Lesson 3.3.1

3.3.1 Raine, Li, Brendgen and Van den Oever biological studies Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

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Lesson 3.3.1, Raine, Li, Brendgen and Van den Oever biological studies: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 3: Biological psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Raine et al. (1997) used PET scans to study which group of participants?

    • Convicted murderers who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, compared with a matched group of non-offending controls
    • Adolescent drug users who were attending treatment programmes in a hospital setting in the United Kingdom at the time
    • Children who showed high levels of aggression in school playgrounds and were referred to a clinical psychologist for help
    • Adults who had been convicted of violent crime and were serving sentences in prison at the time of the scan

  2. What did Raine et al. (1997) find about glucose metabolism in the prefrontal cortex of murderers?

    • Metabolism was higher in the prefrontal cortex of murderers, which suggested that these areas were overactive during the scan
    • Metabolism was lower in the prefrontal cortex of murderers, which suggested reduced activity in these regions compared to controls
    • Metabolism did not differ between murderers and controls, so the study found no evidence of any brain differences at all
    • Metabolism was only measured in the cerebellum, so the study could not say anything about the prefrontal cortex specifically

  3. Why was PET used in Raine et al.'s study rather than CAT?

    • PET shows the functional activity of brain regions, which is needed to examine prefrontal metabolism, whereas CAT shows structure
    • PET is cheaper to run than any other scanner, so the researchers chose it because of budget limitations in the study
    • CAT measures glucose metabolism, so PET was not suitable for a study that focused on the function of the prefrontal cortex
    • PET shows the skeleton of the skull in detail, which is needed to measure how thick the bone is around the prefrontal cortex

  4. Which of these is a valid limitation of Raine et al.'s study that limits causal conclusions?

    • Because the murderers were all children, the results cannot be applied to any adult population of offenders in any country
    • Because it used a PET scan, the study could not identify any brain region, so its conclusions about the brain are invalid
    • Because it is a correlational group comparison, it cannot show that reduced prefrontal activity causes murderous behaviour
    • Because the study used a control group, it is impossible to show any difference between the two groups at all

  5. A critic suggests that the reduced prefrontal activity in Raine et al.'s murderers might have been caused by factors other than the crimes. Which is the best example?

    • The use of a PET scanner, which always produces lower prefrontal metabolism in every participant regardless of any other factor
    • A history of head injury or substance use, which can affect brain function and could explain the differences in scan results
    • The use of a control group, which always makes the prefrontal cortex appear less active in comparison with the murderers
    • The use of informed consent, which is known to reduce glucose metabolism in the prefrontal cortex of all participants in studies

  6. Which ethical concern is most relevant to Raine et al.'s study of murderers?

    • The use of a control group, which means that some participants received no treatment during the scanning procedure at all
    • The risk of stigmatising offenders and misusing brain findings, such as to label people as dangerous or predict future crime
    • The use of a radioactive tracer, which is never allowed in any psychology study regardless of the potential benefits of research
    • The use of a large sample, which always causes participants to feel excessively anxious about the results of their scan

  7. Why is the Raine et al. study sometimes described as a classic study in biological psychology?

    • It is widely cited in discussions of biological explanations of aggression and of the use of brain scanning in criminal behaviour
    • It provided the only evidence that aggression is caused entirely by genes, and it is therefore cited in every textbook on the topic
    • It disproved all earlier biological explanations, so it is taught as the final word on the causes of violence and aggression
    • It was the first study ever to use a brain scanner, so it marks the beginning of brain imaging in all psychological research

  8. A researcher wants to show that the prefrontal cortex is involved in regulating aggression. Which combination of evidence would be strongest?

    • A questionnaire about how often participants feel angry, with no measure of any brain activity or structure at all
    • Converging evidence from scans, lesion studies and experiments linking prefrontal activity to impulse control and aggression
    • A single case study of one offender with a head injury, which proves the function of the prefrontal cortex in all people
    • A survey of public opinion about violence, which shows how the public believes the prefrontal cortex controls behaviour

  9. Which is the best explanation of why Raine et al. used murderers with an insanity plea rather than a random sample of prisoners?

