criminological Flashcards
What is criminological psychology?
refers to the application of psychological knowledge t understand crime and anti social behaviour.
Focussing on what causes an individual to commit crime how a crime is analysed and how it is put together
what are the four biological explanations of crime?
- brain injury
- amygdala
- xyy syndrome
- personality
what is acquired traumatic brain injury and what is non traumatic brain injury?
ABI - result of external force such as a blow to the head
NON TRAUMATIC - result from illness such as brain tumour, meningitis or stroke
what are three pieces of evidence for brain injury as an explanation of crime?
Phineas Gage:
- rod passed through his skull, went from a quite family man to an irritable, rude drunk.
Williams:
- 60% of 196 prisoners had received some for of traumatic brain injury
- these injuries affect development of temperament, social judgment and ability to control impulses
Grafman et al:
- brain scans on men who sustained brain injury while fighting in Vietnam war
- veterans with brain damage to the frontal lobe were more likely to be aggressive than those with damage in other areas.
evaluation of brain injury as an explanation of crime
strengths:
- evidence supporting so high in validity
- different methodologies used and same results so high reliability (case studies and brain scans)
- useful applications such as developing rehab
weaknesses:
- no cause and effect relationship, other variables may have an influence
- although they used brain scans, there was no brain scans evidence showing these participants before the study took place
- reductionist as they don’t take into account being young an male, witnessing family violence, having ptsd etc.
what are three pieces of supporting evidence for the amygdala and crime?
Charles Whitman:
- killed 14 people at university of texas, he had a cancerous brain tumour that impacted on the amygdala
Raine:
- pet scans on 41 violent murderers pleading ngri
- murderers had asymmetrical activity in the amygdala
Yang:
- studied 27 psychopathic people
- people with psychopathy had lower volume on both amydalale compared to controls
evaluation of amygdala and crime
strengths:
- supported by evidence
- used neuro-imaging so objective and high inter rate reliability
weaknesses:
- no direct cause and effects amygdala is highly influenced by pre frontal cortex
- some studies found correlation but not necessarily related to crime
- reductionist
what are the two ways in which the amygdala may not function correctly and can therefore lead to criminal behaviour?
- the threshold at which the activation of the amygdala is too low, resulting in sudden outburst of unprovoked aggression
- the amygdala is malfunctioning so that anxiety and fear levels are low, leading to high levels of risk taking behaviour.
what are some characteristics of males with xyy syndrome?
- occurs in one in 1000 male births
- occurs randomly
- taller than siblings
- severe ance
- lower intelligence
- developmental delays in speech and language
- behavioural and emotional difficulties
- physically active.
how does xyy syndrome link to criminal behaviour?
the behavioural and emotional difficulties and the tendency to have high levels of physical activity, may make anti social behaviour and aggression more likely
what are four pieces of evidence for xyy syndrome and crime?
Jacobs:
- over representation of xyy men in the prison population (15xyy men for every 1000 prisoners)
Daniel Hugon
- murdered a prostitute in a paris hotel
- he attempted suicide before trial
- he was found to have xyy syndrome
Theilgaard:
- took blood samples of over 30,000 males born in 1940’s
- found no conclusive evidence for a criminal gene .
Re and Birkhoff:
- review study from last 50 years
- found there is no statistical evidence that an xyy man is pre disposed to aggressive and deviant behaviour.
evaluation of xyy syndrome as an explanation for crime
strengths:
- early research suggested a link between xyy and anti social behaviour (jacobs)
weaknesses:
- genetic research has practical difficulties
- reductionists (xyy males may be labelled differently)
- women carry out crimes and they do not have xyy syndrome
- recent research has shown a link between xyy and crime is not there.
who argued that three personality traits could be linked to crime and what are they?
eysenck
- psychoticism
- extraversion
- neuroticism
How does the PEN personality link to biology in causing crime?
