PSY 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Relational Aggression, Behavioural Genetics, Reinforcement

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 240
• Professor: Bonita London- Thompson

Document Summary

Lecture #18: origins of aggression, aggressive behavior may be innate, biological theories, neurological theories, origins of aggression, aggressive behavior may be innate: Evolutionary psychology: behavioral genetics, origins of aggression, freud (1920) theory of aggression, aggression is an instinct present at birth and exerts influence throughout life. Is consistently applied and perceived as fair and legitimate by the aggressor: problems with punishment. 30 minutes of violent vs. nonviolent video game playing (similar levels of excitement) Task - concentration and processing of emotional stimuli while brain is scanned in fmri (functional magnetic resonance imaging - measures blood flow to brain areas: violent video games & brain activation. 2: violent video games, more brain activity in amygdala (emotional arousal) Physical arousal has the capacity to increase our potential for aggression. 3: reduces ability to fully analyze situation, less influenced by situational information to defuse anger, factors promoting and inhibiting reactive aggression.