Forensic Psychology Flashcards

Question

OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR: GENETIC AND NEURAL EXPLANATIONS Outline the following neural explanation for offending behaviour: Brain structure

Answer 1

Raine et al (1997) - investigated brains of 41 murderers (2 female) who had been charged with manslaughter or murder and had not pleaded guilty by reason of insanity - researchers used PET scan to highlight areas of brain activity and these results were compared to an age and gender matched control group - found reduced activity in prefrontal cortex in offender group - indicates that violent offenders have abnormal brain functioning due to reduced activity, suggesting their brains are slowed and perhaps unable to make the swift decisions to react appropriately in certain situations - e.g.) frontal lobes associated with planning behaviour => decreased prefrontal cortex activity could mean offenders are unable to consider the consequences of their actions and control their behaviour

Answer 2

**serotonin**: linked to mood and impulsiveness - Moir and Jessel (1995) cite a number of human and animal studies which suggest a link between low levels of serotonin and aggression (linked to criminal behaviour) - Scerbo and Raine (1993) conducted a meta-analysis on 29 pieces of research into anti-social adults and children, finding low serotonin in all cases **dopamine**: identified as having link to dopaminergic pathways (result in pleasure, rewarding feeling and a desire to repeat certain behaviours), linked to substance abuse - Buitelaar (2003) found juvenile delinquents given dopamine antagonists (reduce dopamine) showed decreased aggressive behaviour - Couppis (2008) argues that some individuals who engage in certain criminal behaviours ,ay experience an increase in dopamine => seek out such experiences again due to reward feeling

Answer 3

mirror neuron: type of brain cell that fires both when you do an action and when you watch someone else doing an action; helps us interpret the actions of others - Keysers (2011) found that only when offenders were asked to empathise (when watching a film depicting pain) did their empathy reaction activate - offenders are not totally without empathy but may have a neural switch that can be turned on and off (i.e. empathy isn't an automatic response for offenders)

Answer 4

P: issues with twin and adoption studies E: it's assumed in twin studies that because MZ and DZ twins are raised together, their env is controlled but research suggests that MZ twins are much more likely to be treated more similarly because they're identical E: assumption of "shared env" is flawed, difficult to establish whether increased concordance in offending behaviour in MZ twins is due to greater genetic similarity or shared env when compared with DZ E: PLUS many adoptions take place when child is older, so have spent a significant amount of time with biological parents; and many adoption practices encourage (where possible) contact between bio parents and child => twin and adoption studies don't appear to separate influences of nature and nurture as well as they claim L: difficult to ascertain how much of offending behaviour is attributed to nature vs nurture

Answer 5

P: research support for DSM E: Mednick et al (1884) studies 13,000 Danish adoptees looking at petty crime; when neither biological nor adopted parents had convictions, 13.5% adoptees had convictions; rose to 20% when either of bio parents had convictions; 24.5% when adoptive and biological both had convictions E: highest rate of offending behaviour was when child had both biological vulnerability (both bio parents convicted) and env stressor (adoptive parents convicted), as DSM would predict E: BUT not 100% (less than a quarter) so DSM is insufficient as a stand-alone explanation for all offending behaviour; reduced validity L: DSM not necessarily most useful as explanation for offending behaviour

Answer 6

P: biological determinism E: genetic: argues a person born with candidate genes (CDH13 or MAOA) will go on to offend//reduced activity in prefrontal cortex or low serotonin or high dopamine E: ignores free will, judiciary system is based upon idea that people have chosen to commit their crimes - if false then serious implications for validity of the system E: PLUS ethical implications, not fair to punish someone with additional risk of offending behaviour (carrying MAOA or CHD13 gene // reduced activity in prefrontal cortex) the same as someone who had more control, such as Steven Mobley (sentence not reduced even after claims of biological predisposition and was killed by lethal injection as punishment); miscarriage of justice L: more realistic stance would be soft determinism

