Biological Explanations Of Crime/Anti Social Behaviour

Question 1

What can damage to the prefrontal cortex lead to?

Answer 1

Damage to that are can lead to aggression and violence.

Question 2

What does damage to the orbitofrontal cortex lead to?

Answer 2

It can lead to outbursts, lack if interpersonal sensitivity and impulsive behaviour.

Question 3

Why is traumatic brain injury particularly significant to the frontal lobes before the age of 25?

Answer 3

As the brain is still developing and impulsivity and control and planning are amount the last areas to develop.

Question 4

What does lack of control over impulses lead to?

Answer 4

It makes aggression and criminal behaviour more likely.

Question 5

State 3 pieces of evidence to show brain injury does effect criminal behaviour

Answer 5

The case study of Phineas Gage suggests that damage to the left and right prefrontal lobe leads to aggression.
Research in the UK shows 60% of young male adult prisoners in custody have some kind of TBI.
Browser and Price (2001) review of studies into brain injury found evidence that sociopathy and anti social personality disorder were linked to damage to frontal lobe damage and these disorders were connected to criminal behaviour.

Question 6

State 2 pieces of evidence to show brain injury doesn’t effect criminal behaviour

Answer 6

Elbogen et al (2012) found that criminal behaviour in war veterans who had anger and irritability issues were not linked to TBI. Instead other factors were seen to be more significant eg drug misuse, being young and male and family violence.
Diaz (1995) suggests that no firm scientific evidence exists for the potential association between traumatic brain injury, drug use and violent crime.

Question 7

State two strengths of using brain injury as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 7

👍Research evidence to support links between brain injury and anti social and criminal behaviour is reliable and has scientific credibility. This is because the data comes from case studies that have involved from case studies that involved multiple methods eg brain scanning and the comparative method.
👍There are practical applications/contributions to the idea that injury links to crime and anti social behaviour. This is because behavioural and emotional problems in those with the injuries can be addressed or managed in order to reduce possible deviant or criminal behaviours.

Question 8

State two weaknesses of using brain injury as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 8

👎There are problems with scientific credibility of the explanations. This is because although a correlation can be shown between frontal lobe damage and aggression and anti social behaviour it is not a cause and effect relationship. There may be other factors eg drug use, pre existing personality disorders and criminal role models.
👎A problem with research evidence that links brain damage with criminal behaviour is that there is no evidence about the thread ion of individuals before the injury and also evidence is retrospective, which creates problems of forgetting.

Question 9

State a conclusion of using brain injury as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 9

The biological explanation that brain injury causes anti social and criminal behaviour has stimulated a great deal of research into this area. Findings have become more credible as neuroimaging technology improves.
However focusing solely on brain injury is seen as an over simplification today. Gallon (2003) shows that psychopathic murderers commit crime partly due to brain damage but also because if the MAOA violence gene and environmental factors such as exposure to traumatic violence.

Question 10

What is the amygdala involved in?

Answer 10

The amygdala is involved in emotions, fear, aggression, controlling moral reasoning and behaviour, as well as social interactions. All of these can be linked to anti social and criminal behaviour.

Question 11

State 2 pieces of evidence to support using the amygdala as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 11

Yang et al (2009) found using fMRI scans showed strong correlations between psychopaths and volume reductions in their left and right amygdala compared with control groups.
Pardini et al (2013) found over a 3 63/4 period using scanning that men with lower volumes of the amygdala were three times more likely to be aggressive and violent and show psychopathic traits that a control group with normal sized amygdalas.

Question 12

State two strengths of using the amygdala as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 12

👍Research evidence to support links between the amygdala and aggression and criminal behaviour is reliable and has scientific credibility. This is because the data comes from studies using objective brain scanning that can show reliable findings as more than one person can analyse the same pictures.
👍There are practical applications to the idea that amygdala links to crime and anti social behaviour. This is because behavioural and emotional problems in those with the injuries can be addressed or managed in order to reduce possible deviant or criminal behaviours.

Question 13

State two weaknesses of using the amygdala as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 13

👎It is reductionist to explain aggression and criminal behaviour in terms of just the amygdala. Some suggest aggression is also connected to neurotransmitters. For example, aggression has been linked to low levels of serotonin and high levels of dopamine. Others have linked aggression to high levels of hormones such as testosterone.
👎There are problems with scientific credibility of the explanations. This is because although a correlation can shown between a small amygdala, psychopathy and criminal behaviour it is not a cause and effect relationship. There are other factors that influence the likelihood that someone with an atypical amygdala may become a psychopath or commit criminal behaviour eg using drugs or criminal role models.

Question 14

What is the prefrontal cortex associated with?

Answer 14

The prefrontal cortex is associated with executive functioning such as problem solving and decision making.

Question 15

What are the three universal personality types linked to crime suggested by Eysenck?

Answer 15

Extraversion
Neuroticism
Psychoticism

Question 16

What is Eysenck’s arousal theory?