Psychoticism - people have increased testosterone levels and MAO levels
Extraversion - lower amount of activity in the ARA’s which leads to less cortical arousal. Therefore, they require greater amounts of external stimulation
Neuroticism - neurotic individuals have greater activation levels and lower thresholds within the limbic system (emotions like fear and aggression). Therefore, they become very upset in the face of minor stress.
what are three pieces of evidence for personality as a biological explanation of aggression?
Eysenck:
- 156 prisoners split into five groups (violent crimes, property crimes, confidence crimes, inadequate and residuals)
- all tested on the eysenck personality questionnaire and physiological measures
- overall, certain personality traits can be linked to criminal behaviour
Boduszeck:
- looked at 133 violent and 179 non violent male prisoners
- found a criminal thinking style in correlated with high levels of psychoticism, extraversion and neurotism.
Farrington:
- found little evidence that eysenck’s personality questionnaire was an adequate measure for predicting offending.
What are the three social explantations of crime and anti social behaviour?
- social learning theory
- labelling
- self fulfilling prophecy
Describe social learning theory
- developed by bandura
- observational learning
- behaviour is observed, modelled and imitated to reproduce
what are three pieces of evidence that support social learning theory as an explanation of crime?
BANDURA:
- bobo doll experiments
- children learnt aggressive behaviour through observing a role model
- observing filmed aggressive acts (TV etc) can lead to children acting aggressively
- vicarious reinforcement (reward or punishment) makes aggressive behaviour more likely or unlikely
WILLIAMS:
- looked at effect of TV on behaviour of children in canada.
- TV had not been available in their town before
- introduction of TV increased children aggressive behaviour as rated by teachers and peers.
JOHNSON:
- found a positive correlation between amounts of TV children in new york watched and increased aggressive behaviour
- Those who watched the most TV committed the highest number of violent acts.
Evaluate social learning theory as an explanation of crime
STRENGTHS:
- Evidence: bandoras lab based experiments can infer cause and effect, johnson, williams
- Methodology: lab experiments provide credible scientific evidence, objective quantitative methods
- Applications: aware of the power of role models, control violence in the media by censorship’s (age rated films)
WEAKNESSES:
- Evidence: high rates of recidivism go against idea that punishment makes reoffending less likely
- Methodology: bandura conducted in artificial environments so lack validity
- Alternative theory: does not look at biological factors
Describe labelling theory
- general and broad terms used to describe people
- based on stereotypes
- negative labels can influence attitude of others people
- resulting in prejudice and stigma
- labels can become the master status which changes the self concept of the individual.
What are the four steps of labelling theory?
- the label is given to an individual or group
- the person is treated like the label
- the label becomes the master status
- the self concept of the individual changes
What are three pieces of evidence to support labelling theory as an explanation to crime?
BESEMER:
- children from families labelled as criminal are more likely to be convicted than children from other families
- families did not transmit criminal behaviour
- families that are labelled as criminal are paid more attention to and so children are more likely to be caught, prosecuted and found guilty.
LIEBERMAN:
- juveniles who had been previously arrested were more likely to commit other crimes compared to juveniles who had not been previously arrested
- could be due to labelling and how others treat them
CHAMBLISS:
- observed two groups of high school boys (roughnecks and saints)
- roughnecks were more likely to be labelled as deviant by the police and have legal action taken against them
What is one piece of evidence that challenges labelling theory?
LEMERT:
- found that cheque forgers had been forging cheques a long time before they were caught, so had been active in the crime before they were labelled.
How does becker apply labelling theory to crime?
- labelling theory can explain crime because it proposes that what is criminal or deviant is decided by powerful social groups
- behaviour itself is not criminal, but only becomes criminal when someone in society labels it as such.
- therefore it is the disadvantaged that are most likely to be labelled as criminals.
describe the self fulfilling prophecy
our expectations of others, and the way we behave towards them based on those expectations, affect the behaviour of these individuals
when we are labelled in some way, we become that label
what are three pieces of evidence that support the self fulfilling prophecy as an explanation
ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON:
- pygmalion in the classroom
- teachers told 20 pupils in a class were about to bloom due to results on iq test
- reality, 20 students picked at random
- 20 who were said to be bloomers did have improved iq testa at the end of the year
Madon:
- parents of 115 children aged 12-13in USA given a questionnaire asking them to estimate how much their child regularly drank and how much they would drink that year
- if both parents expected their children to drink alcohol, the child was more likely to do so.
