This summary covers causes of criminal behaviour, both biological and social. It also covers ways to reduce criminal behavior and recidivism. The reliability of eyewitness testimony is also looked at with the classic study of Loftus and Palmer as well as the contemporary study of Valentine and Meso...
Criminal psychology
● Crime- an action or omission which constitutes and is punishable by law, e.g. murder.
● Anti-social behaviour- Behaviour by a person which causes or is likely to cause
harassment alarm or distress to a person's not of the same household as the person
e.g. noisy neighbours, graffiti
● Recidivism- the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend.
● Causes of criminal/ anti-social behaviour (nature)- genes, hormones, brain damage
● Causes of criminal/ anti-social behaviour (nurture)- poor education, worklessness, ill
health, poverty, child development, family problems
● Treatments for offenders- anger management, CBT, hormones
● Eyewitness testimony- Account gave by people, of an event that they witnessed
● Jury decision making- Jurors perceive, interpret and remember evidence to decide if
someone is guilty
● Role of criminal/forensic psychologist- Work in all aspects of the criminal justice
system from psychological aspects of the investigation and the legal aspects, through
to the behaviour of the offender.
Biological explanations of crime- brain injury- AO1
● Can be caused by stroke, car accident, alcohol and drug/substance abuse.
● Consequences depend on the area of the brain effect
● The prefrontal cortex- decision making/problem-solving. Damage can lead to criminal
behaviour as can’t decide right or wrong- e.g. theft. Can’t problem solve due to
damage- theft as can’t get job
● The prefrontal cortex- parts of our personality- could be more aggressive due to
damage- violent crimes such as assault.
● Amygdala- controls impulses- can’t control themselves so impulsive crimes like
murder and theft. Spontaneous behaviour can lead to fights.
● Alcohol can affect CNS- decision making- make bad decisions can lead to fights,
murder, assault. Lower inhibition control so could partake in risky behaviour resulting
in fights possibly
Brain injury- AO3
Strengths-
● Bower and Price did a meta-analysis; concluded frontal lobe damage can explain
criminal behaviour.
● Williams et al 60% of 196 prisoners had a brain injury, also more likely to re-offend
and enter prison earlier
● NHS 9% of brain injury patients committed a crime compared to 3% of the general
population
● Phineas Gage prefrontal cortex injury made him more aggressive
● Range of methods- PET scans, meta-analysis
● Lots of evidence linking
Weaknesses-
● Kreutzer et al 20% of 74 arrested prisoners were arrested before the injury. 10%
arrested after injury. More arrests after substance abuse.
● Phineas Gage prefrontal cortex injury made him more aggressive but not a criminal.
● Elbogen et al Causes of criminal behaviour in war veterans e.g. PTSD, drug
misuse, not injury.
● Correlation not causation
, ● Individual differences - case study
SODA
Supporting
● Bower and Price meta-analysis- Frontal lobe damage leads to crime
● Williams et al- 60% of prisoners had a brain injury
● Phineas Gage- more aggressive after brain injury
Opposing
● Phineas Gage- not a criminal
● Kreutzer et al- 20% arrested before brain injury 10% after brain injury.
● Elbogen et al- PTSD in veterans and substance abuse
Different
● Biological- XYY, Amygdala, personality
● social- SLT, SFP
Application
● Therapy to help after brain injury
● In court not guilty due to biology.
Silent do now-
1. Amygdala, prefrontal cortex, central nervous system.
2. Fight or flight, controlling impulses
3. Phineas Gage- frontal cortex - more aggressive
4. Brain injury, XYY syndrome, Amygdala, personality
5. Central executive, phonological loop, visual-spatial sketch pad
6. Delegate where things go, sounds, sight
7. Episodic buffer- transfers between stores
Biological explanations of crime- Amygdala- AO1
In the midbrain
What behaviours are the amygdala responsible for?
Impulse control, controlling emotions.
How might a person behave if there is damage to the amygdala?
A person may present as emotionless or may react excessively with emotion as they cannot
reduce them.
How is the amygdala different in psychopaths?
It is smaller in psychopaths and also has higher levels of aggression.
What did Pardini et al 2014 conclude from their study?
Individuals with a smaller amygdala were 3x more likely than those with a larger one to
exhibit aggression, violence and psychotic features 3 years later.
