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Psychology Paper 2 > Criminological Psychology > Flashcards

Criminological Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the function of the frontal lobe

A
  • Higher order thinking, decision making, reasoning, problem solving, planning, consciousness and emotions.
  • Contains primary motor cortex which co-ordinates movement and control of muscles.
  • Still developing till age 25
  • If damaged, people can become antisocial and aggressive
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2
Q

Function of parietal lobe

A

Orientation, movement, sensation, calculation, memory & recognition

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3
Q

Function of occipital lobe

A

Processing visual information from the eyes, shape recognition, colour vision and perspective

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4
Q

Function of temporal lobe

A

Processing auditory information, speach and hearing

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5
Q

Function of Wernicke’s area

A

Speech comprehension

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6
Q

Function of Broca’s area

A

Speech production

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7
Q

What is a TBI?

A

Traumatic Brain Injury

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8
Q

What is an ABI?

A

Acquired Brain Injury

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9
Q

Causes of TBI

A

Falling, car accidents, sports

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10
Q

Causes of ABI

A

Genetic disposition, diet, exercise, carcinogen exposure

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11
Q

Describe Damasio’s (1994) procedure

A
  • Wanted to build a 3D model of Phineas gage’s brain.
  • Took pictures and measurements of the skull & built a 3D computer replica
  • Took actual measurements of the iron rod (3 cm in diameter and 109 cm long)
  • Found the most likely path the rod took through his head
  • They then mapped out which parts had been harmed of the brain
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12
Q

Describe Damasio (1994) conclusions

A

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a prefrontal cortex region in the frontal lobes of the brain which is involved in the cognitive process of decision-making, controlling emotions and imagining consequences.

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13
Q

Describe Browe and Price’s supporting research for brain injury impacting criminality

A

They undertook a literature review of documented brain injuries and this revealed many case studies show anti-social personality can arise after frontal lobe injury. This detailed, qualitative data provides useful insight into the relationship between anti-social behaviours after a frontal lobe injury, therefore providing credible evidence.

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14
Q

Describe Volkow & Tancredi (1987) supporting research for brain injury impacting criminality

A

Found two out of four violent psychiatric patients showed frontal damage as shown using PET scans

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15
Q

Describe Fazel et al (2001) supporting research for brain injury impacting criminality

A

Out of those who experience ABI, 8.8% committed a violent crime compared to 3% of the control group.

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16
Q

Evaluate problems with case studies like Phineas Gage in Damasio 1994 and Bower & Price in 2001.

A
  • Generalisation: low population validity, unrepresentative nature.
  • Retrospective recall of events: unreliable memories
  • No scientific record of personality before injury
  • Confounding variables: other events between brain injury and behaviour measurement, e.g., number of fights, diet, disease
  • Case studies often use interview which may be susceptible to interviewer bias and interview effects
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17
Q

Describe the Amygdala

A
  • Small region in the temporal lobes and part of the limbic system
  • Processes information from our senses and determines the emotional response to that information
  • Involved in detecting, processing and responding to environmental threats
  • Triggers the fight or flight response when we either run away from the situation or stay and fight
  • When activated the amygdala overrides the rational part of the brain so we are less likely to think in a rational manner
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18
Q

Describe the effects of damage to the amygdala

A
  • Can cause people to response to threatening situations in extreme ways, e.g. present unemotional or perhaps they react excessively as anger can’t be controlled
  • Can lead to an individual being unable to prevent themselves from acting spontaneously in an aggressive way
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19
Q

Describe Yang et al (2009) research supporting amydgala and crminality

A
  • 27 psychopathic people and 32 controls and used structural MRI to measure amygdala differences.
  • Volume of the amygdala of each person was measured. Found that people with psychopathy had volume reductions on both amygdalae (bilateral) compared with controls.
  • They had 17.1 % less volume in the left amygdala and 18.9% less volume in the right amygdala.
  • There were also deformations in the surface of the amygdalae.
  • Smaller volume in the amygdala seemed to mean more anti-social behaviour and less control.
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20
Q

Describe Pardini et al (2013) supporting research for amygdala impacting criminality

A
  • Conducted neuroimaging scans on 26 year-old men who were grouped according to whether they had normal volume or reduced volume amygdala.
  • Three years later, the reduced-volume men were three times more likely than the others to be aggressive, violent and show psychopathic traits.
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21
Q

