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Psychology: Crime > Topic 1 > Flashcards

Topic 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What did Sheldon believe caused the psychological make-up of a human being?

A

Their biological foundations

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2
Q

What did Sheldon find?

A

Endomorphic
- fat
- soft
- relaxed
- sociable

Mesomorphic
- muscular
- hard
- aggressive
- adventurous

Ectomorphic
- thin
- fragile
- introverted

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3
Q

Lambroso

A
  • Believed that criminals were a subspecies of human and have primitive physiological features (prominent jaws, monobrow, large ears, extra toe/finger)
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4
Q

What did Jacobs et al find about the extra Y chromosome?

A

Men with an extra Y chromosome (XXY) were more aggressive than XY men.
Although they only represent 0.001% of the population, the make up 1.5% of the prison population.
XXY males are less intelligent than average and can easily be swayed towards crime as making a living is more difficult.

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5
Q

What does Osborn and West find when investigating if criminality runs in families?

A

13% of sons of non-criminal fathers had criminal convictions.

40% of sons from criminal fathers had convictions.

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6
Q

Lyons study on delinquency on thousands of twins

A
  • The background was that Monozygotic or identical (MZ) twins share 100% of their genes compared to non-identical or dizygotic twins (DZ) who share on average 50% of their genes.
  • Records of criminal and aggressive behaviour in adult twins showed that MZs were indeed more similar. This suggests that genetic factors become more important in adulthood.
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7
Q

What was Brunner’s study on the ‘warrior gene’?

A
  • Brunner proposed a specific gene called the ‘warrior gene’ that was related to aggressive and violent criminal behaviour.
  • This gene was the MAOA gene which is responsible for the enzyme monoamine oxidase.
  • He conducted a study on 5 violent males from one family in the Netherlands and had analysed their urine samples over a 24 hour period. The males had committed aggressive crimes such as: rape; arson; or assault. Brunner found that these males had insufficient production of the MAOA enzyme which is responsible for the breakdown of serotonin which led to them becoming abnormally aggressive.
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8
Q

What was Raines study on brain dysfunction?

A
  • Raine proposed that low levels of activity in the prefrontal cortex can be indicated by a low resting heart rate.
  • individuals with a lower than average resting heart rate tend to posses an extrovert personality which is why they tend to be thrill seeking as they’re in need for excitement to increase the levels of arousal in their brain.
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9
Q

What was Eron et al’s study on violence on TV and aggression?

A
  • Eron measured the level of violence in tv programmes watched by 7-8 year olds as well as measuring their aggression.
  • He found a positive correlation.
  • The more violence watched as children, the more likely they were to be violent criminals as adults.
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10
Q

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

A

A way we can be influenced by others is through their expectations.

Suggests that stereotyped beliefs an individual holds can affect the behaviour of another.

Negative expectations = Negative result

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11
Q

Jahoda

A
  • Naturalistic study
  • Looked at aggression in Ashanti people. A male child is traditionally given a ‘soul’ name determined by the day they were born and believed to affect their character. “Monday”= calm , “Wednesday”= aggressive
  • 22% of violent offences were made by “Wednesday” boys and 7% by “Monday” boys.
  • This suggests that cultural expectations about the boys’ natures had them treated differently. As a result, the boys acted in line with their expectations (the self-fulfilling prophecy)
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12
Q

Farrington

A
  • longitudinal study
  • sample of 411 males from a working class area in London.
  • interviewed periodically from 8-48.
  • also interviewed the boys teachers and parents.
  • Suggests that important childhood risk factors for later offending were: loss of mother; tendency towards daring behaviour; low school attainment; poverty; and poor parenting.
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13
Q

Sutherland

A
  • He argued that more contact someone has with attitudes favourable to criminal behaviour and the more exposure they have to criminal behaviour (friends and family), the more likely they are to commit crime.
  • Become custom to criminality, it is the ‘norm’
  • “everybody does it:” attitude
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14
Q

What is the key research?

A

Raine

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15
Q

What is the aim of Raine’s study?

A
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16
Q

What is the research method?

A
  • Quasi
  • IV= whether the participant was pleading NGRI, or “normal”, non-murderer
  • DV= whether the participant showed evidence of brain dysfunction
17
Q

What was the sample?

A

41 murderers

39 male, 2 female

18
Q

Outline the procedure?

A
  • Participants kept medication free for 2 weeks prior
  • 10 mins before receiving the FDG injection (glucose tracer), participants were given a practice trial of the CPT (continuous performance tracer)
  • 30 secs before the FDG injection, Participants started the actual CPT to get their brains ‘working’
  • 32 mins after the FDG injection the participant was transferred to an adjacent PET scanner room. An individually moulded thermosetting plastic head holder.
19
Q

What were the results?

A

There was reduced activity on the left and greater right in the amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus.

20
Q

Possible conclusions?

A

Raine’s study provides preliminary evidence that murderers pleading NGRI have different brain functioning from normal individuals.

21
Q

Strength of validity? 2

A
  • Experimental method/controls in Raine. PET scans were used and they are accurate technology. Thus, accurate measures between brains of murderers and non-murderers can be taken.
  • High ecological validity in Lyons et al study on twins
22
Q

Weakness of validity? 3

A
  • Raine was a quasi experiment and thus had no cause and effect.
  • Low population validity in Raine (he had 39 males and only 2 females) and Brunner (the participants were 5 males from one family in the Netherlands).
  • Farringdon used the self report method which is high in social desirability bias
23
Q

Strength of reliability? 2

A
  • Raine had a standardised procedure (PET scans)
  • Procedure was consistent in Farrington and Jahoda as it was a longitudinal study.
24
Q

Weakness of reliability? 2

A
  • Raines PET scans are open to interpretation (subjective)
  • Farrington had different people conduct the self reports.
25
Q

Strength of sampling bias? 1

A
  • Lyons et al used thousands of twins- likely to be representative
26
Q

Weakness of sampling bias? 1

A
  • Raine used 41 participants= 39 male, 2 female. Not representative of female murderers. Also, there are other violent crimes than murder.
27
Q

Strength of ethnocentrism? 1

A
  • psychological explanations tend to be low in ethnocentrism as biological structures and processes tend to be universal, not influenced by culture.
28
Q

Weakness of ethnocentrism? 1

A
  • Lambroso, Jahoda, Raine, Farrington: all biased ideas on samples from one culture only.
29
Q

Reductionism v Holism

A

Reductionism:
- Brunner- ‘warrior gene’-

Holism:
- Raine- brain dysfunction as an explanation is more holistic as it is suggested that neural processes underlying violence are complex and cannot be explained by a single brain mechanism.

30
Q

Nature v Nurture

A

Nature:
- Innate characteristics of murderers explain their behaviour. Brunner research on the MAOA gene (warrior gene) provides a physiological explanation that would suggest criminals are born that way.

Nurture:
- Raine- Don’t know whether NGRI murderers were born with their brain abnormality or whether it was a result of life experiences (head injury?)

31
Q

Free will v Determinism

A

Determinism:
- Raine- Brain dysfunction alone does not determine violent behaviour but it is contributory factor. Similarly, there is strong evidence of brain dysfunction, genetics, hormones play a role.

Free will:
- People can exert self control over their behaviour. For example, people who grow up in criminal families don’t always grow up to be criminals. Also, some ex offenders consciously decide to stop their criminal activity.

32
Q

Ethical considerations

A

Psychological harm:
In Raines study, participants may experience stress from the results of their PET scan

33
Q

Psychology as a science

A

Raine used PET scans to provide objective results of brain activity.

34
Q

Application: nutrition

A

Psychology: Crime (6 decks)

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