Discussion Board 2 – Research

The Studies

Brain injury and aggression

One study found that soldiers from the Vietnam War who had an injury to the front part of their brains (the frontal lobe) were more aggressive than war veterans who didn’t have an injury to that part of the brain.

Violent TV and Crime

Studies have shown that the more violent TV a child watches when they’re younger, the more likely they are to commit a crime when they’re adults.

TV and Attention

For every one hour on average that a three-year-old watches, they are 10% more likely to have attentional problems when they’re aged seven. So a three-year-old child that watches four hours of TV on average, is 40% more likely to have attentional problems than a three-year-old child that watches one

Fish and depression

At least one study has shown that the more fish consumed on average per person in a country, the lower the rate of depression. Japan has very low rates of depression, for instance, when compared to countries that eat less fish like New Zealand.

Meditation and brain development

People who meditate for longer have more developed prefrontal cortices (the parts of the brain that help us concentrate).

Candy and Crime

One study carried out in the UK found that children who ate candy every day were more likely to commit crimes when they were older.

In this discussion, explain why you think any of these studies would be a good study or not. Can you prove causation in any of the studies? If you think it is not a good study, how would you improve it? Why do we have to be careful when reading research in the news?  Can you recall any correlations reported recently in the news? (Hint: a common example correlates some variables with various aspects of health). Was the correlation positive or negative? What are the various possible causal relationships related to this correlation? What can you conclude about reading research that is NOT in a peer-reviewed scientific journal?

Discussion Board 2 – Research Answer

One study that I believe would be great is the one on brain injury and aggression. It is more likely that soldiers who suffer from brain injuries have higher chances of being aggressive than those with no injuries. Causation in this study is the injury sustained in the frontal lobe, which triggers aggressiveness. The frontal lobe is an essential part of the brain that helps with impulse control, among other functions such as reasoning and problem solving (Roy et al., 2017). For this reason, when this part of the brain suffers damage, patients may experience challenges controlling their emotions and act irrationally. These are predictors of aggressiveness and violence.