biological approach

• Evolutionary influences (Assumption)


  Explaining how the human mind and behaviour has changed over the course of many years, so they are best adapted to the demands of today's environment.
• Theory of natural selection (Evolutionary influences)


  Takes place at a genetic level. With an example being altruistic behaviour, when parents risk there lives to protect their offspring seemingly to enhance the survival of their shared gene pool.
• Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness - EEA (Evolutionary influences)


  The environment to which a species is best suited to due to the selective pressures at the time. With an example being those that are better at forming relationships are more likely to survive so the genes for such behaviour are passed on.
• Localisation of brain function (Assumption)


  Certain areas of the brain are responsible for different, specific actions.
• Four lobes (Localisation of brain function)


  Frontal lobe - Involved in creativity, thinking and is linked to our personality.

  Parietal lobe - Receives sensory information such as touch.

  Temporal lobe - Responsible for memory and auditory processing.

  Occipital lobe - Responsible for visual processing as it receives information directly from the eyes.
• Neurotransmitters (Assumption)


  Play a significant role in our mental health in relation to their levels. For example, serotonin helps to reduce stress.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence-methodology)


  - Quasi experiment with a matched pairs design.

  - 41 NGRI murderers, 39 men and 2 women with a mean age of 34.3. All were medication free from two weeks prior to the experiment.

  - The control group consisted of matching people based on age and gender (six schizophrenics for six schizophrenics) and none were taking medication.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence-procedures)


  1- Participants were allowed to practice the CPT before receiving the FDG injection.

  2- Thirty seconds after starting the CPT the the FDG was applied.

  3- Thirty two minutes after after FDG injection a PER scan was done of each participant.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence-findings)


  -The study found reduced activity in areas previously linked to violence, such as, the prefrontal cortex and corpus callosum.

  -The study found increased activity in areas not previously linked to violence, such as, the cerebellum.

  -The study found no difference in brain activity in areas not previously linked to violence, such as, the caudate and putamen.

  -There was also reduced activity on the left side of the brain with greater activity on the right.

  -As the participants all performed similarly the brain differences were not due to the CPT.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence-conclusions)


  This study supports that there are links between certain areas of the brain and aggression. With problems in the prefrontal cortex explaining aggressive behaviour and the corpus callosum showing reduced processing of linguistic information. However Raine et al acknowledges that the results do not demonstrate:

  1- That violent behaviour is determined by biology alone.

  2- that murderers pleading NGRI are not responsible for their own actions.

  3- That brain dysfunction leads to or causes violence.

  4- That violence can be explained by the results.

  Regardless the results do suggest a link between brain dysfunction and a predisposition to violence in this particular NGRI group.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence evaluation-methodology and procedures)


  As it was a quasi-experiment causal conclusions are not justified. Raine et al suggests that psychological, cultural and situational factors all play an important part in predisposition to violence.

  The use of PET scans allowed Raine et al to see how the brain processed information differently in each individual because PET scans permit researchers to study detailed regions of the brain.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence evaluation-ethical issues and social implications)


  The murderers may not have had the ability to provide valid consent due their plea's of NGRI. As the were also all prisoners they may have felt they had little right to withdraw from the study providing problems with the whether all ethical guidelines were followed appropriately.

  If the research indicted that murderers are born and not formed the people with similar brain abnormalities could be put at a disadvantage. They may be imprisoned without trial or reference to social circumstances just due to sharing similarities with this group of NGRI's.
• Raine et al (Classic evidence evaluation-alternative evidence)


  A meta-analysis of 43 imaging studies by Yang and Raine (2009) found that there was significantly reduced prefrontal activity in anti-social and/or violent individuals. Another recent study by Tiihonen et al (2015) analysed the genes of 895 Finnish prisoners and found an association between the MAOA gene and an increased likelihood of committing violent behaviour.

  However a neuroscientist, James Fallon, studied his own genes and found the MAOA gena present yet he wasn't a violent criminal. He suggested that due to positive childhood experiences the gene was not triggered. This is the diasthesis-stress explanation, that a predisposition only manifests if certain stressors trigger it.
• Drug Therapy


  Antipsychotic drugs - treat disorders like schizophrenia. Drug blocks the action of dopamine by binding to dopamine receptors.

  Antidepressant drugs- reduce the reabsorption rate of neurotransmitters of block the enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters.

  Antianxiety drugs- most common are benzodiazephines (BZs). These slow the activity of the central nervous system by enhancing the activity of GABA.
• Drug Therapy Evaluation


  Drugs vs Placebos- Soomro et al (2008) found the use of SSRIs improved OCD patients better than placebos.