JAHODA:
- Ashanti people in south ghana give boys “soul names”
- soul names linked to days of the week
- monday = calm and peaceful
- Wednesday = aggressive and angry
- 5 years of juvenile court records analysed and monday names responsible for 6.9% of violent crime and wednesday names responsible for 22%
evaluation of self fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of criminal behaviour
STRENGHTS:
- Evidence: rosenthal and Jacobson, madon, jahoda and besemer
- Methodology: research from real life settings so high ecological validity
- Applications: society is more aware about the power of labels (teachers more careful)
WEAKNESSES:
- Evidence: impossible to use experiments due to ethical issues, much evidence comes from educational circumstances so may not be same for criminal
- Methodology: extinct of negative beliefs and expectations are difficult to study as they are not directly observable
- Alternative theories: does not explain how the individual learns the actual criminal behaviour.
what is a cognitive interview?
a method of interviewing eye witnesses. The aim is to help witnesses produce more accurate recall of a crime scene using techniques based on psychological knowledge.
What is an ethical interview?
a method of interviewing that acknowledges that suspects are human beings and are more likely to cooperate with police if rapport is established and they are treated with respect.
What is the PEACE model of ethical interviewing?
P - planning and preparation (objectives)
E - engage and explain (build rapport)
A - account (questions and listening)
C - closure
E - evaluate (reflection)
What are two advantages and disadvantages of suing the PEACE model of ethical interviewing?
Strengths:
- WALSH AND MILNE - evidence that PEACE model build rapport and used more ethical techniques compared to non-PEACE interviews
- Builds public confidence and ensures fewer miscarriages of justice
Weaknesses:
- although policing advocate the peace model, it is not always used consistently and therefore its effectiveness is limited
- expensive to train police in this technique
What are the two memory principles that the cognitive interview technique are based on?
- Tulvings encoding specificity principe
- when an event occurs it is first encoded and then other important cues restored alongside it - Schema theory
- our memory of events may be based on what we expect should have happened based on pervious experiences.
What are the four main techniques used within the cognitive interview?
CONTEXT REINSTATEMENT:
- encourage witnesses to recall specific sensory cues such as how they felt, the weather and smells.
REPORT EVERYTHING:
- allow witness to freely recall the situation without interruption
CHANGE THE ORDER:
- ask witness to recall the event in a different order as it interrupts schema activation and helps them avoid skipping over information.
CHANGE PERSPECTIVE:
- have the witness adopt the viewpoint of a different witness. This uses different retrieval cues and may be able to recall new information.
Describe Geiselman study comparing the effectiveness of three interview techniques
- Lab experiment comparing three different interviewing techniques (standard police interview, hypnosis interview, cognitive interview)
- used 89 undergraduate students randomly assigned to one interview
- participants watched a violent film and were then asked questions about it
Results:
- significant increase in the number of correct items recalled using cognitive interview
41 correct items recalled using cognitive interview, 29 using standard interview.
Evaluate the use of cognitive interviewing in crime.
STRENGTHS:
- evidence supporting (Fisher found miami police dept detectives produced 46% increase in recall using cognitive over standard interviews)
- interview uses a framework others can follow so high in reliability
- Milne and Bull - when used in combination, cognitive reinstatement and report everything was particularly useful
WEAKNESSES:
- time consuming and requires specialist training which can be costly
- Geiselman: children under six, accuracy of recall went down using cognitive interviewing. It should only be used on kids over the age of 8.
- Kohnken - recorded an 81% increase in correct info using cognitive interviews but this was offset by a 61% increase in incorrect information
Define eyewitness testimony
Eye witness testimony is the evidence preceded by someone that has seen the crime or event occurring. Juries often pay attention to eyewitness testimonies.
