StudyXY
RegisterLog in
Back to AI Flashcard MakerPsychology /Y2: Psychology: Criminal: Brain Injury

Y2: Psychology: Criminal: Brain Injury

Psychology12 CardsCreated about 2 months ago

This flashcard set explores the role of brain structures—particularly the prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus—in regulating behavior and how damage to these areas may contribute to criminality. It highlights how impairments in self-control, emotion regulation, and moral reasoning can lead to increased aggression or poor decision-making.

PrintEmbedImportReport

What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?

  • Planning

  • Personality

  • Self-control

  • Knowing right form wrong

Tap or swipe ↕ to flip
Swipe ←→Navigate
1/12

Key Terms

Term
Definition

What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?

  • Planning

  • Personality

  • Self-control

  • Knowing right form wrong

If the prefrontal cortex becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Change in personality can lead to aggression

  • Lack of self-control may lead to impulsive behaviour and so committing crimes

What is the hypothalamus responsible for?

  • Regulation temperature

- Hormone control

If the hypothalamus becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Increase in temperature could cause irritation due to being too warm and so may lead to aggression

  • Imbalanced hormones could...

What is the amygdala responsible for?

  • Perception of emotions

- Stores memories so we can learn how to respond in the future

If the amygdala becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Damage can cause lack of fear due to reduced autonomic arousal and so lack of fear of consequences for causing crime

  • Can als...

Log in to view all terms

Related Flashcard Decks

Psychology

Psychologie du Développement

Ce jeu de cartes couvre les concepts clés, l'histoire, et les méthodes de la psychologie du développement, y compris les contributions de figures influentes et les théories du développement.

10 cards
View Deck
Psychology

2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology: The Cognitive Explanation

These flashcards explore how the cognitive approach explains depression as being linked to internal mental processes. They clarify that negative and irrational thoughts don’t directly cause depression but instead increase vulnerability to it, as proposed by cognitive psychologists Ellis and Beck.

50 cards
View Deck
Psychology

2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology: The Behavioural, Emotional

These flashcards describe the three main categories of psychological characteristics — behavioural, cognitive, and emotional — and identify specific behavioural and cognitive symptoms of depression, such as disrupted sleep or eating patterns, poor concentration, negative thinking patterns, and black-and-white thinking.

23 cards
View Deck
Psychology

2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology: The Behavioural Treatments Of Phobias

These flashcards explain behavioural methods used to treat phobias, including systematic desensitisation and flooding. They highlight how these therapies use classical conditioning principles to help individuals unlearn maladaptive responses by breaking the association between the conditioned stimulus and the fear response.

37 cards
View Deck
Psychology

2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology: The Behavioural Explanation Of Phobias

These flashcards outline how the behaviourist approach explains phobias as learned behaviours. They describe the two-process model, which involves classical and operant conditioning, showing how fear responses are acquired through association and maintained through reinforcement.

30 cards
View Deck
Psychology

2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology - Research Methods: Sampling Techniques - KU

A Target Population is the large group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying. It represents everyone who fits the criteria for the research, from which a smaller sample is usually selected for the actual study.

34 cards
View Deck

Study Tips

  • Press F to enter focus mode for distraction-free studying
  • Review cards regularly to improve retention
  • Try to recall the answer before flipping the card
  • Share this deck with friends to study together
Y2: Psychology: Criminal: Brain Injury
TermDefinition

What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?

  • Planning

  • Personality

  • Self-control

  • Knowing right form wrong

If the prefrontal cortex becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Change in personality can lead to aggression

  • Lack of self-control may lead to impulsive behaviour and so committing crimes

  • Not knowing right from wrong may lead to skewed perception of certain crimes being wrong

What is the hypothalamus responsible for?

  • Regulation temperature

- Hormone control

If the hypothalamus becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Increase in temperature could cause irritation due to being too warm and so may lead to aggression

  • Imbalanced hormones could lead to outbursts leading to committing crimes

What is the amygdala responsible for?

  • Perception of emotions

- Stores memories so we can learn how to respond in the future

If the amygdala becomes damaged, how may this lead to criminality?

  • Damage can cause lack of fear due to reduced autonomic arousal and so lack of fear of consequences for causing crime

  • Can also cause dysfunction in perception of emotions and so may react wrongly to something such as aggression

Why might young people be more at risk of a traumatic brain injury?

Children are more active and so their likelihood of an accidental injury increases.

Why might men be more at risk of a traumatic brain injury than women?

Men do particularly more dangerous things, such as manual jobs.

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘evidence’ points.

P - Charles Whitman supports
E - Suffered from a tumor pressed against amygdala and shot 16 people including himself
E - This demonstrates how brain damage can lead to criminal behaviour
P - Williams et al (2010) supports
E - Found that 60% of 196 prisoners recently suffered brain injury
E - Over half who committed crimes had brain injury, showing it can lead to criminal behaviour

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘how’ points.

P - High validity
E - Case studies used brain scanning techniques
E - Highly scientific and objective and in controlled environments to limit EVs
P - Use of case studies
E - Due to using correlational data behaviour prior to the brain injury is assumed to be different
E - Therefore cannot infer cause and effect between brain injury causing criminality

Are there any applications?

P - Yes
E - It says that injury to the brain can lead to criminal behaviour
E - And so when sentencing a criminal they may reconsider sentencing due to not being fully accountable

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘criticisms’ points.

P - Reductionist
E - James Fallon wrongly identified his own brain as psychopathic using MRI scans
E - This shows that it is possible to have brain differences without behaviour therefore showing cannot be sure brain damage links to criminality
P - Deterministic
E - It says that criminal behaviour is due to brain injury and so reducing our free will
E - It doesn’t take into account the fact that people have the ability to think for themselves