Aggression and Violence
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- Evidence for linking testosterone to aggression: (4)
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1. sex differences in testosterone levels
2. seasonal differences
3. changing levels over lifetime
4. T receptors in right places - in what three ways is testosterone a potentiator?
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1. physiologically: shorten refrac. per.
2. behavioral data: augments input (turns music up not on)
3. sensory data: - Female hyenas are refered to as what?
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Pseudohermaphrodites
females have high levels of androgens - Hormones implicated in Aggression?
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Men: Testosterone, glucocorticoids, epinephrine
Women: Androgens (testosterone), estrogen, progesterone - Lorenz' theory of agression
- genetically preprogrammed, violence is inevitable
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Marxist theory of aggression
(Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis) -
no inequities, no aggression
--> periods of plenty should lead to aggression - What happens when you destroy the amygdala?
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amygdala processes scary stimuli .
you cannot do fear conditioning, cannot provoke anxiety or fear, poor information gathering from faces - What does the frontal cortex do? (2)
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-control impulsivity
-executive function - what's the connection between serotonin and aggression?
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low levels of serotonin cause impulsive, aggressive behaviors
--> lots of individual differences in serotonin breakdown (MAO breaks down serotonin) - What does the anterior cingulate have to do with aggression?
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Anterior cingulate (AC) does emphathy
--> poke loved one with pin, AC lights up -
Subtraction experiment (testosterone and aggression)
and then
replacement approach -
cut off male's testes, aggression goes down (NOT down to 0)
the more experience, the higher it stays (effect on environment) - Behaviorist theory of aggression
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punish for aggression, reward for non
HOWEVER:
crimes of passion are untouched by reinforcement! - Behavioral fat, what's that?
- From marxist theory on aggression, can afford to waste resources on aggression because we're in a time of plenty
- Stages of Aggressive Development (there are three)
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1. distinguish between animate and inanimate
2. sense of self, ego boundaries (theory of mind, age 3-5)
3. empathy - Kohlberg stages of moral development (there are three)
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1. don't get punished. Behaviorist sort of thing. there is noone else!
2. what if everyone did that? recognition of laws, codes
3. I have my own code, I do what's right even if I get punished. Civil disobedience. - Factors that modulate violence:
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2. exposure to violence
3. violence at home
4. structure of rationalization (shared myth culture) - Levit & Donahue study
- Roe v. Wade brings down violent crime
- What evidence of kin selection and aggression?
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1. step father more likely to abuse kids
2. pseudo kinship creation (band of brothers)
3. - name two ecological/cultural factors influencing aggressive behavior.
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1. nomadics invent cliterectomy + chastity belts
2. Cultures of honor - name four ways to start reciprocity:
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1. repeated, small group interactions
2. open book interactions
3. kin selection as driving force
4. ability to punish non-cooperators -
Results of Caspi et al.
(MAO serotonin) -
originally: we thought more serotonin --> less aggression.
MAO breaks down serotonin, but according to study, low levels of MAO lead to high aggression in severe maltreatment (Contradictory findings) -
Hairi et al.
Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) - short allele of 5-HTT --> less effective at removing serotonin --> more serotonin --> lights up the amygdala more (more aggressive response)