Criminal p1 Flashcards
Delinquency
A minor crime
Social Norm
Unwritten rule for social behaviour (pushing in a queue)
Social Construct
A concept that exists as the result of interactions between people who make up a society
Eysenck’s 3 personality traits?
Neuroticism —> experiences anxiety, guilt, fear, worriness
Extraversion —> confident, outgoing, socially good
Psychoticism —> aggressive, impulsive, selfish
=criminals score highly on all three
Eysenck Neuroticism Biology
The Autonomous Nervous System (which regulates activation in the limbic system) becomes over-aroused in neurotics.
Leads to high extreme emotions and high levels of violence
Eysenck Extraversion Biology
According to Eysenck criminality can be linked to under arousal in the CNS.
Eysenck argued that in extraverts the cerebral cortex is under aroused because the stimuli is restricted by the RAS. Therefore, leaving the cerebral cortex ‘hungry’ for stimulation, which can be gained through risky, lawless behaviour.
Also, have a strong dopamine reward system - they respond more positively to reinforcers like sex and money ( to the point where they may need to acquire them illlegaly)
Eysenck Psychoticism Biology
Impulsive nature is caused by the excess of dopamine by the nervous system during synaptic transmission.
Eysenck’s Criticisms
- accused of ignoring individual differences (reductionist)
- unlikely that criminals share personality types
- too deterministic (negates free will)
- concept of psychoticism is not useful -> psychoticism doesn’t cause criminal behaviour but it is simply a definition for criminal behaviour.
- Favours nature-> not enough emphasis on nurture
- Too deterministic-> Suggests people are born with a personality type in the fall of personality is driven by biology (fault in justice systems)
The Social Learning Theory
The person will IDENTIFY a role model in which they ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH. They OBSERVE the behaviour performed and witness them get rewarded - VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT. They they IMITATE the behaviour to receive a reward themself (DIRECT REINFORCEMENT). The person then INTERNALISES the behaviour as they believe the action is now part of their personality. This is dangerous as they do not fear the CONSEQUENCES of their actions.
2 ways crime can be measured
- official statistics =(e.g telling us which crimes are more common) collected and published by government and are based on crimes that have been reported/recorded by police forces.
cons:
not all crimes are reported - self report measures = a method that involves participants reporting on themselves through answering questions
cons:
criticism is they are at risk of responders lying or not recalling crime.
5 types of crime and examples
- acquisitive
- drug-related
- violent
- sexual
- anti social
Criticisms of the SLT
- only focuses on nurture ignoring nature
- does not explain how criminal behaviour starts in the first place
- does not account for people who turn to crime, even though they haven’t been exposed to criminal role models.
- if the slt is correct, then it should be easier to reduce crime
Procedure of Heaven’s Study
282 Australian adolescents completed questionnaires at two time points to assess their personality and delinquent behaviour.
(3 questionnaires on psychoticism , extra version and self esteem) = tested for internal reliability, all scored well except psychoticism
Aim of Heaven’s Study
To investigate the link between personality traits and delinquency in teenagers.
Conc of Heaven’s Study
Psychoticism is the linchpin that explains the nature of delinquent behaviour.
- other psychological factors could have had an affect on delinquent behavior, such as peer pressure, parents’ disciplinary styles and personality
Construct Validity
The degree to which a test or instrument is capable of measuring a concept, trait, or other theoretical entity.
Results of Heaven’s study
- Psychoticism was positively correlated with delinquency at both stage 1 and stage 2
- Compared to the other traits, psychoticism was the strongest predictor of delinquency
- BUT overall, psychoticism did not explain the variance in delinquency over time
- extraversion correlated with delinquency only at time 2 and it was a weaker correlation
Criticisms of Heaven’s study
1) culturally biased
= only chosen from Catholic schools ignoring other religions/atheists ( religion has a strong influence of children’s moral behaviour)
= pay-feeing school so all the children came from better off families , therefore limitations that poorer children were not used
=australian population; cannot assume other cultures have similar results
2) age bias
= average sample age was 14/16 at the two times so may have been too old to properly establish the factors that lead to delinquency (e.g interpersonal violence, vandalism start at younger ages)
3) closed questions
= lack of construct validity as simples options and rating sclaes to measure a complex structure (delinquency/personality) is not appropriate
4) self report
= invalid results as could have been social desirability
5) validity of results
= 20% of sample dropped out between time 1 and time 2, so could have been part of the sample who had higher engagement in criminal activity or had low self esteem
cross sectional study vs longitudinal study
cross-sectional study : a study carried out at one point in time and comparing distinct groups of people
longitudinal: a study carried out over a long period of time looking at the same group of people
violent offences (one of the 5 types)
aggressive crimes resulting in physical harm or death to a victim
drug related offences (one of the 5 types)
crimes involving trading in or using illegal substances
acquisitive offences (one of the 5 types)
crimes where capital or belongings are acquired through illegal means (e.g theft)
sexual offences (one of the 5 types)
crimes where a victim is forced to commit or submit to a sexual act against their will
anti-social offences (one of the 5 types)
criminal acts that cause harassment, alarm or distress to people who do not share a home with the perpetrator
deviation of norms
when an act or behaviour goes against the accepted standards of society
culture
a collective set of norms and values that determine the way of life of a group of people
RAS
The Reticular Activation System is part of the brainstem that links the brain and spinal cord and regulates stimuli sent to the cerebral cortex.
(extroverts)
ANS
Autonomic Nervous System is activated during emotion-inducing situations and regulates the brains activity of the limbos system
(neuroticism)
sample of Heavens study
282 australian adolescents from a catholic school
- longitudinal
- correlation study (NOT AN EXP)
crime as a social construct
societies decide what is considered criminal or not at that point in time
(e.g legal alcohol age)
Uk -18 legal
USA- 18 illegal
Heavens Hyp
Predicted that measurements of extraversion, psychoticism and self esteem would be significant predictors of self reported delinquency
SLT –> uses
positive role models —> suggests that having a positive role model to watch will lead to positive imitation by the convict
