Biological theories - physiological Flashcards
Who are the 2 main physiological theorists?
Lombroso and Sheldon
What was lombroso interested in?
physical differences between criminals and non criminals
What signs of criminaity did Lombroso study?
- facial features
- body type
- tattooing
What did lombroso claim?
people were born criminal
What were the key features Lombroso identified?
- big jaws
- high cheek bones
- large eyes
- ear shape
- long arms
- acute eye site
What is Atavism?
idea criminals are throwbacks to earlier primitive stages of evolution. ‘savages’
How many criminals did Lombroso study?
383 dead and 3839 living
What statistic did Lombroso conclude?
40% of acts could be accounted for by atavistic characteristics
- murderers - blood shot eyes and beak noses
- sex offenderd - thick lips and protruding ears
- theives - flat noses
What are the strengths of Lombrosos study?
- led to further developments in explaining criminality
- responsible for new theories which have more sound scientific evidence
What are the Limitations of Lombrosos study?
- lacks scientific evidence for support
- no definite causaul link between features and crime
What did Sheldon study?
Somatotypes
How did Sheldon develop his theory?
examined 4000 photos of men from back, side and front with little clothign and put forward 3 body types
What were sheldons 3 body types?
- Mesomorphs
- Ectomorphs
- Endomorphs
What is an ectomorph?
thin and fine boned, tendency to be cerebrotonic (introverts)
What is an endomorph?
rounded and soft, tendency to be vicerotonic (extroverted and relaxed)
What is a mesomorph?
square and muscular, tendency to be somotonic (sggressive and assertive)
Which type did Sheldon say was most likely to be criminal and why?
Mesomorph due to physique and assertiveness
What was Sheldons scale of mesomorphy?
- correlation study - photographs of college
students and delinquents to create a scale to rate criminal and delinquent bahaviour - 1 - 7 in relation to mesomorphy 1 low and 7 high
- results delinquents higher avg mesomorphy than college students 4.6 - 3.8
What are the strengths of Sheldons theory?
- large sample size so comparisons justified
- addition of temperament provided further justification
What is a limitation of Sheldons theory?
- relies soley of biology which is not scientifically proven
- reliability questioned as it relies on his judgement alone
- researcher bias and imposition
