Darwin and the Origin of Species

Who was Darwin?
Charles Darwin was an english naturalist who was the first to have the theory of evolution. He was born in Shropshire England on Feburary 12, 1809. In his childhood, he he was already developing a taste for natural selection.

How did he arrive on his theory?
Darwin arrived on his theory during his trip on the HMS Beagle. On this trip, Darwin noticed how on each island there was the same type of bird with a different type of beak. By noticing this, he asked was it nature that changed the birds. He noticed that if the birds had a certain type of food on the island the birds beaks that were too big couldn't eat the food and soon died out. Out of this observation, he came upon his theory that we all evolved from earlier species.

What were some of the issues he faced?
Some issues Darwin faced were mostly related to stress and religion. His wife being a devoted Catholic believed that God created man and there is no evolution. He was chastised by the people of his town because they believed that with his theory he no longer was believing that God even existed! Out of all the stress he had, he was hallucinating and having extremely bad dreams of his deceased daughter.

What was his anguish?
Darwin's anguish was many. One being that his family and friends did not like him because of their religion. His theory was a total opposite of God and many people did not appreciate that. After his daughter died, he would have so much stress that he would have visions of her leading him around. He would have so many issues, he even go sick at one point.

Teenage Thinking

In the video we are watching in class, it brings up many good points about the teenage brain. One idea people have is that as teenagers we need 8 to 9 hours of REM which is time where your body is completely asleep. The tests people have done prove that people with less REM time, end up doing very bad at tasks assigned to them. Also, many teenagers are not able to completely tell the difference in others peoples emotions. When doctors showed a picture of a persons expression many adults answer that the person was confused. Where as teens stated that the person was mad. The last point made was that teenagers have many mood swings. Many teens have no reason to their emotions but this is showing that their brains are not fully developed enough to control their own emotions. Many teens are always confused. I myself am constantly confused. Life at this point in time is very difficult for many people.

Our Brains!

Hemisphere refers to the two different sides of the brain. It states that the two sides of the brain control different parts of the body. There are two sides the left and the right side. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and it processes all analytical thinking. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and also controls peoples feelings. The corpus collasum is the the layer of neutrons that connect the two sides of the brain and allow them to interact with eachother. Paul Broca's research concerned the comparative study of the skulls of the races of humankind, work that aided the development of modern physical anthropology. He originated methods to study the brain's form, structure, and surface features and sections of prehistoric skulls. His discovery of the brain's speech centre was the first anatomical proof of localization of brain function. In the early 1950s Roger Sperry set out to find how a creature would behave if all such commissures were severed resulting in a ‘split brain’. To his surprise he found that monkeys and cats with split brains act much the same as normal animals. However, where learning was involved the creatures behaved as if they had two independent brains. Thus if a monkey was trained to discriminate between a square and a circle with one eye, the other being covered with a patch, then, if the situation was reversed the animal would have to relearn how to make the discrimination. Where as when he studied a 49-year-old man whose brain had been split to prevent the spread of severe epeliptic convulsions from one side to the other. He found that, though normal in other ways, the patient showed the effect of cerebral disconnection in any situation that required judgment or interpretation based on language. Sperry's work immediately posed the problem of whether there is any comparable specialization inherent in the human right-hand brain. Wernicke's area is named after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist who, in 1874, hypothesized a link between the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus and the reflexive mimicking of words and their syllables that associated the sensory and motor images of spoken words. This proved a theory that brain injuries caused aphasia and would effect peoples speech.

The Lobe most responsible for vision is Occpital lobe.

The lobe most responsible for auditory and speech control is the temporal lobe.
The lobe most responsible for math calculations is the left side of your brain.
The lobe most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control is the right side of your brain.

Phineas Gage and Brain Localization

Phineas Gage worked as a foreman in railroad construction. At the age of 25 Gage went through a accident that would change his life and the life of many for years to come. While working Gage's job was to pack in dynamite into a hole to blow up parts of mountians. One day, while he was packing it in, a spark lit and the dynamite exploded in Gage's face. As a result, the tampinig iron he was using shot back at his face and went through his cheek bone up to tht top part of his skull. When the iron went through it took a chunk of his brain out with it. As a result of this accident Phineas went through many life changes as well. Being that he lived and had a part of brain missing, Gage became very socially challenged. His bitterness changed and everyone around him no longer enjoyed being with him. His mentality was now rude and very bitter. With this case study we learned that different parts of the brain control different parts of the body and systems. In his case, with the frontal lobe gone, he was no longer able to conrtrol his feelings or actions. After this case the theory of brain localization came. This theory states that different parts of the brain control different things and that the brain works together to control your whole body.

Brain lateralization states that the brain is sepreated into two peices and that each side of the brain is contrling the opposite sides of the body.

Nature or Nurture: Criminal Behaviors

     Crime is defined in many ways but the most often used is, a serious offense, especially one in violation of morality. People who are accused of committing crimes usually have a reason of doing wrong. I will be explaining the different theories of many intelligent psychologists.
     
      The first theory is called Choice Theory, believed by Dr. William Glasser, MD.  This theory states that the offender is completely rational when making the decision to commit a crime. Based on the data, people are committing these crimes based on personal greed, revenge, need, anger, lust, jealousy, and vanity. Normally classic criminology says that "people have free will to choose criminal behaviours and that the crime can be controlled only by the fear of criminal areas".
     
       The second theory is the Trait Theory, thought up by Cesare Lombroso. This view is that crime is a product of abnormal, biological, or physical traits. even though this study is considered a bias and not a scientific fact, it is often used as a explanation of the offender's motivation. Contemporary theorists do not suggest that a single or biological attribute to an offender explains all criminality.

       Biocriminologists believe that criminals are genetically predetermined. Their theory is that the body needs a stable amount of minerals and chemicals for normal brain functions and growth.
     
     The third theory is Psychodynamic Traits, developed by Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that every person carries "residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which then guides our future interpersonal relationships" Theorists believe that offenders have identity dominated personalities. This is saying that they lose control of their ego and their alter ego takes over . This impulse causes problems and increased pleasure seeking drives.

     The fourth theory is the Strain Theory. This theory states that a crime is a function of the conflict between people's goals and the means in how they obtain them. Theorists argue that even though social and economic goals are common to all people no matter what, the ability to obtain these goals is class dependent. Members of lower economy are unable to achieve success through conventional means.

     The fifth theory is Social Process Theory. This states that crime is a function of individual socialization, and and the interactions with people have with organizations and society. Theorists believe that the best way to fix the Social Process Theory is learning from the past issues.

     Although there are differences in many theories, they all share a common belief. Choice theories really focus on the individuals decision and control of themselves. Trait theories rely on research which proves that one's neurological process and conditioning is a large contributing factor. Social theories lean towards environmental influences and the choices they make. I personally believe in all of these theories and on the background of a offenders life.

    

Work Cited

Webb, David, A. History of Forensic Psychology. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from Ezine Articles

website: http://ezinearticles.com/?Forensic‐Psychology:‐Key‐Historical‐Figures&id=257368




Bartol, Anne M. and Bartol, Curt A. (2005). Criminal behavior: A psychosocial approach. Upper

Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.