Aggression

Expanations of aggression

Biological explanations of aggression

Some psychologist’s believe that aggression is caused by a person’s biology.  Some of these theories are given below.

Limbic system	This part of our brain deals with emotions. People with emotional disorders have been shown to have had damage to the limbic system.
The Amygdala	This is in our limbic system.  The amygdala helps us to understand emotions in others such as fear.  If this does not work correctly it could affect aggression levels.
Hormones	The male hormone testosterone has been linked to aggression.  Research has shown that violent criminals have higher levels of testosterone than non-violent criminals.
Serotonin	This is a neurotransmitter that makes us feel alert and happy.  Low levels of serotonin have been linked to aggression.
Chromosomes	Levels of testosterone are influenced by the presence of the Y chromosome (found in males).  Some males are born with an extra Y chromosome.  Some research in the 1960’s suggested that these males were more likely to be aggressive.  However, this was misleading therefore there is very little evidence to suggest that aggression is caused by genetics.

Key study – Case study of Charles Whitman

A case study is a detailed of study of a specific individual or a group of similar individuals.  It usually involved collecting qualitative data (descriptions) rather than quantitative data (numbers).

Charles Whitman shot 13 people. He asked for help after having strong feelings of aggression and left a note saying he was convinced something was making him aggressive.  An autopsy revealed a tumour pressing against his amygdala.

The biological approach to reducing aggression

Surgery on the Amygdala can help to reduce aggression – however psychosurgery (surgery on the brain) can be risky and unethical.

Medication could be used to increase the amount of serotonin in the brain.  However, this could cause side effects like drowsiness or memory loss.

Castration has been found to reduce aggression in males (as this would reduce testosterone levels).  However, this could be viewed as unethical.

Aggression, violence and the brain - video

Psychodynamic Explanations of Aggression

Aggression Psychodynamic Explanation Freud... 

Freud suggested that we have an unconscious drive that causes aggressive behaviour, just like the unconscious drive that leads to sexual behaviour. He put forward the idea that our aggressive behaviour is caused by the internal force, or instinct, which is called Thanatos. The Id part of our personality is driven by this internal force.  He said that all the time this force would be building up inside of us until we can no longer control it, resulting in aggressive behaviour.  Freud said that everyone had this instinct towards self-destruction and we protect ourselves by using ego defence mechanisms.

Defence mechanisms enable us to direct aggression outwards rather than at ourselves.  Two defence mechanisms Freud identified were:
- Displacement - being aggressive towards others - e.g. taking anger out on those closest to us
- Sublimation - channelling our aggression into other acceptable activities

Freud's theory is difficult to prove. However, there is some supporting evidence.

Key study - Megargee and Mendelsohn

Aim: To see if there is a link between aggression and personality types.
Method: People who had committed brutally aggressive crimes were interviewed and given personality tests.
Results: These criminals seemed to have been 'over controlled' and repressed their anger until it built up to such an extent it just exploded following something really trivial. 

Conclusion - If people do not let their aggression instinct out in small amounts from time to time, the build-up will be so great they will not be able to control it.
Evaluations:
- Hard to generalise
- People can lie in interviews and personality tests
- It is difficult to standardise 'frustration'. What is frustrating for one person may not be for another.

Dollard - Frustration aggression hypothesis

Dollard suggested that although we might have an aggressive instinct building up inside of us, it would not just spill over into aggressive behaviour for no reason and that we need a trigger for this to happen (example: a loaded gun needs to have the trigger pulled, before it fires).  

Dollard put forward the frustration-aggression explanation. This claimed that for the aggressive behaviour to happen, we need a trigger which is normally something that would frustrate us e.g. being late, losing things, having an argument.  The key study above also supports this explanation.

Evaluation The frustration-aggression theory suggested the best way to reduce aggression is to avoid situations that cause frustration. This can be difficult as quite often, you are not in control of the things that cause the aggression such as your favourite football team losing, however, the theory said that since it is still frustration, it would still cause an aggressive outburst and that avoiding this would be the best way to avoid an aggressive outburst.

Cross-over Evaluation The biological explanation and the psychodynamic explanation contradict each other. For example, if you are at a football match and the team you are supporting loses, you will become frustrated and therefore aggressive. However, according to biological explanations, if the team you support wins, there will be an increase in your testosterone levels and you will also become more aggressive.

How can we reduce aggression? - Psychodynamic methods

Freud suggested two ideas to do this;  one was through redirecting the built up aggression into other safe activities using ego defence mechanisms. The other was to release them through catharsis - this is when we observe or watch aggressive behaviour on television or via a stage performance, and by watching aggressive behaviour it would, as they say, 'get it out of our system'.

Another way Freud suggested was to find a safe activity that would require a certain amount of energy. This is called sublimation. If we can put energy into a safe activity, such as sport, it will reduce the build up of our aggressive behaviour instinct.

Social learning explanation of aggression

Key study – Bandura (1961)

Aim	To test the idea that children could learn aggression by imitating others
Method	In this study, children in 3 groups were exposed to adults playing with the doll either: 1)  Appropriately 2)  Aggressively        3)  Aggressively and being rewarded for it
Results	·        When children were allowed to play with the bobo doll they imitated the behaviour of the adult. ·        The children in group 3 showed the highest levels of aggression when allowed the play with the doll.
Conclusion	Bandura concluded that children will observe and imitate the behaviour of role models. This occurs because of vicarious reinforcement – when the observer assumes the same reward that was received by the role model. Aggression was also more likely to be modelled if the adult in the video was the same gender
Evaluation	This was a lab study so variables were controlled. The study has been repeated and similar results have been found - reliability. It could lack ecological validity – we can’t say for certain that the children would be aggressive in other situations. Cross-over evaluation – the study suggests that watching aggression could make us more aggressive.  However, the Psychodynamic explanation suggests that watching aggression leads to catharsis (therefore it’s a good thing)

Social learning happens in 3 phases:

1.     Observation of a role model

2.     Imitation of the model’s behaviour

3.     Reinforcement (reward) for that behaviour

A lot of the research conducted in this area involves children however Phillips (1986) found that daily homicide (murder) rates in the US almost always increased following a major boxing match.  This shows that adult aggression could also be learnt through modelling.

The idea of vicarious reinforcement explains how behaviour can be learnt, even in the absence of direct rewards.

This might explain the current increase in ‘gang culture’ – where aggression and violence is valued and rewarded. 

Real world example - The murder of James Bulger has been linked to social learning theory. There are reports that his killers imitated behaviour that they had seen in the film ‘child’s play’

Reducing aggression

1.     Research suggests that punishing aggressive models should reduce aggression, however, this is not always the case.

2.     Watching non-aggressive models can also reduce aggression.  Exposing people to models who resolve situations without using aggression can be useful at encouraging more positive behaviour.

Summary activity

Match the description to the correct explanation

Alan becomes frustrated easily which leads to aggression		Biological
Susan imitates the aggressive behaviour of her friend		Psychodynamic
John has high levels of testosterone which doctors believe make him aggressive		Social learning