Criminology Theories Flashcards
(39 cards)
Arousal Theory
The view that people seek to maintain a preferred level of arousal but vary in how they process sensory input. A need for high levels of environmental stimulation may lead to aggressive, violent behavior patterns.
Attachment Theory
Behavioral Theory
Biological Positivism Theory
Black Feminist Theory
Rational Choice Theory
Ronald Clarke & Derek Cornish: The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the would-be offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.
Positivist Criminology
People commit crimes due to natural causes that are out of their control. Based on observable scientific evidence. Crimes is an action which individuals take due to social, economic, or mental forces outside their control. Punishment should fit the criminal.
Trait Theory
The view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits.
Conflict Theory
Karl Marx: The view that human behavior is shape by interpersonal conflict and that those who maintain social power will use it to further their own ends. The law is a weapon that the powerful use to enforce their private interests, often at the expense of the public interest. Contrasts with Consensus Theory.
Social Structure Theory
The view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime.
Social Process Theory
The view that criminality is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society.
Racial Threat Theory
As the size of minority populations increase, the perceived threat to the majority population increases, resulting in a greater amount of social control imposed on the minority population.
Victim Precipitation Theory
The view that victims may initiate, either actively or passively, the confrontation that leads to their victimization.
Deviant Place Theory
The view that victimization is primarily a function of where people live.
Routine Activities Theory
The view that victimization results from the interaction of three everyday factors: the availability of suitable targets, the absence of capable guardians, and the presence of motivated offenders.
Psychodynamic Theory
Freud: The theory that the human personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes that develop early in childhood and involve the interaction of the id, ego, and superego.
Attachment Theory
Bowlby’s theory that being able to form an emotional bond to another person is an important aspect of mental health throughout the life span
Behavior Theory
The view that all human behavior is learned through a process of social reinforcement (rewards and punishment).
Social Learning Theory
Akers: The idea that social behavior is a cognitive process in which personality and environment interact reciprocally.
Cognitive Theory
A psychological perspective that focuses on the mental processes by which people perceive and represent the world around them and solve problems.
Information-Processing Theory
A theory that focuses on how people process, store, encode, retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems.
Nature Theory
The view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior.
Nurture Theory
The view that intelligence is not inherited but is largely a product of environment. Low IQ scores do not cause crime but may result from the same environmental factors.
Social Disorganization Theory
A branch of social structure theory that focuses on the breakdown in inner-city neighborhoods of institutions such as the family, school, and employment.
