Biological Psychology

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  • Created by: Ellen122
  • Created on: 10-03-21 19:12
Physiological Approach
This approach believes that all behaviour is due to the functioning of internal body parts, for example, theb brain, nervous system, hormone, and chemicals
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Nativist Approach
This is based on the assumption that all behaviour is inherited; behaviouor is passed down through our genes from one generation to the next
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Medical Model
Refers to the treatment of psychological disorders based on the same principles used to treat phsyical diseases. Psychological issues have a physical cause which can be treated using physical (medical) models
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Assumption: Evolutionary Influences
This explains how the human mind and behaviour has changed over millions of years so they have adapted to the demands of our individual environments
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Evolve
Change with time
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Theory of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin's theory that any genetically determined behaviour that enhances chance of survival and reproduction will be naturally selected, the genes will be passed onto the next generation
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Where does natural selection take place?
It takes place at the level of the genes
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Altruistic Behaviour
Parents risk their lives to save their offspring is an inheritedm adaptive trait because saving offspring enhance the survival of that individual's gene pool
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Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness (EEA)
The environment a species has adapted to and its selective pressures
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Is all behaviour adapted?
Only ones that ensure the survival of an individual in a particular environment
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Recent Evolutionary Changes for Humans
Two million years ago when they moved from the forest to the savannahs in Africa
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Large Human Brains
The human brain has evolved as a response to the complex social organisations
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Social Alliances and Good Relationships
Humans who make alliances are more likely to survive in a complex social world
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Assumption: Localisation of Brain Function
Certain areas of the brain are responsible for different functions
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Cerebral Cortex
Covers the brain like a tea cozy and is responsible for higher order cognitive functions
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How many hemispheres are there?
Two: the right and left
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How many lobes is the brain broken into?
Four: frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal
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Frontal Lobes
Thinking, creativity, personalities, planning and organisation, problem solving, decision making, attention, controlling behaviour and emotions
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Damaged Frontal Lobes
Difficulties with emotions, changes in impulsiveness, issues with language and memory, abnormal social and sexual behaviour
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Parietal Lobes
Integrates sensory information from various parts of the body such as temperature, touch and pain. Contains the primary cortex controlling sensation (touch etc.)
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Damaged Parietal Lobes
Inability to locate and/or recognise parts of your body
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Temporal Lobes
Memory processing, auditory processing, interprets information from ears, selective hearing, establishes object recognition, understands language. Various aspects of memory, recognising and processing sounds
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Damaged Temporal Lobes
Impaired verbal and nonverbal memory, impaired musical skills, impaired speech and ability to understand speech
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Occipital Lobes
Concerned with visual processing and recieving information from the eyes, help percieve shape and colours
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Damaged Occipital Lobes
Visual field defects, and distorted perceptions of size and colour
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Paul Broca
French neurosurgeon who studied eight patients with language problems. He examined their brains after they had died finding damage in the left hemisphere now known as 'Broca's area'. It is associated with speech production and is located in the posterior
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Carl Wernicke
A German neurologist who found an area linked to understanding language now named 'Wernicke's area'. It is located in the posterior portion of the left temporal lobe, his patients were unable to understand language but could speak
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Phineas Gage
He was the victim of a catastrophic head injury when an iron rod went through his frontal lobe. It destroyed much of his frontal lobe causing him to act differently with friends describing him as a different man
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Assumption: Neurotransmitters
Neurons form the basis of the nervous system and are electrically excitable cells, which enhance the nervous systems flexibility with branches at the end.
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Neurons Communication
They communicate with another neuron over a synapse
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Neurotransmitters
They are chemical messages released from the presynaptic vesicles, which either stimulate or inhibit the receptors on the other neuron
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How many neurons are found in the body?
Contains billions organised into nerves - the spinal and cranial nerves
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Dendrites
Extensions from the neuron cell body that take information via electrical signals to the cell body
