Forensic Psychology - Biological Approach Flashcards
What are the 2 biological explanations of offending?
Atavistic form
Neural and Genetic explanations of offending
Define atavistic form
Atavistic form: a biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive subspecies ill suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics
Describe L’Huomo Delinquente
Lombroso believed that offenders were lacking evolutionary development (in their appearance) and that their savage and unusually appearance meant that it would be impossible for them to adjust to the demands of normal civilisation and therefore they would inevitable turn to crime
What factors may effect L’Huomo Delinquente
Cranial characteristics could be:
Narrow, sloping brow
A strong prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Facial asymmetry
Other physical markers may include: dark skin, extra toes nipples or fingers
He also said that other factors may include insensitivity to pain, tattoos, unemployment, use of Slang
When and by who was L’Huomo Delinquente by and when?
Lombroso
1876
What research did Lombroso do?
He examined cranial and facial features of living and dead criminals: This was due to a rape of a 3 year old girl, who remembered a obscure tattoo.
383 dead and 3839 living criminal skulls (but when you die you skull shape changes
He concluded that 40% of all criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic characteristics
What specifically did Lombroso say about Murderers
Murderers were thought to have bloodshot eyes , strong jaws, long ears and curly hair
What specifically did Lombroso say about sexual deviants
Sexual deviants were said to have glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears
What specifically did Lombroso say about fraudsters
Fraudsters were thought to have lips that were thin and reedy
What are the positive evaluations for the Atavistic form?
General for Lombroso’s approach
What are the negative evaluations for the Atavistic form?
General against Lombroso’s approach
Contradictory evidence
Methodological issues
Incomplete theory
Explain the positive evaluation of the Atavistic form: General for Lombroso’s approach
■ Shifted the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic discourse towards a scientific and credible realm.
■ The atavistic characteristics was the foundation of criminal profiling
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: General against Lombroso’s approach
- Many of the features that Lombroso identifies are more likely to be found among people of African descent.
- Lends support to the Eugenics movement – ‘uncivilised, primitive and savage’
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Contradictory Evidence
■ There is limited support to the argument of ‘sub-species’ in terms of lower intelligence
■ Sharma et al. (2015) – 202 participants (101 convicted offenders and 101 ’normal’ controls)
- Emotional intelligence and criminal behaviour
- Criminals did score lower on EI domains including management of own emotions, and others emotions
Goring (1913) - 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals – physical or mental abnormalities (using a control group)
- No evidence that offenders are a distinctive group with unusual facial or cranial features/ characteristics.
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Methodological issues
Lombroso did not compare his sample to a non-criminal
control group
- Significant difference may have disappeared
- Failed to account for other variables: people he studied had a history of psychological disorders or chromosomal abnormalities- confounding variable
(Cause and effect)
Explain the negative evaluation of the Atavistic form: Incomplete theory
■ Facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors such as poverty or poor diet rather than being an indication of delayed evolutionary development
■ In later work, the view was less extreme: criminals could be made as well as born due to a range of environmental factors
What is the Neural Explanation of Offending?
any explanation of behaviour (and its disorders) in terms of dsy(functions) of the brain and nervous systems. This includes the activity of brain structures such as the hypothalamus and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine
What study did Crowe do?
Adoption studies
What was the method and results of adoption studies
Crowe (1972) compared a group of adopted children whose biological other had a criminal method to a control group who mothers didn’t have a criminal method
It was found that if a biological mother had a criminal record 50% of the adopted children also had one by the time that they were 18
Whilst in the control group, only 5% of the adopted children had a criminal record by the time that they were 18
What does Crowe (1972) suggest
This suggests that regardless of the changed environment
This suggests that adopted children with mothers with criminal records seemed biologically predisposed to criminality
Describe a study on danish adoptees?
Around 14,500 Danish Adoptees
The concordance rates for criminality between the adoptees and their adopted and biological parents were compared
Describe the results of the danish adoptee study?
13.5% of adoptees with parents (A or B) without criminal convections had one themselves
14.7% of adoptees with one criminally convicted adopted parent A
20% had one criminally convicted biological parent B
24.5% had 1 criminally convicted biological and adoptive parent AnB
What study did Bruner do?
Family study
Explain the family study
Bruner et al (1993) large family in the Netherlands
He investigated anti social behaviour and criminal behaviour: rape, arson and exhibitionism (paraphilla)
“Brunner syndrome” is a genetic condition only found in men
It is general in families of lower IQ (Bruner found a family average of 85 IQ)
The cause of this is a deficiency in the MAOA enzyme responsible for the metabolism of serotonin which leads to increased aggression
Where was the family in the family study located?
Netherlands
What gene helps controls dopamine and serotonin?
MAOA
What are the different genetic theories?
The candidate gene
Abnormal sex genes
Diathesis stress model
What are the different neural explanations of offending?
Mirror neurones
NGRI
What did Tiihonen et al research?
The candidate gene
Explain the layout of the study into a candidate gene?
