Biological Explanations of Offending Behaviour (AQA A Level Psychology): Flashcards
Exam code: 7182
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What do genetic explanations of offending assume?
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What do genetic explanations of offending assume?
Criminality is inherited, with mutations in specific genes or combinations of genes predisposing individuals to criminal behaviour.
What is the main assumption underpinning twin studies of criminality?
If criminality is genetic, MZ concordance will be higher than DZ concordance, as MZ twins share 100% of their DNA.
What did Lange (1930) find?
In the first criminal twin study, 10 of 13 MZ twins but only 2 of 17 DZ twins had a co-twin who was also in prison.
Which two genes did Tiihonen et al. (2014) link to violent crime?
MAOA, which controls dopamine and serotonin, and CDH13, which is linked to substance abuse and ADHD.
Tiihonen et al. found individuals with the high-risk gene combination were around times more likely to have a violent history.
Tiihonen et al. found individuals with the high-risk gene combination were around 13 times more likely to have a violent history.
True or False?
Tiihonen et al.'s findings have been widely replicated.
False.
The research is in its infancy and has not so far been replicated.
What do neural explanations of offending assume?
Brain structure and/or neurochemistry increase the propensity to crime, e.g. heightened dopamine leading to reward-seeking behaviour.
Define antisocial personality disorder (APD).
APD, formerly psychopathy, is associated with reduced emotional responses and a lack of empathy, and characterises many convicted criminals.
Which brain structure regulates emotional responses relevant to offending?
The limbic system, particularly the amygdala, which processes emotional information.
What did Keysers et al. (2011) find?
APD participants' empathy reaction, controlled by mirror neurons, only activated when asked to empathise, suggesting a neural 'switch' that can be turned on and off.
What has Raine reported about the APD brain?
Dozens of imaging studies show reduced prefrontal cortex activity, and Raine et al. (2000) found an 11% reduction in prefrontal grey matter volume.
What did Crowe (1972) find?
Adopted children with a criminal biological parent had a 50% risk of a criminal record by 18, compared with 5% when the mother had no record.
What did Brunner (1993) find?
A MAOA mutation disturbing serotonin levels, linked to antisocial behaviour and low IQ in males from one Dutch family.
What did Mednick et al. (1984) find in over 13,000 Danish adoptees?
Conviction rates rose from 13.5% with no convicted parents to 20% with a convicted biological parent and 24.5% with both, supporting a diathesis-stress model.
Why do brain imaging techniques strengthen neural explanations?
PET and fMRI give objective evidence of structural and functional differences, increasing validity compared with self-report.
Why are twin studies of criminality limited?
They use small, unrepresentative samples, and twins share the same environment, a confounding variable. Lange judged zygosity by appearance rather than DNA.
True or False?
Adoption studies cleanly separate genetic and environmental influences.
False.
Late adoption means many children spend infancy with, and keep contact with, biological parents, making their environmental impact hard to assess.
Why might Mednick's findings not generalise?
They applied to petty offences such as burglary rather than violent crime.
Biological explanations focus on factors and may underestimate upbringing, trauma and peer pressure.
Biological explanations focus on nature factors such as genes and brain structures, and may underestimate upbringing, trauma and peer pressure.
Why are biological explanations of offending reductionist?
They reduce crime to simplistic biological causes, ignoring the interaction of social and cognitive factors and why people with similar biology do not offend.
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