1 Introduction
Neuroscience is revealing more and more about the neural underpinnings of our perception of the world and our behaviour in it. As the explanatory endeavour touches upon concepts such as 'person', 'responsibility' and 'free will', friction arises between the established ways of describing and judging persons and actions, and what neuroscience purports to tell us about the real nature of these things. The heat is up, and the rising conflict is perhaps best felt in the courtroom, where the institutionalised common morality is being confronted with new ways of seeing old problems. Some expect a revolution, others see nothing new. In the following, I will investigate the claims made for both sides of the debate, starting with an understanding of morality as a world of knowledge in which most of us effortlessly partake, and which is imbued with significance and value. Seeing morality as a kind of knowledge is motivated in part by the recognition that some individuals seem to lack 'moral knowledge' altogether: these persons may have some superficial knowledge of ethical concepts, but fall completely outside the world of moral values most of us take for granted (and which is the basis for even the most relativistic dismissal of universal moral principles). Thus psychopaths, as these persons are colloquially (and clinically) known, will herein serve the function of providing an illuminating exception to the rule of moral knowledge. In light of recent findings about the possible neural substrates of psychopathy and the failure of psychopathic individuals in qualifying for traditional exculpating insanity, these individuals will also provide a suitably difficult case for the competing views of traditional criminal responsibil...
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... an introduction with readings. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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In my opinion, the author defends a good but also complex perspective. '' The criminal activity itself should be taken as evidence of brain abnormality'', says Eagleman, however, what about the percentage of criminals that are not carriers of the genes that contribute to performing violent crimes? Are they going to be sent to rehabilitation too and exonerated from incarceration even when there is proof of no brain
The Neurology Of Free Will notes “I knew I could do this if I followed my rules. “I was in control”
This topic is crucial when considering the decision to penalize a criminal for a felony. Scientifically speaking, there is a difference between the brains of individuals, causing some people to be more aggressive than others. As Gazzaniga (2005) states in his book, "Whether through neurochemical imbalances or lesions, brain function can become distorted, perhaps explaining certain violent or criminal behavior" (p.89). If all people with such neurochemical imbalances displayed similar types of behavior, the conclusion would be obvious. However, not all people who have lesions or schizophrenia are violent. (Gazzaniga, 2005, p.95) An inconsistency in behavioral outcomes requires an alternate explanation of the concept of free will. Some philosophers criticize neuroscientists, arguing that, according to the article Neuroscience vs. Philosophy, "researchers have not quite grasped the concept that they say they are debunking" (Neuroscience vs. Philosophy: Taking an Aim at free will, 2011). In order to fully understand the concept of free will, it must be understood from synthesizing lessons from human experiences. Aristotle spoke of an internal moral compass that all humans possess; one that guides the concept of what is good (Eshleman, 2014, p.3). It becomes a necessity to compile the scientific perspective of a moral dilemma with the philosophical perspective in order to draw a reasonable
To begin with, the purpose of the first experiment was to uncover which brain areas are associated with abnormal emotional processing and the subsequent disturbed social interactions that follow. The total amount of participants after excluding 2 due to artifacts was 12 right handed males. The control group was composed of 6 healthy males who had no history of neuropsychiatric problems, a mean age of 28.8, and standard deviation of 4.14. The experimental group was composed of 6 psychopathic individuals who were convicted criminals and taken from a high security psychiatric ward with a mean age of 33, and a standard deviation of 8. The researchers measured psychopathy by using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R [that measured psychopathy on a scale of 0-40]). They used the Positive and Negative Affect schedule (PANAS) to assess global affect states before conducting the experim...
However, Glenn and Raine (2014) argue that the emotional deficits characteristic of psychopaths diminish their rational capacity, making them unable to be held accountable for the rash and harmful decisions. Additionally, psychopaths may display knowledge of right and wrong, however their understanding is substantially compromised (Maibom 2005). Therefore, because they cannot understand moral emotions, moral transgressions fail to motivate them and they cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. They treat moral transgressions as equal to conventional transgressions (Levy 2008); to them, they are merely breaking the rules. And although breaking the rules begets consequences, a short attention span prevents psychopaths from anticipating consequences. Nevertheless, say, for example, a psychopath on a different portion of the spectrum is aware of the consequences. In this case, they would be still be indifferent because their feelings of grandeur lead them to believe that they are removed from punishment (Gao, Glenn, Schug, Yang, Raine 2009). For these reasons, many argue that psychopaths should not be held responsible for their behaviors.
...d disregard clues in a situation and fail to warn the person to use safety and caution (Pitman et al. 771). Research has shown that when affected by PTSD the hippocampal size has decreased between “0.0-0.5 which in percentage is 0-20%”, and that is a relatively large margin (Vilens and Sher 5). Vilens and Sher examined the reduction in the hippocampus by types of traumatic events and found that, “there seems a trend toward combat trauma resulting in larger changes, followed by childhood sexual abuse, accidents and interpersonal violence” (5). Studies on the amygdala have shown an increase in reaction to trauma related stimuli, and also play a role in the extent of the symptoms that one experiences (Pitman et al. 772). The prefrontal cortex, and corpus callosum both show lower volumes in people diagnosed with PTSD rather than those who are not (Vilens and Sher 5-6).
Patrick, Christopher J., Don C. Fowles, and Robert F. Krueger. "Triarchic Conceptualization of Psychopathy: Developmental Origins of Disinhibition, Boldness, and Meanness." Development and Psychopathology 21.03 (2009): 913+. Cambridge Journals. 7 July 2009. Web. 27 Nov. 2013
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Psychopathy has fascinated the public for years due to the gruesome and evil portrayal it has received in the media. Psychopathy is defined in the DSM-III as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior (Patrick, Christopher, Fowles, Krueger, Rober, 2009). Psychopathy represents a cluster of different dimensions of personality found amongst the general population to varying degrees (Patrick et al, 2009). The diagnostic definition is meant to be applied to adults, however psychopathology can occur in children. Controversy surrounds the topic of childhood mental illness because the brain is not fully developed until the age of 18; thus allowing the possibility that symptoms are the result of growing up and will change. The triarchic model, formulated by Christopher J. Patrick, is the most commonly used model in diagnosing adult and childhood psychopathy. This model suggests that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees; boldness, disinhibition and meanness (Patrick, et al, 2009). Boldness is the first observable characteristic and is comprised of low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness. Disinhibition; characterized by poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Meanness is defined as lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seek...
Kiehl’s (2006) literature review continues with this idea of amygdala implication in psychopathic traits by saying that the amygdala, in particular o...
The introduction of the book introduces Dr. Robert Hare’s research on psychopaths. He and two graduate students wrote a paper detailing an experiment they preformed on a group of random adult males. They recorded the brain waves of the group doing a simple language activity.
By 1929/30 an American psychologist coined the term sociopathy which meant ‘a pervasive failure to adhere to societal norms which could lead to the harm of others’.
“Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
How exactly does the human brain work? Are humans evil by nature or are they good samaritans most, if not all, the time? As studies throughout history have shown, this is not the case. Humans are inherently evil because they are always seeking as much power as they can, revert to challenging authority and selfishness in times of peril, and become intimidated easily by “authority” figures egging them on, which is reflected in The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, as well as The Zimbardo Experiment conducted by Psychologist Phillip Zimbardo.