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Flashcards in Aggression Deck (390)
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1
Q

What does IDA include?

A

Ethical issuesGender, cultural or historical biasReal world applicationsDeterminismReductionismNature/Nature

2
Q

What is aggression?

A

An act carried out with the intention to harm another person.

3
Q

What is person-oriented aggression?

A

When the goal is to cause harm to another. This can be through physical or verbal means. It can also occur through showing hostility to another.

4
Q

What is instrumental aggression?

A

The goal is to obtain some kind of reward or preferred outcome. This can be played out through coercion of another person.

5
Q

What is reactive aggression?

A

A response to a hostile or aggressive situation. Aggression is shown often in response to provocation.

6
Q

What is sanctioned aggression?

A

Aggressive behaviour which is either legal or permitted because the ultimate outcome is seen as justifiable.

7
Q

What does social learning theory say?

A

That learning can occur simply through observing others-also known as models- in our environment.

8
Q

What does Bandura say about social learning theory?

A

That learning occurs from observing others. The mind, behaviour and the environment all play a role in learning behaviour. We learn through observation of models, which may lead to imitation of that behaviour.

9
Q

What is the advantage of Bandura’s approach to social learning theory?

A

It deals with the major criticism of behaviourist approach, which ignores mental processes, by taking account of cognitive processes.

10
Q

What are the four conditions for social learning?

A

Attention: The individual notices someone in their environmentRetention: The individual remembers what they have observedMoto Reproduction: The individual replicates the behaviour shown by the modelMotivation: The individual seeks to demonstrate the behaviour that they have observed.

11
Q

What is vicarious reinforcement?

A

Learning NOT as a result of direct reinforcement, rather an individuals observation of another person’s experiences.

12
Q

What type of models exist?

A

Live models; physically present in our environment e.g. mother, teacher, pop star etc.Symbolic Models; e.g. people in films, books, cartoons etc

13
Q

When is symbolic modelling thought to have a greater effect?

A

It is considered to have a greater effect on cultures where media is widely available.

14
Q

Who did the Bobo doll studies?

A

Albert Bandura

15
Q

What did the Bobo Doll studies investigate?

A

It investigated the effects of observing aggressive behaviour

16
Q

What type of study what the bob doll studies?

A

It was a laboratory study

17
Q

What were the aims of the Bobo doll studies?

A

To demonstrate that if children were witnesses to an aggressive display by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity.

18
Q

What were the hypotheses of the Bobo doll studies?

A
  1. Children exposed to aggressive models will reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of the mdoels2. Children exposed to non-aggressive models will reproduce less aggressive acts3. Children will imitate the behaviour of a same-sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex4. Boys will be more predisposed than girls towards imitating aggression
19
Q

What were the participants in the bobo doll studies?

A

36 boys & 36 girls, between 37-69 months (mean was 4 years & 4 months) All from Stanford University nursery school, and consent were given by the parents. Children were matched on the bases of their pre-existing aggressiveness.

20
Q

Who were the models in the bobo doll studies?

A

One male adult and one female adult.

21
Q

What were the three conditions of the bobo doll studies?

A

Aggressive condition, non-aggressive condition and the control group. Each had 24 participants.

22
Q

What was the aggressive conditions in the bobo doll studies?

A

24 children observed an adult being aggressive to a bobo doll.

23
Q

What was the non-aggressive conditions in the bobo doll studies?

A

24 children observed an adult playing and ignoring a bobo doll.

24
Q

What was the method used in the bobo doll studies?

A
  1. Children were taken to a room with toys in it and either an aggressive or non aggressive model entered the room2. Mild aggression arousal; shown toys they couldn’t play with3. Children observed in another room to see if they imitate behaviour.
25
Q

What were the results of the bobo doll studies?

A
  1. Aggressive group participants reproduced physical & verbal aggression used by model2. Boys produced more physical aggression3. Participants more likely to imitate same-sex model4. Participants were shocked & surprised at female model displaying physical & verbal aggression
26
Q

What conclusions were drawn from the bobo doll studies?

A

That learning can take place by observation (supports SLT) as reseach demonstates children will imitate behaviour of others in absence of reward/reinforcement. Children more likely to learn from same sex models (gender differences of aggressive behaviours being imitated)

27
Q

What did Bandura and Walters find in later bobo doll studies?

A

Found that children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts showed a high level of aggression in their own play. Those who saw the model being punished showed a low level of aggression in their play. This showed learning by vicarious reinforcement.

28
Q

How did Bandura later extend the bobo doll studies?

A

He wanted to find out if punishment had prevented learning or punishment prevented performance of the behaviour. He repeated the study into the role of punishment, but hen offered rewards to all the children for performing the model’s aggressive behaviours. He found the latter to be true, as when offered rewards all three groups showed the same level of imitation.

29
Q

What were the strengths of the research method used in the bobo doll studies?

A

It is possible to control extraneous variables, such as making sure that children are matched on aggressiveness so that you can be more certain that it is the IV that caused the aggression shown.

30
Q

What are the limitations of the research method used in the bobo doll studies?

A

Reducing behaviour to a simple set of variables may make it meaningless, so we can’t really relate the findings to everyday life- aggression has multiple causes. A lab experiment is a contrived experiment & children may not behave as they normally do.

31
Q

Why is it difficult to generalise the findings of the bobo doll studies?

A
  1. American culture is more aggressive than some cultures, so their may be a cultural bias2. Participants are children so may not be relevant to adolescent or adult behaviour3. Middle-class children used, and they were at Stanford which is a high status and prestigious uni, so can’t generalise tow ider society.
32
Q

What type of data was collected in the Bobo doll studies?

A

Quantitative data was collected, for example number of times a child imitated specific acts of violence.

33
Q

What were the strengths of using quantitative data in the bobo doll studies?

A

Makes it easier to analyse the data because you can directly compare children in the different conditions. Using such data you can draw a bar char, and do statistical tests to determine if the difference is significant.

34
Q

What were the limitations of using quantitative data in the bobo doll studies?

A

Doesn’t explain why some children did imitate the model whilst others didn’t, which could have possibly be found by interview. It also could mask certain trends, for example there were occasions where the children with the aggressive model was less aggressive than the children with the non-aggressive model.

35
Q

Does the Bobo doll studies suggest that aggression is nature or nurture?

A

It suggests that aggression can be learned, but there is some evidence that levels of aggression may be innate as the boys were more aggressive than the girls.

36
Q

What were the ethical issues of the bobo doll studies?

A
  1. They taught children to become more aggressive and deliberately provoked them2. The children may have been alarmed watching an aggressive models3. Issues with informed consent with children
37
Q

Why could the bobo doll studies lack ecological validity?

A
  1. People may well not do the same things to a real person as they would a doll2. It doesn’t really help understanding long-term aggression
38
Q

What study did Bandura do with a clown?

A

He tried the same study as the bobo doll studies, but used a film where a woman beat a live clown; when the children went into a room with a live clown, they punched, kicked and hit him with hammers just as they had seen in the film.

39
Q

What is the real world applications of the bobo doll studies?

A

It is very important in explaining media effects on aggression,

40
Q

How does social learning theory say children learn aggression?

A

Through observation of role models. They learn the consequences of aggression by watching others being reinforced or punished (vicarious reinforcement). Thus they learn the behaviours and they also learn whether and when such behaviours are worth repeating.

41
Q

What did Bandura claim was necessary for social learning to take place?

A

The child must form mental representations of events in their social environment. The child must also represent possible rewards and punishments for their aggressive behaviour in terms of expectancies of future outcomes. When appropriate opportunities arise in the future, the child will display the learned behaviour as long as the expectation of reward is greater than expectation of punishment.

42
Q

What is necessarily for reproduction of behaviour in social learning theory?

A
  1. Maintenance through direct experience2. Self-efficacy expectancies
43
Q

What is maintenance through direct experience in social learning theory?

A

If a child is rewarded for a behaviour, they are likely to repeat the same action in similar situations in the future.

44
Q

What is self-efficacy expectancies in social learning theory?

A

IN addition to forming expectancies of the likely outcomes of their aggression, children also develop confidence in their ability to carry out aggressive actions.

45
Q

What did Philips (1986) find in support of social learning theory?

A

He found that daily homicide rates in the US almost always increased in the week following a major boxing match, suggesting viewers were imitating behaviour they watched and social learning is evident in adults as well as children.

46
Q

What is the strengths for social learning theory in regards to aggression?

A
  1. Supporting research2. Research has high reliability3. Cultural evidence.
47
Q

What are the weaknesses of social learning theory in regards to aggression?

A
  1. Lacks ecological validity2. Reductionist3. Demand characteristics4. Ethical issues.
48
Q

What did Patterson et al find in support of aggression? (1989)

A

He demonstrated that role models are important in the development of anti-social behaviour (in all genders) and that parents are the most important role model. They found that very aggressive children are raised in homes of high aggression, little affection and little positive feedback.

49
Q

What other study did Bandura do on social learning theoryand the influential role of the entertainment industry?

A

They found that viewing aggression by cartoon characters produces as much aggression as viewing live or filmed aggressive behaviour by adults.

50
Q

Why does Bandura’s research have high reliability?

A

Because his research was predominately carried out in the laboratory where he had complete control over the IV (whether there was positive/negative reinforcmenet) and the DV. This suggests that if the research was carried out again then the same results could be achieved.

51
Q

What cultural evidence is there for social learning theory?

A

In the Kung San of the Kalahari desert aggression is rare. Parents do not reward or punish aggressive behaviour they try to distract children, whilst the mundugmor show the opposite pattern, in which violence is the norm and status is determined by the amount of aggression shown. Suggests SLT can be applied universally.

52
Q

What did Flnagan (2000) discover that criticises social learning theory?

A

He suggests that testosterone has been cited as a primary cause of aggression and other genetic and neuroanatomical structures are involved. SLT does not stress the importance of biological factors, so suggests it is reductionist.

53
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

Chermicals stored next to the synapse

54
Q

How do nerve impulses cross the synapse?

A

When the action potential reaches the axon terminal it hits a little gap. This is known as a synapse. Chemicals are storned next to the synapse (neurotransmitters), when the AP hits the chemicals they were released into the gap and they jump across. This is an all or nothing response.

55
Q

Why is crossing the synapse an all or nothing response?

