3.1.1 Bio exp. 2 : Role of the Amygdala

Question 1

What is the amygdala associated with

Answer 1

Fear Conditioning

• children learn to inhibit agressive and antisocial behaviour through fear conditioning
• we learn to associate being angry with certain punishments or negative outcomes

Question 2

Give an example of Fear conditioning

Answer 2

The fear of strangers- ‘Stranger danger’

Question 3

What can dysfunction of the amygdala cause for children

Answer 3

The child can’t identify the social cues that indicate threat, cues that the child should be scared and therefore not act in an aggressive manner.

individuals seem: fearless, overly aggressive, antisocial, impulsivity

Question 4

Give an example of amygdala dysfunction

Answer 4

Children not associating angry faces with fear:
- they may not associate prison with fear
- therefore may be more likely to commit
aggressive crimes

Question 5

What is a psychopath?

Answer 5

• A form of antisocial personality disorder
• They are manipulative, emotionless, cunning,
  deceitful, show a lack of empathy
• Research shows that Amyg Dysf. is a central deficit in psychopathy

Question 6

Key study:
Glenn et al. (2009)

Answer 6

• studies 17 participants with varying degrees of psychopathy
• participants had FMRI scans whilst making judgement on various dilemmas:

e.g ‘should you keep the money you found in a lost purse?’

Question 7

Glenn et al. (2009) findings:

Answer 7

• Found an association between psychopathy and reduced amygdala activity during a decision-making task

Question 8

What does the amygdala respond to?

Answer 8

To signals of distress in other people, usually preventing antisocial behaviour

Question 9

What is the reductionist explanation of the role of the amygdala?

Answer 9

• the amygdala is one part of a wider system of connected brain structures and does not operate on its own to determine aggressive criminal behaviour

Question 10

What does the regulation of aggressive behaviour involve?

Answer 10

• a complex regulation
• involves 3 structures

1. the amygdala
2. the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
3. the neural connection between them

Question 11

Risk Factor > Direct Cause

Answer 11

• being a criminal depends on biological and environmental factors
• research shows a correlation between amygdala dysfunction and criminality
• this doesn’t allow us to establish a causal relationship

Question 12

What did Moffitt suggest?

Answer 12

• suggested that neuro-psychological impairment interacts with a crimnogenic environment to produce life- course persistent criminal behaviour

Question 13

what are the ethical implications?

Answer 13

• inaccurate diagnosis
• stigma & labelling
• isolation

Question 14

what did Eysenck suggest?

Answer 14

• that individuals with intact fear conditioning develop a conscience that deters them from antisocial and aggressive behaviour