amygdala

Question 1

what is the amygdala

Answer 1

responsible for controllimg humsn emotions
damage to this area can result in either a lack of emotion or in excessive emotion as they cannot control them.

Question 2

how can we link this to crime

Answer 2

• involved in our perception of emotion in others and for controlling our aggression.
• it receives messaged from the cerebral cortex and the thalamus about the outside environment.
  -it accesses memories to see if the environment is threatening.
• the amygdala triggers the fear response and state of arousal.

Question 3

evidence from research

Answer 3

pardini et al 2014
brain scanning techs suggest the brain of a psychopath works differently to a non. he found that individuals diagnosed with psychopathic personalities and also individuals with higher levels of aggression, have smaller amygdalas. behaviours evident from childhood.
ones with smaller were 3 times more likely than those with larger to exhibit aggression three years later. this suggests that amygdala size can predict future violence.
CA= only relationship not cause and effect.

Question 4

raine et al 1997

Answer 4

aim= investigate differences in brain structure of murderes and control participants.
methods= studied 41 murderes who had pleaded NGRI
had a range of mi including sz
included match group as control
- all had tracer injected which attached itself to glucose molecule which then showed brain activity in diff areas.
results =
showed lower levels of activity in prefrontal cortex of murderes brains - area linked with impulsivity
alos differnces in the amygdala and hippocampus - responsible for learning
conclusion=
abnormal functioning in these areas could explain why the non control had all committed murder.

Question 5

evidence

Answer 5

brain scanning evdidence eg raine
also animal research and case studies - abnormality in the amygdala associated with aggression and psychopathic individuals supports role of amygdala.
CA= not all psychopaths are criminal. similarly aggression is not in itself a criminal behaviour.

Question 6

application

Answer 6

brain scanning techs may be useful for identifying psychopathic and aggressive tendencies. this may be useful for diagnosis and early intervention to reduce the chances of criminal behaviour in the future.
ca= on the other hand, such practices may be regarded as a form of social control thereby raising significant ethical issues.
conc- care must be taken to ensure that this does not create a system in which individuals are labelled as dangerous or criminal before they have actually done anything wrong.

Question 7

S/W

Answer 7

:) scientific - theory has scientific credibility because it is possible to study the role of the amydala using procedures which are replicable and objective.
CA= pet scans cannot isolate links to other areas of the brain. therefore causing and effect in terms of criminality cannot be established. the data in individuals can not take into account retrospective behaviour for example is the difference in the amygdala that caused the behaviour or the other way round.
:( the idea that an individuals criminal behaviour is bio determined suggests that they are not responsible for their criminal behaviour.

Question 8

alternative

Answer 8

the amygdala may be important in explaining certain types of criminal behaviour in individuals
, however other theories of crime focus more on socio economic factors, parenting, culture or other bio factors such as genetics and hormones.
could use social learning theory.