A

To cross the synapse enough AP must arrive at the terminal in the axon otherwise there will not be enough transmitter released to fire the impulse across.

56
Q

How is serotonin thought to be linked to aggression?

A

Thought to reduce aggression by inhibiting the amygdala and therefore the responses to emotional stimuli that might otherwise lead to an aggressive response.

57
Q

What are low levels of serotonin in the brain associated with?

A

An increased susceptibility to impulsive behaviour, aggression and even violent suicide.

58
Q

What study did Mann et Al (1990) do on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Gave 35 healthy subjects dexflenfluamine which is know to deplete serotonin. Using a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels, they found that dexflenfluamine treatment in males (but not females) was associated with an increase in hostility and aggression scores.

59
Q

What study did Raleigh et al (1991) do on neural explanations for aggressions?

A

Using Vervet monkeys, they found that those on high tryptophan diets (which increases serotonin levels in the brain) exhibited decreased levels of aggression and vice versa.

60
Q

What did Popova et al (1991) do on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Showed that in animals bred for domestication and docile temperaments show over time increased levels of serotonin.

61
Q

What are the evidence for the role of serotonin in aggression?

A
  1. Evidence from non human studies supports the importance of serotonin2. Evidence from antidepressants. If low levels of serotonin are associated with low impulse control and aggressive behaviour, drugs that clinically raise serotonin levels should produce a concurrent lowering in aggression.
62
Q

What study did Bond (2005) do on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Established in clinical trials that antidepressant drugs which elevate serotonin reduce irritability and impulsive aggression.

63
Q

What is an alternative theory to low levels of serotonin as a cause of aggression?

A

That low serotonin metabolism (the ability to recycle serotonin at the synaptic clef), which in turns leads to developing a greater number of serotonin recepters.

64
Q

What did Arora and Meltzer (1989) find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Found that victims of violent suicide had increased numbers of serotonin receptors in the prefrontal cortex.

65
Q

How does alcohol affect serotonin?

A

Alcohol consumption interferes with the metabolism of serotonin in the brain.

66
Q

What did Badawy (2006) find about neural explanation for aggression?

A

Found a link between alcohol consumption and aggressive behaviour, but this is only correlational, and other factors, such as alcohol depression because of depression (linked to low serotonin levels) confuse the issue.

67
Q

How is Dopamine thought to be linked to aggression?

A

The link between dopamine and aggression is not as well established but it is thought that increases in dopamine will produce an increase in aggressive behaviour.

68
Q

What did Lavine (1997) find about neural explanation for aggression?

A

Increases in dopamine activity via the use of amphetamines have also been associated with aggressive behaviour.

69
Q

What did Buitelaar (2003) find about neural explanation for aggression?

A

Antipsychotics, which reduce dopamine activity in the brain, have been shown to reduce aggressive behaviour in violent delinquents.

70
Q

What is the problem with using dopamine levels as an explanation for aggression?

A

Evidence is inconclusive about the causal role of dopamine in aggression; recent research suggests that its influence might be as a consequence.

71
Q

What did Couppis and Kennedy (2008) find about neural explanation for aggression?

A

Found in mice that, a reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event that the dopamine is involved in as a positive reinforce in this pathway. Individuals will seek out an aggressive encounter to receive a rewarding sensation.

72
Q

What are the neural explanations for aggression?

A

The levels of serotonin and Dopamine, which are neurotransmitters.

73
Q

How is testosterone thought to be linked to aggression?

A

The male sex hormone testosterone is thought to influence aggression from young adulthood onwards due to its action on brain areas involved in controlling aggression.

74
Q

What did Dabbs et al (1987) find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Tested the salivary testosterone in violent and non-violent criminals. Violent criminals had higher testosterone levels.

75
Q

What did Lindman et al (1987) find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Young males who were aggressive when drunk had higher testosterone levels than those who did not act aggressive.

76
Q

What is the problem of using testosterone as an explanation for aggression?

A

There is inconsistent evidence. Studies which show a positive correlation have used a small sample and have used male prisoners.

77
Q

What distinction did Mazur (1985) make?

A

He distinguished between aggression and dominance. In humans the influence of testosterone on dominance is likely to be expressed in more varied and subtle ways.

78
Q

How is cortisol thought to be linked to aggression?

A

Cortisol appears to have a mediating effect on other aggression-related hormones such as testosterone.

79
Q

What did Dabbs et al (1991) find on hormonal explanations for aggression? (Cortisol)

A

Cortisol increases anxiety and therefore inhibits aggression and increases social withdrawal.

80
Q

What did Virkkunen (1985) find on hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

There are low levels of cortisol in habitual violent offenders

81
Q

What did Tennes and Kreye (1985) find on hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

There are low levels of cortisol in violent schoolchildren.

82
Q

What did McBurnett et al (2000) find on hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

He did a four year study of boys with behaviour problems. Boys with low cortisol levels began antisocial acts at a younger age and exhibited three times the number of aggressive symptoms.

83
Q

What are the hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

The role of testosterone and cortisol.

84
Q

What did Sandberg do (1971)?

A

First identified what is known as 47 XYY karyotype.

85
Q

What is 47 XYY Karotype?

A

It is possible for a male to have an extra Y sex chromonsome making them XYY

86
Q

What did Court-Brown (1965-67) find on the XYY Karotype?

A

Found that of a sample of 314 in a high security hospital, 15 were found to have chromosomal abnormalities, including 9 who had an extra Y chromosome. The incidence of XYY in the general population is 1/100, suggesting that having an extra Y chromosome may have predisposed these men to increased aggressive behaviour.

87
Q

What did Court-Brown conclude about those with XYY?

A

They would be best kept hospitalised due to an increase likelihood of aggressive behaviour.

88
Q

What did Milunsky (2004) find on XYY Karotype?

A

That although XYY people are on average taller than the general population, there is no evidence of increased aggression.

89
Q

What did Ratcliffe et al (1994) find on XYY Karotype?

A

That they did not have a higher than average testosterone levels.

90
Q

What study did Rutter et al (1990) do on genetic explanations for aggression?

A

Carried out a meta-analysis of twin studies on criminality and found that:Dizygotic twins have concordance rates between 13-22%Monzygotic Twins have concordance rates between 26-51 %

91
Q

What do twin studies suggest about the causes of aggression?

A

The differences beween dizygotic twins, who grew up in the same environment is likely due to genetics. BUt as monozygotic twins do not show a 100% concordance rate it cannot just be genetics.

92
Q

What study did Mednick, Gabrielli &Hutchings (1987) do on genetic explanations for aggression?

A

They studied the criminal records of all Danish children adopted outside their biological family between 1924 and 1947. They found that having a criminal biological father increased the risk of criminality, but the highest risk was for those with a criminal biological father and a criminal adoptive father.

93
Q

What is the problem with heritability studies?

A

They studied criminality, rather than aggressiveness and not all crime is violent. IN fact Mednick et all reported that the largest effect in their study was for non violent crime.

94
Q

What did Dmitri Belyaev (1950) do?

A

Tried to reduce the silver fox to make them esier to breed; found that after 18 generations the animals were tame. The silver fox breeding programme was also able to breed extremely vicious silver foxes.

95
Q

What did Cairnes (1983) do on genetic explanations for aggression?

A

Found it is possible to breed highly aggressive male and female mice, but this aggressiveness only occurred during mid life.

96
Q

Why are mice often used in genetic studies?

A

Because their genes are homologous to those of humans, meaning they produce the same proteins, which are used in a similar way.

97
Q

What is the MAO-A gene?

A

Associated with increased aggression. It produces monoamine oxidase, a chemical that is involved int he breakdown of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine in synapses.

98
Q

Why is the MAO-A thought to influence aggression?

A

It is thought that having too little of the MAO-A gene leads to the brain being flooded with too much serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, which eventually leads to a lowered sensitivity to these neurotransmitters. Low sensitivity is equivalent to low activity.

99
Q

What study did Moffat et al (2002) do on genetic explanations for aggression?

A

Conducted a longitudinal study of 422 males in New Zealand. He studied their history of abuse and criminal convictions, their penchant for violence and any symptoms of antisocial personality disorder. His findings showed that there was a link between MAO-A and the risk of being convicted of a violent crime, but only when participants also suffered abuse as children.

100
Q

Why was XYY Karotype thought to increase aggression in the 1960-70s?

A

A popular theory was that males who have inherited an extra Y chromosome are more ‘male’ and therefore more aggressive. However, this has been shown to be incorrect.

101
Q

What is cuckoldry?

A

A man may unwittingly invest resources in rearing children that are not his own

102
Q

What is direct guarding?

A

Restricting a partner’s movements

103
Q

What are negatives inducements?

A

Financial control, threat of violence is they are unfaithful or even so much as look at another man

104
Q

What is uxorocide?

A

Wife killing

105
Q

What is sexual coercion?

A

Partner rape

106
Q

What is jealousy?

A

Emotional response to anticipated loss of affection and/or status

107
Q

What is infidelity?

A

Unfaithfulness of sexual partners.

108
Q

What is often cited as the cause of violence in interpersonal relationships?

A

Male sexual jealousy as a result of real or suspected infidelity.

109
Q

What did Daly and Wilson find about domestic abuse?

A

Verbal aggression and non-lethal physical violence against mates is often similar in men and women, but spousal homicide by women is less frequent and often due to defense against a jealous abusive husband. Young wives/girlfriends are also more likely to be killed them older ones.

110
Q

What did Guttmacher (1955) find about domestic abuse?

A

In a study of 36 Baltimore spousal homicides, 25 were attributed to jealousy and the wives were the victims in 24 of these cases

111
Q

What did Hilberman and Munson (1978) find about domestic abuse?

A

In a study of battered women, 57/60 attributed the violence to their husband’s extreme jealousy and possessiveness.

112
Q

What did Whitehurst (1971) find about domestic abuse?

A

In 100 cases of spousal violence, the husbands’ frustration over their inability to control their wives and accusations of infidelity were the most reported causal factors.

113
Q

What do evolutionary psychologists propose as an explanation to sexual jealousy and the resulting violence?

A

A man can never be certain that he is the father of his wife’s children unless he prevents her having relationships with other men. This can explain why male sexual jealousy is often cited as a cause of domestic violence. Therefore men are always at risk of cuckoldry. The adaptive functions of sexual jealousy would be to deter a mate from sexual infidelity.

