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.
