Criminal p1

Question 1

Delinquency

Answer 1

A minor crime

Question 2

Social Norm

Answer 2

Unwritten rule for social behaviour (pushing in a queue)

Question 3

Social Construct

Answer 3

A concept that exists as the result of interactions between people who make up a society

Question 4

Eysenck’s 3 personality traits?

Answer 4

Neuroticism —> experiences anxiety, guilt, fear, worriness
Extraversion —> confident, outgoing, socially good
Psychoticism —> aggressive, impulsive, selfish
=criminals score highly on all three

Question 5

Eysenck Neuroticism Biology

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Eysenck Extraversion Biology

Answer 6

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)

Question 7

Eysenck Psychoticism Biology

Answer 7

Impulsive nature is caused by the excess of dopamine by the nervous system during synaptic transmission.

Question 8

Eysenck’s Criticisms

Answer 8

• 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)

Question 9

The Social Learning Theory

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

2 ways crime can be measured

Answer 10

• 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.

Question 11

5 types of crime and examples

Answer 11

• acquisitive
• drug-related
• violent
• sexual
• anti social

Question 12

Criticisms of the SLT

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

Procedure of Heaven’s Study

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Aim of Heaven’s Study

Answer 14

To investigate the link between personality traits and delinquency in teenagers.

Question 15

Conc of Heaven’s Study

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Construct Validity

Answer 16

The degree to which a test or instrument is capable of measuring a concept, trait, or other theoretical entity.

Question 17

Results of Heaven’s study

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

Criticisms of Heaven’s study

Answer 18

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

Question 19

cross sectional study vs longitudinal study

Answer 19

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

Question 20

violent offences (one of the 5 types)

Answer 20

aggressive crimes resulting in physical harm or death to a victim

Question 21

drug related offences (one of the 5 types)

Answer 21

crimes involving trading in or using illegal substances

Question 22

acquisitive offences (one of the 5 types)

Answer 22

crimes where capital or belongings are acquired through illegal means (e.g theft)

Question 23

sexual offences (one of the 5 types)

Answer 23

crimes where a victim is forced to commit or submit to a sexual act against their will

Question 24

anti-social offences (one of the 5 types)

Answer 24

criminal acts that cause harassment, alarm or distress to people who do not share a home with the perpetrator

Question 25

deviation of norms

Answer 25

when an act or behaviour goes against the accepted standards of society

Question 26

culture

Answer 26

a collective set of norms and values that determine the way of life of a group of people

Question 27

RAS

Answer 27

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)

Question 28

ANS

Answer 28

Autonomic Nervous System is activated during emotion-inducing situations and regulates the brains activity of the limbos system
(neuroticism)

Question 29

sample of Heavens study

Answer 29

282 australian adolescents from a catholic school

• longitudinal
• correlation study (NOT AN EXP)

Question 30

crime as a social construct

Answer 30

societies decide what is considered criminal or not at that point in time

(e.g legal alcohol age)
Uk -18 legal
USA- 18 illegal

Question 31

Heavens Hyp

Answer 31

Predicted that measurements of extraversion, psychoticism and self esteem would be significant predictors of self reported delinquency

Question 32

SLT –> uses

Answer 32

positive role models —> suggests that having a positive role model to watch will lead to positive imitation by the convict