Criminal Profiling Flashcards
1
Q
What is offender Profiling/ Criminal Profiling?
A
A process by which “offender characteristics can be deduced from a detailed knowledge of offence characteristics. i.e making an inference from crime and crime scene —-> information about offender?
2
Q
What type of crime is criminal profiling often used for?
A
Most often used for serial/serious crime (rape and murder)
3
Q
What information about the offender might criminal profiling generate? (give a few examples)
A
Age, Ethnicity, Gender, General appearance, Socioeconomic status, Residence description, Education history, Relationship status, Employment background, Criminal record, Psychiatric history, Personality, Familiarity with geographic area, Social and sexual development, Pre and post offence behaviour
4
Q
Name the 3 main approaches to profiling
A
Clinical practitioner/Criminal investigative. Statistical/Scientific. The FBI (typological) Approach.
5
Q
What are the Three manifestations of offender behaviour at the crime scene? (crime scene analysis)
A
Modus Operandi, Signature and Staging
6
Q
In crime scene analysis in regard to the manifestation of offender behaviour at the crime scene - what is Modus Operandi?
A
Method used to accomplish crime (dynamic and malleable)
7
Q
In crime scene analysis in regard to the manifestation of offender behaviour at the crime scene - what is Signature?
A
unique and integral part of offender behaviour: their “calling card” (constant and enduring).
8
Q
In crime scene analysis in regard to the manifestation of offender behaviour at the crime scene - what is Staging?
A
efforts to alter crime scene
9
Q
What are the main features of the FBI approach to criminal profiling? (3 things hint: Reliance on?, what type of crime? what type of relationship with the investigative team?)
A
- Reliance on experience, intuition, expertise of profiler. 2. Focus on serious, bizarre and extreme crimes. 3. Extensive contact with investigative team.
10
Q
Who is championed as the pioneer of investigative psychology (in Britain)?
A
David Canter
11
Q
What is the Investigative Psychology approach to criminal profiling? (2 things hint: type of evidence, hypotheses)
A
- Measurement of statistical relationships rather than intuition/experience 2. Hypotheses about what offender characteristics relate to what offence behaviour and evidence for relationship.
12
Q
What are some central problems to investigative psychology? (4 things)
A
(low) Salience of behaviours, Distinguishing between offenders, Inferring characteristics, linking offences.
13
Q
What are the three key assumptions of Investigative Psychology?
A
- CONSISTENCY: The actions of any given offender are consistent across offences 2. DIFFERENTIATION: There will be psychologically important variations between crimes that relate to differences in the people who commit them 3. INFERENCE: Similar offence styles will be associated with similar offender characteristics
14
Q
In regards to investigating psychology, what is the assumption of Consistency?
A
The actions of any given offender are consistent across offences
15
Q
In regards to investigating psychology, what is the assumption of Differentiation?
A
: There will be psychologically important variations between crimes that relate to differences in the people who commit them
16
Q
In regards to investigating psychology, what is the assumption of Inference?
A
Similar offence styles will be associated with similar offender characteristics
17
Q
What are some limitations of the FBI approach to criminal profiling? (i.e disorganised vs. organised?)
A
- Crime scenes (and offenders) have both organised and disorganised characteristics. - dichotomy. 2. Data on associations is drawn from a pool of offenders that are all male and predominately white - thus may not be relevant for female or non-caucasian.offenders.
18
Q
In regards to analysis in investigative psychology, what is facet theory?
A
the idea that different facets of the offence (e.g., type of weapon, what was taken from scene) are related to different aspects of the offender (e.g., age, previous criminal record) {Boon and Davies, 1993}
19
Q
What are the main features of investigative psychology? (4 things)
A
- Emphasis on need for research base 2. Statistical approach for relationship between crime scene and offender characteristics 3.Rejection of clinical intuition 4.Greater range of crimes
20
Q
What is the availability heuristic?
A
The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that occurs when people make judgments about the probability of events by how easy it is to think of examples. The availability heuristic operates on the notion that, “if you can think of it, it must be important.” The availability of consequences associated with an action is positively related to perceptions of the magnitude of the consequences of that action. In other words, the easier it is to recall the consequences of something, the greater we perceive these consequences to be. Sometimes, this heuristic is beneficial, but the frequencies that events come to mind are usually not accurate reflections of their actual probability in real life.
21
Q
What is case linkage?
