A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY AGGRESSION
AQA ASSESSMENT QUIZ 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)
-compared this group a placebo control group.
-aggression was measured through how many points were subtracted
- he found that the testosterone group were more "aggressive"
Evaluation for neural explanations
Raleigh et al - Answer-Feeding monkeys high tryptophan diets resulted in higher levels
of serotonin thus lower levels of aggression
Evaluation for hormonal explanations
Mazur et al
, Eisenegger et al - Answer-Mazur et al- distinguish between AGGRESSION and
DOMINANCE.
People who are aggressive tend to have an aim to harm a person
People who are being dominant want to acquire status
So aggression is a form of dominant behaviour
In non human animal species- influence of testosterone can be shown through
aggressive behaviour.
In humans- influence of testosterone on aggression may be shown in more subtle ways
(status striving behaviour)
Eisenegger et al- testosterone may make women act nicer than aggressive.
So testosterone may cause dominance and status striving behaviour and aggression is
just one type of this.
Genetic factors affecting aggression - Answer-Twin studies
MAOA
Adoption
Selective breeding
Genetic factors- twin studies
Coccaro et al - Answer-Monozygotic=share 100% of their genes
Dizygotic=share 50%
So if there's a high concordance rate in aggression and both twins being aggressive
then this show a cause.
Coccaro et al-used a questionnaire to measure aggressive behaviour and found a 47%
concordance rate for direct assault, 40% for indirect assault.
Adoption studies
Hutching and Mednick - Answer-Adoption studies help outline environmental as well as
genetic factors.
If correlation between the biological parent and the adoptee then genetic
If correlation between the adopting parents and the adoptee then environmental
Hutching and Mednick- study of 14000 adoptions found that a large amount of those
who had criminal convictions also had biological parents who also did
-this implies a genetic effect.
MAOA gene for aggression
Brunner et al
AQA ASSESSMENT QUIZ 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)
-compared this group a placebo control group.
-aggression was measured through how many points were subtracted
- he found that the testosterone group were more "aggressive"
Evaluation for neural explanations
Raleigh et al - Answer-Feeding monkeys high tryptophan diets resulted in higher levels
of serotonin thus lower levels of aggression
Evaluation for hormonal explanations
Mazur et al
, Eisenegger et al - Answer-Mazur et al- distinguish between AGGRESSION and
DOMINANCE.
People who are aggressive tend to have an aim to harm a person
People who are being dominant want to acquire status
So aggression is a form of dominant behaviour
In non human animal species- influence of testosterone can be shown through
aggressive behaviour.
In humans- influence of testosterone on aggression may be shown in more subtle ways
(status striving behaviour)
Eisenegger et al- testosterone may make women act nicer than aggressive.
So testosterone may cause dominance and status striving behaviour and aggression is
just one type of this.
Genetic factors affecting aggression - Answer-Twin studies
MAOA
Adoption
Selective breeding
Genetic factors- twin studies
Coccaro et al - Answer-Monozygotic=share 100% of their genes
Dizygotic=share 50%
So if there's a high concordance rate in aggression and both twins being aggressive
then this show a cause.
Coccaro et al-used a questionnaire to measure aggressive behaviour and found a 47%
concordance rate for direct assault, 40% for indirect assault.
Adoption studies
Hutching and Mednick - Answer-Adoption studies help outline environmental as well as
genetic factors.
If correlation between the biological parent and the adoptee then genetic
If correlation between the adopting parents and the adoptee then environmental
Hutching and Mednick- study of 14000 adoptions found that a large amount of those
who had criminal convictions also had biological parents who also did
-this implies a genetic effect.
MAOA gene for aggression
Brunner et al
