Deck 6: Biological Roots of Criminal Behaviour

Question 1

The mesomorph, according to Cesare Lombroso, is characterized as athletic and muscular.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Prior to the theory of phrenology, it was believed that personality was determined by different organs in the body.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Somatotyping refers to the classification of human beings by physical characteristics.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Some studies have implicated food additives, such as the flavour enhancer monosodium glutumate, dyes, and artificial flavourings in producing criminal violence.

Question 5

Positivism is based upon an acceptance of free will.

Question 6

The offender characterized by William H. Sheldon as "soft and round" is referred to as an endomorph.

Question 7

According to Ernst Kretschmer, offenders who were classified as schizoid were likely to commit non-violent offences.

Question 8

Society tends to shy away from biological explanations of criminality and disordered behaviour because of concern with concepts such as "genetic determinism," which have come to be seen as synonymous with inevitability since the physical makeup of a person is hard to change.

Question 9

Phrenology attempted to identify the correlates of human behaviour by studying the shape of the human skull.

Question 10

One major principle of biological theory in criminology states that the interplay between heredity, biology, and social environment provides the nexus for any realistic considertations of crime causation.

Question 11

Sexual sterilization laws in Alberta and British Columbia resulted in the sterilization of almost 3000 citizens between 1928 and 1972.

Question 12

Sociobiology may be defined as the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behaviour.

Question 13

Criminal anthropology may be defined as the scientific study of the relationship between human physical characteristics and criminality.

Question 14

The term criminaloids was a term coined by Cesare Lombroso to describe occasional criminals who were pulled into criminality primarily by environmental influences.

Question 15

Atavism refers to the belief that criminals are physiological throwbacks to earlier stages of human evolution.

Question 16

Low brain levels of serotonin have been linked to impulsive crimes.

Question 17

Edward O. Wilson developed the concept of sociobiology.

Question 18

Hypoglycemia is a medical condition characterized by extremely high blood sugar levels.

Question 19

Biological theories of criminology maintain that the basic determinants of human behaviour, including criminality, are constitutionally or physiologically based and often inherited.

Question 20

The offender who is "thin and fragile" is an ectomorph, according to William H. Sheldon.

Question 21

Murder data has demonstrated that men commit more murders than women and subsequently we can conclude that men are genetically predisposed to commit acts of interpersonal violence.

Question 22

________ is the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behaviour.

A) Sociobiology
B) Phrenology
C) Positivism
D) Somatotypology
E) Criminal anthropology

Question 23

Dizygotic twins are twins who develop from a separate ovum and carry the genetic material shared by siblings.

Question 24

A "supermale" has been defined as a male individual displaying the XYY chromosomal structure.

Question 25

Which of the following foods or additives has NOT been implicated in the production of criminal violence?

A) Coffee
B) MSG
C) Processed foods
D) Artificial sweeteners
E) Fruits and vegetables

Question 26

According to biological theories of crime causation, observed gender and racial differences in rates and types of criminality may be at least partially the result of biological differences between the sexes and between racially distinct groups.

Question 27

Studies of ________ twins, that is, those which develop from the same egg and carry virtually the same genetic material, tend to support the notion that criminal tendencies are inherited.

A) schizoid
B) dizygotic
C) born criminal
D) monozyotic
E) adopted

Question 28

According to Edward O.Wilson, territoriality explains many of the conflicts experienced in society, including homicide, warfare, and other forms of agression between and among human beings.

Question 29

According to Cesare Lombroso, a wide variety of bodily features can be deemed to be predictive of criminal behaviour. Which of the following traits would best predict a violent criminal career according to Lombroso?

A) A diseased personality
B) Exceptionally long arms, an index finger as long as the middle finger, and large teeth
C) Having friends who were criminals
D) Being unemployed and panhandling in the streets
E) Living in a high-crime area

Question 30

According to C. Ray Jeffrey, a comprehensive biologically-based program of crime prevention and crime control would include ________.

A) Trephination
B) Eugenics
C) Phrenology
D) Atavisms
E) pre- and postnatal care for pregnant women and their infants

Question 31

Aboriginal people are over-represented throughout the criminal justice system in Canada.

Question 32

The mesomorph is characterized as ________.

A) soft and round
B) athletic and muscular
C) athletic and overweight
D) being neither overweight, thin, nor exceedingly muscular
E) thin and fragile

Question 33

Constitutional factors which James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein cite as contributing to crime include: age, body type, intelligence, personality, and ________.

A) Upbringing
B) Gender
C) Educational attainment
D) Crowding
E) socioeconomic status

Question 34

Although ________ recognize social factors in the development of personality, they suggest that constitutional factors predispose a person to specific types of behaviour and that societal reactions to such predispositions may determine, to a large degree, the form of continued behaviour.

A) Cesare Lombroso and Ernst Kretschmer
B) James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein
C) James Q. Wilson and Johann Gasper Spurzheim
D) Konrad Lorenz and William Sheldon
E) Charles Darwin and Konrad Lorenz

Question 35

A condition characterized by low blood sugar and said to reduce the mind's capacity to effectively reason or to judge the long-term consequences of behaviour is known as ________.