114
Q

What did Buss (1988) suggests about mate retention and violence?

A

That males have a number of strategies that have evolved specifically for the purpose of keeping a mate. These include:1. Restricting their partners autonomy (direct guarding)2. Negative inducements in the form of violence or threats of violence to prevent her from strayingThose who are perceived by their partner to be threatening infidelity are more at risk of violence than those who are not.

115
Q

What did Dobash and Dobash (1984) find about domestic abuse?

A

That the majority of cases of battered women cite extreme jealousy as the key cause of violence towards them.

116
Q

What did Daly et al (1982) find about domestic violence?

A

That male sexual jealousy is claimed to be the single most common motivation for killings in domestic disputes in the US

117
Q

What did Dell (1984) find about domestic violence?

A

That 17% of all cases of murder in the UK are linked to sexual jealousy.

118
Q

What was found in a summary of eight studies of same sex killings involving love triangles?

A

They found that 92% were male-male murders and only 8% female-female murders.

119
Q

What was the aim of Shakelford et al (2005) study on aggression in relation to evolutionary psychology?

A

To investigate male retention strategies with married couples.

120
Q

What was the method of Shakelford et al (2005) study on aggression in relation to evolutionary psychology?

A

A survey method, with a sample of 461 men and 560 women in the USA. Male participants answered questions about their use of mate retention techniques, and were assessed on how often they performed each of 26 different types of violent act against their partners. Female PP answered questions concerning their partner’s use of retention techniques.

121
Q

What was the results of Shakelford et al (2005) study on aggression in relation to evolutionary psychology?

A

Men’s use of intersexual negative inducements and direct guarding was positively correlated with their violence scores. Use of emotional manipulation as a specific tactic appeared to consistently predict men’s violence against women. Female results confirmed this trend. Females reported that those who used mate retention strategies were most likely to use violence. Age of relationship made no different.

122
Q

What was the conclusion of Shakelford et al (2005) study on aggression in relation to evolutionary psychology?

A

There findings are consistent with the claim of evolutionary psychology that mate retention strategies are evoked when a particular adaptive problem is faced, in this case the belief that the wife in unfaithful.

123
Q

What did Takahashi et al (2006) find about aggression in relation to evolutionary psychology?

A

Used brain imaging techniques to investigate the activity in the amygdala and hypothalamus whilst subjects imagined scenes depicting sexual infidelity and emotional jealousy. They found that men much greater activity when presented with scenes depicting sexual infidelity in their mate.

124
Q

In what ways could aggressive behaviour be seen as adaptive?

A

Gain territory and resources Defending against attacks: aggression to prevent loss of resources and status necessary for reproductive fitness iInflicting cost on same sex-rivals: aggression between same sex members to aid in the competition for resources and mates Negotiating status and power hierarchies: aggression to gain prestige and dominance among same-sex members Deterring rivals from future aggression: aggression to maintain dominance and fear in othersDeterring mates from infidelity: aggression against opposite-sex members to maintain fidelity of desired long-term mates and ensuring paternity

125
Q

Why is a male more likely to be aggressively jealous?

A

HUman males cannot risk wasting investment on offspring who are not their own so they should show more jealous violent aggression relating to female fidelity.

126
Q

Why might a female be aggressively jealous to a partner?

A

If a male is unfaithful the female partner risks losing his time, resources, energy, protection and commitment to her children.

127
Q

What did Daly and Wilson find about male-male aggression?

A

Cross-culturally, human violent aggression and homicide is far more common in males, against other males. Homicide is more common in poor and unmarried men than richer, married ones.

128
Q

What did Buss and Dedden (1990) find about female-female aggression?

A

It is more verbal against other women to maintain status and reduce the attractiveness of competitors, especially by using verbal criticism of the physical unattractiveness of other females and their promiscuity to lower their appeal in the eyes of men.

129
Q

What did Daly et al (1982) find about infidelity and aggression?

A

The detection or suspicion of infidelity is a key predictor of partner violence.

130
Q

What did Goetz et al (2008) find about infidelity and aggression?

A

That a consequence of men’s perception or suspicions of their wives sexual infidelity is partner rape.

131
Q

What did Camilleri (2004) find about infidelity and aggression?

A

That sexual assault of a female by a male partner was directly linked with the perceived risk of her infidelity.

132
Q

What did Sheilds and Hanneke (1983) find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that female victims of partner rape were more likely to have engaged in extra-marital sex.

133
Q

According to evolutionary psychology what is the purpose of violence towards pregnant partners?

A

When a women is pregnant with another man’s child then the purpose of violence is to terminate the pregnancy and therefore eliminate potential offspring and also leave her free to bear offspring for him.

134
Q

According to evolutionary psychology how can men guard against their partner’s infidelity?

A
  1. Providing benefits to the women, money, housing etc. 2. Use violence or threats of violenceHowever this could result in the unintended outcome of death.
135
Q

What did Camilleri & Quinsey (2009) find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Men convicted of raping their partners were more likely to have experienced cuckoldry risks prior to their offence compared to men convicted of non-sexual partner abuse.

136
Q

What did Burch and Gallup (2004) find about violence towards pregnant partners?

A

That frequency of violent acts towards pregnant mates was roughly double than towards those who were not pregnant, with sexual jealousy characterising those who committed violence against their pregnant partners.

137
Q

What did Taillieue and Brownride (2010) find about violence towards pregnant partners?

A

Found that women abused while pregnant were more likely to be carrying the child of a man other than her current mate

138
Q

What did Valladares et al (2005) find about violence towards pregnant partners?

A

Nicaraguan study found that half of the sample of pregnant women physically abused by their partners had suffered blows directed at their stomachs to increase the probability of an abortion.

139
Q

What are the limitations of evolutionary explanations of partner violence?

A

Cannot explain why different people react in different ways to the same problem. Androcentric- women also use mate retention strategies and behave violentlyThere are cultural difference in uxoricide rates and the degree of anxiety felt in response to infidelityDoes it justify violence? ReductionistDeterminist

140
Q

Why could it be argued that the evolutionary explanation is not gender biased?

A

The evolutionary explanation account for male and female differences in their experiences of infidelity and jealousy as due to different selective pressures.

141
Q

What does the power-threat hypothesis state?

A

That groups which pose a threat to the majority are more likely to be discriminated against and subjected to violent action, such as lycning.

142
Q

What does Sosis (2004) believe about the costly signalling theory?

A

That engaging in a painful religious ritual has been favoured by natural selection as it signals commitment to membership, and deters people who are not true believers joining these groups.

143
Q

What is considered to be the adaptive value of warfare?

A

. TerritoryGenocide (removal of competition)Mating success (status)Kin selection

144
Q

What did Chagnon observe about warfare?

A

Naturalistic observation of the Yanomamo tribe in the Amazon rainforest, frequent fighting between villages over abduction of women. Success in battle lead to high status, so successful warriors had more wives and children. Young men who had not killed were arely married.

145
Q

What did Pinker (1997) find about warfare?

A

In WW2 Germans raped women in concentration camps.

146
Q

What did Divale and Harris (1976) find about aggressive displays?

A

That displays of aggressiveness and bravery are attractive to females

147
Q

What did Chagnon (1988) find about aggressive displays?

A

That male warriors in traditional socieites tend to have more sexual partners and more children suggesting a direct reproductive benefit.

148
Q

What could be the benefit of costly displays of aggression?

A

Signals of commitment- displays such as scars and mutilations mean commitment to the group, and minimises the likelihood of males absconding to another group.

149
Q

What is the problem with the view that warfare is evolutionary adaptive?

A

In recent human history, prolonged warfare results in significant losses on both sides, which could suggest that warfare is actually maladaptive. Does not explain astonishing levels of cruelty in war. It can’t be ‘in the genes’ as we only adapted to fight when we were no longer nomadic and we were protecting our ‘site’.

150
Q

What did Palmer and Tilley (1995) find about aggressive displays?

A

Male gang members have more sexual partners than normal males

151
Q

What could be the adaptive value of sports events?

A
  1. Success in sports can be linked to status and therefore greater potential access to resources2. For the fans this is affiliation with a dominant group and superiority over subordinate groups, a greater place in social hierarcy, and being more attractive by proxy.
152
Q

How could aggression in sport events be seen as adaptive?

A

Aggression is linked with victory in some team sports and as such a display of real or ritualised aggression may increase chances of victory either physical dominance or intimidation. Even in minimial contact sports, teams ‘sledge’ or ‘psych out’ t heir opponents to gain the upper hand.

153
Q

What did Maxwell & Viscek (2009) find about aggression in sports event?

A

Questioned 144 rugby union players about their aggression in the game. Those high in professionalism placed more emphasis on winning and were more likely to use unsanctioned aggression.

154
Q

What did Cialdini et al (1976) find about aggression in sports events?

A

“basking in reflected glory”- after a uni football team had performed well, students more likely to wear uni scarves and sweaters.

155
Q

How could sport events be territorial?

A

Statistically speaking, sport teams playing at home win more than when they play away. When hooliganism in football was at it’s highest, a common feature of it would be for away fans to go to the town/city early and to ‘take’ opposition fans traditional areas (like a pub near the ground)

156
Q

What is xenophobia?

A

An irrational or unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.

157
Q

How can xenophobia manifest?

A

itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup (us and them), including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity

158
Q

What did Wilson (1975) claim about xenophobia?

A

Xenophobia appears in “virtually every group of animals displaying higher forms of social organisation.” It’s a form of natural selection.

159
Q

What did MacDonald (1992) find about xenophobia?

A

Claimed that it is adaptive to exaggerate negative stereotypes about outsiders which acts to increase ‘in group’ cohesion.

160
Q

What did Shaw & Wong argue about xenophobia?

A

That mechanisms that prompt suspicion towards strangers would have been favoured by natural selection. This would have enabled our ancesters to avoid attack and leave behind more offspring.

161
Q

What did Podaliri & Balestri find about zenophobia?

A

found evidence in sports events to suggest such Xenophobic responses are evident in human beings also: particularly in the behaviour of Italian football crowds. From the end of the 1980’s, xenophobic political organisations such as the Northern League in Italy had led to the growth of extreme right-wing movements with racist chants and openly anti-Semitic banners.