Describe Raine’s findings supporting PFC & Amygdala

A
  • Investigated differences in brain functioning between NGRIs and non-murderers by using a 32 minute PET scan on 42 participants.
  • NGRIs had lower levels of activity in the prefrontal regions (1.09) compared to controls (1.12) and imbalances in amygdala activity (0.94) compared to controls (0.97)
  • However, the study doesn’t explain the causes of the NGRI participants’ brain abnormalities (e.g. the lower activity in the prefrontal regions or the imbalances in amygdala activities).
  • Failure to explain whether the participants were born this way or whether the brain abnormalities were acquired lowers the credibility of the findings because.
22
Q

Describe an alternative explanation for brain injury and criminality

A
  • A person may have abnormalities in the structure of their amygdala but not have aggressive tendencies.
  • Neurologist James Fallon, who used his own MRI brain scan as a control, identified his amygdala as a psychopath’s, even though he is a successful scientist and family man.
  • There are social factors that influence aggressive behaviours, not just biological. For example.
  • SLT suggests that people learn from same-sex role models through vicarious reinforcement. Therefore, the biological explanation cannot be used as a holistic explication of aggression, and is not a valid reason for criminality.
23
Q

What is XYY syndrome?

A

Where males obtain an extra chromosome due to a genetic mutation at conception. 47 chromosomes in total.

24
Q

What is the prevalence of XYY syndrome?

A

1 in 1000 males

25
Q

Symptoms of XYY syndrome

A
  • Taller than average; grow faster, taller as men
  • Severe acne
  • Physically active
  • Impulsivity
  • Easily distracted
  • Lower intelligence compared to their siblings; 15 IQ points below their siblings
  • Delayed motor and language development; 50% boys have delayed speech development
26
Q

Mnemonics

A

Tania
Sopaul
Please
Let
Everyone
Ignore
Day

27
Q

Describe Re & Birkhoff’s finding refuting XYY syndrome and criminality

A

Re & Birkhoff found no evidence that XYY men have a predisposition of aggression, deviance, or offending behaviour.
- Disorders like ADHD, pervasive development disorder, autism spectrum disorder, some issues with control over impulsivity, aggressiveness and some other disorders and features might connect together and be found in someone with XYY syndrome.
- Within these characteristics, there might be a link between XYY and criminality, but not directly, as has been shown.
- Re and Birkhoff point out that the analysis of studies in their review ‘shows that there is no statistical evidence that a 47,XYY man is predisposed, just because of the genotype, to aggressive and deviant behaviour’.

28
Q

Describe Witkin et al (1976) refuting XYY syndrome and criminality

A
  • Found that crimes committed by prisoners with XYY syndrome tended to be minor and without violence, and they did not find more crime in those with XYY syndrome. This is explained by Stockholm et al’s (2012) suggestion that the raised risk of conviction for XYY men was due to the socioeconomic conditions related to the syndrome which resulted from their lower intelligence and delayed language development.
  • There is no actual way of seeing chromosomes and so it is putting a label on something that can’t be defined therefore diagnosis is difficult.
29
Q

Describe Jacobs (1965) supporting XYY and criminality

A

XYY men were over-represented in prisons with their prevalence in prison at 15 in 1000, whereas in the general population there is only 1 XYY person in 1000. 

30
Q

Describe Leggett et al (2010) supporting XYY and criminality

A
  • Leggett et al’s (2010) meta-analysis found males with XYY syndrome to have IQs within average ranges, but they had problems with their speech and language. - - Supports the biological approach for XYY syndrome as an explanation of criminality.
31
Q

Describe the Pygmalion Effect refuting XYY and criminality

A
  • People with XYY syndrome experience the Pygmalion Effect, where there is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • Other people’s belief’s about us influence their actions towards us, which in turn affect our beliefs about ourselves, resulting in our actions towards others.
  • People with XYY syndrome may be perceived negatively and labelled by society due to the cultural misconception that the Y chromosome is associated with aggression, masculinity and impulsivity, therefore treated differently.
  • Misconceptions about the syndrome and misrepresentations of individuals affected in the media have caused a negative societal bias, such as labelling criminals like Richard Speck (a murderer and rapist) as XYY and reporting about it in the media, when he was genetically tested to actually only by XY
  • These misrepresentations may impact the self-belief of individuals with the syndromes, and may cause them to believe that aggressive, impulsive actions are unavoidable.
32
Q

Describe Mednick et al’s alternative explanation refuting XYY and criminality

A
  • Mednick et al found a strong genetic component to criminal behaviour, however they did not completely rule out the effect of the environment.
  • An adoptive parent committing a crime had less influence on the children’s criminality compared to if their actual biological parent committed a crime (14.7% compared to 20%).
  • This shows that there is a degree of heritability to criminality, which supports that naturistic explanation to XYY syndrome affecting criminality, while still acknowledging the role of nature.
33
Q

Define ‘trait’

A

A relatively stable and enduring tendency to behave in a particular way. This is the self or identity of a person.