A
“Identifying behavioural similarities between offences that point to them being committed by the same perpetrator (Woodhams & Grant, 2006)
22
Q
Other names for case linkage?
A
Linkage analysis, comparative case analysis, behavioural analysis
23
Q
What are the uses of case linkage? (4 things)
A
- Efficient deployment of limited police resources 2. Accumulation of physical evidence from different crime scenes (Grubin, et al., 2001) 3. Each individual victim gains credibility from the others (Davies, 1992). 4.Similar fact evidence in legal proceedings (Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2007).
24
Q
In regards to case linkage, what is a linked pair and what is an unlinked pair?
A
Linked pair = known to be committed by same offender Unlinked pair = known to be committed by same offender
25
Define 'analytical stratergies" for case linkage, give examples.
Across-crime similarity coefficients used to quantify behavioural stability and distinctiveness e.g. Jaccards coefficients, logistic regression, ROC analysis
26
What is Jaccards Coefficient (analytical stratergy for case linkage)
The Jaccard index, also known as the Jaccard similarity coefficient is a statistic used for comparing the similarity and diversity of sample sets. s = event- Q non-union to event-D / Event-Q union to event-D = P/p+q+d where p = number of variables that are positive for both q = number of variables that are positive in Q but not D d = number of variables that are positive in D but not Q
27
What is logistic regression? (analytical stratergy for case linkage)
In statistics, logistic regression or logit regression is a type of regression analysis used for predicting the outcome of a categorical dependent variable based on one or more predictor variables. Logistic regression measures the relationship between a categorical dependent variable and one or more independent variables, which are usually (but not necessarily) continuous, by using probability scores as the predicted values of the dependent variable.
28
What is ROC analysis? (analytical stratergy for case linkage)
In signal detection theory, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC), or simply ROC curve, is a graphical plot which illustrates the performance of a binary classifier system as its discrimination threshold is varied. It is created by plotting the fraction of true positives out of the positives (TPR = true positive rate) vs. the fraction of false positives out of the negatives (FPR = false positive rate), at various threshold settings. TPR is also known as sensitivity (also called recall in some fields), and FPR is one minus the specificity or true negative rate.
29
Limitations to analytical stratergies of case linkage? (3 things)
1. What similarity coefficient to choose (linking performance varies depending) 2.How choice of behaviours influences degree of similarity and distinctiveness found 3. How to identify an appropriate decision threshold
30
There is (some) evidence that case linkage is effective in \_\_\_what\_\_\_ types of crime, and why is it useful for them?
Murder, commercial robbery, adult & juvenile sexual offences, residential and commercial Burglary Because they contain more behavioural consistency and distinctiveness - particularly for control behaviours and spatial behaviour (inter-crime distance)
31
What factors affect the consistency of an offender's Modus Operandi (mode of operation)?
Experience, maturation, education, victim reaction, interruption etc
32
What are the characteristics of behaviours that are better to use than others when behaviourally linking crimes?
1. Behaviours that are NOT common to all offenders - behaviours that are uncommon or unique
2. Behaviours that have been shown to have greater consistency than others due to how situation-dependent they are
33
What is the "homology assumption" in criminal profiling/crime linkage?
The assumption that the characteristics of offenders are homologous with their crime scene. i.e that they have the same relation/structure
34
What is a limitation of research regarding the assumption of offender consistency and distinctiveness?
Studies sample convicted offenders (i.e not those who remain un-caught)
35
What does the age-crime curve suggest about the onset of criminal offending?
Offending increases from around age 8, peaks at age 16-17 and falls away sharpely from 18+
36
What two factors regarding the reporting of crime contribute to the 'dark-figure' of unreported crime?
1. Not knowing that a crime has occured (since one must have a belief that a crime has occured to report it)
2. Willingness to report crime (some situations/people reluctant to report crime)
37
What are some factors affecting the quality (meaningfullness) of official criminal statistic?
1. lack of uniformity across police forces (not including figures from other agencies, data recorded in a way that is incompatible)
2. Recording of multiple crimes as one incident
3. Changes over time e.g in law (criminal damage, homosexuality, marital rape)
4. Aggregation of dat into broad crimes types, therefore, miss more specific data
38
What factors influence the perception that a crime has increased even if it may not have?