What is post event information?
Any information that drives after the event that may affect or distort eyewitness testimony
What are leading questions?
Questions that are phrased in a way to suggest a particular answer is desired
What is the aim of loftus and palmers first experiment?
To explore how information provided after an event, in the form of leading questions might affect peoples memories
What is the procedure of loftus and palmers first experiment?
participants:
- 45 students form uni of washington
- shown seven videos of car crashed (4-30 seconds long)
- videos shown in a random order
- participants given a standardised questionnaire asking them to give an account of the film
- then asked to answer several questions about what the had seen
- one critical question was
“how fast were the cars going when they …… into eachother”
- smashed
- collided
- bumped
- hit
- contacted
What were the results and conclusions from the first experiment?
Results:
- speeds were estimated incorrectly
- mean speed estimate for contacted was 31.8
- mean speed estimate for smashed was 40.8
Conclusions:
- change of tone word in the critical question could significantly affect the participants estimate of how fast the car was going
- could be a distortion of memory or a response bias
What was the aim of loftus and palmer second experiment?
shoe more conclusively that information provided after an event is capable of distorting memories
What was the procedure of loftus and palmers second experiment?
participants:
- 150 students from uni of washington
- all shown a short film of a multiple car crash (one min long)
- split into three different conditions
- how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other
- hoe fast were the cars going when they hit each other
- control group
- participants called back one week later
- asked critical question of ‘ did you see any broken glass’
What were the results and conclusions from the second loftus and palmer experiment?
RESULTS:
- smashed estimate was 10.5mph
- hit estimate was 8mph
- 32% of smashed conditon reported seeing broken glass
- 14% of hit condition reported seeing broken glass
- 12% in control group reported seeing broken glass
CONCLUSIONS:
- memory is reconstructed by post even information
What are the overall conclusions of loftus and palmers experiment?
- reconstructive memory hypothesis is supported
- eyewitnesses to car crashes are not good at estimating the speed of vehicles involved
- leading questions can influence the memory of eyewitnesses
- eyewitness testament can be unreliable
Evaluate loftus and palmer study
Generalisability:
- students only from uni of Washington
- similar age and same school
- people with different driving experience may have different estimates
Reliability:
- lab experiment
- standardised procedures used
- e.g yes or no response, same clip and film shown to everyone
Applicability:
- shows eyewitness testimony is unreliable
- lead to the Devlin report in 1976
Validity:
- filler questions used to remove demand characteristics
- students not likely to be in same emotional state as someone who witnesses a crime
Ecological validity:
- lab experiment
- does not reflect real world
What is the Yerkes Dodson Law and how does it apply yo eyewitness testimony?
Yerkes Dodson Law:
- an increase in physiological arousal improves performance on any given task but only to a point
- once arousal has passed the optimum point, perforce tends to decline
Eyewitness:
- high levels of arousal reduce the effectiveness of attention paid to the crime e
- if we witness a crime and become anxious or aroused, this will impact our memory and reliability of our EWT is diminished
What is catastrophe theory?
Developed by: Deffenbacher
- in stressful situations, high levels of arousal are accompanied by anxiety
- anxiety becomes so intense that a sudden, catastrophic drop in cognitive performance occurs
What are the two types of anxiety?
State anxiety:
- feels of anxiety that are temporary and related to the situation
- fight or flight response in a threatening situation
Trait anxiety:
- people who are anxious by nature
- levels of anxiety become so high in crimes that memory is affected
What is weapon focus?
If a witness to a crime sees the perpetrator wielding a weapon, they will tend to remember details of the weapon but be less accurate on other aspects
What are some prices of evidence supporting and criticising weapon focus effect?
