physiological theories Flashcards
(29 cards)
what group of theories does physiological belong to?
The Biological Theories
who were the two physiological theorists?
Lombroso and Sheldon
what was Lombroso’s theory about?
‘born criminals’ - criminals are a separate species to modern man as they are physically different
What did Lombroso say determined the criminals?
physical shape of the head and face (he said that criminality was heritable)
How did Lombroso find his evidence?
He measured and recorded the details of heads and faces of thousands of prisoners
What features did ‘born criminals’ have?
- low slope foreheads
- large jaws
- forward projection jaw
- receding chin
- twisted nose
- long arms (compared to body)
what does atavistic means?
primitive features/characteristics from earlier stage of human development
What is Garland (1994) say about Lombroso’s theory?
He gave criminology scientific credibility
- he was the first person to study crime from a scientific perspective
Lombroso’s research showed the importance of….
examining clinical and historical records of criminals to identify common themes in criminality
What did Goring (1913) say that agreed with Lombroso?
that all convicts had the same low-order intelligence = there is a genetic basis to criminality
What was one of Lombroso’s main weaknesses?
that he studied deceased criminals and did not have a control group to compare them to non-criminals
what limitation of Lombroso did Goring point out?
Goring studied thousands of English prisoners and couldn’t find any distinctive facial characteristics
What ethical issues did Lombroso raise?
if criminals were identifiable by facial features, would that justify people being imprisoned before committing a crime?
If not everyone with an abnormality is criminal then…
Not all criminals have abnormalities
What was Sheldon’s theory about?
believed certain somatotypes are more likely to commit crimes
what is a somatotype?
a person’s body type/shape
what features and personality does an endomorph have?
features = lack muscle tone, overweight
personality = relaxed and socially outgoing
what features and personality does an ectomorph have?
features = skinny, thin, fragile
personality = anxious and introverted
what features and personality does a mesomorph have?
features = hard bodied, muscular
personality = adventurous and aggressive
How did Sheldon find his evidence?
studied 4000 inmates - most of them were mesomorph and they were least likely to be ectomorphs
why are mesomorphs more likely to be criminals?
they are attracted to the risky nature and their physical appearance gives them more of an advantage
Who found results that supported Sheldon’s theory?
Glueck & Glueck (1956)
Putwain & Sammons (2002)
what did Glueck & Glueck find?
sample of delinquents = 60% mesomorphs / sample of non-delinquents = 31% mesomorphs
The more mesomorphic a person’s body is…
the more serious crime they commit
