Psychological Theories of Crime Flashcards
Why do we focus on psychological traits when looking at criminality?
Clearly
there are some important factors to criminality that can be explained
by situational or developmental factors, but there is also the
psychological element to criminal behaviour that is relatively unique
to that individual.
It is thought that people with low_______ are more likely to become criminals
IQs
What theorists focus on IQ and its link to criminal behaviour?
One of the
first to propose this was Goddard (1914) who suggested that it was low intelligence that made
criminals unable to learn socially acceptable conduct and resist offending behaviour. A later study
by Zeleny (1933) claimed that criminals were nearly twice as likely to be low scorers on IQ tests
than non-criminals.
Why have Goddard and Zeleny’s theories remained popular?
These studies have been popular for many years due to their simplicity and the
link continues to be researched.
Describe the longitudinal studies that have been carried out on the link between IQ and crime.
Longitudinal studies have continued with this theory and Farrington
(1992) followed a group of males from birth to adulthood.
He reported that over a third of the 8-10 year old boys who
scored below average on a written intelligence test were later
convicted of a criminal offence, this was twice the rate of the
remaining sample group. A couple of explanations have been
suggested as to why intelligence links to criminal behaviour
in this way. Firstly, there is a possibility that those with low
intelligence could be more likely to be caught when
committing crime. Secondly, is that the less intelligent could
simply be more ready to admit to committing crime after
interrogation.
Why should we be cautious of overemphasising the link between IQ and crime?
However, despite these assumptions there are a number of problems in simply accepting this link.
Firstly, defining exactly what is meant by ‘crime’ and ‘intelligence’ is not a simple as first appears.
For example, some people may be highly skilled mathematicians but have poor social skills.
Secondly, what makes somebody a criminal is also open to debate. It cannot be assumed that what
makes a person a criminal is a fact that they have been convicted of breaking a law.
Instead of low intelligence causing crime, it could be equally possible that coming from a poor
neighbourhood influences the level of education likely to be attained. Why?
it is too simplistic to
assume that a person who does not score high on an IQ test will become a criminal for that reason
alone. For example, if two people with similar IQ scores came from two different areas, one
wealthy and one deprived, then their risk of offending is likely to be different. Hence it is almost
impossible to separate a link between intelligence and likelihood to commit criminal behaviour
from environmental and potentially even biological factors. It should be remembered that although
there is often a relationship between intelligence and crime, it is seldom proposed that low
intelligence actually causes crime.
What is impulisivity?
being impulsive describes behaviours where people are likely to act almost on instinct
and seldom weigh up the consequences of their actions
What theorists focused on impulsivity and crime?
Glueck and Glueck (1950) were early
pioneers of such thought, and believed that poor self control led to impulsive and often criminal
behaviour. The public perception of the rampaging “out of control” offender is also born out of this.
The modern-day juvenile is often described as being a “hooligan” and certainly conjures up images
of gangs of youths who are seemingly uncontrollable
What support has there been for Glueck and Glueck and their theories on impulsivity?
. Criminals are therefore assumed to have poor
control mechanisms that cause them to seek immediate satisfaction of their needs. This has been
shown to be true in some longitudinal studies such as those carried out by Farrington in 1992.
Dickman (1990) argued that there were two forms of impulsivity: dysfunctional and functional.
Dysfunctional impulsivity is more closely linked with offending in that the behaviours normally
have a negative consequence, whereas functional impulsivity can often be applauded such as
adventurousness, increased activity and enthusiasm. Impulsive criminals have been seen to behave
in a generally reckless - but not necessarily criminal - way to seek excitement in many situations.
Hans Eysenck is perhaps one of the
most well-known and widely published psychologists in recent times, and
his research spans many areas from general personality to intelligence and
also criminal behaviour. What does he focus on?
Eysenck’s (1974) theory of crime is a combination
theory as it includes elements of biological factors and environmental
influences, along with specific personality traits that are assumed to
underpin criminal behaviour
How does Eysenck marry the school of nature and nurture?
For Eysenck, it was impossible to ignore
hereditary and social causes of offending. Instead he believed that poor
cognitive (or thinking) skills were passed down through generations, which
then affected the person’s ability to effectively deal with situations that
occurred. He believed that the relationship between poor social
environment and an inability to comprehend situations created the criminal
personality. Eysenck believed that there were certain types of personality
who were more inclined to act in a criminal manner in light of their
environment.
Eysenck’s theory of crime essentially explained the criminal personality as resulting from the
interaction between three major psychological traits: neuroticism (N), extraversion (E) and
psychoticism (P). Describe this.
To begin with, a neurotic can be loosely defined as a person suffering from
anxiety who appears nervous and moody. However, the manner in which neurotics are defined in
his theory is not completely strict and many ‘neurotic criminals’ would not be seen as suffering from
a mental disorder. The second and most important part of this explanation of criminal personality is
the dimension known as Introvert-Extrovert. Generally introverts are described as being quiet,
withdrawn people and extroverts as being outgoing and impulsive. Extroverts tend to seek
excitement whereas introverts avoid stirring situations. Finally, psychoticism describes people
whose personality is characterised by poor emotion, sensation-seeking and a general lack of
empathy for others. Empathy was added late to this list but testing has shown high levels of this trait
amongst many offender groups.
How is Eysenck still relevant to today?
Criminal personality profiling is often used by the police in serious cases relating to murder and
rape. Psychologists will categorise murderers by features of their personality, potentially reducing a
suspect list substantially.
A major early theory which attempted to explain
criminal behaviour is the psychodynamic theory. Whose work is this based on?
The psychodynamic approach is based closely
around the ideas of the most widely known psychologist, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).. Freud’s ideas have been developed and modified over the years however further work is still generically referred to as the psychodynamic theory.