SUPPORT:
- Loftus, Loftus and messou
(students shown slideshow of a fast food resturant. Those in experimental group had 11.1% correct identification of perpetrator compared to 38.9% from control group)
- Pickel (study where a man pulled out a raw chicken to pat at hairdresser, showed similar results to weapon)
- Fawcett (meta-analysis and concluded presence of a weapon demonstrated a negative effect on the EWT)
AGAINST:
- Yuille and Cutshall (interviewed 13 witnesses of real life shooting in canada and produced accurate accounts of event despite being asked two leading questions)
- Wagstaff ( coded police interviews from victims and witnesses and compared them against a police description of primary suspect, no evidence of weapon effect on the accuracy)
What are the two overall aims of valentine and messout study?
- to test a prediction, derived from catastrophe model of anxiety, that a situation which induces cognitive anxiety can cause a marked impairment in witnesses recall
- test the ability of eyewitnesses to correctly identify and describe a person in a real life situation that poses a personal threat
What were the two aims of part one of valentine and messout study?
- To validate a subjective self report measure anxiety called the state trait anxiety inventory
- to confirm that the experience of the scary person did actually result in high levels of anxiety and arousal
What was the procedure of part one of valentine and messouts study?
- looking for a correlation between the cores participants gave on the STAI and their heart rate
- 18 employees from a london department store
- wireless heart rate monitor strapped around their chest
- average baseline heart rate taken as p’s walked slowly for 7 min
- average heart rate whilst in the labyrinth was measured
- 45 min after leaving labyrinth they completed the STAI
What were the results and conclusions from part one of Vallentine and Messout study
Results:
- mean heart rate was significantly higher in the labyrinth compared to baseline (74.7 vs 86.9)
- change in heart rate and STAI score showed positive correlation
- mean STAI score in the labyrinth was 49 compared to mean trait anxiety score of 36.8
Conclusions:
- the labrynth and the spray person were successful in inducing physiological arousal
- the STAI is a valid measure of state anxiety
What was the procedure of the second part of Vallentine and Messout study?
participants:
- 56 volunteers
- visitors of london dungeon
- offered a reduction in admission price if they took part
- they were told they had to fill in a questionnaire
- walked slowly around labrynth exhibit for 7 min
- encountered scary person
- after, the experiment was fully explained so consent was given
- completed the STAI
- completed questionnaire including a free recall description of person and a cued recall
- asked to identify scary person from a 9 photo line up
- participants rated their confidence in their design on a scale of 0%-100% confidence
What were the results and conclusions from part two of valentine and messouts study?
RESULTS:
- mean state anxiety score of 49 was higher than the state anxiety norms for working adults
- mean state anxiety score was significantly higher for females (52.8) than for males (45.3)
- males made more correct identification (19/29) than females (7/27)
- participants that reported lower state anxiety levels could describe the person better
CONCLSUIONS:
- experiment supports catastrophe theory
- in a situation that provoked both anxiety and stress, there is a sudden drop in memory performance
- experience of stress in a naturalistic context had a negative influence on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
- eyewitness identification may be more vulnerable to the effects of stress in female witnesses or victim than males
Evaluate Vallentine and Messout study
Generalisability:
- sample only chosen from people already visiting a scary attraction
Reliability:
- good controls
- used same actor every time
- used same location each time
Applicability:
- shows anxiety and sress cause a sudden drop in memory
- EWT may not be reliable
Validity:
- validated the questionnaire
- made sure measure of anxiety was accurate
- objective data such as heart rate used
Ecological Validity:
- filed experiment
- more representative of eyewitnesses in real life events
Pre-trial publicity can involve two types of information - what are they?
Factual Information:
- incriminating information about the defendant or case
Emotional information:
- information that may arouse negative emotions
What is some evidence supporting pre trial publicity affecting jury design making?
