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Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

1
Q

principles of life course criminology

A

Relation to other events; potential effect of any life event is determined by its relation to other events and its timing in the life course.

The meaning and consequence of any event for an individual is related to the prevailing social context and the life history of that person

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2
Q

importance of principles for biosocial criminology

A

Principles highlight the non-uniform response of individuals to similar social processes

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3
Q

career criminal

A

Crime is your career; started committing crime young and continued to commit crime.

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4
Q

life course criminology

A

the interconnection of trajectories influenced by societal changes and short term developmental transitions

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5
Q

relative behavior

A

Behavior is relative to what everyone else is doing

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6
Q

absolute behavior

A

…

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7
Q

measurement of stability

A

Different models place varying emphasis on levels of stability and change across time, the direction of stability, and the timing of stability and change

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8
Q

Empirical findings of stability

A

Virtually every study that includes measures of early problem behavior reveals that measurable individual differences predict variation in frequent, serious adult criminal behavior

Youths who engage in extremely high rates of misbehavior early in life are more likely to continue to engage in antisocial behavior
(Density hypothesis )

Youths who show ASB across settings, such as school and home, are more likely to continue their antisocial conduct

Youths who engage in a variety of antisocial acts, as opposed to a limited number of acts, are at increased risk of continuing ASB into the future (Variety hypothesis)

The earlier the onset of ASB, the more likely it is to continue

Highly aggressive behavior is found not only within individuals across settings but within families across generations
(Intergenerational continuity )

Levels of stability are higher for certain youths

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9
Q

continuity of antisocial potential

A

Continuity refers to the psychological structures, to the personality traits, or to the learned behaviors that carry forward from one developmental time period to the next

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10
Q

State Dependence

A

SD refers to the ability of past behavior to influence future behavior

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11
Q

Population Heterogeneity

A

PH states that differences between individuals in their participation in crime and ASB are a direct result of variation in the underlying propensity to engage in crime.

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12
Q

Why study Biosocial Criminology

A

Most criminological theories - including most of life course theories - exclude any mention of biology and genetic

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13
Q

Common Misconceptions about biological explanations to CB

A

How could bio matter to the explanation of crime if laws are ever changing
Mala in se(Crimes that are inherently evil (Ex: rape))

  Mala prohibita (Socially prescribed crimes (Ex: prostitution))
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14
Q

SSSMs

A

Standard Social Science Methodologies

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15
Q

Problem with SSSMs

A

spuriousness

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16
Q

correlation

A

Correlation coefficient “r”

Just because two variables are related, does not mean that one causes the other

“Correlation does not equal causation”

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17
Q

spouriousness

A

when two variables seem to be related, but it is through a third variable

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18
Q

Nature vs Nurture

A

Most criminologists assume variables can be neatly divided into these that are social and those that are biological

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19
Q

Problem with Nature vs Nurture

A

Almost all variables are biosocial: due to the effect s of both the environment and biology

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20
Q

Evolutionary psychology psychological mechanisms

A

Humans use to process info and make decisions.

Information-processing procedure which evolution by natural and sexual selection has equipped humans to possess in order to solve an adaptive problem

21
Q

Natural selection

A

the process of differential survival

22
Q

sexual selection

A

the process of differential reproductive success

23
Q

principles of EP

A

Evolutionary theory is not shy about revealing the dark side of human nature: the ultimate goal of all life is reproductive success.
Ultimate goal of life is reproductive success
Negative traits, such as aggression, are something that was adapted along with other characteristics and traits needed to survive in the past.
(Positive characteristics also evolve in this way)

All human behavior requires both a mechanism (psychological) and an input (from the environment)

All psychological mechanisms owe their existence to evolution by selection
The only reason this and the bullet before exist is because of selection (sexual and natural) over time.

Humans are typically unaware of the evolutionary logic behind our psychological mechanisms
We are aware of the desires, values, preferences, and emotions that our psychological mechanisms engender in us and we consciously and rationally set about to pursue these goals within our constraints.

Evolved psychological mechanisms need only be adaptive in the environment in which they evolved, called the environment of evolutionary adaptedness or the ancestral environment.
The mechanisms only had to help out for a period in time.

To the extent that our current environment is radically different from the ancestral environment, our evolved psychological mechanism might produce maladaptive behavior.
Over time, some of the adaptations, such as aggression, may become behavioral problems.

Because our environment is so vastly different from the ancestral environment, we now face a curious situation where those who behave according to the dictates of the evolved psychological mechanisms are often worse off in terms of survival or reproductive success.

