criminal behaviour

Question 1

what is lombrossos theory about criminals

Answer 1

Lomborsso advocated that criminal behaviour is inherited and used the term “evolutionary retarded species” and said they could be recognised by their traits e.g. large ears, enormous jaws and fat lips.

Question 2

what is sheldons theory about criminals

Answer 2

Sheldons theory about criminals
He said that you could recognise a criminal by their body type
1. Ectomorphs (thin self conscious)
2. Endomorphs (large, social living)
3. Mesomorphs (more likely to be criminals
Both Sheldon and Lombroso’s theory’s have been debunked however perhaps crime is biologically inherited Hollins (1992) suggested that some people inherit a biological predisposition (personality) to crime.

Question 3

what is the first biological explanantion for criminal behaviour

Answer 3

1. Inherited criminality

Question 4

what twin research has been done for inherited criminality

Answer 4

Twin research- one research into inherited crimininalty is twin research, the two types of twin are monozygotic (same genes identical) and dizygotic (50% genes shared)

Rononoff et al studied 97 twin pairs to find cocordance rates(probability that two people share the same gene for a disease) of 67% mono and 13% dizygotic. This tells us that if biology and crime are linked with genes then if both identical twin share a “criminal gene” then they should both be criminals.

Question 5

what is research for challenging twin research

Answer 5

Challenging twin research- early twin research was flawed by small samples and poor methods into determining cocordance zygosity (the extent to which genes are similar) now research has been done with more extensive data and cocoradance rates have been found lower 35%-13% (Christiansen)

Question 6

what family study did osbourne and west do

Answer 6

FAMILY STUDY- Osbourne and west- family study to SUPPORT inherited criminality. Compared sons of criminal fathers and non criminal fathers. They found 40% of sons with criminal fathers had criminal convictions

Question 7

what adoption study did mednick et al do

Answer 7

mednick et al- studied 14,000 adoptees and found that if a child had both adopted and biological parents with criminal records 24.5% of the sons had a criminal record. If they only had one parent with a criminal record then only 14%-20% of sons had a criminal record.

Question 8

what are the adv and disav to twin studies

Answer 8

advantages- Later on there has been more extensive research (Christiansen)

Fertility treatment = more research

Naturally occurring variable =reduced risk of researcher bias

disadvantages- Generalisability

Not representiive as only 1.5% of births are twins

Ethics-draw more attention to twins

Cofounding variables-ignores social factors e,g twins having different friendship groups

Question 9

what are adv and disadvantges to adoption studies

Answer 9

adv

Tell us whether good parenting can correct bad genes

disad

Extraneous varuables- why have they been adopted.

Time consuming and need large sample

Traumatic experience don’t leave child

Ethics-consent

Question 10

what did caspi et al study

Answer 10

Caspi et al- aim: to determine whether there is a genetic explanation as to why maltreated children develop anti social behaviour

Ppts: 442 new Zealand males, 20 years longidinal study, birth-adulthood

He focused on 154 ppts that were abused and 33 who were severely abused. He found that they lower levels of the MAOA gene which can cause high levels of aggression and anti social behaviour. They could have inherited this gene and this supports the biological explanation for inherited criminality. The toxic combination is malnutreated MAOA gene and the maltreated children (nature +nurture)

Question 11

what is the second biological explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 11

amygdala

What is the amygdala? almond shape structure, located near the hippocampus, essential for feeling emotion, in brain surgery the surgeons stimulate the amygdala, it also modulates all of our reactions to events that are significant

Question 12

what are the two types of agression

Answer 12

2 types of aggression:

1. Proactive aggression: a deliberate attack on a victim with lack of guilt and remorse
2. Reactive aggression: impulsive response under conditions of stress and anger enraged attacks followed by guilt

Question 13

what did mckloskey study about the amygdala

Answer 13

studied a link between IED (Intermittent explosive disorder) and the amygdala. he used 20 healthy ppts and 20 unmendicated IED patients.

They all underwent brain scans while observing pictures of faces with various emotions to observe how the amygdala responded
Finding- he found that ppts with IED responsed with greater reaction on the left side of the brain in response to the angry faces.

