Biological Explanations- Genetics + Neural

Question 1

What are neural explanations?

Answer 1

-in terms of dysfunction of the brain and nervous system

Question 2

Who conducted research into twin studies?

Answer 2

-Christiansen

Question 3

What did Christiansen do?

Answer 3

-study over 3,500 twins pairs in Denmark
-behaviour was checked against Danish police records
-not just behaviour but could be predisposing traits that are inherited

Question 4

What did Christiansen find?

Answer 4

-concordance rates for offender behaviour of 35% for identical twin males
-compared to 13% for non-identical twins

Question 5

Who conducted research into adoption studies?

Answer 5

-Crowe

Question 6

What did Crowe do?

Answer 6

-compared children to with a biological criminal mother and an adopted child with a mother with no record

Question 7

What did Crowe find?

Answer 7

-those with a mother with a record had a 50% chance risk of having a criminal record by 18
-adopted children whose mother didn’t have a record only had a 5% risk

Question 8

Who conducted research into candidate genes?

Answer 8

-Tiihonen

Question 9

What did Tiihonen do?

Answer 9

-genetic analysis of 800 Finnish offenders
-suggested 2 genes may be associated with crime

Question 10

What did Tiihonen find?

Answer 10

-MAOA gene regulates serotonin and is linked to aggression
-CDHB gene linked to substance abuse and ADH
-found that 5-10% of crime is attributable to genes

Question 11

What is the diathesis stress model in terms of genetics?

Answer 11

-a tendency towards offending behaviour may come about through a combination of genetic predisposition or a trigger

Question 12

What are neural explanation in terms of offenders?

Answer 12

-may be difference in the brains of offenders and non-offenders
-those with ADP are associated with reduced emotional responses + lack of empathy
-which is a condition that characterises many offenders

Question 13

Who conducted research into the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 13

-Raine

Question 14

What did Raine do?

Answer 14

-conducted an analysis of studies that show that there are brain images that show people with APD have reduced activity in pre-frontal cortex

Question 15

What did Raine find?

Answer 15

-11% reduction in volume of grey matter with APD compared to controls
-also showed reduced autonomic response
-there is a brain deficit on people with APD which may cause behaviours like a lack of fear

Question 16

Who conducted research into mirror neurones?

Answer 16

-Keysers

Question 17

What did Keysers find?

Answer 17

-those with APD can experience empathy but more sporadically than others
-when offenders were asked to empathise, did their empathy reaction activate?
-suggests those with ADP dont just have no empathy but have a neural switch
-unlike the normal brain which is permanently on

Question 18

What is an issue with twin studies as genetic evidence?

Answer 18

-the assumption of equal environment
-assumed that factors are held constant because twins are brought up together
-and therefore must experience similar environments
-this may apply more to MZ twins than DZ twins
-as MZ look the same so people treat them the same
-which in turns affect their behaviour
-high concordance rates for MZ’s may simply be because they are treated more similarly than DZ

Question 19

What is a strength of the diathesis stress model of offending?

Answer 19

-support by Mednick
-13,000 Danish adoptees
-neither biological or adoptive parents had convictions
-% of adoptees that did was 13.5%
-this rose when either parents had convictions to 20%
-shows that genetic inheritance and the environment plays an important role in providing support for the diathesis stress model of crime

Question 20

What is a strength of neural explanations for offending behaviour?

Answer 20

-support link between crime and the frontal lobe
-Kandel + Freed reviewed evidence from frontal lobe damage and antisocial behaviour
-people with damage = impulsive behaviour + emotional instability
-frontal lobe associated with planning behaviour
-supports the idea that brain damage may be a causal factor

Question 21

What is a limitation of neural explanations?

Answer 21

-link between neural differences and APD are complex
-Farrington - studied a group of men who scored high on psychopathy
-they had experienced various risk during childhood which caused APD and some neural differences
-suggests that the relationship between neural differences, APD and offending is complex
-may be other intervening variables

Question 22

What is an issue and debate to neural explanations?

Answer 22

-biologically determinist
-suggests that OB is determined by uncontrollable factors
-the justice system is based on individual responsibility
-so identification of biological precursors complicates the justice principle
-suggests we should ‘excuse’ some
-but this isn’t possible as they could claim no responsibility