Core - Chapter 2 - BLA in Criminal Behavior Flashcards
What are risk factors?
Biological and environmental factors that interact and aggravate one another to create a criminal behavior
Describe a study on criminality and twins
Christiansen (1977)
Describe a study on criminality and father/sons
Hutchings and Mednick (1975)
What are some limitations to the genetic arguments for criminal behavior?
There is a great range in crimes - from murder to embezzlement - no “crime gene”.
Genetic theorists have difficulties explaining why criminal behavior changes over the lifespan, reaching its peak at 20 and mostly declining around 30
How can brain research help understand criminal behavior?
Through looking at the interrelationship between emotions and decision making. Emotions are controlled by the limbic system in the brain and decision making takes place in the frontal lobe. The interaction of these two parts may provide a better insight in criminal behavior.
Describe a study on criminality and the frontal brain hypothesis with psychopaths
Blair et al. (1999)
Describe a study on criminality and the frontal brain hypothesis
Antonio Damasio
How many males have been convicted for murder/violent crimes?
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (2004)
A report on crime, where 90.1% of apprehended murderers were make, as were 82.1% of those arrested for violent crime.
Describe one difference between violent and non-violent criminals
James Dabbs
Demonstrated that violent criminals have higher testosterone levels than non-aggressive criminals.
Limitation: correlational study, are these chemical imbalances genetical or as a result of environmental factors?
How can neurotransmitters be connected to more males performing criminal behavior?
Low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been linked to antisocial and impulsive behavior. Men generally have lower levels of serotonin than women which could partly explain this correlation.
Christiansen (1977)
Studied 3586 sets of Danish twins. Found a concordance rate of
35% in MZ male twins
13% in DZ male twins
21% in MZ female twins
8% in DZ female twins
May be some genetic factors in criminal behavior but since the concordance rates are so low, other factors may play a more important role.
Limitations: MZ twins share a common environment and are usually treated more similarly than DZ
Blair et al. (1999)
Looked at the brains of convicted psychopaths. PET scans revealed impairment of the pathways between the amygdala (responsible for emotional responses) and the frontal lobe.
Blair argues that this impairment makes it difficult for the individual to moderate his or her emotional reactions, affecting how the individual interacts with others. Social relationships are therefore difficult, which could hinder the appropriate development of empathy or feelings or guilt, thus acting more impulsively and without regards to the consequences.
Antonio Damasio
Looked at the effect of brain trauma in children on their later development. IN one case, a 3-month-old infant had a tumor removed from his frontal cortex. By the age of 9, the boy had behavioral problems in school, he was inattentive and socially isolated from his peers. His free time was spent alone in front of the television, and at times he would lose control of his emotions and physically threaten others.
Hutchings and Mednick (1975)
Biological and adoptive father have criminal records, 36.2% of sons had a criminal record.
Only biological father had a criminal record, 21.4% of sons had a criminal record.
Only adoptive father had a criminal record, 11.5% of sons had a criminal record.
Neither father had a criminal record, 10.5% of sons had a criminal record.
Clearly shows the importance of environmental factors, in combination with genetic factors, in determining behavior.
(Limitation: adoptive father must have improved his living and stopped the criminal life-style for the adoptive child to be placed in the family)
