Criminal: Topic One Flashcards
What is topic one?
What makes a criminal?
What is the name of the key research for topic 1?
Raine - Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by PET
Describe the sample used in Raine’s study
41 murderers (39m, 2f) all pleading NGRI
Name one of the varying conditions that the murderers suffered from
Schizophrenia
Who were the murderers matched with?
41 non murderers
What research method and experimental design did Raine use?
Quasi with matched pairs
What was each P injected with?
A glucose tracer
What did each P have to complete? (Key research)
CPT (cognitive performance task)
How long did each P have to complete CPT for?
32 mins
What were P’s given whilst completing the task?
A PET scan
In what areas did the murderers have less activity in?
The prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the corpus callosum
What does low activity in the prefrontal cortex lead to?
Impulsive behaviours and lack of self control
What does low activity in the amygdala lead to?
Lack of fear
What does low activity in the corpus callosum lead to?
Not understanding long term consequences
What did Raine conclude from his study into murderers?
You cannot use the results or brain scans to determine whether someone will become a murderer
What did Brunner research/look into?
MAOA and serotonin
What does serotonin control?
Appetite and mood (incl. anger and depression)
What can high levels of serotonin lead to?
Aggressive behaviour
Who did Brunner investigate?
A family in the Netherlands with an abnormally large amount of violent and aggressive males
What did Brunner analyse form 5 of the aggressive males?
Urine samples
What did Brunner find from the urine samples?
They all had a genetic mutation that reduced MAOA in their body
What is MAOA?
An enzyme which absorbs serotonin
Due to the reduced MAOA what did this mean?
That there was too much serotonin left in the blood
What did Jahoda look into?
Self fulfilling prophecy
What do the tribe in Ghana (the ‘Ashanti’) believe?
That the day you are born on can affect your personality
What do the Ashanti give children when they are born?
A soul name based on the day they were born on
Boys born on a Wednesday (Kwaku) are thought to be what?
Violent and aggressive
Boys born on a Monday (Kwadwo) are thought to be what?
Placid and relaxed
What did Jahoda examine?
The names of criminals who had committed violent offences
What percentage of crimes are accounted for by Kwadwo (monday) boys?
6.9%
What percentage of crimes are accounted for by Kwaku (wednesday) boys?
22%
Who did Raine identify in his Mauritius study?
100 children who had low resting heart rates and compared to a matched control group
What did the 100 children receive? (Mauritius study)
A 3 part intervention programme of enrichment
Those who were particularly nourished before the intervention showed an x% reduction in conduct disorder… (Mauritius study)
52.6%
A further 100 children were selected to conduct a trial with what? (Mauritius study)
Omega 3
For 6 months what did the further 100 children drink? (Mauritius study)
Smart fish
Compared to a control group what did the parents of the omega 3 trial children report?(Mauritius study)
A significant reduction in aggression and delinquency
There has been shown to be a link between foetal testosterone levels and what?
Finger length
There also appears to be a link between finger length and characteristics such as…?
Aggression and lack of empath y
What activity can lead to high foetal levels of testosterone?
Smoking during pregnancy
