criminal psychology Flashcards
(63 cards)
1
Q
name the 5 types of criminal offences
A
- violent
- drug related
- acquisitive
- sexual
- anti- social
2
Q
what are violent offences?
A
Aggressive crimes resulting in physical harm or death to the victim
3
Q
what are drug related offences?
A
Crimes involving trading in or using illegal substances
4
Q
what are acquisitive offences?
A
taking money / belongings without the consent / knowledge of the owner
5
Q
what are sexual offences?
A
Crimes where a victim is forced to commit or submit to a sexual act against their will
6
Q
what are anti-social offences?
A
Criminal acts that cause harassment or distress to people who do not share a home with the perpetrator
7
Q
Why is crime hard to define?
A
- definition changes according to time and culture
- criminal behaviour is subjective
- criminal behaviour is a social construct
- crime is a deviation from norms
8
Q
How is crime measured
A
- official statistics
- self report survey
9
Q
what are official statistics?
A
- police reported crimes
- however not all crime are reported
-however can still show us which crimes are increasing / decreasing & what the most common ones are
10
Q
What are self-report surveys? & what are the 2 types
A
- confidential survey asking about crimes that are not reported / detected
- victim survey - questionnaires given to general
public to find out what crimes have been committed against them , whether the crimes have been officially recorded or not - offender survey - questionnaires given to general public / more specific group of known offenders
11
Q
example of violent crime
A
assault
12
Q
example of drug related crime
A
drug dealing
13
Q
example of an acquisitive crime
A
theft
14
Q
example of a sexual crime
A
rape
15
Q
example of an anti social crime
A
graffiti
16
Q
what does the social learning theory propose?
A
criminal & anti social behaviour are learned behaviors. People are not born criminals but become criminals depending on their experiences.
17
Q
stages of social learning theory
A
Role model - identification - observation - imitation - direct reinforcement/vicarious reinforcement - internalisation - consequences
18
Q
What is a role model?
A
people we look up to + admire
19
Q
What is identification?
A
The process where a person aligns themselves with another
20
Q
What is observation?
A
The process where people pay attention to behaviours and retain them in memory
21
Q
What is imitation?
A
A process where people recall behaviours and reproduce them in their own actions
22
Q
what is direct reinforcement?
A
When a behaviour is strengthened and likely to be repeated due to positive outcomes for the individual
23
Q
what is vicarious reinforcement?
A
When a behaviour is strengthened by an individual observing this same behaviour being rewarded in another
24
Q
What is internalisation?
A
The process whereby a behaviour becomes an integral part of an individual’s personality due to continuous reinforcement
25
criticisms of slt- ignores role of nature
focuses too much on nurture & ignores role of nature - for example there may be a criminal gene that is inherited & this could explain why criminal behaviour appears to run in families
26
another criticisms of SLT
- doesn’t explain how criminal behaviour started in the first place
27
what was the hypothesis of cooper & mackie
- predicted playing an aggressive video game would lead to increased aggression in children
28
what was the aim of cooper & Mackie
- to investigate whether violent computer games affect children's aggression levels
29
what was the method of cooper & mackie
- lab experiment
- IMD
- IV = type of game played / observed
- DV = measure of aggression
30
what was condition 1 of cooper and mackie
- pair of ppts played / observed w high aggression , low aggression or a control video game (paper + pen maze game)
31
what was condition 2 of cooper & mackie (how were aggression levels measured after the game)
- 1 ppt went to a toy room & chose either an aggressive toy , active toy , skill based toy or quiet toy
- other ppt measured by interpersonal aggression - children showed how much they would punish an imaginary child who had naughty - measure by how long they pressed a buzzer for.
32
how did cooper & mackie control extraneous variables
- after 8 mins , observers & players swapped
33
what were the results of cooper & mackie
- girls who played the aggressive game were more likely to them chose an aggressive toy to play with but boys were not affected by which game they played
- interpersonal aggression was not affected by playing / observing games
- didn’t make a difference to aggression levels whether children played / observed
34
what were the conclusions of cooper + mackie
-watching violent video games has the same impact as playing one
35
what was the sample for cooper + mackie
- 84 children 9-11 year olds in New Jersey
36
criticism of cooper & mackie - ecological validity
- carried out in artificial environment -> video games normally played at home / in arcades rather than in labs under strict conditions
37
other criticisms of cooper + mackie
- not representative of other ages + cultures -> only carried out in American children who may have been more / less affected by video games as they were very common in their country & a narrow age group.