24
Q

Aggression as a solution to adaptive problems

A

As a means to co-opting the resources of others

As a defense against attack
Inflict costs on intrasexual rivals

Negotiate status and power hierarchies

Deter rivals from future aggression

Deter long-term mates from sexual infidelity

Reduce resources expended on unrelated children

25
Agression as contest specific
Aggression is highly context-specific, triggered only in contexts in which the specific adaptive problems are confronted and the adaptive benefits are likely to be reaped. Aggression is involved with the environment around that individual
26
Why men, not women?
In all cultures studied to date, men are overwhelmingly more often the killers and their victims are mostly other men Material sources and status improve men’s reproductive prospects much more than women’s Crime can be identified with the behaviors that tend to promote mating effort and non-crime with those that tend to promote parenting effort Males are more often the perpetrators of violence because they are the products of a long history of mild but sustained effective polygyny characterized by risky strategies of intrasexual competition for access to the high-investing sex. Men are victims of aggression more than women because men are in competition primarily with other men Other men interfere with their access to women, impede their access to resources needed to attract women, and other men provide strategic interference When women use aggression against women, they typically use verbal aggression to lower the status of other women in the context of intrasexual competition Physical imperfections, sexual promiscuity
27
Why younger men, not older men?
No reproductive benefits from competition before puberty because prepubertal males are not able to translate competitive edge into reproductive success. The benefits of puberty stay high for the remainder of their lives since human males are reproductively capable for most of their adult lives. Before men start reproducing there are few costs of competition After the birth of their first child, men’s energies and resources are put to better use by protecting and investing in their existing children.
28
Purpose of behavioral genetics
Behavioral genetics (BG) examines both the genetic influences and environmental influences on the development of behaviors and traits
29
Phenotypes
the observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment
30
variance
a statistic that captures the degree of difference among people on a particular phenotypic measure
31
heritability
estimates how much variation in a phenotypic trait is due to genetic variation among individuals in that population
32
Shared environment
include any environments that are the same between siblings from the same household Symbolized as c2 Makes siblings similar (parental SES, family size, neighborhood) Focus of most criminology studies
33
nonshared environment
include any environments that differ between siblings Symbolized as e2 Makes siblings different (gender, birth order, illness, peer groups) Includes both socialization(peer groups, parenting, schools, etc.) and non-socialization (prenatal environments) effects
34
what do heritability estimates os antisocial behavior tell us about the environment
Genetic factors captured by heritability estimates can make siblings similar or different from each other
35
broad heritability
Captures the effects that all sources of genetic variance have on phenotypic variance
36
Narrow heritability
captures only the effects of additive genetic variance on phenotypic variance
37
sources of genetic variance
Additive genetic varianc Dominance (non-additive) Epistasis (non-additive)
38
Additive
Additive genetic variance is simply the sum of each gene’s contribution to phenotypic variance Assumes that each gene’s effect on the phenotype is independent of all the other genes’ effects All genes contribute equally to the final phenotype
39
Dominance
Dominance effects capture the interaction between the alleles of one gene Alleles are different copies of a gene One gene contributes more or less to the final phenotype
40
Epistasis
Epistasis captures the interaction between the alleles of two or more different genes An allele of one gene hides or masks the phenotype, or visual output, of another gene. Entirely different from dominance which applies to different alleles of the same gene (i.e. eye color, height) Epistatic mutations have different effects in combination rather than individually
41
Benefits of Behavioral genetics over SSSMs
Include more than one child per family Spuriousness, not taking into account biogenetic factors. Able to separate genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental effects Assume genetic similarity varies across households Looks at different levels of genetic relatedness
42
monozygotic twins
Monozygotic (MZ) twins (aka identical twins) occur when one sperm fertilizes one egg, but then the fertilized egg splits to form 2 identical embryos MZ twins share 100% of their genetic material
43
dizygotic twins
Dizygotic (DZ) twins (aka fraternal twins) are the result of 2 separate eggs being fertilized by 2 separate sperms but implantation occurs during the same pregnancy On average, DZ twins share about 50% of their genetic material
44
findings of twin studies
Both MZ and DZ twins are assumed to share similar environments: same parents, same neighborhoods, same schools, same historical events twin based research is flawed due to violations of EEA
45
EEA
Equal-Environments Asumption refers to the assumption that twins from the same MZ twin pair have environments that are no more similar than twins from the same DZ twin pair
46
MZA studies findings
MZ twins who are reared together are no more similar to each other when compared to twins who are reared apart: MZ twins who are reared together are no more similar to each other when compared to twins who are reared apart
47
Adoption studies
Adoptees who had a criminal biological parent and who had criminal adoptive parents had the highest rate of being convicted of a crime (24.5%) Adoptees who had a criminal biological parent and a noncriminal adoptive parent had the second highest rate of being convicted of a crime (20%) Adoptees who had a criminal adoptive parent and a noncriminal biological parent had the third highest rate of being convicted of a crime, but just slightly (14.7%) Adoptees with noncriminal biological and adoptive parents had the lowest rate of being convicted of a crime, but just barely (13.5%)
48
family studies
Studies in this area produce heritability estimates that are consistent with those garnered from twin- and adoption-based research designs

Human Behavior (1 decks)

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