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Criminology Unit 2 > Biological, Individualistic and Sociological theories > Flashcards

Biological, Individualistic and Sociological theories Flashcards

1
Q

What are the Biological theories of crime?

A

Jacobs XYY theory, Twin studies, Adoption studies, Lombroso, Sheldon.

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2
Q

What are the 3 genetic theories of crime?

A

Jacobs XYY theory, Twin studies, Adoption studies.

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3
Q

What are the 2 physiological theories of crime?

A

Lombroso and Sheldon.

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4
Q

What are biological theories?

A

Focuses on biological theories can make people more likely to commit a crime.

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5
Q

What does Jacobs XYY theory suggest?

A

Some crime is down to chromosomal abnormality.

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6
Q

What did Jacobs suggest about the XYY abnormality?

A

That men who have an extra Y chromosome are ‘hyper masculine’ and therefore are more aggressive.

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7
Q

What did Jacobs find in his study?

A

Men with the XYY chromosome are overrepresented in the prison population with 15 per 1000 within prison.

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8
Q

What are 2 positives of the XYY theory?

A

There is scientific proof.
Significant number of men in prison had XYY chromosomes instead of normal XY.

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9
Q

How can Jacobs XYY theory be criticised?

A

XYY men tend to commit non-violent crime. It shows that we cannot categories all crime into one single factor.
Psychological, environmental and social factors can also cause someone to commit crime.

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10
Q

What does dizygotic mean?

A

Non identical.

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11
Q

What dies monozygotic mean?

A

Identical.

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12
Q

What does Twin studies suggest?

A

Twins that are raised in the same environment are equal and controlled. Any greater similarity between identical twins show evidence for a genetic link.

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13
Q

What did the Twin studies test show?

A

MZ = 10/13 were criminals.
DZ = 2/17 were criminals.

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14
Q

What are 3 criticisms of the Twins study?

A

Sample size too small - lacks validity.
The study was based on the appearance of the twins rather than their actual genetic material.
It is difficult to separate the influence of genetics from the influence of social factors.

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15
Q

What is a positive for the Twin studies?

A

Helped in the prevention of specific criminal behaviour.

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16
Q

What does Adoption studies compare and what is the aim?

A

Behaviour of an adopted chid with the effects of their adopted and biological parents. The aim is to separate out the impact of the environment from the influence of inheritance.

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17
Q

What does research show about Adoption studies?

A

An adoptee with a biological parent who is a criminal is more likely to take part in property crim than other adoptees and that this effect is stronger for boys.

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18
Q

What are 2 criticisms of Adoption studies?

A

Age of adoption may mean that children have already been influenced by their biological parents or the environment.
Information from biological parents are inaccurate and sometimes unavailable.

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19
Q

What are 2 positives of Adoption studies?

A

Easy to separate genetic factors and environmental factors.
There is a correlation between the adoptive children and their biological parents.

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20
Q

Who was Cesare Lombroso?

A

Italian Criminologist.
1835-1909.

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21
Q

What did Lombroso argue?

A

Criminals were a throwback to an early stage of human evolution. He said several characteristics were clear signs someone was a criminal.

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22
Q

What 3 features did he say that someone was a criminal?

A

Large jaws, Extra fingers, Monobrows

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23
Q

What did Lombroso compare?

A

Compared physical characteristics of Italian prisoners and Italian soldiers and concluded that the prisoners were physically different.

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24
Q

What 3 features did Lombroso find in the Italian Prisoners?

A

Features such as large hands, long arms and large chins were found.

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25
Q

What did Lombroso think about tattoos?

A

Markings of a born criminal as they show immortality and insensitivity to physical pain.

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26
Q

What are 2 criticisms of Lombroso’s theory?

A

Far too simplistic.
There are more factors that causes crime then just genetics, such as wealth, diet, health and other social factors.

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27
Q

What is a positive of Lombroso’s theory?