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Axons
Extensions from the neuron cell body that take information away from the cell body
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Axon Terminals
End part of the axon that makes synaptic contact with another cell
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Nucleus
Contains genetic material
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Presynaptic terminals
Contain neurotransmitters
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Myelin Sheath
Insulates the axon from electrical activity, which increases the rate of transmission of signals
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Synapse
Site of transmission of electrical impulses between two nerve cells. It is a small gap that separates neurons, as one neuron communicates with another at a synapse
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Cell Body (Soma)
The part of the cell that contains the nucleus
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Synaptic Cleft
Gap between a transmitting and receiving neuron, about 10nm wide
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Presynaptic Vesicles
Small bubble where neurotransmitters are stored ready to be released at a synpase
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Neurotransmitters and Mental Health
Play a significant role in our mental health. Too much or too little of a particular neurotransmitter can have a serious effect on our functioning and behaviou
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Serotonin
Plays a role in our mood, sleep and appetite
Too little = depression
Anti-depressants increase the availability of serotonin at the postsynaptic receptor sites
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Dopamine
Linked to pleasure, attention and movement
Too much = schizophrenia
Antipsychotics block dopamine activity in order to reduce symptoms of schizophrenia
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Relationship Formation: Evolutionary Theory
Relationships are formed with individuals who possess certain traits
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Traits
Traits that enhance successful reproduction are naturally selected
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Female Traits
More fertile (young) and healthy, smooth skin, glossy hair, red lips, and thin waist
'Physical attractiveness'
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Male Traits
Fertile and healthy, with resources to ensure their offspring survives
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Parental Investment Theory
Trivers 1972
Female mammals invest more in their offspring so must be choosier in finding in a partner to find the male with the most resources
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Relationship Formation: Neurotransmitters
Chemicals which affect our brain which have a powerful effect on our emotions and influence our perception of others
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Dopamine and Relationships
Associated with pleasure seeking and reward driven behaviour
Setting a goal of finding a partner and being driven will give us a natural hit of dopamine
Forming a relationship gives us a natural high
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Oxytocin
Hormone linked with human bonding
and increasing loyalty
High levels linked with romantic attachment
Lack of physical contact reducing level of oxytocin leading to a need to bond with one's partner again
Natural chemical drive to bond with others
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Sibling Relationship
Kin Selection
Traits that enhance the survival of similar genes are naturally selected to promote the survival of our group's genes
Natural incentive to look after our siblings and invest more time, energy and resources into ensuring they are protected an
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Psychosurgery
Assumes psychological disorders have a physiological cause
Medical model
Mental illnesses are physical illnesses
Physical cause characterised by clustered symptoms
Direct manipulation of physical bodily processes
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Psychosurgery and Localisation of Brain Function
Destroying or removing certain areas of the brain that are believed to be contributing to psychological problems
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Psychosurgery and Neurotransmitters
Modern methods include stimulating areas of the brain associated with mental disorders
Brain is stimulated and levels of neurotransmitters increase, the patients mental health will improve
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Grey Matter
Neurons and blood vessels
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White Matter
Consist of axons that connect the areas of grey matter and carry messages between them through electrical impulses
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Lobotomy
A procedure intended to sever the white matter between different area of the grey matter
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Prefrontal Lobotomy
A surgical procedure involving destruction of nerve fibres
Performed on the frontal lobe of the brain (impulse control and mood regulation)
Severe OCD and found less successful with those with schizophrenia
Severity is more important than illness and the
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Egas Moniz
Portuguese neurologist
Prefrontal leuctomy in the 1930s
Drilling holes into people's skulls and inserting an instrument like an ice pick destroying nerve fibres
Too many complications so developed it to use a leuctome which is a retractable wire loop that
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Walter Freeman
1940s
Want to create a faster, more accessible and less expensive technique
Focused on prefrontal cortex through the eye sockets
Transorbital lobotomy
Hammer through eye socket which is twirled to cut through fibres
Hoped that by cutting nerve fibres car
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Claims and Statistics
Moniz and others claimed it made schizophrenics less violent, agitated and easier to control
1935-45 = 70000 lobotomies
1940s-50s = common to complete a lobotomy on a patient with mental illness to control aggressive symptoms
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Stereotactic Psychosurgery
More precise
Treats OCD, bipolar disorder, depression and eating disorders that have failed to respond to psychotherapy
