Raine 1997

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see if there is a difference in the structure and brain activity in people who have committed murder [NGRI] and non-murderers.

Question 2

Results:

Answer 2

lower activity in the prefrontal cortex associated with self-restraint and rational thinking.

lower activity in the parietal lobes associated with abstract thinking like justice and morality

higher activity in the occipital lobe associated with vision

lower activity in the corpus callosum associated with planning ahead

imbalanced activity between the left and right hemispheres lower activity on the left and higher activity on the right in the amygdala hippocampus and thalamus areas associated with aggression in animals.

Question 3

Conclusions:

Answer 3

brain differences could be associated with many behavioural changes that could be related to violent behaviours for example dysfunction in the PFC could be linked to impulsivity, less self-control and inability to learn the consequences of behaviours.

abnormal activity if it’s and thalamus [associated with learning closed bracket could mean criminals were unable to modify their behaviours by learning from the consequences of their actions.

Question 4

Ethics

Answer 4

+ University of California approved the study and the controls gave consent

• pet scans are invasive and participants were injected with radioactive tracer [FDG] could increase the risk of cancer.
• NGRI agree to the pet scans as they believed it would help their court case, so that may have felt pressured.

Question 5

Practical issues:

Answer 5

+ high reliability as it is a lab experiment with standardized instructions used to do pet scans

• ecological validity as a lab experiment EG the CPT
• low in mundane realism as to the lab experiment so not generalizable to real life

Question 6

Reductionism:

Answer 6

• study’s certain post brain amygdala, limbic system and doesn’t consider nature.
• focuses on the amygdala and its role with aggression and underplays the complex nature of the brain

Question 7

explaining behaviour using different themes:

Answer 7

murder due to xyy syndrome

due to brain damage

due to abnormalities the amygdala EG Charles Whitman

Question 8

psychology as a science

Answer 8

+ highly reliable due to pet scans

+ PET scans are objective and produce practical results which can be tested and retested

+ highly reliable due to standard procedures e.g. 10 minute warm up then 32 minutes of CPT

Question 9

gender and culture:

Answer 9

• ethnocentric= California, USA

- sample is Androcentric 32 males and only 2 females

Question 10

Nature, Nurture:

Answer 10

ignores nature and focuses on nurture and emphasizes the role of the environment on behaviour eg brain injury

Question 11

psychological understanding over time:

Answer 11

in the 1960s CAT scans were initially used to show brain structure in live brains Raine then later used this technology in his study

Question 12

social control:

Answer 12

The study ‘seems’ suggests that people are driven to kill by their brain structure and so prospective job candidates or partners may be screened to ensure they don’t have a murderous brain.

Question 13

psychological knowledge in society:

Answer 13

knowledge can be used to detect people who are likely to commit violent crimes

Question 14

socially sensitive research:

Answer 14

Raine used murderers who pledged NGRI this is considered socially sensitive as they are murderers.