Dysfunction To The Prefrontal Correction

Research has shown damage and dysfunction to the prefrontal cortex can have an effect on a persons antisocial behaviours. The pre-frontal cortex strong association with moral reasoning, social precessing and inhibition plays a huge role in this, with dysfunction in these areas affecting a person’s emotional response and behaviour. Permanent damage and temporal disfunction from substances like alcohol and drugs can lead to different types of anti-social behaviour such as violence and humour processing. But it must be noted, other factors such as environment and upbringing also play huge roles in what leads people to antisocial behaviour

Cases that study direct damage to the prefrontal cortex hold a lot of evidence for it’s detrimental effects

The amygdala in particular, as shown in Feinstein, Adolphs, Damasio, and Tranel(2011) research, has a huge role to play in fear acquisition. His case study on a women with focal bilateral amygdala lesions found she exhibited an abundant lack of fear. Fear can play a huge role in social behaviours with the fear of repercussion of our actions stopping us from exhibiting many anti-social behaviours. With dysfunction to these area this fear isn’t present and will therefore not act as a deterrent from anti-social behaviours. Raine(1997) study supports this. He found through the use of PET scans that murderers on trial who had pled ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ had a significantly less glucose metabolism in the pre-frontal cortex than control subjects, with the amygdala and hippocampus in the left region being particularly effected. These areas are believed to play a huge role in controlling: impulsivity, aggression and immaturity as well as fear. Further evidence for the prefrontal cortex’ association with social behaviours can be seen in Ackley and Benton(1948) research, their subject JP experienced a primary social defect that included a lack of fear and criminal behaviour, caused by huge parts of his prefrontal brain being destroyed by abscess. A further study by Raine, Lencz, Bihrle, Lacasse, and Colletti,(2000) also

Bandura et al(1961) research into social learning theory and the acquisition of aggression suggest that aggression and violence can be learnt from behaviours witnessed in the environment and our role models. Research from Lyman et al(2000) also suggest our socioeconomic backgrounds and environment play a huge role, with the effects of impulse on juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour being stronger in disadvantaged neighbourhoods compared to affluent neighbourhoods. This research shows us that nurture also has a strong influence on anti-social