Tiihonenn (2014) conducted a genetic analysis of 900 Finnish offenders
What were the results of the Finish study?
They identified the MAOA enzyme and protein coding and that they were lower than normal which could indicate increased probability of offending
Explain the MAOA enzyme in reference to offending?
The MAOA enzyme was found to control dopamine and serotonin
And when there are low levels of serotonin and dopamine there is aggression
Explain the protein coding
They found higher levels of this protein which is linked to substance abuse and attention deficit disorder
What are the conclusions of the Candidate Gene study?
Individuals with abnormalities on both “genes” were 13X more likely to have a history of violent behaviour
Explain the research into abnormal sex genes?
Jacobs et al (1965) found a higher % of people from prison population had the atypical sex chromosome pattern XYY
Why would abnormal sex genes cause increased offending rates?
This led to an increase in testosterone and therefore violence however, people with this chromosomal abnormality are more likely to be hyperactive, impulsive and have lower IQ which may explain their criminality
High levels of ADHD
High levels of ASD
Taller on average
What was the abnormal sex gene?
XYY
Briefly explain the diathesis stress model?
The idea that psychopathy is due to a genetic predisposition but triggered by a biological or psychological trigger
How did Ripke build on the diathesis stress model?
Ripke, further found that psychological trauma such as child abuse can affect the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal system
What is the main symptom of APD?
Anti personality disorder
Reduced emotional responses and a lack of empathy for others
Explain the very general research into neural explanation of crime
Evidence suggests there may be neural differences in the brains of criminals and non criminals
Most of this research in this area has investigated individuals diagnosed with APD (psychopathy)
What did Raine 1997 investigate?
41 not guilty for reason of insanity (NGRI) and 41 controls
Explain the NGRI study?
41 not guilty and 41 controls
Participants wore headphones and were instructed to press a button when they heard a beep. This involves concentration and should activate the prefrontal cortex
Results
Explain the results of the NGRI study?
Prefrontal cortex: lower levels of activity hear indicated poor decision making and erratic behaviour
Amygdala: heightened activity here indicated high levels of aggression
Thalamus: lower levels of activity - linked to poor decision making
When was the mirror neurone research?
2011
What did the mirror neurone study find?
Found that only when criminals were asked to empathise with others (person being depicted on film experiencing pain), their empathy reactions was activated.
Explain the significance of the mirror neurone study?
This is controlled by mirror neurons. This suggests that APD individuals do experience empathy, although it is not an automatic response due to the fact that these neurons fire in response to the observed physical actions of others (not verbal). So sometimes, people with APD can experience empathy however, this is more sporadic than neurotypical humans.
Explain the evaluation of the candidate gene
Tiihonen et al. (2014)
Violent and non violent criminals
78 rated as extremely violent
1,154 murders, manslaughters, attempted murder and battery
“warrior gene” (which, if faulty leads to higher aggression)- non-violent criminals did not have this
Alcohol and drug abuse is shown to cause hyperactivity in dopamine levels
All extremely violent criminals had consumed drugs or alcohol before committing their crimes
Explain the evaluation of the twin studies?
Lange (1930)- study was poorly controlled and judgements related to zygosity were based on appearance and not DNA testing.
Studies with twins use small sample sizes and may not represent the whole population
Confounding variable: most twins are reared in the same environment
- Concordance rate may be due to shared learning experiences and not genetics
Explain the evaluations of the adoption studies?
It is very hard to separate the genetic and the environment
- Late adoption means that infancy and childhood would have been spent with biological parents so they had regular contact with biological parents
- Difficult to access the environmental impact the biological parents might have had
- Criminality could be due to inherited emotional instability or mental illness (Andrew and Bonta, 2006)
- Mednick et al. (1984)- adoption only leads to petty offenses not violent crimes
What previous study can be used to evaluate the diathesis stress model approach of crime?
Mednick (1984) Danish Adoptees study
Explain the negative evaluation of the adoption studies: Methodological issues
It is very hard to separate the genetic and the environment
- Late adoption would mean regular contact with biological parents so it would be difficult to access the environmental impact the biological parents might have had
- Criminality could be due to inherited emotional instability or mental illness (Andrew and Bonta, 2006)
- Mednick et al. (1984)- adoption only leads to petty offenses not violent crimes
What are the 2 general negative evaluations of the biological approach to offending?
Biological reductionism
Biological determinism
Explain the negative evaluation of the biological approach to offending: biological reductionism
Criminality is complex and genetic and neural explanations are
simplistic and inappropriate.
Katz at al. (2007) – crime does run in families but so does emotional instability, social deprivation and poverty.
- Exposure to crime rather than poverty
No study has found 100% concordance rate between MZ twins and often they have been low.
Explain the negative evaluation of the biological approach to offending: Biological determinism
‘criminal gene’
■Presents ethical problems for our legal system since it negates free will
■Raises the ethical question surrounding what society does with people who carry ‘criminal genes’
■Presents problems for society and implications for sentencing
Eg the Mobley Defence (genetically predisposed to be a murderer)
