Criminal behaviour - Biological - Role of amygdala Flashcards
What is the amygdala and where is it located?
The Amygdala is a structure in the brain that is located in the Medial Temporal Lobe.
It has widespread influence on both both humans and non-humans. It plays a crucial role in how we interpret and respond to environmental threats.
How do we know the amygdala is linked to aggression. (study)
Throughout history the amygdala has been heavily linked to aggressive and fearless behaviours, for instance in Phineas Gage.
However this was further supported in scientific studies such as Coccaro et al who used FmRI scans and a control group to study patients with IED, (Intermittent explosive disorder) of which a common symptom is outbursts of aggression by showing both groups pictures of angry faces.
The results showed that the experimental group with IED showed high levels of amygdala activity when they viewed angry faces. Scientifically establishing a link between the two, especially due to the high ecological validity and control of the study.
What is the first element of role of the amygdala?
Fear conditioning
Fear conditioning is a process that takes place during childhood and relates to situations where we want to behave aggressively but we don’t as we have been conditioned to instead hold back on these urges because of our conditioning of punishment.
for instance if you were caught fighting with other children when you were younger you are punished by the adults.
Explain how the amygdala is involved in fear conditioning
Some individuals have disrupted fear conditioning causing them to not be able to recognise social cues that indicate threat / punishment, this causes them to become and fearless of the repercussions of their actions such as prison.
We know that the amygdala is involved in processing fear meaning if someone has a faulty amygdala, it could result in less fear conditioning in these individuals and cause more engagement in fearless / criminal behaviour.
What key study is used to support the role of fear conditioning in criminal behaviour
Key Study 1) Yu Gao Et Al
In this study 1795 three-year-olds took part in a longitudinal study investigating fear conditioning.
Their fear conditioning was measured by their physiological arousal (sweating) in response to a loud and painful noise.
The same individuals were tested 20 years later, they found that those who had been fearless at age 3 were the ones who were far more likely to go and commit crime when they were older.
What is the second role of the amygdala
The second element of the role of the amygdala is psychopathy.
A psychopath is someone with a form of anti-social personality disorder. The main traits of psychopathy are being impulsive, manipulative and having a lack of empathy.
Psychopaths are far more likely to go onto commit horrific crimes than the average person because of these traits.
Explain how psychopathy is caused by the amygdala
The reason psychopathy is linked to the amygdala is that one of the functions of the amygdala is to respond to signals of stress from other people, this helps us to prevent anti-social behaviour as we won’t act aggressively to someone who is clearly distressed out of empathy / remorse.
As this process is disrupted in individuals who have a dysfunctional amygdala, they are far less empathetic to other people and don’t care for how their actions may affect them. which makes them far more likely to commit crimes as they are not held back by empathy for their actions.
What key study is used to support the role of psychopathy in criminal behaviour
Key study 2) Glenn Et Al.
In this study, 17 individuals with varying levels of psychopathy took an FMRI scan while making moral decisions like ‘should you smother your crying baby to save you and others who are hiding from terrorists?’
Glenn found a direct correlation between Psychopathy and a Dysfunctional amygdala during this task.
What are the two strengths and weaknesses of role of amygdala
Strengths:
Method of modification
Research support
Weaknesses:
Reductionist
Determinism and ethical implications
Give a strength of the ROA explanation in relation to method of modification
One strength of this approach is that if we know a dysfunctional amygdala can result in criminality, it would mean we can attempt to reverse this dysfunction to reduce criminality. There is evidence to support this in the form of Gesch and co-workers 2002
Conducted placebo-controlled, study with 231 adult British prisoners. Some prisoners given food containing nutrients like vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids while the control group had a placebo
Results found after taking supplements for 2 weeks, the experimental group committed 35% fewer disciplinary offences on average before trial began, they also committed 26% fewer offences on average than placebo control group.
Results suggest there may be benefits in taking a neurobiological approach to changing criminal behaviour using aspects such as diet. Raine 2013 - biology isn’t a destiny; we can change the biological roots of crime and violence.
Give a strength of the ROA explanation in relation to Research support
Longitudinal research evidence in the form of Yu Gao Et Al who found a direct link between fearless 3 year olds and criminality later in life. Using a longitudinal study also increases predictive validity of the study
Give a weakness of the ROA explanation to do with reductionism
Despite the studies showing a correlation between a dysfunctional amygdala and criminal behaviour, some would argue that it is reductionist to look at the amygdala alone when looking at biological factors involved in criminal behaviour when the amygdala is only one of many parts of a complex system of functions in the brain.
For instance, in Raine et al’s study on NGRI murders and non-murders using a PET scan, he found only a small difference in amygdala activities between the NGRI murders and non-murderers, while other parts of the brain like the left angular gyrus had far more significant differences between the two.
This supports the idea that there are more factors involved in criminality than just a dysfunctional amygdala - suggesting it is reductionist to look at just the amygdala.
Give a weakness of the ROA explanation to do with determinism and ethical implications
Biological theories such as a dysfunctional amygdala could be considered deterministic as they place the blame for offending on the offenders biology alone.
By doing this it absolves society and the government of any responsibility. This is a weakness because a significant contributor of crime is inequality and poverty, by placing all the blame on the criminal, it is ignoring a significant reason for the crime. This approach could instead result in more criminal behaviour as individuals will feel they are being unfairly treated by the government and commit more crimes as a result.
It could also be argued it is highly unethical to punish criminals for crimes that are caused by factors beyond their control like their genetics of a dysfunctional amygdala rather than trying to help them.
