Classic Study: Raine et al (1997) A03 Flashcards
Was Raine’s study high in generalisability?
The large sample of 82 means that anomalies such as participants with unusual brain structure or participants that were not concentrating on the CPT should not skew the data too much.
What makes the generalisability lower?
The NGRI’s are unusual people, these people are not reprensentative of other murderers.
What part of Raine’s procedure makes the study highly reliable?
The use of the PET scan. This is a very objective measure and by using it, the results can be tested and retested for reliability.
Give an example of a standardised procedure used in this study.
CPT - every participant had the same continuous performance task to do. This ensures that they were all concentrating on the same thing.
How can this study be useful in reality (application value)?
It may be possible to treat people who suffer from these brain deficits. If the deficient parts of the brain can be stimulated (through drug therapy or counselling) then they might be less likely to engage in impulsive, aggressive behaviour.
Early intervention with at-risk children in schools may steer young children away from drugs and monitoring people who may have brain injury.
Who did a meta-analysis and found that the results of 17 other studies using brain imaging to study aggression in humans found similar results to Raine?
Bufkin and Luttrell (2005)
Why might Raine’s study be thought of as being low in validity?
The CPT could be considered artificial and unconnected to violence or provocation.
The participants were all doing an unusual task which lowers the ecological validity of the study.
What is a weakness of Raine’s study being a natural experiment?
The study cannot show cause and effect.
What makes Raine’s study ethical?
All of th4e NGRI’s gave consent and presumptive consent was obtained for any of the NGRI’s or controls that had schizophrenia.
What is an ethical weakness of this study?
Pet imaging is an invasive procedure because the participants have to be injected with a radioactive tracer.
