topic 1 what makes a criminal Flashcards
what is the key research and the four additional studies called in topic 1 of criminal pychology
Raine et al
Palmer and Hollin
Jahoda
Raine- mauritius study
smoking in pregnancy
outline the additional study by Palmer and Hollin
Moral development
Sample
-126 male offenders
-332 non offenders m+f
DV-socio moral reflection measure, 11 questions used to assess moral reasoning
Results
Male offenders had the least mature moral reasoning- pre conventional
Non offenders had more mature moral reasoning- conventional stage
Conclusion
-young male criminal offenders have low levels of moral reasoning
Outline the additional study by jahoda into self fulfilling prophecies
Sample
-Ashanti tribe in Ghana
-boys born on a wednesday (KWAKU) are thought to be violent and aggressive
-boys born on a monday are meant to be more placid (calm and peaceful) (KWADWO)
Procedure
- Jahoda analysed the names of individuals who had commited violent offences recorded in court over a 5 year period of time
Results
-Kwadwo boys (Monday born) were 6.9% of offences
-Kwaku boys (wednesday born) commited 22% of the offences
Conclusion
- Due to a self fulfilling prophecy wednesday boys are more likely to be violent than monday borns
outline the additional study by Raine the Mauritius study
Sample
- 1795 3 year olds
- 100 of the children were given an intervention programme
Intervention programme:
-NUTRITION, milk,fruit juice,hot meal of fish with salad
-PHYSICAL EXERCISE, structured games and free play
-COGNITIVE STIMULATION, multimodel curriculum based on toys art handicrafts drama and music
Results- compared to control group
AT AGE 11:
-children in the intervention had better attention and an increased level of arousal
AT AGE 17:
-children in the intervention scored significantly less on disorder ratings, less cruel to others
Follow up study
100 more children were chose to every day drink a juice drink that included omega 3 fish oil
Compared to control group with same drink but no omega 3
This showed us that parents reported a significant reduction in their aggression, delinquency and attention problems
outline the additional study about smoking in pregnancy and testosterone
- smoking during pregnancy can result in foeutus experiencing higher pre-natal exposure to testosterone
- the length of a childs ring finger compared to the index will indicate how much testosterone they were exposed to as a foetus
- relatively long ring fingers are associated with dominance and personalities linked to aggression and antisocial behaviour hyperactivity and lack of empathy
Outline the sample used in the key research used by Raine et al
Sample
-41 people, all of whom who had been charged with either murder or manslaughter
-39 men
-2 woman
-mean age of 34.3 years
- all pleading NGRI
-all had various conditions including head injury or organic brain damage, schizophrenia or epilepsy
Outline what is NGRI
not guilty by reason of insanity
Explain how the key research by Raine et al was a quasi experiment and matched participants design.
Matched participants design:
-each person was compared against someone same age and gender, but not accused of anything
-The six murderers with schizophrenia were further matched with six schizophrenic controls
Quasi experimen:
- This is because these brain abnoralities are naturally occuring and cannot be changed
Outline the three stages to the procedure of the key research by Raine et al
1)each participant was injected with a glucose tracker
2)each participant was then monitored for a 32 minute period while they completed a continuos performance task (gets harder as you continue, this task involved them indicating each time they saw the number ‘0’ appeared on a screen, the numbers degraded over time to require more effort of each participants pre frontal cortex
3)After the 32 minutes each participant was given a PET scan
Outline the results otained from the key research by Raine
This study suggested that murderers pleading NGRI do have significantly different patterns of brain metabolisms in a number of different areas in particular
- there was reduced activity in the pre frontal cortex. Reduced activity in this part of the brain can result in impulsivity, loss of self control, immaturity, altered emotionality, and an inability to modify behvour
-there was less activity in the left side of the AMYGDALA. as the amygdala is involved in our emotional responses, this could suggest that the ngris may have experienced a lack of fear
- there was less activity in the CORPUS CALLOSUM. this could suggest an inability to grasp the long term implications of a situation, as this had been seen by split brin patients in Sperry
what are the limitations of the key research by Raine et al
- the resukts cannot be taken to indicate that violence is determined by biology alone
-they do not show that NGRI’s are not responsible for their actions
-They cant be generalised to other non violent offenders