(crime detection & targetting)
1. Police priorities - resources into catching certain types of criminals/crimes---\> catch more of that type of offender = appearance that there are more of those types of offenders
2. Increased public awareness (people noticing crime, attentionally biased to crime, confirmation bias) e.g drugs, rape and drink driving
3. Reduction in stigma (sexual assault) - more people willing to report and talk about
39
Does the 'dark-figure' in criminsal satistics apply to crime surveys (method)? if so, why?
Yes. Still requires belief that crime has occured and willingness to report crime. Survey may be answered untruthfully if the offender is present of if the person is trying to protect an offender
40
List factors contributing to incomplete data in crime surveys (surveys regarding victimisation)
1. No self-report for some crime (murder) and some victims (children, homeless, tourists)
2. 'Victimless crime' (drug posession, fraud)
3. Memory for vicitimisation (forgotten victimisation)
4. Recency of events - more recent events favoured in reporting
5. Seriousness - whether the criminal event is seen as serious or not
6. Repeat victimisation - person may be 'used to it' and not report, multiple crimes reported as one instance
7. Reactivity of participants - participation in crime research increases awareness about crime and leads to behavioural changes that reduce (or possibly increase) their risk of being a victim.
41
how might the reactivity of participants affect the completeness of criminal survey data (victimisation survey)
participation in crime research could increase awareness about crime and lead to behavioural changes that reduce (or possibly increase) the risk of being a victim.
42
What are the two groups of offenders in Moffitt's typology?
1. Life course persistent
2. Adolescence Limited
43
In Moffitt's Typology, what are 'life course persistant' offenders?
Early onset, rare, long criminal
careers, smaller group, accounts for
large amount of offending.
44
In Moffitt's Typology, what are 'adolescence limited' offenders?
Middle onset (adolescence), common,
short criminal careers, larger group,
accounts for a small amount of
offending over time
45
What factors influence the duraion of offending and how?
Age of onset = longer criminal career
Multiple offenders = greater mean number of years offending
46
What are risk factors?
* A characteristics of the individual or his/her environment (e.g., family, neighbourhood) that are related to the increased probability of a negative outcome.
* Evidence of the risk factor must precede evidence of the development of the outcome.
* Risk factors are not necessarily causally related.
47
What are protective factors?
A characteristics of the individual or his/her environment (e.g., family, neighbourhood) that mediate or buffer the effects of the risk factors.
48
What are some risk factors for criminal offending? (e.g communit, family, parent-child realtionship, individual, school - factors)
* Community/Neighbourhood: Economic deprivation, Community disorganisation, Drug availability.
* Family: low socioeconomic status, family violence and conflict, parent anti-social attitudes/beliefs
* Parent-child relations: poor supervision, separation from parents
* Extra-family relations: antisocial peers
* Individual: conduct disorder, low intelligence, aggression
* School: low school commitment, low academic achievement
49
What parental factors are risk factors for criminal behaviour and why?
* Families lacking harmony, emotional warmth and mutual acceptance.
* Inconsistent and coercive parenting
* Poor parental supervision
* Child maltreatment/abuse and neglect
BECAUSE (theory):
* Social learning: family environment provides opportunity to learn aggressie and other delinquent beaviour via modelling and reinforcement
* Genetic: inheritance of traits/ dispositions
50
Why is a difficult temperament a risk factor for criminal behaviour?
Parenting a difficult temperament = parents become more permissive with children's aggressive behaviours.
Family conflict may magnify the child's temperamental disposition & worsen parent-child interactions.
51
What are neurocognitive risk factors for criminal behaviour?
Low IQ, inludes poor attention and concentration.
Low IQ hinders school performance, might increase antisocial peer association, hinders emplyment and success.
Lower verbal abilities affect abstract thinking, planning, goal driected behaviour and self-control.
52
How do you study offender cogntion? (hint: two ways to study, comparison)
1. Compare offender and non-offender cognition
2. Compare within offender group (perhaps how the worse offenders differ, how particular offenders differ etc)
53
in regards to what 'cognition' is, what are the two types of cognition?
Impersonal (e.g intelligence) and Interpersonal or social cognition (e.g problem solving)
Includes: functioning/ability, processes and content.
54
Why is social desirability/self-report a limitation to studying offender cognition?
Offenders may have reasons to lie about their cognitions, may have incentives such as acceptance back into community, release from observation/prison/treatments etc.
55
Why is the 'assumption of homogeneity' a limitation to studying offender cognition?
