Aggression - AQA A PSYA3

SLT

• Direct and vicarious reinforcement. Likelihood of repeated behaviour (operant conditioning), role models, observations and rewards.
• Bandura et al (1963) - three groups. Group 3 had only learnt the behaviour. + Huesmann - Johnston and nature/nurture - Cumberbatch, ecological validity/generalisability.

Deindividuation

• Hogg & Vaughan (socialised ind. to anti-social).
• + Zimbardo. Diffusion of responsibility and anonymity. Stanford prison. Goes against societal norms. 
• + Watson (avoids Eurocentricism).
• - Prentice-Dunn & Rogers (private self-awareness not public)
• - Manstead & Hewstone (ingroups know each other anyway)

+ Why we act differently in situations/with rewards.

- Biological factors (e.g. testosterone) increase during above scenarios.

• Importation model (Irwin and Cressey) - dispositional. Criminal subculture (not dobbing in inmates), convict (want power) & straight. + Kane and Janus (unemployment/less educated) - DeLisi et al. (prior gang membership no difference). Nature/nurture, gender beta bias.
• Deprivation model (Sykes) - situational. Organisation/hierachy. Deprivation of liberty, autonomy, goods, relationships & security. + Zimbardo's prison study. + Cheeseman (the above = stress = agg.) - Goffman (hard to test).
• Initiation rituals: Raphael (replace childhood) + McCorkle (domination of weak essential).
• Abu Ghraib = deindividuation & dehumanisation. - Haslam & Reicher (not just situational?)

+ Balance of nature/nurture.

- Deception/harm

Neurotransmitters

• Low serotonin (usually is calming - Cases) in pre-frontal cortex. + Mann et al. (ex-weight loss drug, 35 adults, hostility in males) - Arora & Meltzer (low serotonin metabolism = increased receptors. Suicides). + Badawy (alcohol).
• High dopamine (Lavine). + Couppis et al. (rewarding sensation) - Couppis et al. (mice study, Lack of it = lack of movement. Cause/effect/animals). Free will/determinism.

Hormones

• Testosterone. + Archer (low pos. correlation in a meta-analysis of 5). - Tricker (10 wks, double blind, 600 ml test. or placebo. No diff.) - Sapolsky (agg = test or vice versa). Gender bias and cause/effect.
• Cortisol (Van Goozen). Reaction to stress in adrenal medulla. Inverse correlation. - Gerra et al (higher cortisol = aggression). + Popma et al. (2006). Pos. correlation with testosterone & high cortisol. + Virkkunen (high offenders = low cortisol = reaction to stress).

Twin studies

• Gottesman & McGruffin (87% concordance for MZ, 72% for DZ) + Mason & Frick (12 twin studies, 50% attributed to genetics of anti-scoial behaviour). - Coccaro et al. (182 MZ, 118 DZ. Genes = 40%. Environment = 50% physical agg, 70% verbal).

Adoption studies

• - Rhee & Waldman (51 a.s. 40% genetics for delinquency. No gender diffs. Self-report) + Hutchings & Medrick (14,000 a.s. strong cor. between agg. fathers and adopted sons) - Tremblay (parents tended to be more agg).

Monoamine Oxidase

• Breaks down sero. & dopa. after carrying nerve impulses. + Cases et al (mice lacking). - Moffit et al (442 NZ males, birth - 36. Abused + low MAOA = 9 x more likely). + Morley & Hall (not deterministic, weak link. Can't assess cause/effect with genetic tests).

- Gender bias

- Free will/reductionism/psych as a science