  Side Effects- nausea, headaches and insomnia are common with SSRIs.

  Symptoms Not Cause- doesn't address the underlying cause behind the illness, disorder may never be fully cured.

  Ethical issue- patients may find it difficult to remember all the facts relating to potential side effects therefore valid consent is an illusion.
• Strengths of the biological approach

  Scientific-biological explanations have clear variables that can be measured, tracked and examined.

  Deterministic- if we know what predetermines our behaviour, we are more able to treat people with abnormal behaviour

  Successful Applications- research has led to many forms of treatment for mental disorders e.g drug therapy.
• Weaknesses of the biological approach


  Reductionist- reduce complex behaviours to a set of simple explanations which may prevent us reaching a true understanding of behaviour.

  Nature- ignores life experiences and psychological factors like thinking and feeling.

  Individual Differences- nomothetic, looking to make generalisations about people, ignoring the differences.
• What group of criminals did Raine,Buchsbaum and Lacasse focus on?

  individuals who had committed a murder and entered a plea of not guilty by reasons of insanity
• They proposed that seriously violent individuals:

  Would have brain dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and corpus callosum.

  Would not have brain dysfunction in the areas of the brain that have been implicated in mental illnesses but not previously related to violence.
• What method did the researcher use


  This was a quasi-experiment with a matched pairs design.
• Who was the experimental group?


  The murderers. There were 39 male and 2 female murderers with a mean age of 34.3 years.
• How was the control group formed.


  was formed by matching each murderer with a normal individual of the same sex and age. 6 schizophrenics were matched with six from the murderer group. The other participants in this group had no history of mental illness. The sampling opportunity sampling.
• Finish the sentence ; All participants were .....


  given an injection of a tracer of FDG.
• What did the tracer enable the to measure


  which meant it was possible to compare the brains of the murderers and control groups
• What task were the participants asked to do.


  continuous performance task
• The continuous performance task aimed to

  activate the target areas of the brain so the investigators could see how the different areas functioned.
• A strength of the study is that

  Data was collected in this study using PET Scans.
• Data was collected in this study using PET Scans is a strength becuase


  the scans being much more accurate compared to previous scans with experiments similar to this
• A weakness of the study is that

  The study can lead to people assuming things about criminal behaviour which is a weakness of the study.
• The study can lead to people assuming things about criminal behaviour which is a weakness of the study is a weakness because


  The limitation of this method is that no causal conclusion can be drawn. The danger is that readers misinterpret the findings and assume that criminal behaviour is predetermined and inescapable
• What was found in the Subcortical Regions

  Murderers showed an abnormal asymmetry of activity with reduced left and increased right amygdala activity relative to control.

  There was no significant difference between the amount of midbrain and cerebellum activity between murder and control.
• The study found that murderers had:

  Reduced activity - of glucose metabolism in some areas, notably the areas previously related to violence.

  Abnormal asymmetries - reduced activity on the left side of the brain, greater activity on the right. This applied to some of the areas identified in the hypothesis as being linked to violence.

  No difference - in many brain structures, notably structures associated with mental illness but not violence.
• What was Raine et al original conclusion of the study


  he did emphasise that these results do not demonstrate:

  The results do not show that violent behaviour is determined by biology alone; clearly social, psychological, cultural and situational factors play an important role.

  The results do not show that murderers who pled insanity are not responsible for their actions.

  The results do not show that brain dysfunction causes violence.
• Biological approach


  All behaviour is explained at the level of functioning of our biological systems.
• Evolutionary influences


  It is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain useful mental and psychological traits such as natural and sexual selection.
• Example of evolutionary influences

  Buss 1989
• What was Buss' study

  Conducted a cross cultural study in which he investigated gender differences in mate preference. He found that women value, good financial prospects, ambition and industriousness and a older mate. He found that men valued attractiveness, chastity and a younger mate.
• What was the findings of the study

  It supports evolutionary influences as mate choices has come from our evolutionary past. Women look for men who are richer and able to provide. In our evolutionary past the male would provide for his family by hunting. Men want women who are able to provide many children. In our evolutionary past this was to ensure survival of the family.
• Localisation of brain function


  It refers to the principle that certain areas of the brain are responsible for different functions - they have certain jobs or tasks to carry out.
• Frontal lobes (Localisation of brain function example)

  Involved in thinking and creativity, has been linked to our personalities.