A

Lombroso’s work appears to be backed up by Goring (1913) who found lower rates of intelligence in convicts- suggesting they might be less evolved.

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28
Q

Who was William Sheldon?

A

American psychologist and numismatist.
1898-1977.

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29
Q

What did William Sheldon argue?

A

Criminal behaviour links to a persons physical form.

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30
Q

What 3 body types did he state?

A

Endomorphic, Ectomorphic, Mesomorphic.

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31
Q

Define Endomorphic

A

Fat and soft.

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32
Q

Define Ectomorphic

A

Thin and fragile.

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33
Q

Define Mesomorphic

A

Muscular and hard.

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34
Q

What did Sheldon find out?

A

Mesomorphics are more likely to be convicts.
Ectomorphics are less likely to be convicts.

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35
Q

What does activist mean?

A

Relating to something ancient or ancestral.

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36
Q

What are 2 disadvantages of Sheldon’s theory?

A

Body types aren’t fixed throughout lives they can change.
Mesomorphs can be treated differently because of how they look, they might be labelled leading to self-fulfilling prophecy.

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37
Q

What is serotonin?

A

A Neurotransmitter produced by the brain to influence how impulsive a person is.

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38
Q

What happens when a persons serotonin is reduced?

A

Negative change in behaviour.

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39
Q

How can serotonin be dominant in our bodies?

A

Improve mood, decrease irritability in people who are argumentative, produce healthy sleeping patterns and boost overall mood

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40
Q

How can serotonin be criticised?

A

Not all criminals have low serotonin levels.

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41
Q

Who is Phineas Gage?

A

American rail-road constructionist.
Born in 1823.

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42
Q

What happened to Phineas Gage?

A

Survived an accident in which a large iron rod went through his head. It destroyed the left frontal lobe of the brain.

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43
Q

What change in personality did it have on Gage?

A

Gage became extravagant and anti-social. He started to use bad language, had bad manners and became a liar.

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44
Q

What did Gage’s doctor believe?

A

The balance between his intellectual faculties and animalistic behaviour was destroyed in the accident.

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45
Q

Who was Sigmund Freud?

A

Psychologist who looked into criminal behaviour.
1856-1939.

46
Q

Define psyche

A

A persons personality.

47
Q

What did Freud believe?

A

Believed that the psyche has three parts.

48
Q

What does the id represnt?

A

Represents desires.

49
Q

What is the superego?

A

Restricts us from doing bad.

50
Q

What is the ego?

A

Makes the final decision to do right or wrong.

51
Q

What did Freud say the role of the ego is?

A

Has to find a balance between what the id wants and what the superego tells us is wrong.

52
Q

What happens when a weak superego has occurred?

A

Controller of behaviour. Develops at 5 years old. Punishes the ego with anxiety when an immoral act is viewed with guilt.

53
Q

How can a weak superego be developed?

A

Poor/strange relationships with family, which results in the person having worries about taking part in antisocial behaviour.

54
Q

What happens when a deviant superego has occurred?

A

Meant to threaten and punish behaviours that the same sex parent would find unacceptable. eg) If a son has a criminal father, they might develop a superego that does not see criminal acts that the father would take part in as wrong.

55
Q

How can a deviant superego be developed?

A

Phallic stage.

56
Q

What happens when a strong superego has occurred?

A

Make someone anxious and guilty over the smallest things that where superego would feel the need to punish them. This can result in the person committing crimes in order to be caught and punished.

57
Q

What are Individualistic theories of crime?

A

Linked to the human individual.

58
Q

What are the 2 Psychodynamic theories?

A

Bowlby’s affectionless psychopath
Megargee’s overcontrolled violent behaviour

59
Q

Who is John Bowlby?

A

British psychologist.
1907-1990.

60
Q

What did Bowlby say about the ‘affectionless psychopath’?

A

The ability to form meaningful social relationships in adulthood relied on a close, warm and continuous relationship with the mother in the first few years.

