Development of Offending Flashcards
What is the XYY chromosome hypothesis?
Women have 2 X chromosomes and men have XY
Men can be occasionally born with 2 Y chromosomes- XYY
Some of them have low IQ and are big
XYY is extra masculine as one Y is what makes a man masculine.
Masculinity is associated with aggression
XYY men may be even more aggressive as they’re extra masculine
What’s an issue with the XYY chromosome hypothesis?
Men have the XYY chromosome pattern but don’t show abnormalities
Only men who have the XYY chromosome and who show the abnormalities have been detected
Not all men who have the XYY chromosome have low IQ and engage in criminal behaviour
What physical traits could cause offending behaviour to develop?
Mesomorphs: preponderance of bones, muscles, connective tissue and heart/blood vessels. These people are adventurous, power/dominance, enjoy risk taking and are ruthless
How does the environment cause individuals to develop criminal behaviour?
Failure of socialisation
This means they have immature tendencies
This means they’re only concerned with themself and want immediate gratification
Socialisation means that individuals are more social and therefore less criminal
Antisocial behaviour is punished by significant people in your life, e.g. parents, socialisation causes this person to feel unpleasant when they behave antisocially- classical conditioning
What is Eyenck’s biosocial theory of crime?
Biological factors has an impact on criminal behaviour
Their impact is depends on environmental or social factors
Biology of the individual (genes/neurotransmitters) Affects the psychology of the individual (person becomes neurotic)
Social factors (socialisation by harsh parent)
Leads to crime if the opportunity is there
What is the societal or macros level theories of explaining the development of criminal behaviour?
Crime is due to social structure
Law favours some groups to the detriment of others that want the same things
Dominant/privileged classes retain their dominance and privilege
Power is gendered, male power is reflected in law, e.g. women are possessions to men
Connection between hate crime and prevailing economic conditions
How can the community develop criminal behaviour in an individual?
Crime isn’t randomly distributed geographically
Some suffer from crime more than others
Crime is committed closely to the offender’s home, with a buffer zone as the risk of recognition is too high
People who live in these crime prone areas may experience more extreme social problems
e.g. economically deprived putting them at a heightened risk of offending
How do cognitive theories explain the development of offending behaviour?
Criminals have low IQ
Low iq leads to poor learning skills
this means they don’t have the ability to earn a living (unemployed), make senseless risks, get caught easily
Some characteristics that are associated with criminality are also associated with low iq, like unemployment and school failure
What are the issues with the cognitive theory?
Some offending behaviour needs intelligence
like fraud and identity theft
There was the race and low iq debate
Poverty was seen as a result of low iq, so poverty was genetically determined rather than due to socioeconomic factors
What twin study supports the biological theory of developing offender behaviour?
Identical twins MZ share 100% genetic makeup
Non-identical twins DZ share 50%
Correlation of 0.7 between MZ twins for their criminality
0.4 for DZ twins
What are the issues of twin studies?
MZ twins are treated similarly because they’re identical
This may enhance their similarity in terms of eventual criminality
Adoption studies are important too, no relationship between the number of criminal convictions between adopted parent and adopted children, but there was a relationship between the criminal convictions of the adopted child and their biological parent
What are the criminogenic factors in childhood that cause offending behaviour to develop?
Deviant parental characteristics e.g. criminality, substance abuse, mental health problems
Family disruption e.g. divorce, instability, marital conflict
Problematic parenting e.g. issues with controlling their anger, arguments with the child, inconsistent enforcement of rules
Punitive ways of raising children e.g. strict discipline
Lack of father figure
Lack of supervision
lack of love
Rejection
How do groups and socialisation develop offending behaviour?
Peers and family influences
How can the social learning theory be used to explain the development of criminal behaviour?
Vicarious learning, learn about consequences from observing others
Learn directly from family and friends
Modelling: imitation of behaviour
What is Bandura’s bobo doll experiment?
Video of adult (model) acting aggressively towards bobo doll. Children who watched this video were also aggressive towards the doll.
What are reinforcers?
Consequences that increase chances of a behaviour
e.g. social approval, sex, money, social inclusion
What are the criticisms of the social learning theory?
Not clear why criminal behaviour is sometimes learned and sometimes not
Which conditions people learn to be a criminal under isn’t well explained
How does self regulation explain the development of offending behaviour?
Self regulation failure and intimate partner violence perpetration is linked
Ability to control your behaviour in various situations
When many behaviours require self control, self regulation can be used up momentarily
Link between self regulation and aggression
Failure to control impulses leads to many types of problematic behaviour, including aggression and violence.
What did DeWall, Baumeister, Stillman and Gailliot 2007 find?
Ps engaged in a task that uses up self regulatory resources
Inhibited desire to eat a donut
Ps weren’t to eat the donut
Ps who had previously employed self regulation were more aggressive than ps who had not
What impacts the ability to self regulate?
People differ in the ability to self regulate, some people can self regulate better than others
Situational factors can also impact self regulation
Is free will a mental resource?
Raine 2002
People who have Prefrontal deficits have low autonomic arousal
Leads to development of aggressive and antisocial behaviour
Linked to psychopathy
How can biology influence the development of offending behaviour?
Hormones like testosterone can be linked to aggression
Twin studies suggest that genetics may play a role in linking adult violence across generations
Heritability of aggression is about 50%, many genes are related to aggression
Hormones such as dopamine can impact aggressiveness
RBFOX1 gene is involved in neural development, it’s linked to aggression
What are eclectic approaches?
Some cases of crime can be a one time event
Others can be symptomatic of chronic problems
Different causal factors can come into play over long periods of time
What individual characteristics can cause the development of offending behaviour?
Low self control
Bad neighbourhoods
Media violence
Violence modelling