34
Q

Extraversion

A

The degree to which someone is outgoing, sociable and prefers excitement

35
Q

Introversion

A

Someone who is quiet, reserved and prefers solitary activities

36
Q

Neuroticism

A

Refers to being emotionally unstable

37
Q

Stability

A

Refers to someone being emotionally stable and calm

38
Q

Arousal Theory

A

People are motivated to act in a way to maintain a certain level of physiological arousal.
The Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) is responsible for wakefulness. ARAS is suppressed when asleep and active when awake. Activity leads to higher cortical arousal
* High threshold (activity happening slower)
* Low threshold (activity happening quicker)

39
Q

What is the ARAS

A

Ascending Reticular Activating System

40
Q

Describe an extravert’s threshold

A

High (slower activity). They require more external stimulation to experience equal cortical arousal.

41
Q

Describe an introvert threshold

A

Low (higher activity). They require less external stimulation to experience equal cortical arousal.

42
Q

Describe research supporting personalities having different thresholds

A

Geen (1984): introverts choose lower volume than extroverts
Eysenck: partial and weaker unconditioned stimulus required for association learning

43
Q

Neuroticism - stable

A
  • The Autonomic Nervous System is controlled by the limbic system (hypothalamus and amygdala).
  • Neurotics have low activation thresholds for the Fight or Flight response.
  • Neurotics’ sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by lesser stimuli than more stable individuals.
  • Stable people are calm under stressful situations as they have high activation thresholds.
44
Q

Psychoticism

A

Individuals who appear to lack empathy, are impersonal and self-centred
* Low MAO levels (an enzyme called monoamine oxidase is involved in regulating and recycling neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin)
* High testosterone

45
Q

Eysenck’s theory

A

Criminals exhibit Psychoticism, Extroversion and Neuroticism.

46
Q

Describe supporting research of personality as an explanation for criminality

A

+ McGurk and McDougal’s study (1981).
+ Compared 100 delinquent and 100 non-delinquent students and found that the delinquent group were higher in psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism while the non-delinquent students were lower in extraversion and neuroticism.
+ Boduszek et al assessed 179 male non-violent offenders. Each offender completed self-report measures of criminal attitudes, criminal social identity and Eysenck’s personality traits. + Those who scored high on psychoticism showed a positive association between criminal thinking and non-violent recidivism. These studies suggests that those who are more likely to have a criminal personality are in line with the PEN factors put forward by Eysenck which are psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism.

47
Q

Describe other explanations of personality as an explanation of criminality

A
  • Farrington et al found that extraversion is less associated with criminality than the other two traits.
  • Rushton & Chrisjohn found a relationship between delinquency scores for extraversion and psychoticism but not for neuroticism.
  • The involvement of each of the three traits in criminality has a high degree of variation in the research which makes it difficult to determine which has the greatest influence on criminality. - Lowers reliability and the predictive validity of Eysenck’s personality theory of criminality
48
Q

Describe credibility of personality as an explanation of criminality (questionnaires)

A
  • Questionnaires in the ‘personality traits of criminality’ theory use self-report data, in which the individuals may answer questions using their own biased opinion.
  • Someone may be inclined to think they are more empathetic than they are due to a lack of self-awareness or be subject to social desirability bias, in which individuals provide answers according to society’s expectations.
  • Low internal validity
    + Can be measured quantitatively using Likert-type scales, making it easier to analyse data.
49
Q

Describe credibility of personality as an explanation of criminality (EPQ)

A
  • High internal reliability for most traits. Tiwari et al (2012) used a short form of the Eysneck Personality Inventory (EPI) of 48 items including questions asking the same thing in different wording.
  • Items measuring extraversion and neuroticism were internally reliable, however psychoticism was not.
  • Without reliability, validity is unachievable, therefore the credibility of the EPQ measuring PEN personality lacks credibility.
50
Q

Describe an alternative theory to personality as an explanation of criminality

A

Bandura social learning theory + data

Psychology Paper 2 (4 decks)

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