Biological explanation: crime and anti-social behaviour Flashcards
What is the amygdala ?
- small region located in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.
- part of the limbic system.
- responsible for detecting fear and preparing for emergency events.
What does the ‘Brian injury’ theory propose ?
suggests a link between brain injury and offending, especially if injury is sustained in childhood (brain isn’t full developed until mid-twenties).
What did Huw Williams et al. (2010) do ?
analyse data from from 196 inmates from a single UK prison in 2010.
what did Huw Williams find?
- 60% of the sample recalled a history of one or more brain injuries in their youth.
- group tended to be younger at the time of their first offence.
- recorded higher rates of reoffending
- spent more time in prison in the last five years than the rest of the sample.
What is an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) ?
Incidents resulting in brain damage, such as falls or sporting accidents.
What do Acquired Brain injuries cause ?
Cause the developing brain to misfire
What are two of the last cognitive processes to develop in the brain?
- Impulse control
2. Forward planning
What can an Acquired Brain Injury potentially cause ?
Can potentially disrupt development - which means the individual can’t move past the reckless and risk-taking behaviour that is sometimes associated with childhood.
What can an injured brain destabilise ?
can destabilise mood, concentration and decision making - making offending behaviour more likely.
What abnormalities in the amygdala have correlations with anti-social behaviour ?
abnormalities in size, structure and activity have been correlated with more aggressive behaviour which makes criminal activity more likely.
What did Raine et al. (1997) find ?
Reduced metabolic activity was observed in several brain areas of psychopathic murderers, including the left amygdala.
What did Raine et al. (1990) investigate ?
They investigated the fear responses of in 1,795 three-year-olds.
What was the procedure of Raine et al. (1990) ?
- electrodes were placed on each child’s fingers
- two distinct tones were played - one tone was followed by a loud unpleasant sound, and the other was followed by silence.
What did Raine find two decades later about the children ?
Two decades later, those who had gone on to commit crimes were more likely to be those who failed to exhibit a fear response to the first tone - this was explained as being due to abnormal functioning of the amygdala, illustrated by lack of fear at the age of three.
What did Pardini et al. (2014) do ?
Conducted neuroimaging scans on a group of 26-year-old men. The men were divided on the basis of whether they had a normal-sized amygdala or whether they had a reduced amygdala volume.
