2.2: Dscribe Individualistic Theories Of Criminality Flashcards
Define policy:
A set of rules, strategies, plans or procedures implemented by government
Define formal policy:
A policy linked to official ideas to prevent crime such as prison sentences
Define informal policy
A policy linked to non-official ideas to prevent crime such as family rules, grounding etc.
Explain the difference between crime control policy and state punishment policy
Crime control policies:
- aim to make society safer by reducing crime
- community and social strategies to work with offenders
State punishment policy:
- has policies which punish criminals such as fines
- have policies which aim to express society’s outrage
Define neurochemical interventions
changing an offender’s brain activity by administering drugs and medications
Define the death penalty
Capital punishment
Name a psychological theory
Eysenck’s theory
What is eysenck’s theory?
A theory of personality which combines biological, individual and social factors into one theory for criminal behaviour
He suggested there are 3 dimensions to an individual’s personality
What are eysenck’s 3 dimensions?
Extro/introversion
Neuroticism/ stability
Psychoticism/ normality
How did Eysenck measure his 3 dimensions?
Via an EPI (Eysenck personality inventory) or the EPQ (Eysenck personality questionnaire)
Define extroversion
The quality of being outgoing and socially confident
Define neuroticism
The tendency to experience negative emotions
Define psychoticism
The tendency towards aggression, impulsivity and a lack of empathy
What are the strengths to eysenck’s theory?
It can be useful for those with authority to understand and identify any unusual behaviours
They compared 2070 male prisoners in the EPI with 2422 male controls and on the measure the prisoners were recorded higher levels than the controls
What are the weaknesses to eysenck’s theory?
The questionnaires can be vague and people can lie
Someone’s personality might not always be accurate in deciding their criminality
What did sigmund Freud suggest?
There are 3 parts to our personalities
Explain the ID
- the unconsciously deciding
- contains pleasure- seeking desires like a baby crying for milk
Explain the ego
Develops around the age of 2
Develops as a result of you learning about the environment and people around you
Explain the superego
Develops last at around 5 years old
Made up of society’s values and standards
Name the 3 types of inadequate superego
Weak/ underdeveloped superego
Deviant superego
Harsh/ overdeveloped superego
Explain the weak superego
Can develop if the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage of psycho-sexual development
Where one fees minimal pressure to adhere to the moral regulations by society
Explain the deviant superego
When a child is brought up with a deviant moral code
Explain the overdeveloped superego
Where the individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety
Caused by an over strict parent
This may unconsciously cause the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego’s overwhelming need for punishment
What are the strengths to freud’s theory?
- childhood experiences
- links to the brain
What are the weaknesses of freud’s theory?
Gender bias
Not scientific
No free will
What did Bandura believe?
We learn our behaviour including criminal behaviour by observing other people and then imitating their behaviour
We can learn through observing different types of role models though we’re most likely to imitate role models we identify with
Which 3 contexts does observational learning take place in?
Media
Home
School
Give the 4 cognitive elements considered which occur between observing and imitating
Attention: we must pay attention to what we are able to observe
Retention: we must remember what we have observed
Motivation: we must be motivated to imitate (there must be something in it for us)
Reproduction: we must be physically capable of imitating
Explain what happened in Bandura’s experiment
A group of children watched a video of an adult performer physically harm an inflated clown doll
the children then copied this behaviour afterwards
What are the strengths to Bandura’s theory?
The doll experiment showed the model did influence the children’s behaviour and showed cause and effect
The experiment and variables were controlled which allowed greater accuracy
Similar results were found
What are the weaknesses to Bandura’s theory?
There was a novelty (new) aspect to the doll for the children who had never played with it before - Cumberbatch found that children who had not played with the doll before were 5x more likely to imitate the performer
Issues concerning the protection of the children from psychological and physical harm
The experiment takes place between 2 strangers where usually modelling happens between a child and their family