162
Q

What did Foldesi (1996) find about xenophobic displays?

A

Racist conduct of a core of extremist supported led to increase of spectators’ violence in general. Gypsies, Jews and Russians were the usual targets.

163
Q

What did Lewis et al (2005) find about sport events?

A

football fans felt that crowd support contributed to the home advantage. Fans felt responsible and took credit for distracting opponents. However it is unclear whether the size of the crowd impacts or whether the outcome is a result of ‘psyching up’ the home team or distracting the away team.

164
Q

What did Moore and Brylinksky (1993) find about sport events?

A

Studied 11 US basketball games which had no crowds/spectators due to a measles outbreak, comparing them with matches observed by crowds. Both teams actually scored higher without the presence of a crowd, suggesting the crowd does not always have a positive influence on the team’s performance.

165
Q

What is the problems with xenophobia as an explanation for group display?

A

Most sport crowds are not aggressive, and not all sports have a hooligan problem.

166
Q

What did Marsh (1978) say about football hooliganism?

A

That it is the human equivalent of “ceremonial conflict” in animals. Exclusively male, ritualised symbolic aggression restrained by desire to minimise harm and death, thus more adaptive than warfare. Intention is to humiliate opposition and secure submission and/or dominance and higher status.

167
Q

What is the social dominance theory based on?

A

begins with the idea that human societies are organised into hierarchical groups with mechanisms to keep those hierarchies in place, consisting of dominant and subordinate groups. DOminant groups enjoy money, health, status, happiness, political power etc.

168
Q

What does the social dominance theory say?

A

Age: adults and middle-age people have disproportionate social power over children and younger adults.Gender: Males have disproportionate social power over females (patriarchy)Arbitrary-set: socially constructed and highly salient groups based on characteristics such as religion, clan, ethnicity, nation, race, caste.

169
Q

What did Bandura and Walters suggest about traditional learning theory and aggression?

A

They believed that aggression could not be explained using traditional learning theory where only direct experience was seen as responsible for the acquistion of new behaviours.

170
Q

What does social learning theory say about aggression?

A

It suggests that alongside direct experience, we also learn by observing others. We learn the specifics of aggressive behaviour (e.g. the forms it takes, how often it is enacted, the situations that produce it and the targets towards it is directed. A person’s biological make up creates a potential for aggression, and it is the actual expression of aggression that is learned.

171
Q

According to SLT how does observation affect behaviour?

A

They learn the behaviours through observation, and learn whether the behaviours are worth repeating through vicarious reinforcement.

172
Q

What did Bandura claim must happen in order for social learning to take place?

A

A child must form mental representations of events in their social environment, and represent possible rewards and punishments for their aggressive behaviour in terms of expectancies of future outcome. The child will only display the learned behaviour if the expectation of reward is greater than the expectation of punishment.

173
Q

What two things increase the likliehood of the production of aggresive behaviour?

A
  1. Maintenance through direct experience2. Self-efficacy expectancies
174
Q

What is the effect of maintenace through direct experience in SLT?

A

If a child is rewarded for a behaviour, they are more likely to repeat the action in similar situations in the future.

175
Q

What is the effect of self-efficacy expectancies in SLT?

A

In addition to forming expectancies of the likely outcomes of aggression, children may also develop confidence in their ability to carry out necessary aggressive actions. Children for whom this form of behaviour has been particularly disastrous in the past have less confidence (lower sense of self-efficacy_ in their ability to use aggression successfully to resolve conflicts, and therefore may turn to other means.

176
Q

Who were the participants in Bandura’s Bobo doll studies?

A

Male and female children ranging from three to five years. half were exposed to adult models interacting aggressively with a life sized inflatable Bobo doll and half exposed to models that were non-aggressive towards the doll.

177
Q

How did the aggressive model act in Bandura’s Bobo doll studies?

A

The model displayed distinctive physically aggressive acts toward the doll, e.g. striking it on the head with the mallet and kicking it about the room, accompanied by verbal aggression such as saying ‘POW.”

178
Q

What happened to the participants following exposure to the model in Bandura’s Bobo Doll studies?

A

Following exposure to the model, children were frustrated by being shown attractive toys which they were not allowed to play with. They were then taken to the room where, among other toys, there was a bobo doll.

179
Q

What was the result of Bandura’s Bobo Doll studies?

A

Children in the aggression condition reproduced a good deal of physical and verbally aggressive behaviour resembling that of the model. About 1/3 of them repeated the model’s verbal responses, while none of the children in the non-aggressive group made such remarks. Boys reproduced more imitative physical aggression than girls, but they did not differ in their imitation of verbal aggression

180
Q

What did Bandura and Walters’ find about SLT in later Bobo doll studies?

A

Found that children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts showed high levels of aggression in their own play. Those who saw the model punished showed a low level of aggression in their play, whilst thsoe in the no-reward, no-punishemtn group were somewhere in between these two levels of aggression- vicarious learning.

181
Q

How did Bandura study the role of punishment in later Bobo doll studies?

A

He repeated the study, but now, after exposure to the model, he offered rewards to all the children for performing the model’s aggressive behaviour. In this case, all three groups (punishment, reward, control) performed a similar number of imitative acts. This shows the learning does take place regardless of reinforcements but that production of behaviours is related to selective reinforcement.

182
Q

How did Bandura respond to the criticism that his studies focused on aggression towards a roll rather than a real person?

A

Bandura produced a film of a young woman beating up a live clown. When the children went into the other room, there was the live clown! They proceeded to punch him, kick him, hit him with hammers, and so on.

183
Q

What did Phillips find about the applicability of SLT to adults?

A

Found that daily homicide rates int eh US almost always increased in the week following a major boxing match, suggesting that viewers were imitating behaviour they watched that that SLT is evident in adults as well as children.

184
Q

What is the culture of violence theory?

A

(Wolfgang and Ferracuti) proposed that in large societies, some subcultures develop norms that sanction violence to a greater degree than the dominant culture. Some cultures may emphasise and model non-aggressive behaviour, producing individuals that show low levels of aggression.

185
Q

How can SLT explain individual differences in aggressie behaviour?

A

Supports cultural differences, and suggests that differences within individuals can be related to selective reinforcement and context-dependent learning. People respond differently in different situations because they have observed that aggression i rewared in some situations and not others.

186
Q

What is the support for SLT?

A

-Explains cultural differences-Explains aggressive behaviour in the absence of direct reinforcment (vicarious reinforcement)-Bobo Doll studies, Phillips

187
Q

What are the weaknesses of SLT?

A

-Ethical issues in exposing children to aggression (protection of participants), thus makes it difficult to test and therefore establish the scientific credibility of the theory-Children may have been aware of what was expected of them (demand characteristics).- See Noble

188
Q

How did Noble criticise Bandura’s bobo doll studies?

A

They report that one child arriving at the lab for the experiment said: “Look mummy, there’s the doll we have to hit” (Demand characteristics)

189
Q

What is the deindivuation theory?

A

Zimbardo introduced the theory of deindividuation, whereby people, when part of a relatively anonymous group, lose their personal identity and hence their inhibitions about violence. Deindivudation theory has been used as an explanation of the collective behaviour of violent crowds, mindless hooligans and social atrocities, such as genocide.

190
Q

What is deindividuation theory based on?

A

The classic crowd theory of Gustave Le Bon, who described how an individual was transformed when part of a crowd. He claimed that, in a crowd, the combination of anonymity, suggestibility and contagion mean that a ‘collective mind’ takes possesion of the individual. Thus, the individual loses self-control and becomes capable of acting in a way that goes against personal or social norms.

191
Q

What is deindivudation?

A

A psychological state characterised by lowered self-evaluation and decreased concerns about evaluation by others.

192
Q

What are the factors that contribute to deindivuation according to ZImbardo?

A

Anonymity, and altered consciousness due to drugs or alcohol.

193
Q

What did Zimbardo point out about deindividuation states?

A

That it may also lead to an increase in prosocial behaviour (crows at music festivals, and large religious gatherings etc.)

194
Q

What did Zimbardo say happens when you become part of a crowd?

A

It can diminish awareness of our own individuality. n a large crowd, each person is faceless and anonymess- the larger the group, the greater the anonymity. There is a diminished fear of negative evaluation of actions and a reduced sense of guilt

195
Q

What study did Zimbardo do on deindivuation?

A

Groups of four female undergraduates were required to deliver electric shocks to another student to ‘aid learning’. Half wore bulky lab coats and hoods, addressed as a group when given instructions, never referred to be name, and not introduced to each other, whilst the other half wore normal clothing with large name tags, were given instructions individually, and were introduced to each other by name. Participants in the deindividuation condition shocked ‘the learner’ for twice as long as did identifiable participants.

196
Q

What did Rehm et al study about deindividuation and anonymity?

A

Randomly assigned German schoolchildren to handball teams of five, half the teams wearing the same orange shirts, and the other half their normal clothes. The children wearing orange (who were harder to tell apart) played the game consistently more aggressively than the children in everyday clothes.

197
Q

What did Mullen find about deindivudation and anonymity?

A

Analysed newspaper cuttings of sixty lynchings in the United States between 1899-1946. Found that the more people there were in the mob, the greater the savagery with which they killed their victims.

198
Q

What does Prentice-Dunn et al suggest about deindividuation and anonymity?

A

They claim that it is reduced self-awareness, rather than simply anonymity, that leads to deindividuation. If an individual is self-focused, the tend to focus on, and act according to, their internalised attitudes and moral stands, thus reducing antisocial behaviour. If the individual submegers themselves within a group, they may lose this focus, becoming less privately self-aware and therefore less able to regulate their own behaviour.

199
Q

What did Cannavale et al find about deindividuation and gender bias?

A

Found that male and female groups responded differently under deindivudation conditions reflecting a gender bias in the theory. An increase in aggression was obtained only in the all-male groups.

200
Q

What did Diener et al find about deindividuation and gender bias?

A

Found greater disinhibition of aggression (i.e. removal of the normal inhibitions concerning aggression) in males.

201
Q

What did Mann use the concept of deindividuation to explain?

A

“The baiting crowd.”

202
Q

What did Mann study on deinvidiuation?

