Bio - Main Study Flashcards
What is the methodology of Raines ressearch
- 41 participants (both groups)
- Control group of non murderers
- Experimental group of NGRI murderers
- Sex and age were matched in both groups (matched pairs)
- Average age was 34
- 39 males 2 females.
- Quasi Lab experement (natural IV)
- 6 schizophrenics (both groups)
- 23 NGRI murders had a head injury or brain damage - 2 had epilepsy.
Outline the procedure of Raines study
- Oppertunity Sample
- All participants had no medication for two weeks leading up to the study
- Ten Minutes before receiving the FDG injection the participants were allowed to practise the CPT (Continuous Performance Task )
- The FDG injection was injected 30 seconds after the participants started the CPT so the initial novelty of the task wouldn’t affect their results
- 32 minutes after the FDG injection the participants were transferred to a PET scanner room where 10 horizontal slices at 10mm each. - detailed allows for replicability
Describe the findings and of Raine, Buchsbaum and LaCasse’s (1997) classic research
No difference in any aspect of behavioural performance on the CPT.
Overall the murderers had reduced activity in the left side of the brain and increased activity in the right - where brain parts like the amygdala and hippocampus are located.
Murders had SIGNIFICANTLY higher glucose metabolism in the occipital lobe
Murders had lower in BOTH frontal and parietal (left angular gyrus)
Murders had no difference in the temporal lobe.
Give a strength of Raine in relation to alternative evidence
Another strength of Raine is that the findings match alternative evidence. For example after this study, Raine continued to investigate a correlation between brain abnormalities and criminal behaviour such as in Yang and Raine, which was a meta analysis of 43 imaging studies where a correlation was found between significantly reduced prefrontal activity and violent / anti-social behaviour.
This is a strength and supports the findings of Raine, as both studies show a correlation between brain dysfunction and criminal activity.
However, it could be argued that there is a potential for researcher bias as Raine conducted both studies.
What did Raine conclude from his research?
(3 points)
Raine made several conclusions about his research
- Firstly, he stressed that his research cannot be taken to demonstrate that violence is caused by biology, Raine made it clear that social, psychological, cultural and situation factors also play important roles in why people go onto commit violence.
- Raine also concluded that the data does NOT demonstrate that murders pleading NGRI are not responsible for their actions,
- nor do that they demonstrate that PET scans can be used as a dianosing technique (predicting murderers).
What can we conclude from the research of Raine et al.
- What these findings do document is that as a group, murderers pleading NGRI have statistically significant differences in glucose metabolism in certain brain regions compared to control subjects.
They also suggest that reduced activity in the prefrontal, parietal, and callosal regions of the brain, together with abnormal asymmetries of activity in the amygdala, thalamus, and hippocampus, may be one of many predispositions toward violence in this specific group.
What are the evaluative points of Raine et al.
Alt Evidence: Raine and Yang
Methodology:
Strength: Lab experiment
Weakness: Quasi
Procedure
Strength: Uses PET scans
Weakness: Lacks ecological validity
Ethics:
Strength:
Weakness: Lack of valid consent (can ngri truly consent)
Social Implications:
Strength: Could lead to crime reduction
Weakness: Social Sensitive research
One strength of Raine’s methodology
Methodology Strength:
One strength of the methodology of Raine et al is that it uses a laboratory study in order to conduct the research. This is a strength as it allows us to prevent extraneous variables and know that the differences in brain activity are not due to outside influences as the use of a lab experiment ensures all participants are all in the same environment, increasing the internal validity of the study.
Name one weakness of Raines methodology
Methodology Weakness:
One weakness of the methodology of Raine is that it uses a quasi experiment. We know this as it is an experiment with an IV and DV. This is a weakness as a quasi experiment is not a true experiment as the IV is naturally occurring meaning we cant establish a clear cause and effect..
For example we don’t know from the research if murders act due to a brain dysfunction to does murdering cause a brain dysfunction?
This was acknowledged by Bowlby in his conclusion that the findings do not show criminal behaviour is caused by biology alone.
One strength of the procedures of Raine et al
A strength of this procedure is that it is scientific and uses objective measures, this was not possible until recently as before researchers relied on post-mortem examinations where brain physiology could not be linked to behaviour
For example, the murderers brains are scanned using PET scans, this is a strength as this is an objective measure and therefore this removes any possible researcher bias. This increases internal validity of the study.
(though obviously how those results are perceived IS up for interpretation)
One weakness of the procedures of Raine et al
A weakness of the procedure is that the CPT is an unusual task that you wouldn’t find in day to day life which lowers the mundane realism of the study and suggests it may not be applicable to day to day life.
Give a strength of the ethics of Raine et al to do with Valid consent
In Raine, the experemental group of the participants were murderers who pleaded not guilty by reason of INSANITY.
This heavy suggests the participants may have not been mentally competant enough to provide valid consent to participate in this research. This could lead to psychological harm, for example if they found the CPT task difficult to do, this would be unethical if they were not trult aware of what research they were participating in.
Aditionally they may have not been aware of their right to withdrawl, esspecially if they lived in a mental hospital, they may have felt they couldn’t just no longer say they wanted to take part.
describe the social implications of Raine et al to do with Socially sensitive research
Another important factor of this research is the broader social implications. Socially sensitive research refers to any research that has consequences for the group in which the participants are members of.
In the case of Raine’s research on NGRI murderers. The question is whether our understanding of criminal behaviour is advanced by this research as if the research indicates that murderers are born rather than made this could have extreme consequences that would immediately disadvantage anyone with similar brain abnormalities, even if they have not even committed a crime, such as prison without trial.
Give a positive social implication of Raines research
One positive social implication that could come from Raines research is the ability to potentially predict and therefore prevent criminal activity.
This is because we know dysfunctional brain activity is linked to criminal behaviour, this means we could use methods such as brain surgery in order to help try and prevent crime.
For example Charles Whitman who killed 16 people at the University of Texas was found to have a huge tumour on his amygdala. This makes the question of if this tumour had been identified and removed prior, would this have prevented the death of all those innocent people?
