Genetic Explanation Flashcards
What is super make Syndrome?
Males with this genetic condition have an extra Y chromosome on chromosome 23. So instead of the usual. XY formation they have XYY. This is a genetic mutation that happens randomly at conception.
What are some characteristics with someone with super male syndrome?
Taller than average
Lower intelligence
Behavioural problems
Who linked super male syndrome to violent crime and why?
Price eg al
Suggested that these men may lack empathy and thus become more aggressive
finish the evaluation for super male syndrome: determinist
There is some research evidence that connects XYY with crime. Theilgaard (1984) found a higher proportion of XYY men than expected in a prison population. How ever, this could be due to lower intelligence contributing to their criminal acts. Therefore this theory is deterministic as it suggests that because you have the XYY chromosome you will be a criminal, not considering other factors such as intelligence
finish the evaluation for super male syndrome: reductionist
Limiting the explanation to a simple gene sequence and suggesting that this automatically causes criminal behaviour is reductionist
finish the evaluation: XYY gene doesn’t determine crime
Many men with XYY do not commit crime and most criminals do not have XYY
Who suggested that crime runs in the family?
Farrington et al
What did Fartington et al study and what did it find?
Conducted a longitudinal family study of 411 males from 397 families over 24 years.
Found that 6% of families account for 50% of convictions recorded in the sample
75% of families with one child convicted also had another convicted
75% of families where the parents were convicts also had a convicted child
What does Farrington et al’s study suggest?
This suggests that criminal behaviour is transmitted in families.
Do Mz twins or Dz twins show a higher concordance rate for offending behaviour?
Mz (genetically identical) twins
Who studied the concordance rate in twins?
Raine (1993) found MZ twins to have 52% concordance for crime compare to only 21% in DZ twins
What do adoption studies look at?
These look at behavioural correlations between adopted children and their biological parents compared to their adoptive parents. They allow for the relative role of nature vs nurture in the formation of behaviour to be investigated.
who conducted an adoption study and what did they find?
Hutchings and Mednick (1965, 1994) found that in a sample of male adoptees 86% of those with a criminal conviction had a biological father who had also been convicted, whereas adoptees who had not been convicted had a convicted father 31% of the time. This suggests a strong genetic influence of criminal behaviour.
finish the evaluation: it is hard to distinguish between nature and nurture
For example, in family studies the children could have learnt criminal behaviour rather than been genetically disposed towards it. Thus it is hard to validate the role of genetics in criminal behaviour as it could be the factor of their environment that influences the criminal behaviour.
finish the evaluation: adoption studies remove the effect of learning from biological parents
However, the age of adoption or the amount of contact with the wider family cannot be controlled, so it is still not possible to rule out social transmission of offending behaviour
