Biological theories Flashcards
what was Lombroso study?
He measured many criminals’ heads and faces to see if criminals looked different to non-criminals.
what did Lombroso findings?
He found that criminals are more likely to have large jaws, long arms and aquiline noses.
Lombroso strengths
- first person to study crime scientifically
- shows importance of clinical and historical records of criminals
- helps to focus on how to prevent crime not punish it
Lombroso weakness
- no further evidence then what he has done to be able to link them together
- didn’t compare with control group of non-criminals
- racist- equates criminals with savages
what is Sheldons study?
Sheldon looked at body types and compared them with the likelihood of criminal.
Sheldons findings
Mesomorphic somatype was the most likely to be criminal
sheldons strengths
- other studies replicate findings
-most serious delinquents had mesomorphic bodies
sheldons weaknesses
- ignores nurture in nature vs nurture
-social class may be a big part of criminality
-Mesomorphs are more likely to be labelled
what was twin studys
it was too see if crime is genetic- identical twins (monozygotic) should have identical criminality
was was the findings of the twin studies
concordance in criminality was monozygotic = 52% and dizygotic = 22%
twin study strengths
- give some support to genetic explanations
twin study weaknesses
- if criminality was only genetic then monozygotic twins would have 100% concordance rate
- impossible to isolate genetics and effects from environment fully
what was the key idea of the adoption study
adoptees share the same environment as there adopted parents but have the same genetics as their biological parents
findings if the adoption study
Mednick- birth parent concordance = 20% vs adopted parent concordance = 14.7%
strengths of adoption study
- give some support to genetic explanations
- overcome the problem of isolating genes and environment
- research design is logical (nature vs nurture)
weaknesses of adoption studies
- impossible to isolate genetics from the environmental ones fully
-adopted children are often places with families similar to their own
what was jacobs xyy study
compared the rate of xyy in imprisoned criminals with the general population
Jacob XYY findings
higher then average proportion of inmates had XYY chromosomes
strengths of jacobs xyy study
- jacob found association with xyy and violent prisoners
- price & watmore found links with xyy and property crimes
weaknesses of jacobs xyy study
- having xyy doesnt mean that it is a cause of crime
- labelling theory
- lower intelligence of xyy mey be why they are more likely to be caught
- it’s too rare to be able to explain crime
brain injury’s study
Phineas Gage- metal rod go through his brain. this changed his personality and he went from a loving, kind person to a cold-hearted one
brain disorders key ideas
some brain diseases have been linked to criminality or anti-social behavior such as dementia, brain tumors and Huntington’s chorea
strengths of brain injury’s and diseases
- a few extreme cases do show brain injury leads to changes in behavior
- some correlation between abnormal EEG reading and psychopathy
- prisoners are more likely than non-prisoners to have a brain injury
weaknesses of brain injury’s and diseases
- crimes caused by brain injury’s or disease are rare
- abnormal EEG not necessarily the cause and not in all psychopaths
