raine et al

Question 1

what are the 2 aims for this study?

Answer 1

1- use brain scanning to identify impairments in NGRI murderers

2- identify dysfunctions in areas linked to violence

Question 2

how did they control the procedure

Answer 2

1- matched people by sex, age and ethnicity

2- physical examinations, psychiatric interviews and no meds for 2 weeks

Question 3

how many participants were there

Answer 3

41 murderers and 41 non-murderers

Question 4

what experiment design did they use

Answer 4

matched pairs design

Question 5

what was the dependant variable

Answer 5

glucose metabolism (activity) in specific brain areas

Question 6

give 2 findings is the experiment

Answer 6

• cortical & subcortical regions had lower glucose metabolism
• murderers had high metabolism in occipital lobe, right amygdala, right temporal lobe and right thalamus

Question 7

give 2 conclusions

Answer 7

• dysfunction of single brain area can’t explain violence

- only expressed when social and psychological environments are ‘right’

Question 8

what is a strength of the experiment

Answer 8

experimental controls

Question 9

an opposing argument

Answer 9

key elements not controlled - ppts not randomly allocated and failure to match on some variables

Question 10

differing theory

Answer 10

inappropriate PET scanning technique - reduces internal validity

Question 11

application

Answer 11

understand biological evidence - brain structures only offer partial explanation