Scan using an MRI to locate exact location
Sever connections precisely
Anaesthetic
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Cingulotomy
OCD is linked to a circuit linking the orbital frontal lobe to deeper structures in the brain such as the thalamus are more active than normal
Bilateral cingulotomy is used to disrupt circuit
Burn tissue with a heated tip of the electrode or a gamma knife
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Deep Brain Stimulation
Surgeons thread wires through the skull. No tissue destruction and is only temporary. The wire remains embedded connected to a battery pack
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What does the Battery Pack do in DBS?
Produces an adjustable high-frequency current that interrupts the brain circuitry involved
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What Happens if DBS doesn't Work?
It can be switched off
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Effectiveness of Early Psychosurgery
Inappropriate and ineffective
Should not be used as a method of treatment
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Comer 2002
Lobotomies had up to a 6% fatality rate and a range of severe physical side effects
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Side Effects of Lobotomies
Apathy, diminishe intellectual powers, impaired judgements, coma or death
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Cosgrove and Rauch 2001
Cingulotomy = 56% effective for OCD, 67% effective for affective disorders
Capsulotomy = 67% effective for OCD, 55% effective for affective disorders
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Issues with Cosgrove and Rauch
Small sample as only 25% of patients per year are treated with stereotactic psychosurgery in the USA
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Bridges et al. 1994
It is a treatment of last resort, so no controlled trail against a comparable treatement is possible
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Effectiveness of DBS
Effective in patients with severe depression
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Mayberg et al. 2005
4 out of 6 patients with this disorder showed striking improvements when a small area of the frontal cortex was stimulated
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Biological Psychiatry
Four separate DBS paients relapsed after the battery pack malfunction but recovered after 12 hours when the batteries were replaced
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Appropriateness of Psychosurgery
Limited in its use
Only extreme cases that prove otherwise untreatable
Not used for schizophreniam though controlled trails need to be conducted in its effectiveness
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Szasz 1978
Criticised psychosurgery as a person's psychological self is not something physical and therefore it is illogical to suggest it can be operated on
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DBS As a Research Tool
It can provide information that other scanning methods cannot. DBS provides precise information about when and where activity is happening
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Electroencephelograph
When activity is happening in the brain, but not where
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Where activity is happening, but it is too slow to pinpoint when
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Why isn't Psychosurgery that Appropriate?
All surgery is risky, th effects of neurosurgery can be unpredictable, there may be no benefits to the patient, the effects are irreversible, and the surgery has been abused in the past
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Valid Consent
Early psychosurgical techniques were used in mental asylums and prisons on patients who had not necessarily given valid consent
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Ethical Debate about Psychosurgery
Patients with severe depression are not in the right frame of mind to give fully informed consent
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Mental Health Act 1983
Incorporated more stringent provisions regarding consent to psychological treatment. Those detained under the act but have not committed a crime have the same rights as people who are not detained
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Irreversible Damage
Early procedures caused significant changes to a patient's cognitive capabilities such as memory loss and severe blunting of emotions. Prefrontal lobotomies caused people to return to the community zombie-like, void of emotions
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Damage and Modern Methods
Reduced risk of severe damage. Procedures like DBA carry long-term side effects such as seizures and altered states of mood
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Raine et al. 1997 Methodology
Quasi-experiment with a matched pairs design. The IV is NGRI or not, the DV is brain differences
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Raine et al. 1997 Murderers Participants
41 muurderers (39 men and 2 women).
Mean age = 34.3 years
Charged with murder or manslaughter and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetence to stand trail
Referred to the University of California to obtain proof of diminished capacity
All
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Mental Disorders
Schziophrenia = 6
History of head injury or organic brain damage = 23
History of psychoactive drug abuse = 3
Affective disorder = 2
Epilepsy = 2
History of hyperactivity and learning disability = 3
Personality disorder =
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Medication
Participants were asked to be medication free. Urine was scanned to check for two weeks prior to brain scanning
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Control Group
Matched to each murderer by sex and age
6 schizophrenics were matched to 6 schizophrenics from a mental hospital
Other controls had no history of psychiatric illness or history of psychiatric illness in close relatives and no significant physical illness
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Procedure
Opportunity sampling
PET scan was used to study brain activity
Injected with 'tracer' fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) which is taken up by active parts of the brain which is used to compare controls and experimental group
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Continuous Performance Task