FOR:
Fein - used O.J simpson case and set up a mock jury. 80% of jurors who were given pre-trial publicity said guilty
Thomas - analysed 62 real life cases as found jurors remembered media coverage 70% of the time if it was high profile, only 11% of the time if it was low profile
Steblay - meta analysis of 44 empirical tests found jurors exposed to negative pre trial publicity were significantly more likely to judge the defendant guilty
Ogloff and Vidmar - used real life child sex abuse case and found potential jurors did express negative bias in the face of negative publicity
Evaluate pre-trial publicity as a factor affecting jury desicion making
EVIDENCE:
- Fein, Thomas, stably, ogloff and vidmar
Methodology:
- ethical issues as real jurors cannot be exposed to real pre trial publicity
- practical issues as they have to make mock juries or trial simulations
- low ecological validity
Applications:
- psychological knowledge in society
- raise evidence based concern considering media is 24/7
Alternatives:
- reductionist
- ignores other factors such as during the trial or in the decision room
Describe some evidence supporting attractiveness of defendant as a factor affecting jury decision making
Signal and Osgrove:
- more attractive defendants received shorter sentences for burglary than unattractive defendants
- attractive defendants received longer sentences for fraud
- unattractive people are more likely to be deemed a criminal
Castellow:
- guilty judgement in a sexual harassment case was most likely when a female secretary was attractive and the ale was unattractive
Anwender and Hoff:
- attractiveness leniency hypothesis
- attractive people are treated more favourably by juries
- female participants more lenient towards a female defendant and less leant to an unattractive defendant (drink driving case ego killed a pedestrian)
- males are opposite
Describe the Halo effect
a form of stereotyping
- perception of a person is influenced by one particular positive trait or characteristic
- e.g judging a good looking person as more intelligent or kinder than a less attractive person
Dion - Physically attractive people are assumed to have other attractive properties.
Describe some evidence for race being a factor in jury design making
Stahly and Walker:
- legal defence team for OJ simpson
- viewers tended to recall only certain information
- white Americans saw the guilt because of physical evidence
- African Americans saw police misconduct
Pferifer and Ogloff:
- in a mock trial, white uni students more likley to say a black defendant was guilt than a white defendant for the same crime, particularly when victim was white
Bradbury and williams:
- analysed data from real cases in usa
- juries compromised of mostly white jurors were more likely to convict black defendants
- jurys compromising of mostly black jurors were less likely to convict a black defendant
Describe some evidence for accent being a factor affecting jury decision making
Mahoney and Dixon:
- played two min recording of police interview to white non birmingham students
- birmingham accent was derived as guilty significantly more than the non birmingham accent
Seggie:
- an australian with a standard accent was through of as more guilt with white collar crimes
- an australian with a broad accent was seen as kore guilt for blue collar crimes
What are three other factors you can discuss when referring to factors effecting jury design making?
GENDER:
guy and edens - male defendants labelled as psychopaths were more likely to be found guilt than female defendants labelled psychopaths
SCHEMAS
- Pennington and Hastie - each juror tries to make sense of the evidence and impose their own story (story model)
Personality:
- Ellsworth - death penalty supporters tended to show more trust in police and be more skeptical of defendants case (authoriantarism)
Evaluate characteristics of the defendant as a factor affecting jury design making
Evidence:
- get deal of lab based evidence
Methodology
- lab based so scientific and imperial
- cause and effect can be established
- low internal validity as there may be demand characteristics
- low ecological validity
- low generalisability
- mostly done in UK and USA so there are cultural issues
APPLICATION:
- applied to how the defendant presents him-herself in court
Alternatives:
- reductionist approach
What is a formulation and what are the two main reasons for doing them?
- a way to determine which treatment programme is effective for an offender
- to understand the offender and asses the risk capability go an individual reoffending
- consider wether or not an offender would suit a treatment plan and which plan is suitable
What are the three main phases of a formulation?
