How can we test biological explanations of aggression?

Aggression – Aggression in Criminology

In this course, Dr Eduardo Vasquez (University of Kent) explores aggression in criminology. In the first lecture, we think about how we can test biological explanations of aggression using experiments. In the second lecture, we think about gender differences in aggressive tendencies. Next, we think about Howell and colleagues’ 2005 study looking at the effectiveness of anger management programs. In the fourth and final lecture, we think about the reasons for the overrepresentation of minority groups in prisons.

How can we test biological explanations of aggression?

In this lecture, we think about how we can test biological explanations of aggression using experiments, focusing in particular on: (i) understanding that the biological explanation posits that genes and hormones explain aggression in humans and animals; (ii) the link between testosterone levels and aggression; (iii) the proper structure of an experiment being to include a participant group receiving the testosterone and a control group receiving a placebo; (iv) selecting a sample from a population to test, in the case of this experiment, that being only men; (v) using provocation as an independent variable in this study, as the expression of aggression is often linked to provocative situations; (vi) recognising this as a two-by-two factorial design, as there are two ‘levels’ of testosterone and two ‘levels’ of provocation; (vii) the expectation that the condition in which participants receive both testosterone and provocation will be the one in which the most aggression is expressed; (viii) the random assignment of participants to conditions assisting with the controlling of extraneous variables; (ix) deceiving participants to the aims of the experiment being key to controlling for participant-related variables like experimenter effects or social desirability bias; (x) anagram solving as the task chosen to contextualise this experiment, to make it believable for the participants; (xi) an insult regarding the participant’s performance delivered by a confederate as the provocation for participants in the relevant condition groups; (xii) a key inclusion of this study being to tell participants that they will not be the recipient of the ‘punishment’ that they are being asked to dish out to the confederate, to give them the freedom to be as aggressive as they wish to in this administration.