A-Level Psychology: Aggression
Aggression is one of the most popular option topics in A-level Psychology because it brings almost every approach to bear on a single behaviour. Questions on it reward students who can explain a mechanism precisely, apply it to a situation and back an evaluation with a named study. This material is built around the aggression content of the current specifications (for example, AQA's A-level Psychology for first teaching from September 2025, where the topic is unchanged).
The biological questions cover the amygdala and the wider limbic system, the regulating role of the orbitofrontal cortex and serotonin, and testosterone, including the dual-hormone hypothesis that links testosterone to aggression mainly when cortisol is low. Genetic factors are examined through the MAOA gene, from Brunner's Dutch family to the gene-environment interaction reported by Caspi and colleagues.
The ethological explanation is tested with Tinbergen's sticklebacks: you identify the sign stimulus, the innate releasing mechanism and the fixed action pattern, while the flashcards add ritualised aggression and the features of fixed action patterns. Evolutionary explanations are applied to mate-retention behaviour and paternity uncertainty.
Social psychological explanations take up the largest share. You spot displacement in a frustration scenario, interpret the weapon effect as support for Berkowitz's revision of the frustration-aggression hypothesis, identify vicarious reinforcement and self-efficacy in a social learning example, and use Mann's baiting-crowd findings to explain de-individuation. Institutional aggression is framed as the contrast between the dispositional importation model and the situational deprivation model, and media influences as the difference between desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming.
The material offers four formats. The 12-question quiz gives an explanation after every answer. The 20 flashcards cover the key terms and studies. The printable written work contains eight open questions, from short outlines to an extended evaluation, with ruled space for handwritten answers that are then checked. The oral exam lets you answer an examiner who asks one question at a time, probes your evidence and gives precise feedback at the end.
It works well after first teaching of the topic and again before the Paper 3 options, when you need to check that you can apply each explanation and evaluate it with evidence.
- Explain the roles of the limbic system, orbitofrontal cortex, serotonin and testosterone in aggression
- Interpret genetic evidence, including the MAOA gene and gene-environment interaction
- Apply ethological and evolutionary explanations to animal and human examples
- Apply the frustration-aggression hypothesis, social learning theory and de-individuation to scenarios
- Distinguish dispositional (importation) and situational (deprivation) explanations of prison aggression
- Explain desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming as routes of media influence
Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Aggression option in A-level Psychology specifications (for example AQA A-level Psychology 7182, specification for first teaching from September 2025, section 4.3.8).
Sample question
Which of the following statements about neural mechanisms in aggression are accurate? Select all that apply.
- The amygdala, part of the limbic system, responds to perceived threats, and high amygdala reactivity has been linked to reactive aggression.
- The orbitofrontal cortex is thought to regulate impulses arising from the limbic system, and reduced orbitofrontal activity is linked to impulsive aggression.
- The hippocampus is the main source of the testosterone that drives aggression.
- Low serotonin increases the orbitofrontal cortex's control over impulsive behaviour.
See the answer
The amygdala, part of the limbic system, responds to perceived threats, and high amygdala reactivity has been linked to reactive aggression., The orbitofrontal cortex is thought to regulate impulses arising from the limbic system, and reduced orbitofrontal activity is linked to impulsive aggression.
The limbic system, especially the amygdala, assesses threats and is involved in reactive aggression. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) helps to inhibit these impulses. Testosterone is produced mainly by the testes (and in smaller amounts by the ovaries and adrenal glands), not the hippocampus, and low serotonin is thought to reduce, not increase, the OFC's control.