61
Q

What evidence did Bowlby present?

A

‘Maternal deprivation’ was related to later criminal behaviour. In his study ’44 Thieves’ he reported that 39% of a group of young criminals has experienced disruption to their attachments with their mother, compared to only 5% of a non-criminal group.

62
Q

How can Bowlby’s affectionless psychopath be criticised?

A

Sample size was too small.
Overestimated the impact of early life.

63
Q

Who was Megargee?

A

1966.
Documented a series of cases of violence carried out by people who were
regarded as passive and harmless.

64
Q

What did Megargee discover?

A

11 year old boy stabbed his brother 34 times with a steak knife was described as polite and softly spoken to with no sign of aggression.

65
Q

What did Megargee argue?

A

They represent a small number of violent offenders whose shared characteristics is an inability to express anger in normal ways and will eventually ‘explode’.

66
Q

How can Megargee’s theory be criticised?

A

Does not separate whether such offenders do not experience anger normally or whether they experience it but do not express it.

67
Q

What is the evaluation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

Rely on unconscious minds, which might not exists.
Only explain behaviour after it has happened - unscientific.
Highly subjective - Bowlby & Megargee both had very different conclusions.
Can be time consuming.

68
Q

What have the psychodynamic theories showed the importance of?

A

Childhood experiences and adolescence when it comes to offending.

69
Q

Who was Albert Bandura?

A

1925-2021.
American psychologist.

70
Q

What did Bandura study?

A

Investigated if social behaviours can be learnt by observation and imitation.

71
Q

What did Bandura test?

A

36 boys and 36 girls between the ages 3-6. Pretested them on how aggressive they are. He showed an aggressive model, non-aggressive model and no model was shown to 24 different children.

72
Q

What were the results of the Bandura test?

A

Children who observed the aggressive model made far more copied aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.
The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female.

73
Q

What is a criticism of the Bandura Bobo doll study?

A

Cumberbatch (1990) found that children who had not played with the doll before were 5 times likely to imitate aggressive behaviour - novelty of the doll makes it more likely that children will imitate behaviour.

74
Q

Who was Lawrence Kohlberg?

A

1927-1987.
American psychologist.

75
Q

What did Kohlberg look at?

A

Moral development. Used story telling techniques to see how people would respond to him.

76
Q

What is the pre-conventional morality?

A

Age 9. Moral codes is shaped by adults and the consequences of following or breaking the rules. Authority outside the individual.

77
Q

What is the conventional morality?

A

Teens and adults. Adopt the moral standards of respectable adult role models. Authority is understood but not questioned.

78
Q

What is the post conventional morality?

A

Individual judgement is based on values chosen by themselves and moral reasoning is based on individual rights and justice.

79
Q

What are the 2 stages of the level 1 - pre-conventional morality?

A

Stage 1 - Obedience and punishment. Child is good in order to avoid being punished. If punished, they’ve done something wrong.
Stage 2 - Individualism and exchange. Children recognise that there in not just one right view. Different individuals have different viewpoints.

80
Q

What are the 2 stages of the level 2 - conventional morality?

A

Stage 3 - Good interpersonal relationships. Individual is good in order to be seen as a good person by others. Approval of others.
Stage 4 - Maintaining the social order. Individual becomes aware of the wider rules of society so judgments concern obeying the rules in order to uphold law and avoid guilt.

81
Q

What are the 2 stages of level 3 - post conventional morality?

A

Stage 5 - Social contract and individual rights. Individual becomes aware that rules are for the good and will work against the interest of certain people.
Stage 6 - Universal principles. Developed their own set of moral guidelines. Person will be prepared to act to defend their principles even if it goes against society.

82
Q

What are 2 criticisms of Kohlbergs study?

A

Dilemmas are not real.
Sample is biased - all male sample, female sample would be different.

83
Q

Who is Emile Durkheim?

A

French sociologist.
1858-1917.