Criminal offenders are unlikely to all be the same, not necessarily a similar link between offending and cognition for different individual offenders.
56
Why might the study of recorded offenses and only 'caught' offenders be a limitation to studying offender cognition?
Index (recorded) offenses do not necessarily indicate a disposition (e.g a crime of passion murder does not mean a person has an aggressive disposition)
Only looking at the cognitions of offenders who were caught ...therefore possible a correlation between cognitions and offenses that are more likely to be caught.
57
What are the three (discussed in class) theories of offender cognition?
1. Rational choice - offender responds to incentives, evaluatues costs and benefits of offence
2. Social control theory - offender has weak bonds to society
3. Cognitive development theory - offending results from failure in moral development
58
When do most people start offending? (age, when does it begin increasing, when does it peak, when does it 'fall away'?)
Increase from age 8, peaks at age 16-17, falls away sharperly from 18+
59
What are the three main areas (discussed in class) that risk-factors for deliquency can occur?
1. Parent/family risk factors
2. Temperament
3. Neurocognitive risk factors (attention, concentration, intellect)
60
What are the 3 main sources of crime statistics (e.g prevalence data) (not including 'alternative sources, such as, direct observation or hospital data). What are there benefits/limetations.
1. **official stats** (e.g from police arrests) - Misses more specific data [aggregrated into broad crime types] changes over time in what is defined as a crime (e.g homosexuality, marital rape), lack of uniformity across data collections, recording of multiple crimes as one incident,
2. **Crime Surveys** - survery victims of crime, retrieves a higher rate of crime than official stats. limitations: no self-report of some crimes (murder) or some victims (children/tourists) or victimless crime. potential prescense/protection of offender, memory of victimisation, belief that a crime has occured.
3. **Self-report** - survey groups for crimes they have commited. (good for 'victimless crime or less serious crime). May not report serious crime. Social desirability.
61
What is the "dark figure" of crime data? list some factors which contribute.
The dark figure of (or for) crime is a term employed by criminologists and sociologists to describe the amount of unreported or undiscovered crime.
Influenced by:
* The belief that a crime has occured (seriousness of crime)
* The memory/perception that crime has occured (recency effects, availability heuristic)
* Willingness to report crime (social desireability, dis-belief regarding anonymity, too personal)
* Statistics focusing on only arrested or prosecuted offenders.
* Reactivity of participation (participatin in research reduces risk of crime occuring)
62
What is the "reactivity of participation" in crime longitudinal studies?
When participation in research on crime leads to awareness of crime and, thus, changes in the participants behaviour such as reducing their chance of being a victim. (e.g less risky behaviour etc)
63
What are the problems of using 'legal' (or researcher's) definitions of crime for intepreting crime survey data?
Boundry between legal and illegal is not always clear - can be quiete behaviourally difference amongst wide categories (e.g armed robbery of a bank vs. stealing from another young person)
Legal concepts rely on concept of 'intent' not just behaviour.
Legal definitions change over time, are different between countries and often lag behind cultural shifts.
64
In crime studies - what is a cross-sectional design and what are some of its methodological issues?
A snap-shot of a number of cohorts (Groups of people of the same age) of different ages, sexes and backgrounds at one point in time. In a Between-group design. (with controls)
methodological issues: matching controls is difficult. May result in confounds in the data.
65
In crime studies - what is a longitudinal design and what are some of its methodological issues?
Follow-up of one or more cohorts pver long periods of time, within group design.
Advantages: predict late outcome from earlier information, identify developmental sequences and patterns, examine impact of critical periods and life event sonf development
Methodological issues: expensive
66
Longitudinal studies of crime development can be done in restrospect, what are some of the problems with this method?
Reterospective recall is problematic.
* Errors in time ordering
* under-reporting for childhood adversities
* Poor memory of childhood (poor memory of past events in general)
* Unaware of some factors
* Files incomplete or lost.
67
When obtaining data on crime, is it a good idea to use mixed methods of data collection, if yes, why?
Yes,
Because it allows for cross-comparison of data, which means less of a 'dark-figure' of crime, more representative of actual crime.
68
What is a criminal career?
The duration of criminal offending, can be difficult to define/operationalise in research etc. (e.g is desistance a reduction in crime or complete stop and for how long? and when exactly is 'onset'?)
69
Is the rise in crime with age a function of INCIDENCE (more crime committed by a core ofyoung people) or PREVALENCE (more young people commiting crime)?
