Topic 1 - turning to crime! Flashcards
Palmer and Hollin
Background and Sample
- Investigated whether young offenders differed in moral developments compared to non offenders
- Compared criminals aged 13-21
- West Midlands- age matched controls to see if they differed in moral reasoning
Palmer and Hollin- procedure
Questionnaires given- asked about socio economic status and psychometric measure
- 11 questions measuring moral reasoning
- Self reported check list
assessed frequency of minor delinquents
Palmer and Hollin results
Male offenders showed the least mature moral reasoning
Non offenders= conventional reasoning
Jahoda - Background
-Tribe who lives in Ghana called Ashanti
-Believes the day you were born affects personality
-Children given a soul name based on day you were born
Jahoda- Example of soul names:
Monday= well behaved (placid)
Wednesday= not well behaved (violent and aggressive)
Jahoda- study
-Examined names of criminals who committed violent offences
- Recorded over a 5 year period
- Monday boys= 6.9%
Wednesday= 22%
Self fulfilling prophecy
Raine Mauritus study?
-Age 11 = group received intervention showed better concentration/ good brain
- Age 17= Lower levels- conduct disorder (anti-social/criminal behaviour)
less cruel/ bully
Raine- Omega 3 supplements
- Raine gave a further 100 children Omega-3 supplements once a day in the form of a juice drink for 6 months (and a control group given- drink containing no Omega oils).
- Parents of children given Omega-3 reported lower levels of delinquency, aggression and attention problems 6 months after the end of the intervention.
Why are males more aggressive than females?
There may be genetic reasons such as men have a normally high level of testosterone
Smoking During Pregnancy:
- Can lead to high levels of testosterone
- Linked to higher levels of aggression- sensation seeking behaviour and impulsivity
- Associated with anti-social and violent behaviour and hyperactivity
- Lack of empathy
- Ring finger taller than index finger
Key Research- Raine et al
Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by PET scans
Background:
-investigated the difference in brain function between criminals and non-criminals.
- Criminals had pleaded not guilty
Sample:
- 41 criminals (39 male and 2 female)
- Committed murder or manslaughter
- Referred to brain scanning to find evidence that they were NGRI for several reasons:
- Schizophrenia
Brian injury
- Epilepsy
- 41 matched to age gender
Schizophrenic individually
Raine et al Procedure: Brain abnormalities
-The participants were injected with a radioactive glucose tracer
-show the level of activity in different regions of the brain.
-Participants then completed a Continuous performance task - Involved them indicating each time the number ‘zero’ appeared on a screen; the numbers visually degraded over time to require more effort of each participant’s pre-frontal cortex.
-This task lasted 32 minutes
Raine et al- Brain abnormalities results
Compared to controls, the NGRI murderers showed:
-Less activity in the pre-frontal cortex
-Less activity in the left side of the amygdala
-More activity in the right side of the amygdala
-Less activity in the corpus callosum
-More activity in the occipital areas
-More activity in the right side of the thalamus
Measuring differences in brain function?
If a region of the brain is more active, uses more glucose so there will be higher levels of the radioactive tracer (the region will light up more on the PET scan)
Raine et al - brain abnormalities= Conclusions
Reduced brain activity in the pre-frontal cortex- explain impulsive behaviour /lack of self-control.
The differences in activity in the amygdala - supports theory that violence is due to unusual emotional responses /lack of fear.
Differences in the corpus callosum correspond - split-brain patients who show inappropriate emotional expression and an inability in long-term planning.