What is the sham rage?
The term for animal aggression
How did Cannon and Britton 1925 investigate sham rage?
They cut the nerves around the amygdala on cats. The cats exhibited aggression as
demonstrated by erect hair, growling and the baring of teeth.
Outline Raine et al 1997 study. How does this support that the amygdala is linked to criminal
behaviour?
Aim-to find differences in brain function of murderers and control participants.
,Method- used pet scan to study murderers who pleaded not guilty because of insanity and
controls to see the difference in brain function.
Results- different functioning in control and murderers of the amygdala
Conclusion- Criminals have less activity in the amygdala- less impulse control
Exam question- explain how the amygdala is linked to criminal behaviour (4)
The amygdala is responsible for impulse and emotion control. Less activity in the amygdala
can lead to violent crimes such as murder as there is less impulse control to stop the person
acting on the impulse. It has been found that the amygdala in criminals is smaller than
average (Pardini et al 2014) and has less function (Raine). Pardini et al found that
individuals with a smaller amygdala were 3x more likely than those with a larger one to
exhibit aggression, violence and psychotic features 3 years later- this supports the fact that a
smaller amygdala can lead to criminal behaviour.
4/4 A
Silent do now-
1. Smaller, less activity
2. Aggression in animals
3. Psychopaths showed to have 3x smaller amygdala- Pardini et al, sham rage Cannon
and Britton, Raine
4. Memories shaped by personal life experiences/ parcels of knowledge based on our
experience or knowledge.
5. Told story of the war of ghosts- asked to recall immediately, one week later, one
month later, 3 months later etc- changed a bit and key bits remembered
AO3 of amygdala
Weaknesses-
● Reductionist as only focuses on biology- ignored individual differences- only one area
of the brain
● A psychologist was able to identify brains that belong to a psychopath using MRI
scans looking at the size of the amygdala. However, he identified his brain as a
psychopath’s brain- not always linked to criminal behaviour- correlation rather than
cause and effect.
● Sham rage studies on animals lack generalisability to humans- humans and animals
very different- smaller brains and different biology - also different anger and
aggression signs also different types of aggression in humans.
● Psychopaths are not just criminals. Some traits of a psychopath e.g. lack of empathy
make them ideal for high- up management positions. Intelligent crimes which can not
be traced as easy- not criminal as not caught
SODA-
Supporting studies-
● Pardini et al - smaller amygdala- reductionist
● Raine- less activity in amygdala- reductionist
, ● Cannon and Britton- sham rage links to low amygdala functions- however, when
amygdala removed the cat was passive and generalisability
Opposing studies-
● Correlation, not causation- Psychologist looks at MRI scans - finds own has small
amygdala- not all people with small amygdala are criminals
● Deterministic- Psychopathic traits aren’t always criminal - lack of empathy good for
high management positions
Different theories-
● Brain injury
● XYY syndrome
● Personality
● social learning theory
● Self-fulfilling prophecy
Application-
● Create treatments to increase activity or size of the amygdala to reduce crimes
● Brain scan babies to stop crime
Silent do now-
1. Smaller in psychopaths
2. Impulse control
3. Cannon and Britton, Raine, Pardini et al
4. The psychologist found his amygdala was small- not a criminal or psychopath
5. Phineas Gage, Raine
6. Phineas Gage not criminal, War vets
7. XYY syndrome, Personality, Brain injury, Amygdala
8. To see if memory encoded acoustically or semantically
9. Short term- acoustically, long term- semantically
10. Weakness- No ecological validity- not day to day activity, Strength- reliability- slide
show the same for all participants
Biological explanations of crime- XXY syndrome AO1
● Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, we have a total of 46
● At conception, the embryo receives 23 chromosomes from the Mother's egg and 23
chromosomes from the father's Sperm
● The 23rd chromosome consists of the sex chromosome
● Sex chromosomes are either XY or XX.
● XX= female
● XY= male
● XYY syndrome is a genetic condition that occurs when a male has an extra Y
chromosome
● This occurs in 1/1000 males
● It is not inherited but occurs randomly at the time of conception.
● Many men with XYY syndrome do not even know they have it
● Symptoms include
1. Taller
2. The lower level of intelligence
3. Behaviour problems
4. Easily distracted
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