What are some mean 'age of onsets' for shoplifitng/vandalism, burglary/motor theft and sex offenses/drug trafficing.
PREVALENCE - consensus in the research.
Different age of onset for different crimes:
1. 11 years - shoplifting.vandalisation
2. 14-15 years - burglary/motor theft
3. 17-19 years - sex offenses/drug trafficing
70
Is the mean duration of 'criminal careers' greater for males or females?
Males
Males = 6.2 years (12.4 years multiple crimes)
Females = 1.8 years (7.1 years multiple crimes)
71
Is younger age of criminal career onset associated with longer or shorter criminal careers?
Longer criminal careers
72
How 'long' is the duration of majority of single-offence criminal careers?
1 year (think about moffits typology)
73
In regards to the continuity of criminal careers, is there consistency across time in criminal behaviour?
Evidence suggests YES
1. e.g similar levels of aggressive behaviour over a 5-10 year period (r =.60-.69)
2. Delinquency at age 8, more likely to be conviced of violence at age 32
3. majority (73%) of youths convicted at 10-16 also convicted at 17-24 and 45% at 25-32 years VERSUS 16% of youths not convicted at 10-16 years convited at 17-24 years, 8% at 25-32
74
Describe the life course of a Life-course persistant offender and also of a Adolescence Limited offender (Moffits typology) - include onset, duration and desistence (+ rational), discuss their risk and protective factors and relate to dominent theories of cognition in offending.
LCP: Likely to start criminal career young. potential neurocognitive problems (IQ, concentration, attention) born into a low socio-economic area, father was an alcoholic and absent, tempermentally difficult and impulsive child who mother became permissive, did not engage at school due to difficulty concentrating and does not bond with relevant school and other social values (i.e social control theory), fostered criminal skills obtaining 'needs' such as food/security and 'wants' that they could not afford via stealing (i.e rational choice theory). Poor development of morality as a result of rational choices begin to dictate behaviour and lack of parental guidence/bondign with societal values (i.e cognitive development theory). tends to have an external locus of control and very concrete reasoning and poor social problem solving. father models alcholism (+ genetic factors) child engages in drug use and resulting drug-community, leads to violence. Might desist if he meets a supportive partner etc (life events)
AL:
Good kid, good family, bonds well with school/societal values, average or above average intelligence, minor disagreements with parents resulting in rebellion, falls in with a bad group one year in highschool and trys some drugs and shoplifting, goes to uni (life event) or other life event and desists.
75
When do criminal careers end?
Life events are a big factor. - can lead to decreases in 'anti-social potential'
Can include: Changes in oppourtunities, rewards, costs/constraints, bondings, access to prosocial models, maturation, social controls and structured routine activities.
76
What are the three cognitive theories (discussed in class) for the development of criminal behaviour?
1. Rational choice (cornish and clark 1986)
2. Social control theory (hirsch)
3. Cognitive development theory (piaget, Kohlberg)
77
What is the "rational choice" (cornish and clark) theory of criminal behaviour?
The offenders respond to incentives and evaluate the cost and benefits of an offence/offending
78
What is the "Social control theory" (Hirsch) theory of criminal behaviour?
Offender has weak bonds to society.
79
What is the "Cognitive development" (Piaget, Kohlberg) theory of criminal behaviour?
Offending results from failure in moral development
80
How is research and findings about criminal cognition applied to offender treatment programs?
* Understanding offending backgroun and motivation
* Victim impact and empathy
* mood and anger management
* Identifying thoughts and beliefs that foster violent behaviour
* Communitcation skills
* relationship skills
* Relapse prevention.
81
In criminal cognition, how does IQ (impersonal cognition) relate to criminal behaviour and why?
low Verbal intelligence particularly linked with criminal behaviour (particulary low verbal int in childhood)
Could be a reflection of school disadvantage, or school failure, or low ability to manipulate abstract concepts (relies on concrete concepts) Possible link to neuropsychological deficits.
82
What is Social (i.e interpersonal) cognition?
Capacity to understand other people and to solve problems in social situations.
83
What are the 7 areas (dicussed in class) of functioning/ability in social (interpersonal) congnition that relate to criminal behaviour.
1. Self-control/impulsivity
2. Concrete vs. abstract reasoning
3. Locus of control
4. Empathy/social perspective taking
5. Social problems olving
6. Moral reasoning
7. Social competance/social skills.
84
What is 'implusivity'?