A

Analysed 21 suicide leaps reported in US newspapers in the 60s and 70s, and found that in 10/21 cases where a crowd had gathered to watch, baiting had occured. These incidents tended to occur at night, when the crowd was large, and some distance from the person being taunted (especially when the ‘jumper’ was high above them) All these features were likely to produce a state of deindividuation in the members of the crowd.

203
Q

What did Robert Watson find about deindividuation and cultural differences?

A

Collected data on the extent to which warriors in 23 societies changed their appearance prior to going to war, and the extent to which they killed, tortured or multilated their victims. Those societies where warriors changed their appearnce were more destructive towards their victims compared to those who did not change their appearance.

204
Q

What did Johnson and Downing find about deindividuation and the importance of local group norms?

A

They replicated Zimbardo’s nurse experiment, but this time participants were made anonymous by means of a mask and overalls (like KKK), or by means of nurses’ uniforms. Participants shocked more than a control condition when dressed in KKK uniforms, but actually shocked less than the controls when dressed as nurses. The finding suggests that people respond to normative cues associated with the social context in which they find themselves.

205
Q

Why did Johnson and Downing criticise ZImbardo’s view of deindividuation?

A

They explored the idea that rather than deindividuation automatically increasing the incidence of aggression, any behaviour produced could be a product of local group norms

206
Q

What study did Postmes and Spears do on deindivuation?

A

They did a meta-analysis of 60 studies of deindividuation, and concluded that there is insufficient support of the major claims of the theory. Found that disihbition and antisocial behaviour are not more common in large groups and anonymous settings. Nor was there much evidence that deindividuation is associated with reduced self-awareness, or that reduced self-awareness increases aggressive behaviour.

207
Q

What did Spivey and Prentic-Dunn find about deindividuation?

A

Found it could lead to either prosocial or antisocial behaviour depending on situation factors. When prosocial environmental cues were present (such as a prosocial model), deindividuated participants performed significantly more altruistic acts (giving money) and significantly fewer antisocial acts (giving electric shocks) compared to a control group.

208
Q

What did Francis et al find about online deindividuation?

A

Adolescents reported feeling significantly more comfortable seeking help with mental health problems under the deindivuated circumstances of internet chatrooms compared to the individuatied circumstances of a personal appointment with a health professional.

209
Q

What is interpersonal aggression?

A

Involves direct actions against a specific individual and is restricted to a specific place and time.

210
Q

What is institutional aggression?

A

It may occur within groups or institutions, such as the armed forces, prisons or mental institutions, or between different groups.

211
Q

What did Irwin and Cressey argue about aggression within prisons? (the importation model)

A

Claim that prisoners bring their own social histories and traits with them into prison, and this influences their adaption to the prison environment. Irwin and Cressey argue that prisoners are not ‘blank states’ when they enter prison, and that many of the normative systems developed on the outside world would be imported into the prison (importation model)

212
Q

What did Allender and Marcell find about aggression within prisons?

A

Found that gang members disproportionately engage in acts of prison violence.

213
Q

What did Huff find about aggression within prisons?

A

Found that gang members in the US were ten times more likely to commit a murder and three times more likely to assual someone in public than were non-gang members of a similar age and background.

214
Q

What does the deprivation model argue about aggression within prisons?

A

Agues that prisoner aggression is the product of the stressful and oppressive conditions of the institutions itself (Paterline and Paterson). This includes crowding, assumed to increase fear and frustration levels, and staff experience.

215
Q

What did Hodgkinson et al find about the deprivation model and institutional aggression?

A

Found that trainee nurses are more likely to suffer violent assault than experienced nurses

216
Q

What did Davies and Burgess find about the deprivation model and institutional aggression?

A

Found that in prison setting, length of service was also a significant factor, with more experienced officers being less likely to suffer an assault

217
Q

How did Sykes explain the pains of imprisonment and institutional aggression?

A

He described the specific deprivations that inmates experience within prison and which might be linked to an increase in violence. These included the loss of liberty, the loss of autonomy and the loss of security. Inmates may cope with the pains of imprisonment in several ways. Some choose to withdraw through seclusion in their cell or living space, whereas others choose to rebel in the form of violence against other prisoners or staff.

218
Q

What did Sykes find about the deprivation model and institutional aggression?

A

Found that the potential threat to personal security increased anxiety levels in inmates, even if the majority of prisoners posed no significant threat to them.

219
Q

What did Staub claim were the stages in the process of genocide?

A
  1. Difficult social conditions, leading to…2. Scapegoating of a less powerful group, leading to…3. Negative evaluation and dehumanisation of the target group, leading to…4. Moral values and rules becoming inapplicable, and the killing begins5. The passivity of bystanders (e.g. the UN) enhances the process
220
Q

What can institution also refer to?

A

A whole section of society, defined by ethnicity, religion or some other significant feature.

221
Q

What did Milgram believe the holocaust was primarily the result of?

A

It was the result of situational pressures that forced Nazi soldiers to obey their leaders regardless of any personal moral repugnance.

222
Q

What did Wilson find about the deprivation model and institutional aggression?

A

Reasoned that if most violence occurs in environments that are hot, noisy, and overcrowded, then this could be avoided by reducing these factors. He set up two units for violent prisoners that were less claustrophobic, and gave a view to outside, and typical prison-life noise was reduced and masked by music from a local radio station. Temperature was lowered so that it was no longer stiflingly hot. These changes virtually eradicated assaults on prison staff and inmates, but political pressure prevented it from becoming commonplace.

223
Q

What does Wilson claim about xenophobia?

A

That xenophobia has been documented in “virtually every group of animals displaying higher forms of social organisation

224
Q

What is xenophobia?

A

A fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners

225
Q

What do Shaw and Wong say about xenophobia?

A

Argue that the mechanisms that prompt suspicion towards strangers would have been favoured by natural selection. This would have enabled our ancestors to avoid attack and so leave behind more offspring

226
Q

What does Macdonald say about xenophobia?

A

Suggests that from an evolutionary perspective it is adaptive to exaggerate negative stereotypes about outsiders, as the over perception of threat is less costly than it’s underperceptiob

227
Q

What did Podaliri and Balestri find about xenophobia on the terraces?

A

Found evidence of xenophobic tendencies in their analysis of the group displays of Italian football crowds. In the 1980s xenophobic political organisations such as the Northern League led to the growth of extreme right-wing movements characterised by racist chants and openly anti-Semitic banners

228
Q

What did Huntingford and Turner find about territoriality?

A

That territorial behaviour is common in many animal species, which typically show threat displays toward outsiders and attack with greater vigour when defending a home territory

229
Q

How are territorial displays seen in sport?

A

Aggressive displays of sports team prior to a match suck as the Hakka

230
Q

What did Neave and Wolfson find about territorial behaviour in sport?

A

Found that football teams playing at home were far more likely to win than the visiting team partly because they had a benefit of a huge surge in restoring before a match, which did not occur before away games. Team members who subjectively felt that the burden of ‘defending the territory’ lay with then had higher levels of testosterone . They believed this could be due to an evolved drive to defend home territory

231
Q

What ways can you explain aggressive group displays in sport?

A

-xenophobia-territoriality including threat displays and testosterone and territorial behaviour.

232
Q

What did Foldesi find about xenophobic displays?

A

Found that the racist conduct in extremist supporters among Hungarian football crowds led to an increase of spectators violence in general, and xenophobic outbursts in particular. Violent incidents based on racist or xenophobic attitudes were observed at all stadia, with gypsies, Jews and Russians the usual targets

233
Q

What did Lewis et al find about territoriality?

A

Found that, among football fans, crowd support was rated as the most significant factor contributing to home advantage. Through their displays f support, fans felt responsible for inspiring their team to victory and took credit for distracting opponents

234
Q

What did Moore and Brylinksy find about territoriality and sports?

A

A measles epidemic resulted in a quarantine that caused 11 American basketball games for two teams to be played without spectators. There was no significant difference between performance with and without spectators suggesting that displays of support from home crowds did not increase the performance of the teams.

235
Q

What did Pollard and Pollard find about territoriality and sport?

A

That a home advantage still could be seen to operate even with very small crowds

236
Q

Why is serotonin thought to reduce aggression?

A

By inhibiting the amygdaloid and therefore the responses to emotional stimuli that might otherwise lead to an aggressive response

237
Q

What have low levels of serotonin in the brain been linked to?

A

Increased susceptibility to impulsive behaviour, aggression and even violent suicide

238
Q

What study did Mann et al do on neural explanation for aggression?

A

Have 35 healthy subjects dexflenfluamine which us known to deplete serotonin. Using a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels, they found that dexflenfluamine treatment in males (but not females) was associated with an increase In hostility and aggression scores

239
Q

What did Raleigh et al find on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Using vervet monkeys found that those on high tryptophan diets (which increases serotonin levels in the brain) exhibited decreased levels of aggression and vice versa

240
Q

What did Popova et al find on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Showed that animals bred for domestication and docile temperaments show increased levels of serotonin over times

241
Q

What did Bond find on neural explanations for aggression?

A

Established in clinical trials that antidepressant which elevate serotonin actually reduce irritability and impulsive aggression

242
Q

What is an alternative theory to low levels of serotonin as a cause of aggression?

A

Low serotonin metabolism (the ability to recycle serotonin at te synaptic cleft), which in turn leads to developing a greater number of serotonin receptors.

243
Q

What did Arora and Meltzer find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Research has found that victims of violent suicide had increased numbers of serotonin receptors in te prefrontal cortex.

244
Q

What did Badawy find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Found a link between alcohol consumption which interferes with the metabolism of serotonin in the brain and aggressive behaviour. However this is correlational and other factors such as increased alcohol consumption due to depression confuse the matter

245
Q

How is dopamine thought to be associated with aggression?

A

The link between dopamine and aggression is not well established but it is thought that increases in dopamine will produce an increase in aggressive behaviour.

246
Q

What did Lavine find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Increases in dopamine activity via the use of amphetamines have also been associated with aggressive behaviour

247
Q

What did Buitelaar find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Antipsychotics, which reduce dopamine activity in the brain, have been shown to reduce aggressive behaviour in violent delinquents

248
Q

What did Couppis and Kennedy find about neural explanations for aggression?

