Evaluation of Amygdala

• * P: Supported by research evidence (Over-active)

  E: Emil Coccaro- FMRI scans on people with Intermittent Explosive Disorder and a control group of normal people while they viewed images of faces. IED group had high levels of amygdala activity when viewing faces compared to control group.

  E: Demonstrates that people who react to mild everyday threat with extreme rage and aggression do have an overactive amygdala.
• *P: Supported by research evidence (under-active)

  E: Yu Gao- longitudinal study on 1795 ppts. Tested for fear response (indicated by sweating) to a threatening noise at age of 3. 20 years later researchers found that ppts who had committed a crime by the time they were 23 were those who had shown no fear response in the study.

  E: Suggests that their may be a casual relationship between an under active amygdala and antisocial/ criminal behaviour.
• X P: Reductionist

  E: Raine et al- aggressive murderers had an over active amygdala but also low activity in the pre-frontal cortex.

  E: PFC (wise owl) acts to regulate impulsive urges. Raines' research suggests that it is the interaction between an over active amygdala and an underactive PFC that fully explains serious aggression. Only considering the role of the amygdala alone doesn't offer a complete explanation of the role of the brain in CB.
• XP: Other explanations may contradict with biological explanation

  E: Social psychological explanations suggest we should consider the way people are socialized, the influence of role models and other environmental factors rather than focusing on physical, internal explanations for CB. Further supported by the fact that sometimes people have the biological brain of a criminal yet don't engage in CB.

  E: Suggests we should not overlook the important role of the environment in explaining CB.