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biological theories Flashcards

1
Q

what are the subcategories of biological theories

A

physiological and genetic

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2
Q

what are the physiological theories

A

lombroso-atavistic features
sheldon- somatotypes
fallon and raine-brain abnormality
neurochemical

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3
Q

what are the genetic theories

A

xyy- jacob
twin studies- lange, christiansen
adoption studies- mednick

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4
Q

what was lombroso’s research

A

studied 383 dead and 3839 living criminals

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5
Q

lombroso’s results

A

claimed 40% criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic characteristics

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6
Q

when did lombroso say someone was a born criminal

A

if they had 5 or more atavistic characteristics

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7
Q

what were lombroso’s atavistic traits

A

Beaked nose, long arms, ears too large or too small, protruding jaw bone

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8
Q

what else did lombroso say was criminal

A

tattoos, swearing, slang

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9
Q

why does lombroso say females are rarely born criminal

A

they aren’t degenerated in the same way as men because they are less evolved due to the inactive nature of life

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10
Q

what did sheldon write

A

atlas of men

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11
Q

what are the three somatotypes

A

ectomorphic, mesomorphic, endomorphic

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12
Q

describe ectomorphs

A

thin and fragile, introverted and restrained

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13
Q

describe mesomorphs

A

muscular and hard, aggressive and adventurous

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14
Q

describe endomorphs

A

fat and comfortable, social, relaxed and extroverted

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15
Q

what was sheldons study to find somatotypes

A

studied 4000 photos of men

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16
Q

what was sheldons research

A

correlation study- asked 200 people to rate photos on scale 1-7 on how mesomorphic they are