38
what is Eysenck’s theory
believed criminal behaviour had a biological basis & was due to high levels of 3 personality traits
39
what were the 3 personality traits
- extroversion, neuroticism & psychoticism
40
wha is extroversion
- a trait measuring how outgoing / sociable an individual is
- more likely to anti socially
41
what is neuroticism
a trait measuring how anxious , guilty and angry an individual is
42
what is psychoticism
a trait measuring how impulsive + aggressive an individual is
43
according to esyenck’s theory what causes psychoticism
- psychoticism is a result of an excess of dopaminergic neurons
- leads to higher levels of dopamine production + lower inhibition of impulses during synaptic transmission
- more impulsive , aggressive behaviour
44
what is synaptic transmission
- neurotransmitters are released by the pre-synaptic neuron & bind to the receptors of the post synaptic neuron
45
according to esyenck’s theory , what causes extraversión
- reticular activation system (RAS) = part of brain stem that links the brain & spinal cord , regulating info sent to the cerebral cortex
- low levels of arousal in cerebral cortex (as stimuli are restricted by RAS) - extroverts seek stimuli from the environment
- extroverts also have a stronger dopamine system so will respond positively to rewards e.g money
46
according to esyenck’s theory what causes neuroticism?
- related to autonomic nervous system (ANS) - (regulates activity of the brains limbic system & is activated during emotion - inducing situations
- ANS becomes over-aroused in neurotics leading to extreme emotions
47
why are high extroverts likely to commit crime
- as they need a lot of stimulation & are thrill seekers , the thrill of committing a crime might draw them to offending behaviour
48
why might high neurotics be likely to commit crimes
- more likely to get upset & over react to situations - can lead to some impulsive behaviour
49
why might a high psychotic be more likely to commit crimes
- more aggressive , impulsive & lack conscience
- also have traits associated with criminal behaviour
50
criticisms of esyenck’s theory
-ignores individual differences -> sees criminals as being broadly the same as they share the same personality type
- deterministic -> says criminal behavior is largely genetic but this suggests there is little that can be done to control it -> however evidence says criminals can be rehabilitated
51
what was the aim of heaven
- to see if psychotic , extraversion & self esteem were significant predictors of self reported delinquency
52
what was the sample of heaven
- 282 teens (13-15) from 2 catholic schools in Australia
53
what research methods were used in heavens stud
Questionnaire + longitudinal study
54
what was the procedure of heavens study
- participants completed questionnaires at time 1 & 2 years later
- questionnaire =
1) questions taken from Eysencks personality questionnaire to measure extroversion + psychoticsm
2) 10 item questionnaire to measure self esteem
3) self report to measure delinquency (looked at violence , vandalism & theft)
55
what were the findings of heaven
- positive correlation between psychoticism & delinquency at the beginning & end of the study
- no significant correlation between self esteem & delinquency
- psychoticism = best predictor of delinquency
56
limitations of heavens study
- culturally biased -> children all from 1 religion & 1 country -> other religions & countries may have a different influence on delinquent behaviour
- social desirability -> participants may have given social desirable responses -> even tho the questionnaire was anonymous , some children may not have wanted to admit to all the delinquent things they have done
- low construct validity -> closed questions -> personality + delinquency are too complex to be reduced to scores
57
types of punishment
- prison
- fines
- community sentences
58
what is punishment
- when negative consequences result from a certain behaviour & reduce the chance of that behaviour happening again
59
name 2 uses of rehabilitation to promote pro social behaviour
- restorative justice
- positive role models
60
explain restorative justice
- victim of crime will meet the criminal
- offender has to take responsibility for their crime & face the consequences of their actions
- offenders will make amends in some way e.g repairing damage
- brings them back to community
61
how do role models promote pro-social behaviours
- drawn from principles of social learning theory
- offenders have opportunity to observe others - best = ex offenders - behaving in a pro social way & achieving success
62
explain the use of punishment to reduce anti social behaviour
- prisons - taking away freedom rights & privileges
- fines - money can be an incentive to committing crimes like theft so loss of money should have the opposite effect
- community sentences - offenders pay back to society by giving up their time
63
what is the effect of a deterrent
- many people do not commit crimes in the first place & this is because they want to avoid the negative consequences they have seen others suffer
