How does this work with the assignment I posted when there were multiple parts? It was also until the 1/22/18, and only the first section was completed am I not stating this right.

Research Proposal on Decision-Making Alteration

Heather Yant

PSY625: Biological Bases of Behavior

Instructor Molly Santillo

1/14/18

Research Proposal on Decision Making

Specific Aims the Research Proposal

Decision making influences the whole of human life, especially human behavior. For instance, one decides what to eat, what not to eat, whether to do a given task and how to do it, or whether not to engage in it. Literary, some people are morally upright, whose behaviors reflect right actions and goodwill for the people who surround them. On the other hand, there are others who demoralized, and whose actions are extraordinarily diabolic and wicked. All these are processed in their brains. Concerning this, this research is proposed to research the procedure involved in decision-making as far as the human minds considered.

Research Problem:

This research, therefore, is aimed at studying psychological disorders that lead to crime. There are allegedly a variety of mental disorders that can lead to criminal mind and consequently lead to the individual committing crimes. This research will look into these diseases, their signs and symptoms, how acute they, and how controlled, avoided or treated.

Indeed, most of the actions that are taken by human beings are as a result of their decision-making processes. In this research, neuropsychological assessment and tests will be conducted on criminals whose decision-making seem to result in behavior and actions that are unethical and immoral, and that is threatening to the well-being of others. Precisely, the research will aim at having a deeper understanding of human behavior as processed through the neuroscientific process that arrives at arriving at a given decision. Moreover, the study will seek at finding out whether some steps in this process can be altered to prevent an individual from arriving at given conclusions that might be considered to be liable of causing disasters in case the subject comes at the stage of taking action.

In conjunction to the above, the research will aim at venturing on crime reduction and more vitally, try to find out if the information found in the research may help in restoring good behaviors in psychological criminals. Thus, the research will undergo a process of finding out a neuropsychological therapy for restoring good behaviors in mentally damaged subjects. In summary, the hypothesis of this research is to find out if an individual’s decision-making process can be further understood and permanently altered, especially for individuals with undesirable, immoral and unethical behaviors.

Therefore, the research will require funding to assist in gathering information from both primary, secondary and tertiary sources. Primary sources of information will include experiments, which will require human subjects. Using human subjects will need for the government to authorize the research and perhaps issue inmates who had been convicted for heinous criminal cases, and who might have been incarcerated for being a threat to the welfare of the society. This implies that both qualitative and quantitative methods of conducting the research will be applied. There will be required experienced personnel in the field of neuropsychology and neuroscience. Lastly, qualitative research will entail conducting surveys, questionnaire, and use of interviews as the primary sources of information.

Annotated Bibliography.

American Psychological Association. (2014). The Criminal Mind. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/criminal-mind.aspx

The brain plays a crucial role with regard to the adoption of a criminal behavior and the subsequent commission of crime. Certain characteristics of the brain are known to predispose to criminal behavior such as acts of violence. Measures can put to address such characteristics so as to reduce criminal behavior in affected individuals.

Anckarsater, H., Radovic, S., Svennerlind, C., Hoglund, P., & Radovic, F. (2009). Mental disorder is a cause of crime: The cornerstone of forensic psychiatry - ScienceDirect. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252709001010

A number of mental of disorders are associated with an increased level of crime in

affected individuals. Poor capabilities in critical areas such as cognition, attention

and the control of impulses can lead an individual into engaging in activities that are

criminal in nature.

Bosee, T., & Gerritson, C. (2009). A Model for Criminal Decision Making Based on Hypothetical Reasoning about the Future. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-02568-6_3

The generation of a desire to engage in crime is dependent on a number of factors

such as the ability to reason in a rational sense as well as the characteristics of an

individual. Certain criminal actions can actually be connected to a variety of desires.

A person’s emotional or even motivational status can lead to the creation of certain

desires which may eventually influence their likelihood to engage in criminal

activities.

Brunt, P., & Sherpherd, D. (2004). The Influence of Crime on Tourist Decision-Making: Some Empirical Evidence. Retrieved from https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20053042652

Factors such as the gender or age of a person may have an influence on the nature

of crime that the individual may suffer in the hands of a criminal. These factors are

thought to significantly determine the criminal activity that the offender is willing to

commit on the victim.

