Shay Rooney
Introduction to Biological Perspectives
1. Referencing specific concepts from chapter three, how does this excerpt relate to our
discussion on the early beginnings of biological perspectives on criminality?
The excerpt shows us the beginning of eugenics and biological perspectives on
criminality. Henry Herbert Goddard was an early psychologist who heavily believed that you
could tell criminality based on how feeble-minded a person looks or acts. Since there was no
well-known studies on the topic of intelligence as it relates to criminal behavior, Goddard tested
it himself. However, he fabricated the results in the end because he did not agree with them. In
the textbook, we see another study he examined on family lineage and criminal behavior,
however a tendency towards criminality was not found. This video and the text show us that the
beginning of eugenics showed to not hold many solid answers for biological tendency towards
criminality.
2. Referencing specific concepts from chapter three, how does this discussion contribute
to your knowledge of the early beginnings of biological perspectives on criminality?
To my knowledge, the early beginnings of biological perspectives on criminality were
very primitive. They had one set goal in mind - to stop criminal behavior and imbecility. However,
early eugenics are seen as a very taboo subject since the Holocaust. This tragedy shed light on
the extreme negative impacts of strict eugenic breeding to reduce certain traits such as stupidity
or criminality. Because of this, eugenics aren’t as explored now and were discredited due to
Nazi geentic research. The vague theme of breeding certain desirable traits is not inherently
bad, however, it came to the point of mass sterilization. Sterilization was even explored before
WWII. In the case of Buck vs. Bell, as the textbook states, Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes
declared “‘It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for
crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those persons who are
manifestly unfit from continuing their kind’”. Eugenic Criminology itself is not a horrible way to
view biological perspectives on criminality, however it has created an obstacle for current
eugenic criminologists.
3. Referencing specific concepts from chapter three, how does this video contribute to
your knowledge of the importance of behavioral genetics?
Behavioral genetics allows us to view both sides of the nature and nurture debate. Both
of these views are very important in the context of criminology, and by using behavioral genetics
we are able to see what traits we inherit genetically and what traits we inherit from our
environment. In contrast to many of the early biological perspectives, behavioral genetics
focuses on a balance between nature and nurture. The earlier perspectives focus simply on
genetics and how we can stop criminality by stopping the inheritance of undesirable traits.
However, behavioral genetics focuses on how the inherited traits we have influence us, along
with how our environment may come into play. The nature side is focused on in the case of the
twin studies and heredity. This shows how twins are genetically alike and how the traits they’ve
inherited result in them scoring similarly on intelligence, temperament, personality, and social
tests. The nurture side is focused on in the case of adoption studies where we can view the
Shay Rooney
genetics from a parent that is no longer in the picture and how similar the child is to their siblings
who are raised the same as them but share no genetics.
4. Referencing the video on behavioral genetics, how does Dr. Plomin's discussion
contrast from the previous two videos about the early beginnings of biological
perspectives on criminality? Lastly, name three new pieces of information you learned
from Dr. Plomin, and how this information contributes to your understanding of the
biological basis of human behavior.
The first two videos focus on how genetic traits are passed down from parent to child
and how undesirable traits will keep flowing from generation to generation. If we want traits to
disappear, we have to stop people with these traits from reproducing. These earlier perspectives
are very primitive in the fact that they only focus on genetics as a cause of undesirable traits.
Whereas, as Dr. Plomin states, behavioral genetics balances that with environmental influences.
He explains the outcome of the twin studies on the genetic side of behavioral genetics and the
outcome of the adoptive studies on the environmental side of behavioral genetics. In order to
understand a child's tendency towards criminality, we must understand how both their genetics
and how they were raised come into play. Secondly, he talks about how vocabulary is one of the
most heritable cognitive abilities but you usually don't find vocabulary as a result of genetics.
You don’t inherit words, you cognitively learn about the differences of words based on your
interest. You use your environment to immerse yourself with people who are similar to you and
this can positively or negatively affect you. Lastly, he explains that 99% of our genetics are the
same and that behavioral genetics focuses on the extent to the differences within the remaining
1%. Examples of this are: “Why are some kids schizophrenic and some aren't?” and “Why do
certain kids have reading disabilities?” Overall, genetics only account for about half of our
differences and nature accounts for the other half.