THIS SUGGESTS- the amygdala is sending messages to the person with IED to sense fear and feel threatened and therefore respond with fight mode

Question 14

what is the charles whitman case

Answer 14

Charles Whitman support the amygdala explanation-
• 1966, Charles suffered severe headaches
• He was discharged from hospital
• One week later killed mother and left apology note
• Stabbed wife and left note
• August 1st 1966- Texas town sniper
• Postpartum- autopsy foun d a tumour pressing on his amygdala possibly influencing his actions however they didn’t want this to be an excuse

Question 15

what are the adv and disad of the amygdala explanation

Answer 15

Advantages of the amygdala explanation- helps us develop more scientific evidence about the brain and also look into previous criminal cases for an explination e.g Charles Whitman

Disadvantages of amygdala explanation- may give criminals an excuse for their behaviour and reduce them from getting help

Question 16

what are the issues overall with the biological explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 16

Overall issues with the biological explanation as an explanation for criminality

1. Reductionist- ignores social factors and individual differences, hollistic views such as inherited criminality and the role of the amygdala
2. Supports diathesis stress model by looking at the nature and nurture (Caspi et al)
3. Psychology as a science. (makes us look more at scientific things))

Question 17

what is the first individual difference explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 17

Individual difference explanation for criminal behaviour 1) personality
Personality refers to long standing traits and patterns that makes individuals think feel and act in specific ways

In addition to innate personality traits, eyesneck advocated that environmental interaction is key. He argues that people with who have a high score on extraversion and neuroticism have a higher likelihood of becoming criminals due to failure to socialize and having not learnt via operant conditioning to be law abiding citizens. Instead they have learnt this sort of conditioning

Question 18

how does operant conditioning link to criminal behaviour

Answer 18

Positive reinforcement- Burgerly and gaining satisfaction from peers

negetive reinforcement- Stealing- avoiding spending money (avoidance)

punishment- (removal) socialised wrong, fail to be punished (not going to prison) meaning behaviour continues.

Question 19

what did dunlop et al study about criminal behaviour

Answer 19

Dunlop et al- an Australian study on 15-75 year olds used self and peer reports of personality and found that extraversion and psychotism were unique predictors of delinquency.
Evaluation of study: socially desirable answers as self report method, Australia compared to other countries (generalisation) and ppts were students and friends.. demand characteristics??

Question 20

what is the evaluation of personality as an explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 20

Evaluation of personality as an explanation for criminal behaviour

1. Personality may not be consistent (mishel) argues that apparent consisitency in peoples behaviour is an illusion that arises from the fact we typically observe people in similar situations
2. They use of psychometric tests- personality tests are a form of self report which can trigger demand characteristics. Eyesneck test tells us rapist and child abusers are extravert, neurotic and psychotic but they do not tell us why they do this? What application does It have?

This explanation claims criminals have a particular personality type and that criminals and non criminals differ on certain aspects and dimensions of personality. It suggests that personality is biologically based and personality traits can be measured and quantified using question aires or psychometric tests. In his original model it suggest that personality is the combo of two dimensions E vs I and N vs S.

Question 21

what is the second individual explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 21

cognitive bias

Cognition is offered as a other individual difference for criminal behaviour. “cognition” refers to the mental process that determines actions, feelings and beliefs. The assumption here is that criminals think and process information in a different way to law abiding citizens. Cognitive distortions could play a part in criminal behaviour.

Input —- process (thinking e.g here criminals may have faulty thinking)—- output (behaviour)
Criminals may be at stage 1 of kohlbergs stages of moral reasoning e.g they have only developed to a low stage where they understand right and wrong is learnt through reward and punishment or at most stage 2 where they seek approval from others and avoidance of blame.

Question 22

what are some cognitive distortions

Answer 22

1- Errors in attribution- the fundamental attribution error is where people under estimate situational influences and overestimate individual personality factors when explaining the behaviour of others. This can be in situational attributions where we observe a person in a situation or an dispositional attribution where it is something within the person we observe e.g personality.
we often credit our own behaviour for it being out personality yet if its bad we blame the circumstance. Hostile attribution bias (HAB) is where an individual wrongly interprets the actions of others as unfriendly e.g. misreading someone’s actions. Someone with high HAB is more likely to read someones actions as directly attacking them.

2- Minimalization is where an individual minimises or plays down the severity of a situation. It can be seen as denial or self deception and downplaying highlights non acceptance and is perhaps a way in which dealing with emotional guilt. Do criminals experience this? Kennedy and Grubin interviewed convicted sex offenders and found that the majority tended to blame victim and 25% believed that the abuse was a positive thing, thereby Lessing their involvement.