A failure to insert a stage of reflection (i.e a cognitive analysis of the situation) between impulse and action.
85
How does impulsivity relate to criminal behaviour?
* Inability to defer gratification
* Low lvls of frustration tolerance
* adventuresomeness and risk-taking
* difficulty in maintainint long-term relationships (poor prospect for positive life-event here)
* implulisve behaviour
* egotistical and lack of concern about others
86
What type/level of self-esteem is linked (in research) to aggression?
High self-esteem that is unstable (i.e easily challenged)
87
How does a concrete (non-abstract) style of reasoning influence criminal behaviour?
* It is a thinking style orientated towards action, rather than reflecting (abstract).
* Offenders may have difficulty understanding justice and reason for rules/laws
* Offenders may have difficulty understanding how other people think or feel.
88
What is the 'locus of control' and is it linked to criminal behaviour?
The locus of control is: the extent to which a person percieves (their) behaviour as under internal control.
Some evidence that offender spercieve behaviour as goveened by external forces.
89
What is another name for empathy? (though it is arguable)
Social perspective taking.
90
What are the two components that make up empathy (i.e social perspective taking)?
1. Thinking skills - to understand someone elses situation/point of view
2. Emotional capacity - to 'feel for' a person.
91
Is the relationship between social perspective taking/empathy and criminal behaviour independent of SES and intelligence?
NO
92
What is "social problem solving"?
Weighing up a situation, planning desire outcome, generating possible solutions, considering consequences and deciding how to act - (then acting).
It is related to many emotional and adjustment difficulties.
often targetted by treatment programs. treatment steps (approx): identifying/define problems, gather info, distinguish facts/guesses/opinions, generate alternatives solutions, formulate means-ends steps, anticipate consequences and obstaccles, make decision, implement and monitor
93
How might a delay in the development and maturation of moral reasoning influence criminal behaviour?
* Poor knowledge of social conventions and laws (i.e 'right' and 'wrong')
* negative attitudes towards values, conventions and laws.
* Reasoning and criteria used to justify moral decisions and behaviour.
Empirical support for link between moral reasoning and offending.
94
There is a weak link between moral reasoning levels and parenting style towards children - what are some child-rearing practices that promote good moral reasoning?
* Inductive discipline (i.e explaining underlying reason)
* High parental warmth
* low parental rejection
* supportive by challenging environment when discussing moral issues
* Democratic family decision making
95
What is "moral reasoning training" treatment for criminal offenders?
Groups sessions based around a moral dilemma, participants consider alternative actions open to the protagonist in the vignette, group discussion, group makes consensus decision about protagonists course of action.
96
What is the social information processing model (crick and dodge)? (hint: order of intpreting and reactive to a social event/information)
Encode social cues -\> interpret social cues -\> clarifiy goals -\> access/construct response -\> decision about response -\> enact reponse
97
What is the General Aggression Model (GAM) (Anderson and Bushman)
consists of Inputs, Routes and Outcomes.
INPUTS: person (things about the peson and situation (things about the situation) as information
ROUTES: filtered through the present internal state affect (current situation person and enviornment)/cognition(e.g aggressive scripts and schemas)/arousal(e.g physciological).
OUTCOMES: appraisal and decision making process based on the above leading to either 'thoughtfull action' or 'impulsive action'
---\> action in social encounter. repeat.
98
What are the two models of social information processing?
General Aggression Model (GAM) (anderson and Bushman 2002)
Social Information processing model (Crick and Dodge, 1994)
99
As a social information processing model, why is the General Aggression Model (GAM) (anderson and Bushman 2002)
## Footnote
better than the Social Information processing model (Crick and Dodge, 1994)?
Accouns for internal and external factors - factors about self, the environment. both transient and stable (state and trait) factors.
100
in regard to Dodge's Social Information Processing model, how do aggressive people differ in the encoding and interpreting of social cues?
* Bias towards recent information
* selective attention and memory for hostile cues
* reliance on internal (aggressive schemas)
* Hostile attribution bias
101
in regard to Dodge's Social Information Processing model, how do aggressive people differ in the 'clarifying goals' stage?
Goal orientation towards aggression, revenge and dominance
102
in regard to Dodge's Social Information Processing model, how do aggressive people differ in the "Access/construct response", "decision about response" stage?
