PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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Biological explanations for criminal behaviour
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PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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Answering the question (Describe two biological explanations of criminal behaviour ?) 10 marks. Awarded 10/10
Psychology in real world: component 3, criminal behaviour
PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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Describe two biological explanations of criminal behaviour? 10 marks
One biological explanation of criminal behaviour is inherited criminality. Holin 1992 stated
that people inherit a biological predisposition to commit crimes. This could be seen through
adoption studies, as Mednick et al in 1987 studied 14.000 adoptees and found a higher
percentage of sons who had a criminal record, comparing with 14.7% of sons who had a
criminal record, whom their adoptive parents had a criminal record. This purposes that
criminal behaviour could be explained through the role of biology and that criminality could
in fact be inherited.
Another biological explanation of inherited criminality is the Diathesis-stress model. It
purposes that a behaviour is a result of both biological and genetic factors (nature) and life
experiences (nurture). In this model a genetic vulnerability interacts with the environment
and life events to trigger a behaviour or a psychological disorder. This could be linked to
epigenetics, which is the study of the gene’s expressions (active vs inactive gene). It provides
an understanding of cognitive thinking, psychological and the mental health. This could be
seen through Caspi’s findings in 2002, that showed that association between childhood
maltreatment (environmental trigger) and anti-social behaviour were modified by MAOA
gene and that people with low-activity variant were more responsive to the life events than
the group with high-activity levels.
Another biological explanation of criminal behaviour is the role of the amygdala. Raine
stated that criminals and non-criminals have functional difference in several parts of the
brain, such as the amygdala, which modulated our reactions to events that are very
important for our survival. He found that criminals have abnormalities in their amygdala,
meaning that the information may not be sent, and this results in a lack of fear emotions,
which then creates aggression. This could be linked to criminality as people who reacts
tocertain events with a lack of fear response are more likely to engage in dangerous
situations because they don’t feel scared of the consequences and thus criminal behaviour
could be explained through the role of the amygdala.
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