A) Testosterone
B) Eugenics
C) Hypoglycemia
D) Supermale
E) hyperglycemia

Question 36

Open inquiry, as C. Ray Jeffrey notes, requires objective consideration of all points of view, and an unbiased examination of each for its ability to shed light upon the subject of study. Thus biological explanations for criminality must be considered.

Question 37

The studies of the Juke and Kallikak families emphasized ________ as the primary source of criminality.

A) Environment
B) Ecology
C) Genetics
D) physical shape
E) psychology

Question 38

According to a recent study published by Swiss researchers, a small protein called oxytocin, better known as the ________, appears to make people more trusting.

A) labeling hormone
B) trust hormone
C) atavistic hormone
D) criminogenic hormone
E) juke hormone

Question 39

According to Lombroso, women exhibit far less anatomical variation than do men but he also insisted that criminal behaviour among women, as among men, derived from ____________ foundations.

A) Somatotype
B) Hedonistic
C) Atavistic
D) YYX
E) phrenologistc

Question 40

Konrad Lorenz's greatest contribution to the study of human behaviour may have been his claim that all human behaviour is, to at least some degree, _______________________________.

A) ectomorphic behaviour
B) endomorphic behaviour
C) adapted instinctive behaviour
D) the born criminal tendency
E) social environmentalist preconditioning

Question 41

According to Lombrosso, offenders who commit crimes because of poverty would be classified as ________.

A) Criminaloids
B) born criminals
C) social offenders
D) Criminalistic
E) insane criminals

Question 42

According to the theory of phrenology, criminality can be determined by ________.

A) social influences
B) physical characteristics
C) personality characteristics
D) the shape of a person's skull
E) the number of siblings a person has

Question 43

________ somatotypology consisted of the endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph, and balanced type.

A) William H. Sheldon's
B) Franz Joseph Gall's
C) Johann Gasper Spurzheim's
D) Richard J. Herrnstein's
E) Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck's

Question 44

According to the text, criticisms of sociobiology can be grouped into four central themes. List these four themes.

Question 45

The study of crime and criminals through the application of scientific techniques is referred to as ________.

A) Positivism
B) Somatotypology
C) Displastics
D) Sociobiology
E) phrenology

Question 46

What are the two central principles upon which positivism is built?

Question 47

Hormones such as cortisol and the thyroid hormone T3 have been implicated in delinquency and poor ______________.

A) eating habits
B) impulse control
C) artistic ability
D) study habits
E) listening skills

Question 48

According to Sheldon's somatotypes, the ________ body type is most likely to be associated with delinquency.

A) Endomorph
B) Ectomorph
C) Mesomorph
D) Balanced
E) Delinquent

Question 49

In the 1920s and early 1930s the ________ movement resulted in the frequent sterilization of mentally handicapped women.

A) feeble-mindedness
B) Cycloid
C) Somatotype
D) eugenics
E) Monozygotic

Question 50

________ is the concept used by Cesare Lombroso to suggest that criminality is the result of primitive urges which survived the evolutionary process.

A) Ectomorph
B) Criminaloid
C) Schizoid
D) Cycloid
E) Atavism

Question 51

To date, nearly 200 studies exist researching the "supermale" phenomenon or the XYY supermale. Although not all researchers agree, taken as a group these studies tend to show that supermales have what five common characteristics?

Question 52

Ernst Kretschmer identified ________ as a mixed grup of offenders who are highly emotional and often unable to control themselves, and who primarily committed sexual offences and other crimes of passion.

A) Cycloids
B) Endomorphs
C) Displastics
D) born criminals
E) schizoids

Question 53

According to a large study conducted by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, the body type that William Sheldon identified as the ___________ was confirmed.

A) Endomorph
B) ectomorph
C) mesomorph
D) biological siblings
E) adoptive siblings

Question 54

Aggressive behaviour has been linked to ________, a male sex hormone.

A) Hypoglycemia
B) Phrenology
C) testosterone
D) somatotype
E) serotonin

Question 55

Research studies have found in animal studies that a link exists between low levels of ____________ in the brain and aggressive behaviour.

A) serotonin
B) glycerin
C) T3
D) MAOO
E) dopamine

Question 56

________ made the claim that sociobiology is a branch of evolutionary biology and modern population biology.

A) James Q. Wilson
B) Konrad Lorenz
C) Richard J. Herrnstein
D) Edward O. Wilson
E) Cesare Lombroso

Question 57

According to William Sheldon's somatotypes, the ____________ body type exhibited a temperament that was restrained and introverted.

A) ectomorph
B) endomorph
C) Mesomorph
D) balanced
E) adopted

Question 58

Prenatal alcohol exposure also seems to be linked to delinquency and ___________________ later in life.

A) RNA sequencing problems
B) XYY imbalances
C) MAOA process issues
D) Reading problems
E) psychiatric problems

Question 59

The proportion of homicides committed by men versus women has ______________.

A) remained more or less constant for decades
B) increased significantly for decades
C) decreased significantly for decades
D) has increased incrementally over only the last 30 years
E) has decreased continuously over the past 50 years