The governor of a maximum-security prison, HMP Blackwood, is reviewing reports on rising levels of inmate violence.
Officer A argues: 'The main issue is the prison environment itself. The cells are cramped, there is almost no privacy, and we’ve had to cut back on exercise time and social visits due to budget cuts. It's an absolute pressure cooker.'
Officer B disagrees: 'No, the problem is who we are locking up. More than half of our new arrivals this year have active gang affiliations, histories of violent crime, and high levels of impulsivity. They bring their street culture and conflicts with them through the gates.'
Discuss explanations of institutional aggression. With reference to the comments of Officer A and Officer B, evaluate how psychological research can help explain violence at HMP Blackwood.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Aggression with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 71 questions covering Neural, hormonal and genetic factors in aggression, Ethological and evolutionary explanations of aggression, Social psychological explanations of aggression, Institutional aggression in prisons, and Media influences on aggression, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.