A

Found that in mice, a reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event, which dopamine is involved as a positive reinforcer. Individuals will seek out an aggressive encounter to receive a rewarding sensation.

249
Q

How is testosterone thought to be linked to aggression?

A

It is thought to influence aggression from young adulthood onwards due to it’s action on brain areas involved in controlling aggression.

250
Q

What did Dabbs et al find in hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Salivary testosterone from violent and non-violent criminals. Violent criminals had higher testosterone levels

251
Q

What did Lindman et al find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Young males who were aggressive when drink had higher testosterone levels than those who did not act aggressive

252
Q

What did Albert et al find about testosterone as an explanation for aggression?

A

There is inconsistent evidence. Some studies show a positive correlation and others show no relationship.

253
Q

What did Mazur say about testosterone and aggression?

A

Distinguished between aggression and dominance. In humans the influence of testosterone on dominance is likely I be expressed in more varied and subtle ways.

254
Q

How is cortisol thought to be linked to aggression?

A

It appears to have a mediating effect on other aggression-related hormones such as testosterone

255
Q

What did Dabbs et al find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Cortisol increases anxiety and therefore inhibits aggression and increases social withdrawal

256
Q

What did Virkkunen find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Low levels of cortisol in habitual violent offenders

257
Q

What did Tennes and Kreye find about hormonal explanations for aggression?

A

Low levels if cortisol in violent schools children

258
Q

What are the four conditions necessary for social learning?

A
  1. Attention: the individual noticed something in their environment 2. Retention: the individual remembers what they have observed3. Motor reproduction: the individual replicates the behaviour shown by the model 4. Motivation: the individual seeks to demonstrate the behaviour that they have observed
259
Q

What are the two types of models in social learning?

A
  1. Live models- physically present in our environment 2. Symbolic models- people in films, books, cartoons
260
Q

What did Patterson et al find on social learning?

A

Demonstrated that role models are important in the development of anti-social behaviour and that parents are the most important role models. Found that very aggressive children are raised in homes of high aggression, little affection, and little positive feedback

261
Q

What did Takahashi et al find about aggression and male sexual jealousy?

A

Used brain imagining techniques to investigate activity in the amygdala and hypothalamus whilst subjects imagined scenes depicting sexual infidelity and emotional jealousy. Men showed greater activation in the amygdala and hypothalamus when presents with scenes depicting sexual infidelity in their partner. Physiological basis for jealousy based aggression.

262
Q

Who developed the social learning theory?

A

Bandura and Walters

263
Q

Why doesn’t social learning theory ignore biological factors?

A

A person’s biological make-up creates a potential for aggression and it is the actual expression of aggression that is learned.

264
Q

How does social learning theory differ from operant conditioning?

A

Whereas Skinner’s theory claimed that learning takes place through direct reinforcement, Bandura suggested that children learn just by observing role models with whom they indentify.

265
Q

Why is it difficult to test social learning theory?

A

It is difficult to test experimental hypothesizes about social learning of aggressive behaviour in children due to ethical issues concerning the need to protect participants from psychological and physical harm. Thus it is difficult to establish the scientific credibility of the theory by this means.

266
Q

What did Phllips find about social learning theory?

A

FOund that daily homicide rates in the US almost always increased in the week following a major boxing match, suggesting that viewers were imitating behaviour they watched and that social learning is evident in adults as well as children.

267
Q

Who developed the ‘culture of violence’ theory?

A

Wolfgang and Ferracuti

268
Q

What does the ‘culture of violence’ theory suggest?

A

Proposes that in large socieities, some subcultures develop norms that sanction violence to a greater degree than the dominant cultures.

269
Q

What are the strengths of social learning theory?

A
  1. It can explain aggressive behaviour int he absense of direct reinforcement- Vicarious learning
  2. Explains individual difference both between and within individuals; some cultures may emphasise and model non-aggressive behaviour, producing individuals that show low levels of aggression. Differences within individuals can be related to selective reinforcement and context-dependent learning i.e. they learn behaviours that are appropriate to particular contexts.
270
Q

How can social learning theory explain the low aggression rates of the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert?

A

The child-rearing practices; when two children argue/fight parents neither reward nor punish them, but physically separate them and try to distract their attention onto other things. Second, parents do not use physical punishment and aggressive postures are avoided by adults and devalued by the society as a whole. The absence of direct reinforcement of aggressive behaviour as well as the absence of aggressive models means there is little opportunity or motivation for children to acquire aggressive behaviours.

271
Q

Who introduced the theory of deindividuation?

A

Zimbardo

272
Q

What does the theory of deindividuation say?

A

That people, when part of a relatively anonymous group, lose their personal identity and hence their inhibitions about violence.

273
Q

What study did Johnson and Downing do on deindividuation?

A

Repeated Zimbardo’s nurse study, but this time participants were made anonymous by means of a mask and overalls (reminiscent of the KKK) or by means of nurses’ uniforms. Participants shocked more than a control condition when dressed int he KKK uniforms, but actually shocked less than the controls when dressed as nurses. Suggest people respond to normative cues associated with the social context in which they find themselves.

274
Q

Who developed the importation model?

A

Irwin and Cressey

275
Q

Who developed the deprivation model?

A

Paterline and Peterson

276
Q

What are the explanations for institutional aggression within groups?

A
1. The Importation Model:
Interpersonal factors
Gang membership
2. The deprivation model
SItuation factors
THe pains of impresionment
277
Q

What are the explanations for aggression between group?

A
  1. Dehumanisation

2. Obedience to authority.

278
Q

What is social dominance orientation?

A

A personality variable which predicts social and political attitues. People who are high in SDO endorse social hierarchies and inter-group inequality, and see the world as a ‘competitive jungle’.

279
Q

What did Esses et al fnd about dehumanisation?

A

Domonstrated that people high in social dominance orientation have a tendency to dehumanise outgroup members and in particular foreign refugees and asylum seekers.

280
Q

How does dehumanisation explain aggression between groups?

A

If the target group is dehumanised so that its members are seen as worthless animals and therefore not worhty of moral consideration.

281
Q

What did Harer and Steffensmeier find about institutional aggression?

A

Collected data from 58 US prisons and found that black inmates had significantly higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol-related and drug-related misconduct than white inmates. THese patterns parallel racial differences int hese behaviours in US society and so support the importation model.

282
Q

What did Delisi et al find about institutional aggression?

A

Challenge the claim that pre-prison gang membership predicts violence whilst in prison. THe found that inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence.

283
Q

How may Delisi et al study on institutional aggression be explained?

A

By the fact that violent gang members tend to be isolated from the general inmate population, therefore greatly restricting their opportunities for violence.

284
Q

What did Fischer find about institutional aggression?

A

Found that isolating known gang members in a special management unit reduced the rates of serious assault by 50%.

285
Q

What did Mccorkle et al find about institutional aggression?

A

Found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence. However, research into this area is not sonsistent in its findings.

286
Q

What did Nijman et al find about institutional aggression?

A

Found that increased personal space failed to decrease the level of violent incidents among patients in a psychiatric institutions.

287
Q

What did Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando find about institutional aggression?

A

Found support for both the deprivation and importation models as explanations of prison violence. THey found that the deprivation model was better able to explain violence against prison staff, whereas the importation model was better able to explain violence against other inmates.

288
Q

WHat did Poole and Regoli find about institutional aggression?

A

Found that the best indicator of violence among juvenile offenders was pre-institutional violence regardless of any situational factors in the institution.

289
Q

What is the problem withh Staub’s stages in the process of genocide?

A

It emphasises the importance of bystander intervention in prevention bystanders, however, bystander intervention does not necessarily end institutional aggression, as there is an important difference between the effect of intervention on duration and on severity of violence. E.g. Rwanden genocide- 800,000 people in 100 days, with UN intervention

290
Q

What does Mandel argue about institutional aggression?

A

Rejects Milgram’s claims that obedience to authority was sufficient to explaint he behaviour of Holocaust perpetrators. He argues that Milgram’s acount is monocausal (ignores other possible causes) and simply does not match the historical record.

291
Q

What does Goldhagen argue about institutional aggression?

A

Suggests that the main causal factor int he Holocaust was a form of anti-Semitism so deeply entrenched in the GErman people at that time they they implicitly condoned the elimination of millions of innocent Jews.

292
Q

What are the neural mechanisms involved in aggression?

A

Serotonin and Dopamine

293
Q

What are the hormonal mechanisms involved in aggression?

A

Testosterone and cortisol

294
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

Chemicals that enable impulses within the brain to be transmitted from one area of the brain to another.

295
Q

How is serotonin thought to be linked to aggression?

A

Thought to reduce aggression by inhibiting responses to emotional stimuli that might otherwise lead to an aggressive response. Low levels of serotonin in the brain have been associated with an increased susceptibility to impulsive behaviour, aggression and even violent suicide.

296
Q

What study did Mann et al do on neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

Gave 35 healthy subjects dexflenfluramine, which is known to deplete serotonin. Using a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels, they found that dexflenflaumine treatment in males (but not females) was associated with an in crease in hostility and aggression scores.

297
Q

What has Lavine found about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

That increases in dopamine activity via the use of amphetamines have been associated with increases in aggressive behaviours.

298
Q

What did Buitelaar find about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

Antipsychotics, which reduce dopamine activity in the brain, have been shown to reduce aggressive behaviour in violent delinquents.

299
Q

What did Scerbo and Raine find about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

A meta-analysis of 29 studies published before 1992 examined neuotransmitter levels in antisocial children and adults. Consistently found lower levels of serotonin in individuals described as being aggressive, but found no significant rise or fall in dopamine levels. Reduced levels of serotonin were particularly marked in those individuals who had attempted suicide. Suggests that serotonin repletion leads to impulsive behaviour, which in turn may lead to aggressive behaviour in various forms.

300
Q

What did Dabbs et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Measured salivary testosterone in violent and non-violent criminals. Those with the highest testosterone levels had a history of primarily violent crimes, whereas those with the lowest levels had committed only non-violent crimes.

301
Q

WHat did Lindman et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found that young males who behaved aggressively when drunk had higher testosterone levels than those who did not act aggressively.

302
Q

Who developed the challenge hypothesis?

A

Wingfield et al

303
Q

What does the challenge hypothesis propose?