Answer 7

P: research support for link between crime and frontal lobe E: Kandel and Freed (1989) reviewed evidence of frontal lobe damage (incl. prefrontal cortex) and antisocial behaviour; people with such damage tended to show impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and inability to learn from their mistakes E: frontal lobe associated with planning behaviour, supports link between brain and offending behaviour E: biological explanations support psychology's claim to being a science - objective methods such as brain scans, increased validity of bio explanations for offending behaviour L: increased cred of neural explanation to extent

Answer 8

P: biological reductionism E: neurochemical explanations take lowest level of explanation and break complex behaviour of offending to levels of neurotransmitters (low serotonin, high dopamine) E: neglects other factors; Farrington et al (2006) studies group of men scoring high on psychopathy; these individuals experienced various risk factors during childhood (raised by convict parent, physically neglected); could be these early childhood experiences interacted with biological vulnerabilities, contributing to offending behaviour E: BUT genetic explanations do appreciate DSM which increases credibility of biological explanations L: relationship between neural differences and offending is complex and there may be other intervening variables that have an impact

Answer 9

- an individual with a criminal personality scores highly in measures of psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism (PEN) - they cannot be easily conditioned, they are cold, unfeeling and likely to engage in offending behaviour when explaining criminal personality: 1) outline the trait, 2) outline the biology, 3) link to criminal behaviour

Answer 10

PSYCHOTICISM (**P**EN) - over-sensitive, impulsive, lack empathy chemical imbalance: - high DA levels => behaviour is unpredictable - high testosterone => prone to aggressive outbursts - poor metabolism of serotonin => mood not well-regulated

Answer 11

EXTRAVERSION (P**E**N) - outgoing, sociable, seek stimulation, engage in risk-taking behaviour, hard to condition underactive reticular activating system (RAS) (controls flow of info into brain) - underactive => restricts flow of info to brain => extraverts crave stimulation (want to 'make up for' reduced of stimulation) => carry out risk-taking behaviour as a way of increasing stimulation

Answer 12

NEUROTICISM (PE**N**) - emotional unstable, very reactive overactive limbic system (which regulates emotion) - overactive => neurotic people react to a stimulus very quickly (e.g. extremely angry, leading to violent outbursts)

Answer 13

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (/Inventory) (EPQ (/EPI)) - form of psychological test which locates respondents along the ENP dimensions (circular spectrum)

Answer 14

socialisation: children taught to become more able to delay gratification and be more socially orientated - Eysenck believed that people with high PEN scores had nervous systems that made them harder to condition => more likely to be antisocial in situations where the opportunity presents itself

Answer 15

P: supportive evidence E: Hans and Cybil Eysenck compared 2070 male prisoners' scores on EPQ with 2422 male control group; groups subdivided into age, ranging from 16-69yrs; prisoner group scored higher on each aspect of PEN than control group E: prisoners have higher scores on PEN => fit criminal behaviour (more than control) => increased validity of theory for identifying criminals E: BUT bet bias in research (all male sample) => underestimates the criminal personality in women => reduced validity for research, assumes men and women both equally fit into Eysenck's theory of criminal personality L: empirical evidence but take with caution

Answer 16

P: too simplistic E: Moffit claimed that personality alone is a poor predictor of how long offending behaviour would go on for; differences in adolescents' offending behaviour and that which continues into adulthood; she argued behaviour best understood as a "reciprocal process" between individual personality traits and environmental reactions to those traits E: ignores environmental factors affecting personality => reductionist (breaks down complex idea of personality into biology, fails to recognise differences between petty crime in adolescence and more serious crimes in adulthood E: PLUS EPQ is also too simplistic, not in depth, closed Qs requiring fixed answers, can't elaborate L: reduced credibility, reductionist

Answer 17

P: contradictory evidence E: Farrington did meta-analysis of relevant studies and found that offenders tended to score higher on measures of psychoticism but not extraversion and neuroticism E: theory says criminal personality needs high scores on all three (PEN) but Farrington contradicts => theory is unreliable E: PLUS meta-analysis strengthens Farrington's study, large sample => reliable => more credible study than Eysenck's L: reduced cred for Eysenck (contradictory evidence is stronger than the original evidence)

