Aggression

Two Different Views of Aggression: * Natural behaviour which has its basis on the natural world ~ may shed some light on the evolution aspect... * Social Problem understanding aggression may reduce the levels of violence in humans N.B Aggression in the animal world 2 sea anemone would be placed next to each other and the winner would expand! Konrad Lorenz: + Proposes that aggression is innate, inherited fighting instinct in animals as well as humans + Aggression is beneficial because it allows the strongest of the fittest over the course of evolution + In humans suppression of aggressive instinct allow these instinct to build up + Eventually these aggressive build up has to be released! Hydraulic Model (1950s) - Aggression is a function of the accumulation of energy and the sign stimuli - Energy is represented by water, accumulates in the reservoir ~ until released by the appropriate sign stimulus represented by weights! - After an attack ~ an organism will be less aggressive.... and the energy will be accumulates. Theory of aggression: ~ Ritualisation a way of discharging in a fixed stereotyped pattern. Ritualised fights happen between members of the same species~ results in little physical harm and a winner emerges! ~ Appeasement rituals gesture ~ prevent the other animal from engaging in actual conflict ~ Humans have developed means of advanced technology ~ perhaps suppressing the role of appeasement rituals amongst humans Lorenzs Theory: i) Theory is based on non-primates mainly (fish and insects) ii) Animals do not always stop before blood is spilled iii) Lorenz ignored the impact of learning and cultural differences iv) Aggression does not occur spontaneously but is a reaction to a stimulus Evolutionary Perspective - Recent theories suggest that aggression has a biological basis which is used to deal with the environment ~ an advantageous evolutionary response to a certain stimulus or situation - (Archer 1988) Aggression is best viewed as a range of behavioural solutions to certain types of problems animal encounters in their relationship with the environment 1) Protective Aggression Protecting by an attack from a predator 2) Parental Aggression Response to predation towards the offspring 3) Competitive Aggression Success in the competition that allows one to achieve more~

Human Aggression Any behaviour that is intended to cause the target immediate harm, the target must be motivated to avoid the behaviour Anderson and Bushman 2002 **Gender Differences in Crime Male is more aggressive in crimes~ murders, simple assaults and aggravated assaults ** Aggressive behaviour happens in the summer compared to the winter... Deindividualation People in groups may behave in an uncharacteristically aggressive way compared to their individual behaviour... others dont feel singled out by others... (football) (Zimbardo 1969) Students had to deliver an electric shock to another student as aid of learning Half wore lab coast that hid their faces Other half wore normal clothes... Hooded gave twice as much shock as the individualised ones... Instrumental vs Hostile Aggression Instrumental Aggression Murder + Premediated calculated behaviour ~ harms is the means to some other end + E.g. Obtain money, restore justice ~ Anger is not evident by the time of the aggressive act. Hostile Aggression voluntary manslaughter + Unvoluntary, unplanned behaviour ~ harming someone is the primary goal and no secondary goal! Anger is present Theories of Human Aggression Frustration-Aggressive Theory Aggression is the result of someones frustration which ends as a vicious cycle~ Frustration arises when they cannot achieve their goal but disappears when their goal is achieved! ~ We cannot vent our frustration directly... so use of a scapegoat (Displacement)! Displacement (Dollard and Miller) E.g. A boy and his friend wanted to go on a trip ~ but they couldnt because someone was ill..... the boy displaced his frustration on his little sister (scapegoat) ~ because they are weaker, safer target.... Evidence for this Theory ** Frustration is linked to psychological reactions such as high b.p, sweating Yet not all frustration causes aggression... and vice versa Theory Ignores cognitive factors ~ e.g. if the goal is unachieved by unexpected factors, or unfairly... the aggression is expressed greater (Kulik and Brown 1979) Aggressive-Cue Theory (Berkowitz 1966) Proposed that frustration produces anger rather than aggression - For anger to be stimulated, environmental cues are used which are the trigger cues.. - Environmental stimuli converts the anger to the aggressive responses...

