Criminal behaviour- Individual difference explanation

Question 1

What is the first individual difference explanation?

Answer 1

Eysenck’s criminal personality theory

Question 2

What did Eysenck believe?

Answer 2

Believed that there are different personality types
3 dimensions related to personality in which we can measure

Question 3

What are the 3 personality dimensions?

Answer 3

1) Extroversion
- social, lively optimistic
X introversion
2) Neuroticism
- high levels of anxiety, moody, irritable
3) Psychoticism
- impulsive, impatient, aggressive, creative
X Self control

Question 4

Biological basis of criminal personality

Answer 4

• differences in personality have a biological basis
• moderated by our environment
• bridge the gap between biological & psychological explanation
• criminals inherit a type of nervous system that affects their ability to learn and adapt to the environment

Question 5

Psychoticism/normality

Answer 5

Related to high levels of testosterone
- lower levels, more normal, balanced behaviour
Lack of self control

Question 6

How does psychoticism lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 6

Aggressive, impulsive, lack of empathy
- crimes like murder, planned offences etc

Question 7

Extroversion/introversion

Answer 7

E - inherit an under aroused nervous system and so seek stimulation to restore the level of optimum stimulation
I- quiet, reserved, over aroused and shun sensation and stimulation

Question 8

How does extraversion lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 8

More arousal needed, seek out dangerous situations, more impulsive actions
- theft, robbery etc

Question 9

Neuroticism/Stability

Answer 9

N- unstable, prone to overreacting to stimuli, quick to anger or fear
S- nervous system less reactive t stressful situations, calm, level headed
REACTIVITY OF SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM- fight or flight

Question 10

How does neuroticism lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 10

Unstable, overreact, more likely to lead to criminal acts that aren’t planned
- escalated event
- passion, assault after a argument

Question 11

The role of socialisation on criminal personality

Answer 11

innate personality traits + socialisation = criminal behaviour
nature + nurture

Question 12

What does Eysenck say about the role of socialisation on criminal personality?

Answer 12

Explained through a combination of innate personality traits and socialisation
- born with certain personality traits, may predispose them to criminality
- interaction with environment is important in the development

Question 13

How does this link to conditioning?

Answer 13

Socialisation element occurs during childhood, punished for bad behaviour (operant conditioning)
- high score on E and N less easily conditioned

Question 14

Why are children who score highly on Extraversion and Neuroticism less easily conditioned?

Answer 14

They are not scared of punishment that follows bad behaviour, don’t learn to follow the rules

Question 15

Research support for the role of socialisation
Eysenck and Eysenck

Answer 15

2,070 male prisoners and 2,442 male control
- given the questionnaire
- subdivided into age groups 16-69
- prisoners higher on all 3 scales

Question 16

What does this research suggest?

Answer 16

PEN traits are associated with criminal personalities, regardless of age

Question 17

What are the 3 evaluation points for Eysenck’s criminal personality theory?

Answer 17

• Interactionist
• Research support
  X Issues with measuring personality
  X Deterministic

Question 18

Evaluation: Interactionist (Eysenck)

Answer 18

Consider influence of nature and nurture on criminality
- based on combinations of innate personality traits and socialisation
- wider explanation
- children who score highly on E & N are less easily conditioned, aren’t scared of punishment

Question 18

Evaluation: X issues with measuring personality (Eysenck)

Answer 18

Accuracy of personality measures can be questioned
- EPQ is a self-report questionnaire
- open to social desirability bias
- did include a lie scale to remove dishonest answers
- although Eysenck controlled and removed, whole study is flawed if measure is not accurate

Question 19

Evaluation: Deterministic (Eysenck’s personality theory)

Answer 19

X assumes all criminal behaviour is determined by these 3 traits, removing aspect of free will
- good for early interventions, of child showing behavioural traits reduce risk of child committing criminal offence in future
X too early, remove free will, condemn them to be a criminal, self fulfilling prophecy

Question 20

Evaluation: Research support for Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 20

Eysenck and Eysenck
- compared male prisoners to controls
- found that prisoners scored higher than controls on PEN scales, traits do indicate a criminal personality
X shows potential for bias, interpret findings to support theory
Even though there is evidence, remain critical about the validity of the findings

Question 21

What is the 2nd individual difference explanation for criminal behaviour?

Answer 21

Cognitive factors

Question 22

What are the 2 key factors of this explanation?

Answer 22

1- Moral reasoning
2- Cognitive distortions

Question 23

1- What is moral reasoning?

Answer 23

The study of how people think about right and wrong and how they acquire and apply moral rules

Question 24

What level of moral reasoning are most criminals found in?

Answer 24

Level1/2- basic moral reasoning
- skills, will break the law is they believe the reward outweighs the cost, or if they think that they can get away with it

Question 25

Why are people in post-conventional levels less likely to commit crimes?