A

THat in monogamous species, testosterone levels should only rise above the baseline breeding level in response to social challenges, such as male-male aggression or threats to status. In such situations, a testosterone surge is to be expected, with a consequent increase in aggression, provided the threat is deemeted relevant to reproductive competition.

304
Q

What did Dabbs et al find about cortisol?

A

Cortisol appears to have a mediating efect on other aggression-related hormones such as testosterone, possibly because it increases anxiety and the liklihood of social withdrawal.

305
Q

What did Virkkunen find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found low levels of cortisol in habitual violent offenders

306
Q

What did Tennes and Kreye find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found low levels of cortisol in violent schoolchildren.

307
Q

What did Archer find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Analysed the results of 230 males over 5 studies and found a low positive correlation between testosterone and aggression.

308
Q

What did Book et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

A meta-analysis of 45 studies which established a mean correlation of 0.14 between testosterone and aggression.

309
Q

Why did Archer et al criticise Book et al study on hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Claims that methodological problems with this study meant that a correlation of 0.08 was more appropraite.

310
Q

What is the problem with reductionism and biological mechanisms of aggression?

A

The link is not quite so clear in the case of humans. The complexity of human social behaviour means that a biological explanation for human aggression is insufficient on itts own.

311
Q

What did Raleigh et al find about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

They found that vervet monkeys fed on experimental diets high in tryptophan (which increases serotonin levels in the brain) exhibited decreased levels of aggression. Indiviudals fed on diets that were low in tryptophan exhibited increased aggressive behaviour, suggesting that the difference in aggression could be attributed to their serotonin levels.

312
Q

What did Popova et al find about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found that animals that are selectively bred for domestication and for increasingly docile temperaments, there is a corresponding increase, over generations, in brain concentrations of serotonin.

313
Q

What did Bond find about neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

Established that in clinical studies of antidepressant drugs that elevate seretonin levels they tend to reduce irritability and impulsive aggression.

314
Q

What did Couppis and Kennedy find abotu neural mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found that in mice, a reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved as a positive renforcer in this pathway. This suggests that individuals will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a reawrding sensation from it.

315
Q

What is the problem with linking dopamine to aggression?

A

Although research is fairly inconclusive about the causal role of dopamine in aggression, recent researchs uggests that its influence might be as a consequence instead.

316
Q

What did Albert et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Claimed that despite many studies showing a positive correlation between testosterone and aggression, other studies find no such relationship, particularly those that have compared testosterone levels of aggressive and less aggressive individuals.

317
Q

What did Mazur claim about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Suggests that we should distinguish aggression from dominance. Individuals act aggressively when their intent is to inflict injury, whereas they act dominately if they wish to achieve or maintain status over another. Aggression is just one form of dominant behaviour. In huans, the influence of testosterone on dominance is likely to be expressed in more varied and suble ways.

318
Q

What did Mcburnett et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Four-year study of boys with behavioural problems. Those boys with consistently low cortisol levels began antisocial acts at a youner age and exhibited three times the number of aggressive syptoms compared to boys with higher or fluctuating coritsol levels. Researchers concluded that cortisol levels were ‘strongly and inversely related to aggressive conduct disorder’

319
Q

What did Klinesmith at al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Had male students provide a saliva sample, interact either with a gun or a child’s toy for 15 minutes, and then provide another saliva sample. Males who interacted with the gun showed significantly greater increases in testosterone and behaved more aggressively toward another participant compared to those who played with child’s toy. (supports challenge hypothesis)

320
Q

What did Archer et al find about hormonal mechanisms and gender in aggression?

A

Found that the association between testosterone and aggression is higher for female than male samples.

321
Q

What did Baucom et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

That women with higher testosterone levels had higher occupational status, possibly as a result of being more assertive.

322
Q

What did Eisenegger et al find about hormonal mechanisms in aggression?

A

Found that testosterone could make women act ‘nicer’ rather than more aggressively, depending on the situation. This supports the idea that, rather than directly increasing aggression, testosterone promotes status-seeking behaviour of which aggression is one type.

323
Q

Why are twin studies used to study aggression?

A

If the MZ twins are more alike in terms of their aggressive behaviour then this should be due to genes rather than environment as both types of twin share the same environment as each other but MZ twins are more genetically alike

324
Q

What did Coccaro et al find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

Using adult twin pairs they found that nearly 50% of the variance in direct aggressive behaviour (aggression toward others) could be attributed to genetic factors.

325
Q

Why are adoption studies used to study aggression?

A

If a positive correlation is found between aggressive behaviour in adopted children and aggressive behaviour in thier biological parents, a genetic effect is implied. If a positive correlation is found between the adoptee’s aggressive behaviour and the rearing family, then an enviornmental effect is implied.

326
Q

What study did Hutchings and Mednick do on genetic factors in aggression?

A

A study of over 14,000 adoptions in Denmark found that a significant number of adopted boys with criminal convictions had biological parents (particularly fathers) with criminal convictions.

327
Q

What is MAOA?

A

A protein called monoamine ozidase produced by a gene. It regulates the metabolism of serotonin in the brain, and low levels of serotonin are associated with impulsive and aggressive behaviour.

328
Q

Why study did Brunner et al do on genetic factors in aggression?

A

a study of a Dutch family which found that many of its male members behaved in a particularly violent and aggressive manner, and a large proportion had been involved in serious crimes of violence, including rape and arson. These men were found to have abnormally low levels of MAOA in their bodies, and a defect in this gene was later identified.

329
Q

What did Caspi et al find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

Studied 500 male children. Researchers discovered a variant of the gene associated with high levels of MAOA and a variant associated with low levels. Those with low levels of MAOA were significantly more likely to grow up to exhibit antisocial behaviour but only if they had been maltreated as children. CHildren with high levels of MAOA who were maltreated, and those with low levels who were not maltreated, did not display antisocial behaviour. Suggests gene-enviornment interaction

330
Q

What study did Brennan and Mednick do on genetic factors in aggression?

A

A series of adoption studies in which the criminal history of an adopted male was compared with the criminal history of both his biological and his adoptive fathers, found that genetic influences were signiicant in cases of property crime but not in cases of violent crime.

331
Q

WHat did Miles and Carey find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

Carried out a meta-analysis of 24 twin and adoption studies that supported the genetic basis of aggression. The result suggested a strong genetic influence that could account for as much as 50% of the variance in aggression. Both genes and family environment were influential in determining aggression in youth, but at later ages the influence of rearing environment decreased and the influence of genes increased.

332
Q

What did Rhee and Waldman find on genetic factors in aggression?

A

Combined the results of 51 twin and adoption studies and concluded that aggressive antisocial behaviour was largely a product of genetic contributions. However, several variables, including ae and assessment method moderated the genetic influence on aggression, usggesting the influence of other factors affect the expression.

333
Q

What are the main problems with samples used for studies into aggression?

A

A lot have focused on individuals convicted of violent crime. Convictions for violent crime are relatively few compared to the vast number of violent attacks by individuals that never result in a conviction. THey threrefore represent just a small minority of those regularly involved in aggressive behaviour. Also, offenders designated as ‘violent’ are not necessarily the most serious, persistant offenders.

334
Q

What are the difficulties of determining the role of genetic factors in aggression?

A
  1. More than one gene usually contributes to a given behaviour
  2. As well as genetic factors there are many non0genetic influences on the manifestation of aggression
  3. These influences may interact with each other (gene-environment interaction etc.)
335
Q

WHat is a serious ethical issue with research on genetic factors of aggression?

A

Given the extremely tentative nature of conclusions that can be reached from this research and the far reaching ethical consequences of labelling an individual as a threat to society on the basis of their genetic inheritance, an awareness of the limitations of these studies is extremely important.

336
Q

What did Young et al find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

CClaimed to have identified a genetic mutation that causes violent behaviour in mice. THis mutation, nicknamed ‘fierce’ has a range of effects on mice, including extremely violent behaviour towards other mice. A counterpart of this gene does exist in humans, although its precise function is not known.

337
Q

What is the problems of assessing aggression in Miles and Carey’s study?

A

The mode of assessment was found to be a significant moderator of aggressive behaviour int he 24 studies that made up their analysis. They found that genetic factors explained a large proportion of the variance in aggressive behaviour in studies that had not used parental or self-reports. However, those that had made use of observational ratings showed significantly less genetic contribution and a greater influence of environmental factors.

338
Q

What did Plomin et al find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

Replicated Bandura Bobo doll study. Twin pairs were encouraged to act aggressively towards the doll by being exposed to an adult model who also acted aggressively towards it. Researchers found no difference in the correlations between MZ and DZ twins, suggesting that individual differences in aggression were more a product of environmental influences than genetic influences.

339
Q

What did Walters find about genetic factors in aggression?

A

A meta-analysis o studies found only a low to moderate correlation between heredity and crime, with better designed and more recently published studies providing less support for the gene-crime hypothesis than more poorly designed and earlier published studies.

340
Q

What did Daly and Wilson claim about evolutionary explanations of human aggression?

A

Claimed that men have evolved several different strategies to deter their female partners from committing adultery. These range from vigilance to violance, but all are fueld by male sexual jealous, an adaption that evolved specifically to deal with the threat of paternal uncertainty.

341
Q

How does the evolutionary explanation claim sexual jealousy is adaptive?

A

Men are always at risk of cuckoldry, and thu the adaptive functions of sexual jealousy would be to deter a mate from sexual infidelity, to reduce the risk of a man unwittingly investing his resources in offspring that are not his own.

342
Q

What did Buss suggest about evolutionary explanations of human aggression?

A

Suggests that males have a number of strategies that have evolved specifically for the purpose of keeping a mate. These include restricting their partners’ autonomy (‘direct guarding’) and ‘negative inducements’ in the form of violence or threats of violence to prevent her from straying.

343
Q

What did Dobash and Dobash find about evolutionary explanations of human aggression?

A

Showed that in studies of battered women, that in the majority of cases, women cite extreme jealousy on the part of their husbands or boyfrieds as the key cause of the violence directed toward them.

344
Q

WHat did Daly et al find about evolutionary explanations for human aggression?

A

That male sexual jealousy is claimed to be the single most common motivation for killings in domestic disputes.

345
Q

What did Dell find about evolutionary explanations of human aggression?

A

Concluded that sexual jealousy accounted for 17% of all cases of murder in the UK.

