wagner et al- castrated mice and found that they expressed lower levels of aggression. Also they returned to their usual aggressive levels after a testosterone injection. Kouri et al- gave participants increasing doses of testosterone over 3 weeks -had to perform a task which was to either press a button to gain points (to get money) or subtract someone else's points (not a real person