    • The insanity-plea group was chosen because the law requires all convicted murderers to undergo brain scanning as a condition of sentence
    • The insanity-plea group was chosen because they have no brain abnormalities at all, which makes them an ideal control group
    • The insanity-plea group was chosen to represent a particular subtype of violent offending, which the researchers wanted to examine
    • These participants were the only prisoners who agreed to take part in any study involving brain scans, which made sampling easy

  10. Which best describes a limitation of the sample size in Raine et al.'s study for generalising the findings?

    • A small sample means that the study cannot use a control group, so no comparison of prefrontal activity was possible at all
    • A small sample always proves the findings are correct, because fewer participants reduce any noise in the brain scan results
    • A small, specific sample of murderers may not represent all violent offenders, so findings cannot be safely applied to all of them
    • A small sample only affects the PET tracer, not the results, so generalisation to other offenders is not a concern at all

  11. Which statement about glucose tracers in PET scans is accurate?

    • A tracer such as radioactive glucose reduces neural activity, so areas that take it up show less activity than areas that do not
    • A tracer such as radioactive glucose accumulates in regions of higher metabolic activity, which the scanner then detects
    • A tracer such as radioactive glucose is a structural dye, which shows the shape of neurons but not their level of metabolic activity
    • A tracer such as radioactive glucose is absorbed only by the spinal cord, so it cannot reveal any activity in the brain at all

  12. Which of these is an important implication of Raine et al.'s findings for society?

    • Violence can be eliminated completely by scanning all children at birth, since scans always reveal future criminal behaviour
    • Violent offenders should not be treated at all, since their brain differences are fixed and cannot change through any intervention
    • Brain findings may inform understanding of violence, but they should not be used to label individuals or predict crime alone
    • Brain scans should be used routinely to identify future offenders before any crime has taken place, since they predict violence

  13. Which of these criticisms of Raine et al. is most closely linked to the issue of reductionism?

    • The study reduces the need for a control group, since the murderers are sufficient on their own to demonstrate the effect
    • The study reduces violence to brain metabolism and may ignore social and environmental factors
    • The study reduces the amount of glucose available to the brain, which is the only factor that could affect the outcome
    • The study reduces the number of participants below the level needed for a scan, which means its results are not reliable

  14. A replication of Raine et al. finds similar prefrontal differences in a different sample. Which conclusion is best supported?

    • The original finding is now proven to be caused by genes, since replication shows that all violent people share the same genetic profile
    • The original finding is worthless, since any study that replicates an earlier one must have made the same methodological error
    • The original finding has more support, though replications in different samples still cannot show that the difference causes violence
    • The original finding is more reliable, because replication shows that the findings are valid for all people in all societies

  15. A researcher wants to compare prefrontal metabolism between groups using PET. Which control is most important?

    • Using only men in both groups, so that the scanner does not need to be calibrated separately for each participant in the study
    • Matching the groups on relevant characteristics, such as age and sex, so that differences are less likely to be due to these factors
    • Ensuring that the control group has higher prefrontal metabolism, which then acts as a benchmark against the offender sample
    • Scanning the participants at different times of day, so that any fluctuation in glucose levels is spread evenly across groups

  16. Which statement best describes the evidence that Raine et al. obtained about the prefrontal cortex?

    • It is correlational evidence of lower metabolic activity in the prefrontal cortex in a group of murderers compared with controls
    • It is direct evidence of a cause of violence, because the scan showed the exact region that produced the violent act
    • It is qualitative evidence drawn from interviews with the murderers about their feelings and thoughts during the crime
    • It is experimental evidence, because the researchers randomly assigned participants to receive either a brain injury or a scan

  17. Which of these would be the strongest reason to conclude that Raine et al.'s findings are not sufficient to show that brain differences cause murder?

    • Because the study took place in a laboratory, which means that the findings cannot be applied to any real-world setting at all
    • Because the scan was carried out after the crime, which means the researchers could not record any brain activity before it happened
    • Because the PET scan measured the brain activity of the control group, which should have been measured in a different way entirely
    • Because the murderers may have experienced other factors, such as abuse or drug use, which could affect both brain and behaviour

  18. A researcher argues that the Raine et al. study shows biology determines violence. Which response best evaluates this claim?

    • The study proves biology determines violence completely, since it found differences in every murderer that was scanned in the research
    • The study is irrelevant to biology, because PET scans measure only the chemistry of the blood and never the function of the brain
    • The study shows that violence is caused by environment alone, since a PET scan cannot detect any biological difference at all
    • The study shows a correlation between brain function and violence, but biology alone does not determine behaviour

  19. Raine et al. is a biological study of aggression. Which assumption underlies this approach?

    • Aggression is caused only by social learning from parents, so brain function plays no part in the behaviour at all
    • Violence is a conscious moral choice, which is unaffected by any physiological processes in the brain or the body
    • Brain structure is identical across all humans, so differences in violent behaviour can never be explained biologically
    • Brain function, which can be measured, contributes to individual differences in violent behaviour across people

  20. What design would best show whether prefrontal differences existed before offending rather than after it?

    • A longitudinal study that scans individuals before and after any offence, to see whether the difference precedes the crime
    • Repeating the same PET scan on the same murderers a single time, so that the results are confirmed by a second measurement
    • Asking the murderers to describe their childhood, since memory alone is enough to show whether brain differences came first
    • Using a larger control group of non-offenders, since a larger group always shows which event came first in the sequence

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