* They generate fewer alternative responses
* more aggressive/antisocial responses that are then evaluated more favourably
* expect a positive outcome for aggressive response.
103
in regard to Dodge's Social Information Processing model, how do aggressive people differ in the "Enact response" stage?
May have social skill deficits.
104
How do attitudes and belief towards aggression influence aggressive behaviour? (what about cognitive distortions)
* Attitudes towards crime: Supportive beliefs predict aggression e.g "lots of people out to get you so you have to be violent"
* Can include cognitive distortions e.g child sex offenders: "a child who doesn't resist, wants sex"
* Attitudes towards self: e.g 'fragile' high self-esteem
105
Where do distorted beliefs (cognitions) about offenses/offending come from? (e.g in cognitive distortions held by child sex offenders)
May indication the existence of "implicit theories" or "distorted schemas
e.g :
* Children as sexual beings
* nature of harm (" it isn't harmful"
* "uncontrollability" (locus of control)
* Dangerous world
* Entitlement
106
How do psychologists treat cognitive distortions?
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
\*restructure distortions -\> offense description -\> identification of distortions by therapist/group members -\> educate offenders.
107
Are cognitive disortions real/genuine beliefs?
Empirical evidence is mixed. - Could be post-hoc accounts/justifications or very specific beliefs about a particular victim.
Never the less - makes sense to view/treat them as beliefs for theory building and treatment purposes.
108
In 'interpersonal cognition' (i.e social cognition) what is functioning/ability, processes and content?
functioning/ability: actual capacity to understand other people and solve problems in social situations.
Processes: intepretation/evaluation of social information and resulting action
Content: Beliefs/attitudes/schemas
109
What is Facet theory? (criminal profilling)
The idea that different facets of the offense (e.g the type of weapon, what was taken from the scene) are related to different aspets of the offender (age, previous criminal record) (Boon and Davies, 1993)
110
In criminal profilling analysis - what is multidimensional scaling?
Represents offence variables in geometric space
Used to model offence behaviour for crime series
Based on whether particular offence items were present or absent in an offene
Smaller space between variables indicats similarity (more likely to occur in the same offender)
Variables closer to the center are most common
E.g a four grid with SADISM-AGGRESSION-INTIMACY-CRIMINALITY
111
What are the three major goals of criminal profilling? (Holmes and Holmes 1996)
1. a social and psychological assessment of the offender
2. A psychological evaluation of the possessions found with suspected offenders.
3. Consultation with law enforcement officials on the stratergies which might be best employed when interviewing subjects.
112
What is the hierachy of behaviourally important feautures of offenders? (i.e distinguishing between)
1. Criminal vs. non-criminal
2. Classes of crime (e.g property vs. people)
3. Types of crime (arson, burglary, rape)
4. Patterns of criminal behaviour
5. Modus Operandi
6. Criminal signature
113
Is there a good empirical basis for criminal profiling? what are its limitations?
* Some evidence, in it's infancy, needs more
* Profiles can lack justification, often contain unsubstatiated claims and are open to intepretation
* "garbage in, garbage out' - profiles sometimes based on incomplete, ambigious or unreliable information
* Most accounts of success are anecdotal
* Availability heuristic - selective writing about cases in profiling books etc.
* Many profiled cases not solve
* Application to all crimes?
* Reiteration of facts already known to the police.
* How to fit the profile to a specific person.
114
What are the limitations of analytical stratergies for case linkage?
* Deciding what similar co-efficients to choose (linking performance varies dependng)
* How choice of behaviour influenced degree of similarity and distinctiveness found
* How to identify appropriate decision threshold
115
What are the three roles three general roles to which a victim may be assigned, i.e. where the Vender treats the victim in a certain way
(1) treats the victim as an object (something just to be used and controlled through restraint and threat, often involving alternative gains in the form of other crimes such as theft); (2) sees the victim as a vehicle for the oVender’s own emotional state (e.g., anger and frustration (the victim is subjected to extreme violence and abuse)); and (3) sees the victim as a person (some level of pseudo-intimacy with attempts to create some sort of rapport or relationship).
116
When/why does a criminal career end?
* life events (getting married, getting a stady job, moving house
* decreased antisocial potential
* changes in oppourtunities, rewards, costs/constraints, bonding, prosocial models, maturation, social controls and structured routin actvitis
117
What areas does cognition involve?
concepts associated with thinking.
perception, memory, imagery, reasoning, attitudes
