Developed to explore differences between males and females in testosterone levels.
Focus on prenatal and postnatal development and its impact on behavior.
Status striving is seen as a natural, possibly genetic, inclination.
Techniques for achieving status must be learned over time.
High testosterone individuals may be more impulsive and crude in their attempts to achieve status, sometimes resorting to criminal behaviors.
Some individuals may remain criminally inclined throughout their lives if they do not learn appropriate status achievement methods.
Key Systems:
Behavioral Activation System (BAS): Regulates behavior towards pleasure and rewards, influenced by dopamine.
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): Modulates behavior to prevent risks, influenced by serotonin.
Dopamine: Acts as an accelerator, encouraging pursuit of rewarding stimuli.
Serotonin: Acts as brakes, helping individuals avoid harmful behaviors.
Imbalance between dopamine and serotonin can lead to criminal behaviors:
Overproduction of dopamine or underproduction of serotonin can dominate the BAS, resulting in uncontrolled pleasure-seeking.
Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin act as messengers between neurons (referred to as "boats").
They travel across the synaptic gap from axons to dendrites, transmitting their messages.
Proper functioning of neurotransmitters is crucial for balanced behavior and emotional regulation.
During adolescence, dopamine levels tend to increase.
Increased dopamine can influence behavior, including risk-taking as individuals seek status or mates.
Critical developmental periods may alter preset levels of neurotransmitters resulting in long-term impacts.
Poor parenting and negative experiences (trauma, neglect) can lead to low serotonin levels.
Relationship between serotonin and parenting is complex—uncertainty exists over causation (does poor parenting contribute to low serotonin or vice versa?).
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for moral judgments and planning.
Phineas Gage Case: Example of how damage to PFC can drastically change personality and behavior.
Compromised PFC function can lead to antisocial behavior due to difficulty in reading social cues and adjusting behavior.
PFC is not fully developed in adolescence, leading to potential emotional and social difficulties.
MRIs show strong links between PFC deficits and impulsive behavior, providing support for PFD.
No singular cure for criminal behavior arising from biological and social factors.
Medications can address some imbalances in brain chemistry but must be consistently taken to be effective.
Environmental and Cognitive Restructuring: Altering environments and cognitive processes to change behavior patterns can yield some success.
Rehabilitation approaches need to be individualized—what works for one group may not work for another due to variations in brain function and damage.
Concerns arise around genetic predisposition to criminal behavior and implications for society (e.g., eugenics).
Society must balance scientific understanding with ethical treatment to avoid stigmatization and isolation of at-risk individuals.
The potential for technological advancements (like CRISPR) raises questions about the future treatment of neurobiological issues affecting behavior.
Neuroscience and Criminal Behavior