84
Q

What do fucntionalists believe in?

A

Value consensus - majority of society share the same norms and values.

85
Q

Define anomie

A

Society is on a state of chaos, where there is no agreed rules. Very damaging to society, so socialisation is important.

86
Q

What does promoting social solidarity refer to?

A

A sense of cohesion felt in society. All members of society feel like a whole.

87
Q

What did Durkheim say about promoting social solidarity?

A

Shared outrage over a crime or scandal will lead to people expressing ‘public temper’ therefore promoting social solidarity - everyone is outraged together.

88
Q

What is Boundary maintenance?

A

Members of society must learn the boundaries of what is acceptable behaviour. Crime and Deviance aid by showing members of society where the boundaries of right or wrong are through punishment.

89
Q

How must Boundary maintenance be carried out?

A

Deviance must be identified and punished. Punishment will involve agencies of social control and they will go through the sanctions.

90
Q

What are 3 ways an anomie occur?

A

Sudden change of the government. eg) a revolution
Disaster which leads to disruption. eg) 9/11
Major economical upheaval. eg) a recession

91
Q

What is deviancy as a safety value?

A

Allowing and individual/group to let of steam to prevent worse deviance.

92
Q

What does deviancy as a safety value study?

A

Prostitution and suggests that the goals of sexual behaviour in men are not naturally social and that it can lead to conflict to many men who have sexual urges. It can lead to rape.

93
Q

What is a criticism of Durkheim’s theory?

A

Doesn’t say why the individual actually committed the crime. If we all have value consensus why do people break the law?

94
Q

Who is Robert Merton?

A

American sociologist.
1910-2003.

95
Q

What does Merton’s strain theory argue?

A

There are clear goals in any social structure and there are clear means to achieve these goals.

96
Q

When does Merton say Crime and Deviance occurs?

A

When the goals are emphasised more than the acceptable means. If alternative means to achieve the goal (such as committing crime) start to become acceptable and even preferred by some, than anomie will occur

97
Q

What are the 5 models of adaptation?

A

Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, Rebellion.

98
Q

Define conformity

A

Most common response to society’s goals. People who work hard at school to earn money in legitimate ways.

99
Q

Define innovation

A

Individual has a goal but does not have acceptable means to achieve it.

100
Q

Define ritualism

A

Some people don’t strive to great wealth so they size down their aspirations.

101
Q

Define retreatism

A

Those who struggle to achieve success may end up dropping out of society which judges them.

102
Q

Define rebellion

A

The rebel may reject society’s goals but replace them with alternatives. eg) Joining groups which seek a different types of society’s or campaigns for a different cause.

103
Q

What are 2 criticisms of Merton’s strain theory?

A

A person can fall into more than one of the models of adaptation.
Deviance can be communal, like in subcultures.

104
Q

Who is Howard Becker?

A

American Sociologist.
Born 1928.

105
Q

What did Becker argue?

A

Labelling can have serious effects. It can become a ‘master status’.

106
Q

What did Becker say about a ‘deviant career’?

A

Starts if someone joins a deviant subculture or group. Supports and justifies devviant activitites.

107
Q

What are 2 criticisms of Becker’s theory?

A

Only minor crimes, not big crimes like rape.
People work hard to get rid of the label given and prove others wrong.

108
Q

What do Marxists believe in?

A

Ideology - system of ideas and beliefs. Suits the upper class and their interests and makes sure the working class stays in there place.

109
Q

What is alienation?

A

Describes a sense of powerlessness, lack of control and disconnectedness felt by the working class through exploitation at work and capitalism.

110
Q

What did William Bonger say?

A

Crime is caused by poverty, poor living conditions and scarcity of resources. Crime is caused by unequal society.

111
Q

What are white collar crimes?

A

Crimes committed by the rich and powerful, usually in the world of work.

112
Q

What is a criticism of Marxism?

A

Very extreme and far-fetched.

Criminology Unit 2 (2 decks)

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