Criminology 1039 Flashcards
Biopsychologists
Psychologists who study the biological aspects of behaviour.
Behaviour Genetics
- focus on examining the role genes play in the formation and development if human or animal behaviour.
- investigates the relationship between genes and the environment in determining individual differences in behaviour.
Molecular Genetics
- studies the structure and function of genes at the molecular level.
- focused on specific genes as foundations for certain patterns of behaviour.
- study how the genes are transferred from generation to generation.
Dizygotic twins
fraternal twins
Monozygotic twins
identical twins
-share 100% of their genes
3 genetic or environmental sources of behavioural differences
- Influences attributable to genetic effects.
- Environmental influences shared by siblings.
- Influences that arise from unshared environmental experiences that makes siblings differ from one another.
Shared environments
Prenatal and life experiences affecting both twins in the same way.
-contribute 15-20% of the variation in antisocial behaviour.
Nonshared environments
Living experiences that are different for each twin, such as being raised in a different home environment, participating in different activities, or even attending different schools.
-contribute about 30% of the variation in antisocial behaviour.
Does the magnitude of genetic and nonshared environmental influences increase or decrease as the person gets older?
Increases
Does the magnitude of shared environmental influences increase or decrease as the person gets older?
Decreases
Concordance
The genetics term for the degree to which related pairs of subjects both show a particular behaviour or condition.
-usually expressed in percentages.
Twins’ Early Development Study (TEDS)
- England and Wales
- explores behaviour problems as well as problematic development in language, cognition, and academic abilities from childhood through adolescence.
The adoption study
Helps identify environments most conducive to criminality.
First study was done in 1972 in Denmark by Schulsinger.
Adoption Study by Crowe
-found a positive correlation between the tendency of the index group to be antisocial and two other variables: the child’s age at the time of adoptive placement and the length of time the child had spent in temporary care prior to the placement.
Adoption Study by Hutchings and Mednick
Concluded that genetic factors continue to exert strong influences in the tendency towards criminality, even though environmental factors also play important roles.
The warrior gene
MAOA-L
- carried by roughly one-third of the population in Western societies.
- commonly linked to aggression and violence.
Psychophysiology
The study of the dynamic interactions between behaviour and the autonomic nervous system.
Autonomic Nervous System
The subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary functions, such as heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion, and is closely related to the genetic makeup of the individual.
Autonomic arousal theory of crime
persistent, chronic offenders compared with those with no or little offending history, will exhibit levels of autonomic arousal across a wide variety of situations and conditions.
Amygdala
A brain structure that is particularly important to consider in light of its role in regulating fear and other emotional responses.
It is crucially related to psychopathy and to the callous-unemotional traits that are often associated with persons who engage in chronic antisocial activity.
