Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Outline and evaluate neural
mechanisms in human aggression
- Serotonin
- Mann ’90
- 35 ppts given dexfenfluramine, which
lowers serotonin. A questionnaire was
then given that assessed hostility &
aggression. The drug increased aggression
in males, but not women
- Scerbo & Raine
- Meta-analysis of 29 studies of anti-social
kids & adults. All had lower serotonin levels.
It was far lower in those that were suicidal.
Ppts had more impulsive behaviour, as
there’s less communication between
prefrontal cortex & rest of brain
- Raleigh
- Monkeys were given low
tryptophan diets, which
makes serotonin. Their
aggression therefore
increased
- Dopamine
- Lavine ’97
- Amphetamines
increase dopamine,
so increase
aggression
- Beitlaar
- Antipsychotic drugs lower both dopamine & aggression
- Couppis & Kennedy
- Mice learned aggression
due to triggering of
dopamine reward pathway
- AO2
- Scerbo & Raine
- Unreliable as
meta-analysis
have studies full
of different
techniques
- Ethical issues
- Older studies are mostly on
animals, which can’t always
be applied to humans
- Is it ethical to manipulate
serotonin levels in ppts? May
this not cause psychological
harm?
- IDA
- Gender bias
- Almost all ppts are male
- Reductionism
- What about individual
differences? SLT?
- Biological determinism
- No free will in our
actions? Does biological
makeup cause
aggression or is it just a
link?
- Real world
- Level of determinism
can be useful to
develop anti
psychotic drugs so
can have a benefit
- Do neural mechanisms not just give a predisposition to aggression?
Some people with low serotonin may not always be aggressive