CRIM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Edwin Sutherland, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Autonomic Nervous System
8 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
●Beginning of 1977, Mednick and Christiansen disseminated results of series of studies on
disturbances in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and low cortical arousal in high-risk
offenders, suggesting that serious criminal offending was linked to biological processes
●In 1985, Wilson and Herrnstein published Crime and Human Nature,
in which they asserted that
constitutional factors (such as mesomorphy) were indeed related to criminality
LECTURE 5: BIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
Issues with Gene Studies
●Studying human genetics can be difficult from an ethical, numerical and biological perspective
●“Good” scientific studies require a large number of identical research subjects
●Cannot (ethically or legally) clone identical human being for use as research subjects
●Even large scale studies (e.g., drug trials) are influenced by biological factors and environmental
factors (diet, lifestyle)
Enter the Twin Studies
●Clones do exist, in the form of twins
●Dizygotic (DZ) twins result from two sperm fertilizing two eggs (“no more genetically similar than
any other pair of full siblings”)
●Monozygotic (MZ) twins result from single sperm fertilizing single egg, which then cleaves and
becomes two separate zygotes (“two genetically identical babies”)
MZ Twins
DZ Twins
Result from single sperm fertilizing single egg
(two genetically identical babies)
Result from two sperm fertilizing two eggs (no
more similar than any other full siblings)
Share 100% of the 1% of DNA that explains
variation in characteristics
Share 50% of the 1% DNA that explains variation
in characteristics
The Search for Concordance
●Concordance = the degree to which related pairs exhibit a particular trait, behaviour or
characteristic
●If MZ twins exhibit an 85% concordance rate, and DZ twins exhibit only a 15% concordance rate,
then the trait, behaviour or characteristic may be said to have an “inherited” component
●If the concordance rate is the same for MZ and DZ twins, then the trait, behaviour or
characteristics is more likely to have an “environmental” component
Neurotransmitters - Venn Diagram in Textbook
- Dopamine:
- Pleasure
- Reward
- Motivation/Drive
- Serotonin
- Obsessions & Compulsions
- Memory
- Norepinephrine
- Alertness
- Concentration
- Energy
Hormones
●Hormones (stored in glands) are part of our body chemistry, not our brain chemistry
●Hormones are released into the bloodstream, and are circulated throughout the body
●Examples of hormones include insulin, cortisol and testosterone
Cortisol
●Cortisol = “is released during stress, and is also involved in autonomic arousal”
●Low cortisol levels have been linked to anti-social behaviour in children, inability to cope with
stress
●Individuals with low cortisol levels may not respond to punishment, and or/ may not
comprehend cause-effect relationship between misbehaviour and punishment
Psychological Explanations
Intelligence and Crime
●Early positivists argued that there was a connection between feeble-mindedness and criminality
●One example would be Henry Goddard’s work on the Kallikaks, “two families fathered by the
same man”
●Two quite different outcomes-children fathered with Quaker wife were “normal”; children
fathered with barmaid wife were “feeble-minded,” and prone to criminality
●Led Goddard to argue that feeblemindedness was inherited, and that feeblemindedness (low IQ)
contributed to criminality
●In 1977, Hirschi & Hindelang published a study entitled: “Intelligence and Delinquency: A
Revisionist Review”
Document Summary
Beginning of 1977, mednick and christiansen disseminated results of series of studies on in high-risk disturbances in the autonomic nervous system (ans) and low cortical arousal offenders, suggesting that serious criminal offending was linked to biological processes. In 1985, wilson and herrnstein published crime and human nature, in which they asserted that constitutional factors (such as mesomorphy) were indeed related to criminality. Studying human genetics can be difficult from an ethical, numerical and biological perspective. Good scientific studies require a large number of identical research subjects. Cannot (ethically or legally) clone identical human being for use as research subjects. Even large scale studies (e. g. , drug trials) are influenced by biological factors and environmental factors (diet, lifestyle) Clones do exist, in the form of twins. Dizygotic (dz) twins result from two sperm fertilizing two eggs ( no more genetically similar than any other pair of full siblings )