Answer 18

KOHLBERG'S LEVEL OF MORAL REASONING theory: - moral reasoning = ways people think about and perceive right or wrong - developmental theory that looks at how individuals grow in their understanding of moral decision-making and behaviour - staged process, moral reasoning becomes more complex and abstract as the child ages - 6 stages (3 levels): pre-conventional level (moral reasoning is based on reward and punishment), then conventional (moral reasoning based on external ethics), then post-conventional (moral reasoning based on personal ethics) link to offending behaviour: - Kohlberg et al (1973), using moral dilemmas, found that a group of violent youths were at a significantly lower level of moral reasoning than non-violent youths (even after controlling for social background - offenders more likely to be classified at the pre-conventional level (stages 1 and 2) whereas non-offenders have generally progressed to conventional and beyond - pre-conventional level characterised by a need to avoid punishment and gain rewards and is associated with less mature, childlike reasoning - thus, adults and adolescents who reason at this level may commit crimes if they can get away with it or gain rewards in the form of money/increased respect etc

Answer 19

hostile attribution bias (HAB) - people misinterpret the actions of others, assuming the other to be confrontational when they're not - offenders may misread non-aggressive cues (such as being 'looked at') which may trigger a disproportionate, often violent, response - Schönenberg and Jusyte (2014) presented 55 violent offenders with ambiguous facial expressions; when compared with non-aggressive matched control group, violent offenders were significantly more likely to to perceive the images as angry and hostile - Dodge and Frae (1982) showed children a video of an 'ambiguous provocation' (where the intention was neither clearly hostile nor clearly accidental); children who had been identified as 'aggressive' prior to study interpreted the situation as more hostile than the 'non-aggressive' children

Answer 20

minimalisation: - an attempt to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence - burglars may describe themselves as 'supporting my family' as a way of minimising the seriousness of their offences - studies suggest that individuals who commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimalisation - Barabeen (1991) found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim

Answer 21

P: research support E: Palmer and Hollin (1998) compared moral reasoning in 332 non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using Socio Moral Reflection Measure Short Form (SRM-SF) (contains 11 moral dilemma questions, e.g. keeping a promise to a friend or not taking things that aren't yours); offender group showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offender group E: supports Kohlberg's idea that offenders show a lower, pre-conventional level of moral reasoning than non-offenders => increased validity of theory E: BUT method used to obtain results is questionnaire (self-report) => issue of social desirability bias (want to appear at a high level of moral reasoning so might lie in responses) => not valid 'supportive evidence' so might not increase the validity of Kohlberg's theory after all L: increased cred of moral reasoning theory but needs to be taken with caution

Answer 22

P: not applicable to all offences E: Thornton and Reed (1982): ppl committing crimes for financial gain (robbery) more likely to show preconventional level of moral reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (assault) E: insufficient explanation for all offending behaviour; theory doesn't apply to all crimes (e.g. impulsive ones) E: BUT: study has low temporal validity; crime is constantly changing; new crimes have emerged in recent years (cybercrime); do these claims still apply today? L: reduced credibility of theory of moral reasoning but to an extent due to low temporal validity of contradictory research

Answer 23

P: real world application E: CBT aims to challenge irrational thinking, e.g. criminals encouraged to own up to their crimes and establish less distorted view of their actions; less denial and less minimalisation is associated with a reduced chance of reoffending E: CBT effectively reduces reoffending behaviour due to reduced minimalisation => less justification of their actions and so they take more responsibility => increased validity of cognitive distortions theory (due to real-world application) E: BUT CBT doesn't reduce chance of reoffending for everyone (individual differences in the extent to which cognitive distortions are present, as well as the different cognitive distortions used); insufficient explanation for all criminals => reduced reliability of theory L: increased credibility of cognitive distortion theory due to real-world application but must be cautious due to low external validity

Answer 24

P: not applicable to all crimes E: Howitt and Sheldon: questionnaire of contact (assault or rape) vs non-contact (images online) sex-offenders; contact used more cognitive distortions than non-contact offenders E: theory of CDs isn't generalisable to all offences => theory has low population validity E: PLUS using CDs is a nomothetic approach to explaining criminality; general laws neglect individuality/individual differences L: reduced credibility for CD theory, we need to understand + appreciate individual differences