346
Q

What did Daly et al find about infidelity and aggression?

A

That the detection or suspicion of infidelity is a key predictor of partner violence.

347
Q

What did Goetz et al find about infidelity and violence?

A

That a conseuqneces of men’s perceptions or suspicions of their wives’ sexual infidelity is sexual coercion or partner rape.

348
Q

What did Camilleri find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that sexual assault of a female by her male partner was directly linked with the perceived risk of her infidelity.

349
Q

What did Shields and Hanneke find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that female victims of partner rape were more likely to have reported engaging in extra-marital sex than women who had not been raped by their male partners.

350
Q

What does the evolutionary explanation for human aggression say is the adaptive function of violence towards pregnant partners?

A

When a women becomes pregnant witha nother man’s child the function of violence directed towards her may be to terminate the pregnancy thus eliminationg the potential offspring of a rival and leaving her free to bear offspring for him

351
Q

How does the evolutionary explanation say that men can guard against their partner’s infidelity?

A

Either by conferring benefits or by inflicting costs, including violence.

352
Q

What did Shackelford et al find about infidelity and aggression?

A

That, as not all men possess resources that might be used to provide benefits, some men are especially prone to using violence, or the threat of violence.

353
Q

What did Daly and WIlson argue about infidelity and aggression?

A

That the death of the partner from physical violence may be an unintended outcome of an evolutionary adaptation that was designed for control rather than death.

354
Q

What are the evolutionary explanations for human aggression?

A
  1. Jealousy:
    - Cuckoldry
    - Mate retention and Violence
  2. Infidelity
    - Sexual coercion
    - Violence toward pregnant partners
    - Uxorocide
355
Q

What did Buss and Shackelford find about jealousy and aggression?

A

Found that men who suspected that their wives might be unfaithful over the next year exacted greater punishment for a known or suspected infidelity than men who did not anticipate future infidelities.

356
Q

What did Shakelford et al argue about the practical applications of the evolutionary explanations of aggression?

A

That the particular tactics of mate retention used by males can be an early indicator of violence against the female partner. The findings from these studies can potentially be used to alert friends andf amily members to the danger signs, the specific acts that can lead to future violence.

357
Q

What did Takahasi et al find about jealousy and aggression?

A

Showed that the neural response to imagined scnes depicting sexual infidelity (e..g their partner having sex) and emotional jealousy (e.g. their partner falling in love) was different for men and women. using brain imaging techniques, they discovered that men showed much greater activation in the amygdala and hypothalamus (brain areas associated with aggression), when presented with scenes depicting sexual infidelity in their mate.

358
Q

What did Edlund and Sagarin argue about jealousy and aggression?

A

Claim that our understanding of the relationship between sexual jealousy and aggression is limited. For example, research doesn’t tell us whether the perceived locus of responsibility (.e.g whether the perceived infidelity is initiated by the female partner or the male rival) moderates the jealousy response. Nor does research tell us whether the degree and type of perceived infidelity is important.

359
Q

What did Camilleri and Quinsey find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that men convicted of raping their partners were more likely to have experienced cuckoldry risks prior to their offence compared to men convicted of non-sexual partner abuse.

360
Q

What did Burch and Gallup find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that the frequency of violent acts toward pregnant mates was roughly double that directed toward partners who were not pregnant, with sexual jealousy characterising those men who committed violence against their pregnant partners.

361
Q

What did Taillieu and Brownridge find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that women abused while pregnant were more likely to be carrying the child of a man other than her current mate.

362
Q

What did Valladares et al find about infidelity and aggression?

A

Found that half of a sample of pregnant women physically abused by their partners had suffered from blows directed at their abdomen, specifcially designed to increase the probability of aborting the foetus.

363
Q

Why do Buss and Shackelford criticise the evolutionary explanation for aggression?

A

Suggest that it cannot account for why different males, when faced with their infidelity, respond in different ways.

364
Q

What are the major limitations towards evolutionary explanations of partner violence?

A
  1. Cannot explain why people react in different ways when faced with the same adaptive problem
  2. Gender bias- women also engage in mate retention tactics and sometimes behave violently towards their partners
365
Q

What did Felson find about jealousy and aggression?

A

(Gender bias) examined 2060 murders in the US and found that women were twice as likely to murder out of jealousy as were men.

366
Q

What are aggressive group displays a product of?

A

Some external stimulus that triggers the behaviour in question (known as the proximate cause). however, this may conceal the adaptive or ‘real’ reason why the behaviour evolved in the first place, known as its ultimate cause.

367
Q

What does Wilson claim about xenophobia?

A

Claims that xenophobia (a fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners) has been documented in virtually every group of animals displaying higher forms of social organisations.

368
Q

What did Shaw and Wong claim about xenophobia?

A

Argue that the mechanisms that prompt suspciion towards strangers would have been favoured by natural selection. THis would have enabled our ancestors to avoid attack, and so leave behind more offspring.

369
Q

What does MacDonald claim about xenophobia?

A

Suggests that from an evolutionary perspective, it is adaptive to exaggerate negative stereotypes about outsiders, as the overperception of threat is less costly than its underperception.

370
Q

What did Podaliri and Balestri about xenophobia?

A

Found evidence of xenophobic tendencies in their analysis of the group displays of Italian football crowds.

371
Q

What is territoriality?

A

The protective response to an invasion of one’s territory.

372
Q

What does Huntingford and Turner argue about territoriality?

A

That territorial behaviour is common in many animal species, which typically show threat displays toward outsiders and attack with greater vigour when defending a home territory.

373
Q

Why would aggressive group displays have been adaptive for our distance ancestors?

A

Because they allowed groups to defend valuable resources associated with thier terriroty.

374
Q

What did Neave and WOlfson find about territoriality?

A

Found that football teams playing at home were far more likely to win than the visiting team partly because players have the benefit of a huge surge in testosterone before a match. They believed this could be due to an evolved drive to defend home territory, which led to more aggressive displays when playing at home. This increase in testosterone levels before home games (compared with levels before training) did not occur before away games. Team members who subjectively felt that the burden of ‘defending the territory’ lay with them (e.g. goalkeepers) had higher levels of testosterone compared to other players.

375
Q

What did Divale and Harris find about the benefits of aggressive displays?

A

In socieites that experience frequent warfare, males are far more likely to escape infanticide than females because of their potential usefulness in battle. As a result, since there are relatively few women compared to men in those societies, men must compete with other for mates, with those that do well in battle being ‘rewarded’ by access to female mates.

376
Q

What did Chagnon find about the benefits of aggressive display?

A

Male warriors in traditional societies tend to have more sexual partners and more children suggesting a direct reproductive benefit.

377
Q

What could be the adaptive function of warfare in terms of acquistion of status within groups?

A

Because cooperation between males is so important to an individual’s status in the group, fleeing from battle would make an individual appear a ‘coward’ thus losing the respect of their peers. Therefore, displays of aggressiveness and bravery in battle means that individuals are more likely to strength the bond between them and other males in the group, and share the benefits associated with status, which in turn would increase their reproductive fitness.

378
Q

What did Irons claim about the function of costly displays?

A

Claims that the costliness of permanent displays such as scars and mutilationo means that they serve as honest signals of commitment to the group. By engaging in such displays, individuals demonstrate their commitment and loyalty to the group and so can benefit from the profits of warfare against another group.

379
Q

What did Thorpe claim about the function of costly displays?

A

Minimisies the likelihood of defection. This is because such permanent displays minimise the ability of males to abscond to another group and increase their commitment to the group of which they are a member..

380
Q

What are the explanations for aggressive group displays in sports?

A
  1. Xenophobia

2. Territoriality

381
Q

What are the explanations for aggressive group displays in warfare?

A
  1. Benefits of aggressive displays
    - Sexual Selection
    - Acquisition of status within the group
  2. Costly displays signal commitment
    - Signals of commitment
    - Minimising the likelihood of defection
382
Q

What did Foldesi find about xenophobia?

A

FInd evidence to support the link between xenophobia and violent displays among Hungarian football crowds. he found that the racist conduct of a core of extremist supporters led to an increase of spectators’ volence in general, and xenohpbia outbursts in particular. Violent incidents based on racist or xenophobic attitudes were observed in all stadia, with gypsies, Jews and Russians the usual targets.

383
Q

What did Lewis et al find about territoriality?

A

FOund that among football fans, crowd support was rated as the most significant factor contribution to a home advantage.

384
Q

What did Pollard and Pollard find about territoriality?

A

The home team advantage- the relationship with crowd size is unclear as the advantage has been shown to operate even with very small crowds.

385
Q

What study did Moore and Brylinsky do on territoriality?

A

A measles epidemic resulted in a quarantine that caused 11 American basketball games for two teams to be played without spectators. For one team, The Siena Saints, 9 away games were analysed. Five were played with spectators, 4 without. They scored an average of 76.25 points with spectators, and 86.20 without. The other team, the Hatford Hawks, 11 home games were analysesd, 4 with no spectators, 7 with spectators. Scored an average of 64.29 with spectators, yet 71.25 without. Suggests that home crowds did not increase performance.

386
Q

What did Palmer and Tilley find about the benefits of aggressive displays?

A

Found that male youth street gang members have more sexual partners than ordinary young males.

387
Q

What did Leunissen and Van Vugt find about the benefits of aggressive displays?

A

Found that military men have greater sex appeal but only if they have been observed showing bravery in combat.

388
Q

What did Leblanc and Register argue about warfare?

A

War only emerged when humans shifted from a nomadic existence to a settled one. So rather than being an evolved adaption, it may have emerged as a rational response to a changing lifestyle. THis suggests that warfare and aggressive displays associated, are not biological compulsions but are a consequences of environmental changes such as rising populations and dwindling food supplies.

389
Q

What did Watson find in relation to warfare?

A

He found anthropological evidence that suggests that the atrocities committed in war may be more a consequences of deindividuation effects than of evolutionary adaptions.

390
Q

What is the major limitation of an evolutionary explanation of warfare?

A
  1. Fail to explain the astonishing levels of cruelty that are often found in human wars yet not among non-human species.
  2. Gender bias as they do not adequately reflect the behaviour of women in this process. Our understanding of displays typically found in warfare, is therefore limited to the behaviour of males.