AC2.2 - INDIVUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIME

Question 1

What are individualistic theories?

Answer 1

theories that look for psychological reasons/explanations for criminality (how the mind could cause criminality)

Question 2

What are the different types of individualistic theories?

Answer 2

Behavioural/Learning
Psychodynamic
Psychological/personality

Question 3

What do learning theories focus on?

Answer 3

What people learn from their environment and the people they are with; focused on nurture and looks at behaviourism.

Question 4

Behaviourism has 2 main ways to learn - which are?

Answer 4

Operant conditioning

Social Learning

Question 5

Explain Operant Conditioning

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Explain Social Learning

Answer 6

This comes from observing others and their behaviour and imitating/copying them

Question 7

Who researched Operant Conditioning and how?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What are the different types of operant conditioning

Answer 8

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)

Question 9

How does operant conditioning relate to criminality?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What is an example of rewards/reinforcement for engaging in criminality

Answer 10

money, being welcomed into a gang, respect, friendships etc.

Question 11

Who developed Social Learning Theory (SLT)

Answer 11

Albert Bandura

Question 12

What did Bandura argue for SLT

Answer 12

Not all behaviour has to be conditioned

Sometimes its learnt from watching others and imitating them

Question 13

Outline Bandura’s 1961 study

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What was the results from Bandura’s 1961 study?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What is Differential Association and who developed it?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

How does Differential Association link to crime

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

What type of theory was Freud’s

Answer 17

Psychodynamic

Question 18

How did Freud build/develop his theory

Answer 18

Through case studies of numerous patients of his he saw they all suffered from physical symptoms without obvious causes

Question 19

Freud thought there were 3 parts to the mind - explain them.

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What did Freud believe about the undeveloped superego; how this relates to childhood, criminality etc.

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What did Freud believe about the overdeveloped superego; how this relates to childhood, criminality etc.

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Who developed Maternal Deprivation Theory

Answer 22

John Bowlby

He was influenced by Freuds ideas about childhood experiences

Question 23

What does Maternal Deprivation argue

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What study did Bowlby conduct to test his ideas

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What are Personality Theories

Answer 25

They look at individual differences and personality characteristics to see if certain personality ‘types’ are more prone to criminality

Question 26

Who developed the personality theory

Answer 26

Hans Eysenck

Question 27

Outline Eysenck’s ideas

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Explain the differences between introversion and extraversion

Answer 28

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)

Question 29

Explain the differences between Neuroticism and Stability

Answer 29

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