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17
Q

what were the photos of in sheldons study

A

half were young delinquents, half were college students

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18
Q

what was sheldon’s results

A

average rating on 4.6 for delinquents, 3.8 for college students

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19
Q

what does the prefrontal cortex do

A

emotion regulation, fear modulation, empathy, morality

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20
Q

what does the limpic brain/ amygdala do

A

fight or flight, emotions

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21
Q

what did fallon do

A

compared the brains of psychopaths and normal people

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22
Q

what did fallon find

A

psychopaths have less functioning prefrontal cortex and amygdala

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23
Q

what did raine do

A

studied 41 pet scans of killers brains

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24
Q

what did raine find

A

found damage in prefrontal cortex

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25
who is a case study for brain injury
Phinneas Gage
26
what happened to phinneas gage
iron rod through left side of brain and survived but personality changed- became aggressive, rude and ill-tempered
27
what are the three neurochemicals
serotonin, testosterone, diet
28
what is the link with serotonin
low serotonin linked to high aggression
29
what was the study for serotonin
studied 29 antisocial adults and children- found low levels of serotonin in all
30
what is the link between testosterone and crime
high testosterone linked to high aggression
31
who is a case study for testosterone
Body builder Horace Williams beat a man to death after overdosing on steroids
32
what is diets link to crime
alcohol, vitamin b and low blood sugar levels linked to aggressive behaviour
33
what do they give in prison diets to reduce aggression
omega 3
34
what are the characteristics of XYY
taller than siblings, lower intelligence than siblings, emotional and behavioural difficulties
35
how many have xyy in general population
1 in 1000
36
jacobs study and results
studied at a maximum security hospital- found 9 in 315 had xyy
37
how many have xyy in prison population
15 in 1000
38
who was case study for xyy
John Wayne Gacy
39
what did john wayne gacy do
tortured and killed 33 men
40
what are the two types of twins and how many genes do they share
monozygotic- 100% dizygotic- 50%
41
what did lang find
evidence to suggest identical twins are more likely to commit crimes
42
how many sets of twins did christiansen study
3586 sets of twins
43
christiansen results
chance of both twins being criminal for monozygotic is 50%, for dizygotic is 20%
44
how many twins did Lange look at
30
45
how many MZ twins did Lange look at
13
46
how many MZ twins were both criminal
10/13
47
how many DZ twins did Lange look at
17
48
how many of the DZ twins were both criminal
2/17
49
who did adoptions studies
mednick
50
how many people did mednick research
14000 adopted males
51
mednick result when adopted parents are convicted
15%
52
mednick result when biological convicted
20%
53
mednick results when both sets of parents convicted
24.5%
54
mednick results when both sets innocent
13.5%
55
what was aim of adoption study
see whether crime was genetic or environmental
56
who supported lombroso
Butcher and Taylor
57
1st strength of lombroso
first to give criminology a scientific credibility which led to offender profiling
58
what did Butcher and Taylor find
research shows attractiveness affects how likely to be found guilty
59
3rd strength of lombroso
argues criminals don't freely choose to be so focuses on prevention not punishment
60
first weakness of lombroso
no control group
61
who disproved lombroso
Goring and delisi
62
what did goring do
used control group and found no statistical differences in behaviour
63
3rd weakness of lombroso- what did DeLisi say
scientific racism- many of he characteristics were of african descent
64
final weakness of lombroso
not all atavistic features are criminal, and nit all criminals have atavistic features
65
1st strength of sheldon
used control group and moderate sample size of 200- ecological validity
66
who supported sheldon
Glueck and Glueck, Putwain and sammons
67
what did glueck and glueck find
60% mesomorphs in samples of delinquents, only 31% in non-criminal samples
68
what did putwain and sammons find
link between physique and criminality
69
1st weakness of sheldon
people's body types change throughout lives
70
2nd weakness of sheldon
doesn't explain ectomorphs and endomorphs that are criminal and vice versa
71
3rd weakness of sheldon
deterministic and reductionistic because offenders been in prison so more likely to be mesomorphic, more likely to be working class jobs
72
final weakness of sheldon
only looked at men
73
first strength of brain abnormality
cases where brain injury led to dramatic change in personality eg phinneas gage
74
2nd strength of brain abnormality
correlation between abnormal EEG readings and psychopaths
75
final strength of brain abnormalities
prisoners more likely than non-prisoners to have brain injury
76
what does an EEG do
records electrical activity of brain
77
first weakness of brain abnormality
some people have abnormal prefrontal cortex, amygdala, EEG scans but aren't criminal
78
second weakness of brain abnormality
maybe brain injury is the result of criminality not the cause (eg fights )
79
final weakness of brain abnormality
Crimes from brain injuries are rare and original personality is more important
80
first strength of xyy
control group
81
how did jacobs support xyy
found significant number of men in prison had xyy- ecological validity
82
who else supported xyy
Adler at al
83
what did adler et al find
aggressive and violent behaviour caused by genetics
84
who disproved xyy
Theilgaard
85
what did theilgaard find
aggression not linked associated with xyy
86
1st weakness of xyy
don't know if john wayne gacy had xyy
87
final weakness of xyy
no reference to nurture argument
88
1st strength of twin studies
natural experiment as biological relationship occurs naturally
89
who supported twin studies
Ishikawa and Raine
90
what did ishikawa and raine find
higher concordance rate for MZ with 44% then DZ with 21.6%
91
3rd strength of twin studies
scientific credibility and validity as had control group and large sample size
92
1st weakness of twin studies
parents treat MZ more alike than DZ- may feel closer and more easily influenced
93
2nd weakness of twin studies
determinstic as could just be nurture not genetics
94
final weakness of twin studies
Lange lacked validity as assumed DZ/MZ on appearance not DNA
95
first strength of adoption studies
easier to seperate genetic and environmental factors as children exposed to different environment
96
2nd strength of adoption studies
studies show correlartion between asopted children and biological parents
97
1st weakness of adoption studies
age of adoption can affect if already influenced by birth or foster parents
98
2nd weakness of adoption studies
adopted children often placed in environments similar to birth parents
99
final weakness of adoption studies
information about biological parents not always available

unit 2 (7 decks)

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