Evaluation: Individualistic Theories

Question 1

Give 2 overall strengths of individualistic theories

Answer 1

• Environmental factors are considered alongside biological factors
• Focuses on childhood which helps to find underlying issues

Question 2

Give 2 overall weaknesses of individualistic theories

Answer 2

• Doesn’t explain crimes committed by people from ‘good homes’
• Creates an unfair stereotype of families

Question 3

Give 3 strengths of Bandura’s social learning theory

Answer 3

• Bandura repeated the experiment years later and the results were replicated– making it more reliable
• The experiment and its variables such as gender, actions etc…were controlled, improving the accuracy
• Not deterministic as it suggests people can change

Question 4

Give 3 weaknesses of Bandura’s social learning theory

Answer 4

• Unethical to use children in this way
• Not all observed behaviour is easily imitated
• Took place in a lab (artificial settings), therefore the findings may not be valid for real-life situations

Question 5

Give 2 strengths of differential association

Answer 5

• Focuses on nurture

- The fact that crime often runs in families which supports the theory

Question 6

Give 2 weaknesses of differential association

Answer 6

• Doesn’t explain crimes committed by people from ‘good homes’
• Doesn’t explain why people who come from a ‘bad home’ don’t go on to commit crime

Question 7

Give 3 strengths of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

Answer 7

• Reductionist, therefore provides a more in-depth view
• Takes both nature and nurture into account
• Points out the importance of early socialisation and relationships and its association with criminality

Question 8

Give 3 weaknesses of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

Answer 8

• No way to measure it or ‘prove it wrong’ so it can’t be supported
• Deterministic as it says all behaviour is predetermined (id, ego, superego) suggesting that there is no free will
• Too much generalisability to fully blame someone’s unconscious mind as the reason for crime

Question 9

Give 2 strengths of Bowlby maternal deprivation

Answer 9

• Research supported the theory: 39% of delinquents had been separated from their mother for longer than 6 months during their first 5 yrs of life
• Showed that there is a correlation between parent-child relationships and crime

Question 10

Give 2 weaknesses of Bowlby maternal deprivation

Answer 10

• Bowlby was able to account for 39% of delinquents but not the other 61%–deprivation cannot be the only cause
• Bowlby overestimates how far early childhood experiences can have a permanent effect on later life

Question 11

Give 3 strengths of Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 11

• Useful in describing how some measurable tendencies a person has can increase their risk of offending
• Studies support Eysenck’s theory that high extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism lead to criminality as offenders showed these traits
• Theory relates to a wide range of crimes and people

Question 12

Give 3 weaknesses of Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 12

• Reductionist as it doesn’t consider other factors that may influence crime
• Used self-report questionnaires which may not produce valid results
• Assumes that all criminals are neurotic, extravert and psychotic when it isn’t always the case