Dietrick, C. (2010). Decision Making: Factors that Influence Decision Making, Heuristics Used, and Decision Outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/180/decision-making-factors-that-influence-decision-making-heuristics-used-and-decision-outcomes

A variety of explanations have been put forward to try and shed light on the type of

decisions that lead to the commission of crime. Factors such as the experiences an

individual has had in the past and the various differences that exist between

individuals significantly influence decision making.

Farhan, A., & Rabia, A. (2015). "The Motivation for Crimes: Experiences of Criminals from District Jail Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan" by Ahmad, Farhan; Ali, Rabia - Pakistan Journal of Criminology, Vol. 7, Issue 4, October 2015 | Online Research Library: Questia. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-4058898001/the-motivation-for-crimes-experiences-of-criminals

Actions that are deemed to be criminal in nature are thought to be learnt through

various types of associations. Groups that an individual associates with have a great

influence on their likelihood to engaging in criminal activities.

Fried C. S. and Reppucci N. D. (2001). Criminal decision making: the development of adolescent judgment, criminal responsibility, and culpability. - PubMed - NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11276861

Making decisions that are related to crime is dependent on influences from groups

such as an individual’s peers and also the individuals perception of the extent of risk

associated with commission of a certain crime.

Gelder, J. L. (2013, September 18). Beyond Rational Choice: the Hot/Cool Perspective of Criminal Decision Making. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1068316X.2012.660153

The benefits likely to accrue from an act of crime as compared to the actual costs as

assessed by the person wishing to engage in a criminal activity greatly determine the

likelihood that the individual will engage in the activity.

Goudrian, H. (2006). Reporting Crime: Effects of Social Context on the Decision of Victims to Notify the Police. Retrieved from https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/4410/Thesis.pdf

The fact that a good number of criminal activities are not reported to the relevant

authorities serves to encourage the commission of crime as the offenders have a

feeling that they may not be known and punished after engaging in activities that are

criminal in nature.

Morrison, S. A., & Donnell, O. (2000). An Analysis of the Decision-Making Practices of Armed Robbers. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.375.6130&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The desire to live a life free from financial struggles may lead an individual to the

commission of activities that are of a criminal nature. Criminals are much more

interested in the achievement of an outcome that they view as satisfactory rather than

an outcome that produces the highest monetary benefit.

Rueve, M. E., & Welton, R. S. (2008). Violence and Mental Illness. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686644/

Persons with mental illness are naturally thought to be more aggressive than other

individuals .This leads to further stigmatization of affected individuals a factor that

leads them into committing activities that are related to crime.

Stern, S. (2017, July 13). How to Recover From a Bad Decision. Retrieved from http://www.nextavenue.org/recover-from-a-bad-decision/

An individual can easily change from the kind of life they have been living in the past

to an entirely new kind of life. However, this will require that the individual makes

up their mind to change for the good.

Stone, M. H. (2007). Violent crimes and their relationship to personality disorders - Stone - 2007 - Personality and Mental Health - Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pmh.18/pdf

Deficiencies in an individual’s personality may have a great influence on their criminal life. Persons who have a lower ability to cope with stressful conditions are more likely to engage in criminal activities than those who have a better ability to cope with the same.

Walters, G. D. (2015). The Decision to Commit Crime: Rational or Nonrational? Retrieved from https://ccjls.scholasticahq.com/api/v1/attachments/530/download

Emotions can be influenced by a variety of factors such as an individual’s

situation. This factors can either enhance or dampen emotions in individual people.

This in turn may have an influence on the criminal life of the individual.

Zenger, J., & Folkman, J. (2014, September 1). 9 Habits That Lead to Terrible Decisions. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/09/9-habits-that-lead-to-terrible-decisions

Decisions that lead to the commission of crime among different individuals can be brought about by too much dependence on other persons for basic survival needs. This can lead to frustrations and crime when the dependent person fails to get what he or she requires from the person he or she was depending on.