Answer 25

Level 3- stronger moral compass, doesn’t fit typical criminal behaviour

Question 26

How can crime be justified at the pre-conventional of moral reasoning?

Answer 26

Breaking the law is justified if punishment can be avoided or if rewards outweigh the costs
- burglary, theft, rape, fraud

Question 27

How can crime be justified in the conventional level of moral reasoning?

Answer 27

Breaking the law is justified if it helps to maintain relationships or society
- stealing for a family member, self defence

Question 28

How can crime be justified in the post-conventional level of moral reasoning?

Answer 28

Breaking the law is justified if it helps maintain human rights or further social justice
- crimes related to protesting, breaking into a lab to release animal test subjects

Question 29

How can moral reasoning be used to explain the age of criminal responsibility?
- 10yrs

Answer 29

In Kohlberg’s study approximately 20% of 10 year olds were in stage 1 and 60% in stage 2
- this suggests they did not understand whether their actions were morally right

Question 30

Supporting research for Kohlberg
CHEN AND HOWITT

Answer 30

Male offenders in 6 youth correlational studies in Taiwan
self-reported criminal histories where characterised according to their offence type (drug, violence or theft)
- stages significantly lower despite offenders mean ages being higher
- more advanced moral reasoning= less likely to engage in violent crime

Question 31

What does CHEN N HOWITT’S research suggest?

Answer 31

1- level of morality is linked to criminal behaviour
2- level of morality is linked to the type of crim that they commit

Question 32

2- What are cognitive distortions?

Answer 32

Patterns of thinking that do not reflect reality

Question 33

What are the 2 types of cognitive distortions linked to crime?

Answer 33

1) Hostile attribution bias
2) Minimalisation

Question 34

What is hostile attribution bias?

Answer 34

Attribution refers to when we see someone’s actions and make and inference about what it means
- misinterpret what happens in reality due to a faulty thinking pattern
- always think the worst, negative interpretation

Question 35

How might hostile attribution bias explain criminal behaviour?

Answer 35

Such negative interpretations then lead to more aggressive behaviour. In terms of criminal behaviour, hostile attribution bias is more likely to be linked to increased levels of aggression

Question 36

What is an example of a criminal act due to hostile attribution bias?

Answer 36

ASSAULT- take a funny look the wrong way and start a fight- more violent crimes
- if someone smiles at you, you my think they are thinking bad thoughts about you

Question 37

What is minimalisation?

Answer 37

Magnification and minimalisation refer to our perception of the consequences of the situation in which we find ourselves
- these are both very common cognitive errors that nearly all people will experience in their day to day life

Question 38

What is an example scenario of minimalisation?

Answer 38

A person parking their car in the car park accidentally hits an empty parked car and has to decide whether to leave their phone number
MIN- nobody has seen me so nothing bad will happen if I drive off, I bet they have loads of money to fix it
MAX- if I don’t leave my number, the police will come and arrest me, it is an obvious mark they are bound to notice

Question 39

Why are criminals likely to experience the minimalisation cognitive distortion?

Answer 39

They will underplay the consequences to remove guilt or emotional involvement
- avoid all other negative emotions

Question 40

Evaluation: Cognitive Distortions
Supporting evidence for minimalisation

Answer 40

Pollock and Hashmall
35% of a sample of child molesters said that the crime they committed was non-sexual
36% said that the victim had consented
- downplay the consequences of their actions to remove any negative emotions
- underpins the theory, more valid explanation

Question 41

Evaluation: Cognitive Distortions
- practical applications

Answer 41

Develop programmes for children that could prevent criminal behaviour late on in life
- if we know that people who have pre-conventional levels of moral reasoning are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour we can put prevention ideas in place in order to reduce the risk of the child showing CB later on
- Kohlberg suggested grouping children into democratic/discussion groups where they were involved in making moral decisions facilitate their moral development
C- still see crime, Q effectiveness
- improves a child’s life, reduces risk of CB, benefits rest of society

Question 41

Evaluation: Cognitive Distortions
X limitations of Kohlberg’s research

Answer 41

The way in which moral reasoning is measured
- K used interviews and hypothetical situations to measure MR
- these scenarios may not be an accurate representation of how moral reasoning influences criminal behaviour as they aren’t real situations that the person has experienced and may not be linked to crime
- by applying his theory on MR to crime, it cannot be definite that the 2 are linked enough in order to give an explanation of criminal behaviour

Question 41

Conclusion of Cognitive Distortions

Answer 41

Cognitive explanation is limited in its ability to explain criminal behaviour, as it fails to explain where faulty cognitions arise from. Although it describes the cognitions they might experience, it is difficult to establish a cause and effect as we can’t be sure what led to the fault cognition developing. The research support is flawed which impacts the validity of the theory. It would remiss to use this explanation alone given that it does not give a direct cause of criminal behaviour.