deviance + psychological theories

Question 1

what do psychological theories of deviance look at?

Answer 1

examine deviance through personality or learning

Question 2

what are the two assumptions in psychological theories?

Answer 2

1. offender deviant
2. discriminating traits

Question 3

what is the assumption that the offender is deviant?

Answer 3

there is something psychologically wrong with the offender

Question 4

what are the assumption of discriminating traits?

Answer 4

offenders differ from non-offenders (typically aggression, frustration tolerance, impulsivity)

Question 5

what are the major psychological theories of deviance?

Answer 5

social learning theory
psychoanalytic theory
evolutionary theory
moral development theory
cognitive information processing theory

Question 6

what is social learning theory?

Answer 6

alfred bandura FINISH WITH PAST INFO

Question 7

what is psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 7

sigmund freud: ID, superego, and ego

Question 8

what is the ID?

Answer 8

compulsive, sex, drugs, unconscious, pleasure seeking (born with it)

Question 9

what is the superego?

Answer 9

• disciplines ID, only if you are properly socialized (not nice to steal candy from your friends)
• no superego would lead us governed by the ID (would get us in trouble)

Question 10

what is the ego?

Answer 10

balances the ID and superego in cognitive, conscious thought

Question 11

what was freud’s belief behind the stages of psychosexual development?

Answer 11

we are born with a sexual drive / energy and must move successfully through each stage

Question 12

what are the five stages of psychosexual development?

Answer 12

oral
anal
phallic
(oedipeus / electra complex)
latent
genital

Question 13

what is the oral phase

Answer 13

(0-1 / infant): libido is focused on oral (mouth) pleasure, includes breastfeeding

Question 14

what is the anal phase?

Answer 14

(1-3 years): parents trying to potty train us, satisfaction through pooping or holding it in

Question 15

what is the phallic phase?

Answer 15

(3-6 years): masturbation, finding out it feels good to touch / manipulate our own genitals

Question 16

what is the latent phase?

Answer 16

(6-12 years): if you havent worked through things properly, catch up; no sexual drive

Question 17

what is the genital phase?

Answer 17

(12+ years): pleasure in touching / manipulating others genitals

Question 18

what is freud’s oedipus complex?

Answer 18

• between 6-12 years old
• a boy wants to kill his father to have sexual relations with his mother
• unconscious motive
• libido is directed outside person onto primary love source

Question 19

what is carl jung’s electra complex?

Answer 19

• 6 - 12 years
• girls want to kill their mothers to sleep with their fathers

Question 20

how does freud believe we become deviant throughout the psychosexual stages?

Answer 20

when we inadequately manage each stage and become fixated on a certain stage

Question 21

how do folk devils play into the psychosexual stages?

Answer 21

we project that guilt onto someone else if we do not get over a certain stage

Question 22

overall, what are the three ways that psychoanalytic theorists believe that deviant behavior can occur?

Answer 22

1. ID domination:
   - superego / ego is not strong enough to subdue the ID
2. underdeveloped superego / ego
   - wineman: ‘delinquent ego’
3. problems experienced during any stage of development resulting in internal conflict and tension

Question 23

what did freud believe women suffered from that made them deviant?

Answer 23

penis envy

Question 24

what did freud believe penis envy was?

Answer 24

• feel as though they have been castrated
• women are bitchy around their periods because every month they are forced to recognize that they bleed and don’t have a penis
• lost their penis as a form of punishment
• status and power taken away
• anxiety and resentment

Question 25

what did freud believe would happen if penis envy was not resolved?

Answer 25

women become neurotic or aggressive / revengeful
- women who want to be men are those who are deviant

Question 26

what is the treatment for penis envy?

Answer 26

have women realize their role as wife / mother

Question 27

what are the criticisms of psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 27

1. not all criminals suffer from guilt or anxiety
2. gender bias
3. theory is unscientific (cannot be scientifically validated / difficult to prove)
4. theory is tautological (circular reasoning: aggressive acts are due to impulses, and impulses lead to aggressive acts)

Question 28

what is the evolutionary theory of deviance?

Answer 28

genetically driven to ensure survival of our own genetic material
understand adaptive function (what traits are desired)
fundamental strong drive to ensure survival of our genetic material (great feats to save our children)

Question 29

how do we ensure the survival of our own genetic material?

Answer 29

reproduction

Question 30

ensuring successful adaptation results in having

Answer 30

‘good genes’

Question 31

in forensic evolutionary psychology, what are the characteristics of men?

Answer 31

more aggressive and antisocial as they need to compete with other men

Question 32

in forensic evolutionary psychology, what are the characteristics of women?

Answer 32

less aggressive and risk-taking as they need to take care of the children to ensure survival

Question 33

in evolutionary theory, what traits do women prefer in men?

Answer 33

strong, aggressive men, as women are vulnerable after pregnancy, as they cannot fight

Question 34

in evolutionary theory, what traits do men prefer in women?

Answer 34

wider hips to successfully carry a child, take care of the children, kind, gentle, etc

Question 35

what are the three criticisms of evolutionary theory?

Answer 35

1. normalizes, legitimizes and excuses criminal behavior / male aggression
2. criminal behavior is predetermined (in our genes and cannot be fixed)
3. theory is hypothetical and cannot be tested

Question 36

what is kohlberg’s theory of moral development in regards to deviance?

Answer 36

people who commit crimes are deviant because they have not adequately developed their moral compass

Question 37

what are the three stages of moral development?

Answer 37

1. preconventional
2. conventional
3. postconventional

Question 38

what is the preconventional stage of moral development?

Answer 38

(3-7 years)
1. avoid punishment
2. obtain rewards

Question 39

what is the conventional stage of moral development?

Answer 39

(8-13 years)
1. belong and be accepted
2. obey rules and regulations

Question 40

what is the postconventional stage of moral development?

Answer 40

(adulthood)
1. make and keep promises
2. live moral imperatives

Question 41

what are some criticisms of kohlbergs theory of moral development?

Answer 41

1. does not clarify whether a lower level of moral reasoning predisposes individuals to offend
2. does not address findings related to gender differences
3. does not address possible reasons for delayed moral development (peer pressure, family conflict)

Question 42

what does cognitive information processing theory believe in regards to deviance?

Answer 42

we commit crimes or are deviant based on faulty cognitive reasoning or development

Question 43

what is the three step process of behavior in regards to cognitive information processing theory?

Answer 43

1. encode / interpret situation
2. search for best response
3. act on decision

Question 44

if a man is bumped into at a bar, using the three step process, describe how the situation could potentially go?

Answer 44

1. interpret: yeah man, no worries, it’s all good! OR what the fuck is your problem man
2. search for best response: is it worth getting into a fight or should i just leave it
3. act on decision: either get into fight or just say that it’s all good

Question 45

what do deviant people say is faulty about the three step process?

Answer 45

their cognitions are not helpful to them (constantly misinterpret the situation (dude is not disrespectful, just drunk))
do not recognize the harm they do to others (psychopaths lack empathy)

Question 46

in cognitive info-processing theory, goffman’s dramaturgical approach can be looked at from criminal scripts. what are the three steps of criminal scripts

Answer 46

1. goal / aim: looking to steal
2. criminally-motivated perception: see an open purse and see it as an opportunity
3. self-serving cognitions to justify actions: not my fault she left her purse open, it was there for the taking