Answer 25

1) **learned not inherited**: criminal behaviour is learned, not inherited (direct contrast to bio explanations) 2) **interaction and communication**: criminal behaviour is learned in *interaction* with other people through communication (mainly verbal communication (storytelling) but can include attitudes/techniques/gestures) 3) **direct through intimate groups**: principal part of learning criminal behaviour occurs within intimate, personal groups; indirect communications (tv, books etc) are not nearly as important in learning criminal behaviour 4) **techniques and reasons**: learning includes techniques of committing the crime and the reasons and attitudes to favour criminal actions 5) **laws are good or bad**: specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable (i.e. some laws are good and others are bad) 6) **should I commit a crime? yes >> no**: delinquency starts when our rationale for breaking the law outweighs our rationale for respecting it; criminality is due to contact with criminal patterns AND lack of contact with anti-criminal patterns 7) **vary in frequency, duration, intensity and priority**: differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, intensity and priority 8) **learning crime = learning anything else**: processes of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal anti-criminal patterns involve all the same mechanisms as any other learning (operant and classical conditioning, modelling, imitation, etc - behaviourist and SLT) 9) **expression of needs, not explained by needs**: while criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values since non-criminal behaviour is an expression of these things too (to make money, some turn to crime and others work hard honestly)

Answer 26

P: offers a more realistic solution to crime E: Sutherland was successful in moving emphasis away from early bio explanations of crime (atavistic form) as well as those explaining through individual weakness or immorality; DAT draws attention to idea that deviant env may be more to blame than deviant individuals E: more realistic solution than eugenics (biological solution (selective breeding)) or punishment (morality solution); instead emphasises need for intervention in social groups and intimate relationships where criminal techniques and attitudes may be passed on E: BUT DAT risks stereotyping individuals from impoverished, crime-ridden backgrounds as 'unavoidable offenders'; could lead to self-fulfilling prophecy (individuals act in the way they have been treated) L: increased credibility for DAT but must handle social sensitivity carefully (could lead to ethical implications)

Answer 27

P: theory applicable to all crimes E: he established the idea of 'white collar crimes" (financially motivated, non-violent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals/people of a higher social class) **FINISH** E: shows it's not just the 'lower classes' who commit offences; principles of DAT can be used to explain crimes across all social groups; ppl who join the mafia generally grow up inside its culture; having family members already involved in its structure functions as a potent invitation to potential members E: BUT places great emphasis on nurture over nature; Farrington et al (2006) conducted Cambridge Study in Delinquency Development (longitudinal study which tracked delinquency development in boys from age 8 into adulthood), found that one of biggest risk factors associated with criminality was family criminality; this stat is often cited as evidence to support Sutherland and the role of DAs but could also be explained through genetic inheritance (nature) L: DAT is highly applicable but neglects nature; more interactions approach to explaining crime and deviance would be more credible

Answer 28

P: relies on untestable concepts E: concepts cannot be operationalised => untestable (e.g. hard to see/measure the number of pro-crime attitudes a person has or has been exposed to); theory built on assumption that criminal behaviour will occur when pro-crime values outnumber anti-crime ones E: without being able to measure these concepts, we can't know the point at which the urge to offend is realised and the offending career is triggered E: PLUS theory lacks falsification, necessary criterion for psychology to be considered a science => by accepting DAT we are weakening our claim to being a science L: DAT lacks scientific credibility

Answer 29

- superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage of development when children resolve the Oedipus complex (or Electra for girls) - superego works on morality principle and exerts its influence by punishing the ego through guilt for wrongdoing whilst rewarding it with pride for moral behaviour - Blackburn argued that if the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then criminal behaviour is inevitable because the id is given 'free rein' and not properly controlled - he also identified three types of inadequate superego: weak, deviant and over-harsh

Answer 30

WEAK SUPEREGO: - if same-gender parent is absent during phallic stage, a child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification (with this same-gender parent, which is what is needed to resolve the Oedipus/Electra complex and develop a superego) - this would make immoral or offending behaviour more likely because the child doesn't develop a sense of right and wrong