3- Impaired theory of the mind (TOM)- tom is an important social cognitive skill which is the ability to think about mental states including emotions, desires, and knowledge and others. TOM also refer to the ability to understand the thoughts and beliefs of others. If a person doesn’t have TOM they cannot empathise or have any ability to sympathise with someone or understand how their actions might make them feel (spenser et al)

4- Cognitive deficits- someone who is a criminal may lack the following cognitives- self control (have more impulsive behaviour) cognitive style (lacking empathy) and values (poor moral reasoning skills)

Question 23

what are for and against for cognitive explanation for criminal behavior

Answer 23

For cognitive bias as an explanation: Kohlberg research (longitudinal, semi structured, range of ages and races)

Against cognitive bias as explanation: Kohlberg gender bias? Dodd (2016) andro and ethnocentric

Question 24

what is the first social explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 24

1)differential associations theory (contact with criminals over non criminals)

DAT suggests that the way in which a person becomes an offender is through learned attitudes and imitation of criminal acts. Through interactions with other people, individuals learn the values attitudes and techniques as well as motives for criminal behaviour through social learning. The theory is described as differential asscociation as CB can be learned from many different avenues of social interactions and experiences e.g family peers and the media.

Question 25

what are the 9 principles to DAT

Answer 25

DAT is cvategorised into 9 principles

1. CB is learned like other behaviours-not inherited or biological
2. It is learned through interaction with others usually verbally
3. Occurs mainly in a social group (not the media)
4. Includes criminal techniques, attitudes etc “tools of the trade”
5. Some groups see particulary laws as there to be broken e.g underage drinking or speeding
6. Due to repeat contact with criminals and lack of contact with non criminals there is an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law of definitions unfavourable to violation of the law????? (don’t understand this one)
7. Differential associations may vary in frequency and intensity
8. The process of learning criminal behaviour involves all mechanisms of learning other behaviour e.g. conditioning, reinforcement etc.
9. Although criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and attitudes it cannot be excused since non criminal behaviour may need same attitudes (e.g. both need money)

Question 26

what is the second social explanation for criminal behaviour

Answer 26

Social explanation for criminal behaviour 2) gender socialisation

There is a single trait that nearly all criminals share- they are male
1/3 males have convictions whereas only 1/10 women have convictions

Gender identity is learned from socialisation within a culture. Male and female behaviour is observed, imitated and reinforced much in the same way that Sutherland argues that CB is learnt through social learning.

Sutherland argues that different patterns of socialisation experienced by boys and girls reinforces behaviour that encourages boys and discourages girls
Gender socialisation is the process by which society’s values and norms including those pertaining to gender are taught and learnt. Social psychology explain through gender socialisation why human male and females behave in different ways, they learn different social roles (eg. Childrens books and toys)

Sometimes gender expectaitions are reinforced with explicit rewards or negative sanctions for following or not following gender appropriate behaviour.
Gender socialisation would suggest that criminal behaviour is developed through experience. Social learning theory (bandurua 1978) maintains that individuals do not have an ability to act violently or aggressively- instead, these traits are learned through a process of behaviour modelling

Question 27

what is bandu and rosses study

Answer 27

Bandura ross and ross- they conducted a lab experiment to see if different conditions (aggressive, non aggressive or non) effect the way that children then behave towards toys, the children In each condition were shown a video of adults playing with toys in either an aggressive, non aggressive or non (control group) way.

Sample- 36 boys 36 girls at nursery between 37-69 months mean age of 52 months
Group 1- non aggressive condition 24 kids
6 boys with same sex model, 6 boys with opp sex model
6 girls with same sex model, 6 girls with opp sex model
Group 2- control group 24 ppts (no model)
Group 3- aggressive condition 24 kids
6 boys with same sex model, 6 boys with opp sex model
6 girls with same sex model, 6 girls with opp sex model

Question 28

what are the 3 stages to bandu and ross study

Answer 28

STAGE 1- each condition were shown a video of adults playing with the toy (AG or not AG) or no video at all (control group)

STAGE 2- all children were put into a room with toys but after a few minutes of playing they were told to leave the toys for the other children as they were the very best toys, this was too arouse the aggressive children stage

STAGE 3- the next room contained aggressive and non aggressive toys the child was in the room for 20 mins and behaviour was observes through a one way mirror (less demand characteristics)

Question 29

what are the results to bandu and ross study

Answer 29

Results- children who initially observed how adults played with the aggressive model made a more aggressive response to the toys, the girls in the aggressive condition were more physically aggressive if they had watched a male but more verbally if they watched a female. Boys imitated more same sex model (men) and were more physical overall.

Question 30

what are the adv and disad to bandu and ross study

Answer 30

Advantages of the study
Controlled group so not likely to effect chidlrens behaviour out of environment and continue it
Allows for precise controls and variables (no extraneous)
Experiment can be replicated

Disadvantages of the study
Low EV limited social situaion as the kids cant interact with the model video etc
Unethical
Very short term snapshot study (don’t see long term effects)