Answer 16

It is used to explain biological case of the three dimensions of personality.
It suggests individuals are motivated to act in a certain way to maintain a certain level of physiological arousal.
When arousal levels drop below our optimal level, we engage in stimulating behaviour to increase arousal.

Question 17

Explain extraversion

Answer 17

Extraverts are more likely to be criminals because they are outgoing and seek excitement.
Extraverts are under aroused in the brain and need external arousal stimulation.
An extravert has a dampened reticular activating system found in the brain stem and so seek external stimulation in risk taking behaviour such as anti social or criminal behaviour to redress the balance.

Question 18

Explain neuroticism

Answer 18

Neurotic individuals are emotionally unstable and find it difficult to inhibit their behaviour so may act more aggressively or in criminal ways.
Neuroticism is linked to autonomic nervous system which is involved in the flight or fight response.
The means neurotic petiole are more jumpy and nervous and likely to experience a flight or fights response to stressors.
This impulsivity makes violent response such as assault more likely.

Question 19

Explain psychoticism

Answer 19

Psychotic people are more likely to be criminal because they lack empathy, have no conscience so can commit crime or be aggressive without remorse.
It is suggested that psychopaths have higher levels of testosterone ten non psychopaths.
Testosterone increase reward seeking, aggression, dominance and decreases fearfulness this makes antisocial behaviour more likely.

Question 20

State two strengths of using personality as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 20

👍There is a great deal of supporting evidence to suggest that personality relates anti-social behaviour and crime. Rushton & Chrisjohn (1981) found a clear relationship between high delinquency scores and high scores on both extraversion and psychoticism. 🔫However they did not find support for a relationship between delinquency scores and neuroticism, suggesting that there are key differences between the three personality dimensions.
👍There is scientific credibility in biology based personality explanations of anti-social an criminal behaviour. This is because a lot the research is experimentally based and used EEG technology. This has meant psychologists can directly measure the psychological features of the nervous system associated with a criminal character and correlate these with criminal and anti social behaviour.

Question 21

State two weaknesses of using personality as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 21

👎🏻There is opposing evidence from Fonseca and Yule (1995) who compared delinquent and non-delinquent boys and found no difference in extraversion, psychoticism and neuroticism.
👎🏻Eysenck’s personality theory is reductionist and an oversimplification. By focusing on personality traits he fails to consider that a person’s reactions or behaviour may differ depending on the situation they are in. It does not consider biological issues such as brain injury to contribute to the personality types and then criminal behaviour.

Question 22

What is XYY syndrome?

Answer 22

XYY syndrome refers to a male with an additional Y chromosome at birth (so 47 not 46)
It is not an inherited condition, it occurs randomly at conception.

Question 23

What are the side effects of XYY syndrome?

Answer 23

People with XYY syndrome tend to be taller and can have severe acne.
Reduced intelligence, learning difficulties, behavioural and emotional difficulties.

Question 24

What problems is XYY syndrome associated with?

Answer 24

It can be associated with problems with impulse control, low tolerance of frustration, aggressiveness and anti social behaviour.

Question 25

State two pieces of evidence that support XYY syndrome as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 25

Jacobs et al (1965) suggested XYY led people to be more aggressive and found that there was an over representation of XYY men in the prison population, 15 XYY men to every 1000 prisoners. Stockholm et al (2002) found a moderately increased risk of conviction in XYY men. This was for most crimes and especially sexual abuse, burglary and arson. 🔫However they found the increase largely disappears when socio-economic variables such as education and fatherhood were controlled for.

Question 26

State two pieces of evidence that are against XYY syndrome as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 26

Witkin et al (1976) found there was no significant difference between those with XYY syndrome and those with XY or XXY syndrome and crime, when background variables were controlled for e.g. Poor housing and learning difficulties. Re and Birkhoff (2015) review of evidence of XYY syndrome and crime over the last 59 years found no overall link between XYY and crime and anti social behaviour.

Question 27

State two strengths of using XYY syndrome as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 27

👍🏻There is a great deal of research into XYY syndrome and deviant behaviour. The majority of evidence such as Re and Birkhoff suggest that XYY syndrome is not connected to anti social and criminal behaviour. 👍🏻There are practical applications/contributions to the idea that XYY syndrome links to crime and anti social behaviour. This is because if XYY is found early then behavioural and emotional problems in those with the condition can be addressed in order to reduce possible deviant or criminal behaviours.

Question 28

State two weaknesses of using XYY syndrome as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 28

👎🏻It is reductionist to explain anti-social and criminal behaviour in terms of XYY syndrome. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that other biological factors are at work such as the amygdala. Raine et al (1997) found that 41 murderers pleading NGRI compared to a control group did show a reduced amygdala as well as less activity in their prefrontal cortex.

Question 29

State a conclusion of using XYY syndrome as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 29

The biological explanation that XYY causes anti social behaviour and criminal behaviour has largely been discredited by research studies over time. Focusing solely on XYY syndrome is seen as an oversimplification. Fallon (2013) shows that psychopathic murderers commit crime partly due to brain damage but also because of the interaction with the MAOA violence gene and environmental factors such as exposure to traumatic violence.