- Offence Analysis:
- understand the nature of the offence
- looking and researching similar offences
- get an insight as to what has motivated the individual to commit a crime - Understand the function of offending
- what purpose does the offending serve to the individual
- e.g personal satisfaction, money, fulfilling addiction needs etc - Application to treatment
- rehabilitative programme is recommended
Evaluate the use of formulations
STRENGHTS:
- using the diagram format means they are easy to complete and can simplify complexities of behaviour
- brings together work and insight from many professionals. Pooling expertise is helpful when deciding on treatment
- useful to explain to offenders about their own behaviour. Can help them make changes
WEAKNESSES:
- offenders may not be truthful about their behaviour so info may be unreliable
- evidence gained from other agencies may be incomplete or contradictory
- some information may be missing such as a head injury in the past so may reduce effectiveness of some treatments
What’s the cognitive behavioural treatment we study for offenders
Anger Management
- assumes that the offenders inability to control their anger is the root cause of their offending behaviour
- anger management programmes are based upon psychological principles of cbt
(thoughts can impact your feelings which in turn impact your behaviour)
What are three stages of anger management treatment
Stage one: cognitive preparation
- offender encouraged to think about the triggers and the situation differently
- attempts to get the offender to take a more rational approach to situations
Stage two: Skill acquisition
- develop strategies or behavioural techniques to control anger
- self talk, meditating or breathing
- control ones emotions rather than being controlled by them
Stage three: Application practice
- situations being devised where the offender can demonstrate and practice the skills they have learnt
Describe Irelands study into anger management treatment
Aim: to asses the effectiveness of a group based anger management programme
procedure:
- 50 young male prisoners in treatment group
- 37 young male prisoners who were suitable for treatment but had not had it
- had 12 one hour sessions over three days
- assessed anger after 8 weeks
Results:
- significant reduction in angry behaviours in experimental group
- no change in control group
Evaluate anger management as a treatment for offenders
Strengths:
- based on scientific evidence
- reliable as treatment follows standardise procedures
- provide effective means of reducing anti social behaviour
- ethical treatment as it empowers clients
Limitations:
- reductionists as it focusses on thought processes and may overlook underlying cause
- Blackburn argues it helps in the short term but has little impact in the long term
- effectiveness is hard to judge as they are usually paired with other treatments
Describe drug treatment as a treatment for offenders
- medical treatment to reduce sex drive
- MPA
- decreases the functioning of testosterone
- a way of reducing testosterone in males
- inhibits the production of the hormone
- reduction in sex drive and sexual fantasy’s
side effects:
- breast enlargements
- decreased sperm reproduction
- gall bladders issues
Describe Maletzys research into frug treatment for offenders
Aim: followed up offenders who had been on MPA and those that had not
Procedure:
- retrospective review
- 275 inmates after their release and their recidivism rates
- 141 not considered suitable for MPA
- 79 received drug
- 55 were suitable but did not receive drug
Results:
- offenders who had received MPA committed fewer new offences and no sexual offences compared to other two groups
Evaluate drug treatment as a treatment for offenders
STRENGHTS:
- supported by research so is effective
- benefit to society as recidivism rates drop when its used
Limitations:
- ethical issues as it can cause side effects
- reductionist as the it ignores social and cognitive factors
What is your key question in criminological psychology?
Is eyewitness testimony to unreliable to trust?
What points can you talk about in your criminological key question
- multi store memory model
- reconstructive memory
- tilting LTM
- weapon focus
- anxiety and arousal
- leading questions
What is the title of your practical in cognitive psychology?
An experiment to investigate the effect that time delay and reconstructive memory has on eyewitness testimony
What is the title of your practical in cognitive psychology?
An experiment to investigate the effect that time delay and reconstructive memory has on eyewitness testimony
What was the aim of your practical in cognitive psychology?
to investigate the effect of reconstructive memory on an eyewitness memory recall when participants had a time delay in between reporting an incident
What was the alternate hypothesis of your practical?
There will be a significant difference in the memory recall of the stabbing measure by the amount of correctly answered questions on a cued recall test out of 10 and the amount of time between witnessing the stabbing video and recall, measure by doing a recall immediately after and another 2 weeks later
What were two strengths and two weaknesses of your practical?
Strenghts:
- used standardise procedures so high reliability
- follows good ethical guidelines such as confidentiality
Weaknesses:
- low generalisability as all participants were same age and from same class
- low validity as psychology students may have previous knowledge