The Weapons Effect Berkowitz argued that peoples aggressive actions are sometimes influenced in a relatively thoughtless, automatic way by particular details of the immediate situation... ** The presence of having the weapon elevates the aggressive behaviour ~ people left with a revolver gave more electric shocks than those in the room with a pair of badminton rackets.... Evidence for Berkowitz theory ~ Results replicated around different countries... ~ Weapons effect occurred even when participants were not angered... ~ Participants exposed to weapons realised that the experiementer expected aggression to be shown. ~Berkowitz argues that when participants recognise the experimenters reaction, they show less aggression The Social Learning Theory (SLT) + People acquire complex behaviours by observation and reinforcement (Bandura 1967,1973,1994) + SLT explains the acquisition of aggressive behaviour in terms of learning through observational learning and reinforcement! + Reinforcement is provided by payoffs ~ getting praise or status from others Bobo Doll Experiment 1973 Mass Media and Aggression: Violent TV and Violent Video Games Correlational Studies ~ Laboratory Studies ~ Field Experiments and Natural Experiments (Fiske 2004) Reseach unequivocally demonstrates that media violence facilitates aggression ~ the link of violent media to aggression is one of the most reliable findings (Bensley et al 2001) reviewed 28 published studies ~ in preschool children and elementary school students studies that used behavioural observations suggest that violent video game play caused increased aggression ** Yet studies that used self-reports and projective test did not find an effect The effect of violent video games seem to only have an effect on the younger children... Evidence for/against SLT supported by violent video games on aggressive behaviour ~ Aggressive behaviour is not dependent on reinforcement and observation only ~ SLT ignores the genetic predisposition to aggression The Biological basis of Aggression (Nelson and Trainor 2007) Neuroanatomical basis of aggression in rodents and nonhuman primates ~ ~ Medial Amygdala (Emotional>activation ~ aggression) Orbito Frontal Cortex = OFC 4ft rod went through OFC and presonaility completely changed and attacked women!

Amygdala and Aggression Amygdala Implicated in aggressive behaviour is part of the limbic system.... Bilateral destruction of the amygdala causes decrease in aggression ~ The electrical stimulation of amygdala in unanaesthesized animals causes aggressive attacking behaviour... Testosterone and Aggression (Wagner et al 1980) Mice male castration reduces aggression but testosterone can restore aggression! N.B Noted down biting attacks! (Carlson 1998) Increase in testosterone increases inter-female fighting but not oestradiol! Serotonin and Aggression *Low levels of 5-HT typically associated with higher levels of impulsitivity and aggressiveness in rats~ * Increasing 5-HT activity reduces aggressive behaviour in rats * 5-HT receptor is expressed within the network underlying aggressive behaviour * Consistent with psychopharmalogical studies of rats PET scans of humans have shown a negative correlation between aggression and 5-HT binding potential! (Raleigh et al 1991) studied the impact of serotonergic drugs on dominance and aggression in 12 groups of monkeys ~ Dominant male removed from each group ~ The monkeys were treated with either a 5-HT agonist or antagonist~ Showed that antagonist ~ increased the rate of aggression compared to 5-HT agonist... (Frankle et al 2005) examined the function of 5-HT transporter with PET -- 5-HT transporter takes serotonin from synaptic space back to the pre-synaptic neuron thereby decreasing 5-HT activity... -- Results show that: Pathological aggression is associated with a reduction in serotonin function in the anterior cingulated cortex!

Antisocial Personality Disorder + Lack of feeling and concern for welfare of others + Disregard for social norms, rules and obligations ~ + Very low tolerance to frustration + Low threshold for discharge of aggression + Incapacity to experience guilt + Marked proneness to blame others~ (Caspi et al 2002) Maltreatment of a child at an early age shows that the behaviour within the individual changes.... MAOA moderates the impact of maltreatment? ~ The higher the chances of maltreatment at an earlier age indicates.... increase chance of antisocial personality disorder...

(Rigoni et al 2010) Neuroscience and Behavioural Genetics improve psychiatric assessment: report on a violent murder case ~ Voxel-based morphomentry indexed a reduced grey matter volume associated with impulsitivity, violence and other psychiatric illnesses... So Should these be taken into account? (Caspi et al 2002) ** a functional polymorphism in the MAOA was found to moderate the treatment of maltreatment... children having a high level of MAOA were found not to develop anti-social problems... ~ Yet provide evidence that genotypes can moderate childrens sensitivity to environmental insults...