Topic 1- turning to crime

• Palmer and Hollin


  • investigated whether young offenders differed in their moral development compared to non-offenders
  • compared criminals aged 13-21 from young offenders institutes in the West Midlands against age-matched controls to see if they differed in their moral reasoning
  • questionnaires were given which asked about socio-economic status and 2 psychometric measures: socio-moral reflection measure and self-reported delinquency checklist
  • the results showed that male offenders showed the least mature moral reasoning whereas non-offenders tended to use conventional reasoning
• Jahoda


  • there is a tribe who ives in Ghana called 'the Ashanti'
  • the people believe that the day you are born on affects your personality
  • their children are given a soul name based on the day they were born on
  • according to the Ashanti, boys born on a Wednesday are thought to be violent and aggressive while Monday boys are meant to be more placid
  • Jahoda examined the names of criminals who have committed violent offences recorded over 5 years
  • Wednesday boys accounted for 22% of offences
  • monday boys accounted for 6.9% of offences
• Raine's Mauritius


  100 children aged 3 with low resting heart rate were given an intervention to develop their pre-frontal cortex. this consisted of:

  1. nutritional diet
  2. physical exercise
  3. cognitive stimulation

  they were matched against a control group of 100 children

  • at age 11 the group who received the intervention showed better concentration and had more mature brains
  • at age 17 they showed significantly lower levels of conduct disorder, were less cruel to others, less likely to start fights, less hot tempered and less likely to bully others
• smoking during pregnancy


  • smoking during pregnancy can lead to higher pre-natal levels of testosterone
  • being exposed to high levels of testosterone in the womb is linked to higher levels of aggression, sensation-seeking behaviour and impulsivity which are all associated with anti-social and violent behaviour as well as hyperactivity and a lack of empathy
• Raine- sample


  • there were 41 criminals who had committed either murder or manslaughter
  • they had all been referred for brain scanning to find evidence that they were NGRI for several reasons including schizophrenia, head injury and epilepsy
• Raine- procedure

  • the participants were injected with a radioactive glucose tracer which would show the level of activity in different regions of the brain
  • participants then completed a continous performance task which involved them indicating each time the number 'zero' appeared on a screen; the numbers visually degraded over time to require more effort of each participants pre-frontal cortex
  • this task lasted 32 minutes
  • participants brain were scanned using a PET scan
• Raine- results

  NGRI murderers showed:

  • less activity in the pre-frontal cortex
  • less activity in the left side of the amygdala
  • more activity in the right side of the amygdala
  • less activity in the corpus callosum
  • more activity in the occipital areas
  • more activity in the right side of the thalamus
• Raine- conclusions


  • reduced brain activity in the prefrontal cortex could explain impulsive behaviour and a lack of self-control
  • the differences in activity in the amygdala could support the theory that violence is due to unusual emotional responses and a lack of fear
  • differences in the corpus callosum correspond to findings from split-brain patients who show innappropriate emotional expression and an inability in long-term planning