All participants completed CPT which is aimed to activate the target areas of the brain in order to investigate the differences in brain funtioning
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Which Areas were Found to have Reduced Activity in the Brain of NGRI Participants which have Previously been linked to Violence?
Prefrontal cortex
Left angular gyrus
Corpus callosum
Left hemisphere = amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus
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Which Areas had Increased Activity in the Brain of NGRI Participants which have not Been Linked to Violence?
Cerebellum
Right hemipheres = amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus
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Which Areas had no Difference Between NGRI and Controls in Areas not Previously Linked to Violence?
Caudete
Putamen
Globus pallidus
Midbrain
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Summary of Findings
Reduced activity in areas previously linked to violence
Abnormal asymmetries they had reduced activity on the right which applied to some areas identified in the hypothesis as being linked to violence
No differences in many brain structures which are asso
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Performance on CPT
Both groups performed similarly on the continuous performance task no observed brain differences were related to task performances
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Differences Not Controlled
Handedness: 6 murderers were left handed having less amygdala asymmetry and higher medial prefromtal activity than right handed murderers
Ethnicity: 14 murderers were non-white but showed no difference
Head injury: 23 murderers had history of a head injur
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Conclusions
Past research (animals and humans) linked areas of the brain to aggression
Supported by this study
Together provide preliminary evidence that murderers pleading NGRI have different brain functioning to normal individuals
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Conclusion Issues
Neural processes underlying violence are complex and can't be reduced to a single brain mechanism
Violent behaviour can probably be explained best by the disruption of a network of interacting brain mechanisms rather than a single structure
Disruption wou
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Confounding Variables
Large sample size
Matched controls
Raine et al. acknowledge head injury and IQ can not be ruled as a contributory factors
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Warnings
Do not show behaviour is determined by biology alone; clearly social, psychological, cultural and situational factors play important roles in predisposition to violence
Do not show murderers pleading NGRI are not responsible for their actions, nor that PE
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What do Findings Suggest?
A link between brain dysfunction and a predisposition towards violemce in NGRI murderers
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Limbic System - Prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus
Emotion - abnormal emotional responses
Learning, memory and attention abnormalities in their functioning may result in reduced sensitivity to conditioning - failure to violent offenders to learn from experience
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Prefrontal Cortex
Deficit linked to impulsivity, loss of control, immaturity and inability to modify behaviour. All of these are associated with increased with increased aggressive - aggressive behaviour
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Amygdala
Aggressive behaviour in animals and humans. The destruction of the amygdala in animals results in lack of fear - fearlessness associated with violent activity
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Hippocampus
Modulates aggression in cats and together with the prefrontal cortex, may be responsible for inhibiting aggressive behaviour - lack of inhibition
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Angular Gyrus
Damage to the left: deficits in verbal and arthimetic abilities - low verbal IQs and poor school performance of violence offenders, which might predispose them to a life of crime
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Corpus Callosum
Dysfunction related to a predisposition to violence, and poor transfer of information between hemispheres - reduced processing of linguistic information that has been found in violent groups
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Right Hemisphere
Dominance of right hemisphere less regulation by left hemisphere inhibitory processes, negative emotions, inappropriate emotional expression - lack of control over expressing violence
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Evaluation of Quasi Experiment
There is an IV and a DV
The IV was an existing condition of the individual that was manipulated by the experiment
Causal conclusions are not justified
The findings do not show that violent behaviour is determined by biology alone but also psychological, c
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Research Technique
Data collected using a PET scan
Technique could not be used in the past relying on post-mortem examinations where brain physiolohy can not be linked to behaviour
Researchers can study detailed regions of the brain and the ability to see in the brain in ac
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The Sample
Not typical of all violent individuals, acknowledged by Raine et al.
Do not show that all violent offenders have such brain dysfunction
Only draws conclusions on NGRI murderers
Many violent crimes do not include murder
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Yang and Raine 2009
Meta-analysis of 43 imaging studies
Considered both antisocial and violent behaviour
Reduced prefrontal activity in antisocial and/or violent individuals
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Monoamine Oxidase A
Criminal gene
Abnormally high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine
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Tilihonen et al. 2014
Analysed the genes of 895 Finnish prisoners
Association between MAOA and an increased likelihood of committing a violent crime
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James Fallon
Neuroscientist