Answer 31

DEVIANT SUPEREGO: - is the superego that a child internalises has immoral or deviant values, this would lead to offending behaviour - e.g.) a boy raised by a criminal father is not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing => offending behaviour is more likely due to hang an 'inverted' moral code

Answer 32

OVER-HARSH SUPEREGO: - healthy superego is based on identification with parent who has firm rules but forgives transgressions - but excessively punitive/over-harsh parenting style leads to a child having deep-seated guilt, and then craves punishment as a release from these feelings - this would make them engage in impulsive or immoral offending behaviour in order to be punished

Answer 33

MATERNAL DEPIRVATION THEORY: - failure to establish warm, continuous relationship with mother-figure, where the doesn't/cannot give the emotional care the child needs, within the first 2.5 years of life leads to maternal deprivation - irreversible, long-term consequences in later life - one consequence is affectionless psychopathy: child is unfeeling towards others, lacks empathy and guilt => likely to engage in offending behaviour - supported by his 44 thieves study: interviewed 44 young thieves and their families, found 14 were affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these had experienced maternal deprivation - he concluded that the maternal deprivation had *caused* the affectionless delinquency

Answer 34

P: untestable/abstract concepts E: concepts within unconscious mind are by nature untestable => no (supportive) evidence; arguments like inadequate superego can only be judged at face value rather than their scientific credibility E: core principles of psychodynamic approach don't meet scientific criterion of falsification => weakens psychology's scientific claim; theories' practical value in relation to strategies to prevent crime is reduced; E: BUT psychodynamic explanations were some of the first to link early childhood experiences to moral behaviour and offending (nowadays regarded as common sense); psychodynamic explanations also drew attention to emotional basis (anxiety, guilt) of offending (neglected by other explanations ) L: influential in understanding criminal behaviour but lack of evidence base => lack credibility

Answer 35

P: link between maternal deprivation and offending behaviour is only correlational. E: Bowlby's (1944) 44 thieves: he didn't manipulate the experience of deprivation and then monitor the effects on offending behaviour, he only measured the affectionless psychopathy (AP) and reported retrospectively on maternal deprivation E: cannot claim that maternal deprivation *led to* AP and ultimately offending behaviour; could have been other variables that better explain the relationship between these two variables E: PLUS Lewis (1954) analysed data from 500 young people, found maternal deprivation to be a poor indicator of future offending behaviour; even if there is a link between children who experience frequent or prolonged separation from their mothers and offending later in life, it's not necessarily a causal relationship (may be countless other explanations, e.g. poverty) L: credibility of psychodynamic explanations of offending behaviour is reduced

Answer 36

P: gender biased explanation E: Freud's theory says girls develop a weaker superego than boys because identification with the same-gender parent isn't as strong (girls don't experience intense emotion associated with castration anxiety => under less pressure to identify with their mothers than boys are with their fathers); therefore girls' superego (=> sense of morality) is less fully realised; implication of this is that women should be more prone to offending than men are E: weakness because opposite is true since 20x more men than woomen are in prisons E: PLUS in a study where children were required to resist tempattion, Hoffman (1975) found hardly nay evidence of gender differences and when there was, littel girls tended to be more mooral than little boys; suggests psychodynamic explanations of offeding behaviour suffer from alpha bias (exaggerated difference in male and female offending behaviour, in the wrong direction) L: reduced cred for psychodynamic explanations of offending behaviour

Answer 37

P: research support E: Goreta (1991): freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment; disturbances in superego formation diagnosed in all 10; each experiened unconscius guilt and need for self-punishment; Goreta explained this as consequence of over-harsh superego (need for puishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend) E: supports role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending E: BUT: central principles of inadequate superego theory aren't supported; if theory were correct, we'd expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who constantly experience feelings of guilt and anxiety; but evidence suggests opposite is true (parents who rely on harsher discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express guilt or self-criticism) L: relationship between strong, punitive parenting and excessive guilt wihin child has mixed evidence

Answer 38

custodial sentencing refers to when a convited offender spends time in prison or another closed institution such as young offenders institution or psychiatric hospital

Forensic Psychology Flashcards

(66 cards)