AC2.2 - INDIVUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIME Flashcards
What are individualistic theories?
theories that look for psychological reasons/explanations for criminality (how the mind could cause criminality)
What are the different types of individualistic theories?
Behavioural/Learning
Psychodynamic
Psychological/personality
What do learning theories focus on?
What people learn from their environment and the people they are with; focused on nurture and looks at behaviourism.
Behaviourism has 2 main ways to learn - which are?
Operant conditioning
Social Learning
Explain Operant Conditioning
This is when behaviour is ‘reinforced’ through reward or punishment
We repeat behaviour if it is rewarded and are unlikely to repeat behaviour if its punished
Explain Social Learning
This comes from observing others and their behaviour and imitating/copying them
Who researched Operant Conditioning and how?
BF Skinner researched and named it
He did this through controlled experiments by putting rats or pigeons in a ‘skinner box’
He would keep them hungry and use food as their ‘reward’ (reinforcement)
If Skinner’s goal was to make a pigeon peck a red disk for food he would give them a reward for firstly going near disk, then only for pecking near it, then only for pecking on it.
These ‘successive approximations’ allowed him to reinforce the behaviour
What are the different types of operant conditioning
Positive Reinforcement (when desired behaviour is rewarded)
Negative Reinforcement
(when something unpleasant is taken away as a result of desired behaviour )
Punishment
(When something pleasant is taken away, or something unpleasant is given as a result of undesired behaviour)
How does operant conditioning relate to criminality?
OC can be translated to criminality as a person might engage in crime if the reward outweighs the punishment
If a person is gaining more reward than punishment when doing a crime then its an indication they make continue
What is an example of rewards/reinforcement for engaging in criminality
money, being welcomed into a gang, respect, friendships etc.
Who developed Social Learning Theory (SLT)
Albert Bandura
What did Bandura argue for SLT
Not all behaviour has to be conditioned
Sometimes its learnt from watching others and imitating them
Outline Bandura’s 1961 study
Aim: To see if social behaviours such as aggression can be learned through observation/imitation 72 children (3-6 years old) were divided into groups One group witnessed an adult act violently/aggressive toward a bobo doll (even verbally) One group witnessed a non aggressive model toward the doll Children were then left alone with the doll to see how they reacted/imitated
What was the results from Bandura’s 1961 study?
Children who witnessed violent behaviour toward the doll - imitated it both physically and verbally
Children who didn’t witnessed violence towards the doll were shown to not imitate it
This showed how behavioural imitation is present and how this could relate to criminal behaviour being imitated
What is Differential Association and who developed it?
DA was developed by Sutherland and was built upon Bandura’s social learning theory
He argued the importance of socialisation (where a persons norms and values are taught by others around them)
Since we are all socialised differently (by different people in our lives) we developed different norms and values
How does Differential Association link to crime
Since everyone is socialised by different people and have different norms and values
Some people may have pro criminal attitudes as their norms and values as they’ve been socialised by criminals
This can be further increased by positive reinforcement of criminal behaviour and in turn increasing this behaviour but also allowing them to learn legitimate criminal techniques (eg pick pocketing)
What type of theory was Freud’s
Psychodynamic
How did Freud build/develop his theory
Through case studies of numerous patients of his he saw they all suffered from physical symptoms without obvious causes
Freud thought there were 3 parts to the mind - explain them.
The Id: 100% unconscious, represents human desire and demands instant gratification and to have pleasure and no pain (known as the pleasure principle) - devil
The Superego: mostly unconscious, always wants to do the right thing and feels guilty if it doesn’t (moral principle) - angel
The Ego: mostly conscious, attempts to balance the Superego and Id
What did Freud believe about the undeveloped superego; how this relates to childhood, criminality etc.
Freud believed that an underdeveloped superego comes from a lack of identification with a same-sex parent (perhaps they weren’t present/absent). Therefore this causes the Id to become overly present making them pursue instant gratification etc and therefore makes them more likely to commit crime
What did Freud believe about the overdeveloped superego; how this relates to childhood, criminality etc.
The superego can become overdeveloped if the parental household was too strict; this causes overidentification leading to a constant sense of guilt and even can cause people to commit crimes as a way to justify their extreme guilt.
Who developed Maternal Deprivation Theory
John Bowlby
He was influenced by Freuds ideas about childhood experiences
What does Maternal Deprivation argue
MD argues that the first 5 years of life are crucial for human development
As a relationship with a parent is what builds mental stability and health
If there is separation during this early years then it can lead to difficulty forming relationships in later life and cause ‘affectionless psychopathy’
This is when there is an inability to relate, empathise and feel for others which Bowlby believed could lead to criminality
What study did Bowlby conduct to test his ideas
In 1944 Bowlby studied 44 juvenile delinquents and compared them with non juvenile delinquents
39% of delinquents experienced maternal deprivation from their mothers for at least 6 months of the 5 year period of their life - this compared with 5% of the control group (non delinquents)
An infant abonnement test was done by MARY AINSWORTH in the 1970s later on to build on Bowlby’s work
What are Personality Theories
They look at individual differences and personality characteristics to see if certain personality ‘types’ are more prone to criminality
Who developed the personality theory
Hans Eysenck
Outline Eysenck’s ideas
Eysenck developed the EPI continuum as a way to measure personality types
E SCALE = Extraversion/Introversion
N SCALE = Neuroticism/Stability
Majority of people fall between both scales
But those who are high on E and N (extraverted and neurotic) are very prone to criminality
Explain the differences between introversion and extraversion
introverts have higher cortical arousal so they avoid stimuli (as this would increase arousal too much)
Extroverts have low cortical arousal so they seek arousal from external stimuli (eg committing crime)
Explain the differences between Neuroticism and Stability
People with high neuroticism experience higher levels of stress/anxiety and exaggerate issues and feel unable to come - causing them to focus on negative outlooks causing envy or jealously at times
People with low neuroticism have more emotional stability they can cope with stress and be calmer and more tolerant