Analysed his own genes and found that he had the genetic makeup of a violent criminal
Positive experiences during childhood meant that his potentially criminal tendencies were not triggered
Diathesis-stress - a genetic predisposition only m
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Valid Consent
May not have been mentally competent to provide valid consent
May not have fully understood what they were consenting to
CPT could have been difficult lowering self-esteem causing psychological harm
May not have realised what a PET scan was and found it d
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Socially Sensitive Research
Research that has consquences for the larger group of which the participants are members
Disadvantageous for people born with similar brain abnormalities
Decisions need to be made about how to conduct research and how its reported
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Scientific Approach
Clear variables that can be measured, tracked and examined
Enables psychologists to conduct scientific research studying these variables
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Drug Therapy
Investigated the links between psychoactive drugs and the production of certain neurotransmitters
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Psychosurgery
Involves functionally removing parts of the brain
Procedures as based on earlier research that has linked areas of the brain to certain behaviouors such as aggression
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Raine et al.
Made use of PET scans
Compared 14 areas of the brain in murderers with non-murderers
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Scientific Research
Fulfil aims of scientific research
Conduct objective, well controlled studies and demonstrate causal relationships
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Determinist Approach
Predetermines our behaviour
More likely to be able to treat people with abnormal behaviour
Psychologists seek to understand the functioning of neurtransmitters so they can predict the effects of neurotransmitters on normal and abnormal behaviour
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Schizophrenia
Neurotransmitter = dopamine
Drug amphetamine increases levels of dopamine and large doses cause schziophrenic-like symptoms
Antipsychotics reduce dopamine levels
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Psychosurgery
Brain scans have shown that certain areas of the brain are more active than others in patients with OCD
Cingulotomy = severs these areas in order to reduce the symptoms of OCD
OCD is caused by activity in these areas of the brain
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Deterministic Understanding
Causal understandings is that they enable us to control the world
Understand prolonged stress causes physical illness we can reduce the negative effects by treating stress in the short-term
Treat biological factors with biological methods
Provides explana
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Successful Applications
Research into the relationship between abnormal levels of neurotransmitters and criminal behaviour allowing pharmacological treatments to criminals, leading to lowered recidivism and safer societies
Cherek et al. (2004) showed that males with conduct diso
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Examples of Successful Applications
Drug therapy and psychosurgery
Capsulotomy was found effective for OCD by Cosgrove and Rauch (2001) with a recovery rate of 67% reasonably high
Drug therapy produces mixed results but it is popular for treatment as it is easy and enables many people with
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Bipolar Disorder
Manic depression
Successfully treated with drugs
Viguera et al. (2000) report that more than 60% of bipolar patients improve when taking the drug lithium
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Reductionist Approach
Reduces complex behaviours to a set of simple explanations
Stress is reduced to the hormone adrenaline
Part of understanding how systems work but the problem is in the process the real understanding of the thing being investigated is lost
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Schziophrenia Reductionism
A complex physical chemical system going wrong
Psychiatrist R.D. Laing (1965) claimed that such an approach ignores the experience of distress that goes along with mental illness
Incomplete explanaion
Simplified explanation prevents a true understanding o
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Nature rather than Nurture
Mental illness has multiple causes
Biological approach only focuses on biology
Ignores life experiences and psychological factors such as how people think or feel
Schziophrenia - abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters rather than how that patient f
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Individualistic Differences
Nomothetic approach
Looking to make generalisations about people and find similarities
Ignore differences between individuals
Stress - some people produce higher levels of adrenaline than others affects the long-term effects of stress
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Individuals
Focuses on a few individuals and assumes that everyone's biological systems behave in the same way
Reseach tended to use males rather than females because female hormone cycles may interfere with biological research
Produce an erroneous picture of behavio
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Taylor et al. 2000
Men usually react to stress with a 'fight or flight' response
Women show a 'tend and befriend'
Females respond to stressful sitautions with protecting and nurturing their young and seek social contact and support from other females
Attributed to the hor
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Card 2

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Nativist Approach

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This is based on the assumption that all behaviour is inherited; behaviouor is passed down through our genes from one generation to the next

Card 3

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Medical Model

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Assumption: Evolutionary Influences

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Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

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Evolve

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