AC 3.2 - psychological Flashcards
1
Q
Psychodynamic theories - Freud - strengths
A
- shows the importance of early socialisation an family relationships in understanding criminality
- this explanation has some effect on policies for dealing with crime and deviance
2
Q
Psychodynamic theories - Freud - weaknesses
A
- there are issues surrounding Freud’s idea of the unconscious mind ~ how do we know about it if its unconscious and we cannot test it
- it is unscientific and subjective as w have to rely on the psychoanalytics claims and what the criminal says
- overestimates how early childhood experiences have a permanent effect on later behaviour
3
Q
Psychodynamic theories - Bowlby - strengths
A
- showed that more of his 44 delinquents had suffered maternal deprivation (39%) compared to the control group of non delinquents (5%)
- shows the need to consider the role of parent child relationships
4
Q
Psychodynamic theories - Bowlby - weaknesses
A
- it was a retrospective study where delinquents and their mothers has to recall past events
- doesn’t explain why the other 61% of delinquents committed crimes as they didn’t suffer maternal deprivation
- Bowlby’s later study found that none of his sample were considered affectionless psychopaths eventhough they were separated from their parents for long periods of time before they were 5
- overestimates how early childhood experiences have a permanent effect on later behaviour
- the idea of a link between maternal deprivation and criminality is no longer widely accepted
5
Q
Eysenck’s personality theory - strengths
A
- useful in describing how some measurable tendencies could increase a persons risk of offending
- some studies support his predictions as offenders have been found to be extroverted, neurotic and psychotic
6
Q
Eysenck’s personality theory - weaknesses
A
- Farrington examined a range of studies and found that prisoner are both neurotic and psychotic but not extroverted
- the E scale may be measuring 2 separate things, impulsiveness and sociability
- there is a link between personality and criminality but it might not be a direct cause as it could be the other way round (being in prison makes people neurotic)
- the theory can only be applied to those who have been convicted. e.g., those criminals that have a low N score may be more likely to avoid being caught.
- this theory uses self report questionnaires which may not produce valid results as people may lie
7
Q
Learning theories - differential association - strengths
A
- the fact that crime runs in families supports the theory. People with criminal parents are more likely to becomes criminals themselves
- Matthews found that juvenile delinquents are more likely to have friends who commit criminal acts
- attitudes of work groups can normalise certain crimes such as white collar crime, making their behaviour appear justifiable
8
Q
Learning theories - differential association - weaknesses
A
- not everyone who is exposed to criminal behaviour becomes a criminal
- not everyone who commits crime has been around people who believe criminal behaviour is acceptable
9
Q
Learning theories - operant learning - strengths
A
- skinners study on rats/pigeons show that they learn through reinforcement
- Jeffrey argues that if crime leads to more rewarding than punishing, they are more likely to offend.
- has practical applications e.g., token economy is used in many prisons to try and influence positive behaviour
10
Q
Learning theories - operant learning - weaknesses
A
- Skinners work is based on animal studies so it doesn’t fully represent how humans learn behaviour
- the theory ignores mental processes e.g., thinking, personal values and attitudes
- humans have free will and can choose their course of action
11
Q
Learning theories - social learning theory - strengths
A
- Bandura takes into account the idea that we are social beings as we learn through the experience of others, not just our own experiences.
- Bandura showed that the children who observed aggressive behaviour being rewarded, then imitated this behaviour. This shows the importance of role models as well
12
Q
Learning theories - social learning theory - weaknesses
A
- the theory is based on a lab experiment. These are artificial settings so the finding may not be applicable to real life situations.
- the theory assumes people behave in a way due to learning experiences, ignoring the fact that we have free will. This conflicts with the legal views of crime which assume we have free will to commit crime
- not all observed behaviour is easily imitated e.g., we see a crime committed and rewarded in a film but in real life we lack the skills to imitate the behaviour
13
Q
Cognitive theories - criminal personality theory - strengths
A
- the idea that criminals have different thinking patterns has led to other research e.g., PICTS (the psychology inventory of criminal thinking) ~ a questionnaire aimed to reveal someone’s criminal thought process
- successful treatments have been developed based on the idea that criminals thought processes can be treated and corrected e.g., CBT
14
Q
Cognitive theories - criminal personality theory - weaknesses
A
- Yochelson and Samenow didnt use a control group of non criminals to see if ‘normal’ people make the same thinking errors
- their sample was unrepresentative as they didn’t use any women and most of the men used were in a psychiatric hospital
- there was a high drop out rate in the study as there was only 30 left by the end from a sample of 255 people
15
Q
Cognitive theories - moral development theory - strengths
A
- some studies have shown that delinquents are more likely to have immature moral development
- Thornton and Reid found the theory to be truer for those crimes that involve reasoning e.g., theft compared to violent crimes that are often impulsive
