Forensic L1

Question 1

Forensic Psychology

Answer 1

application of psychological knowledge and theories to all aspects of the criminal and civil justice systems, including the processes and the people

Question 2

Historical perspective of forensic psych

Answer 2

Aristotle: poverty is the cause of crime
religious explanations
Bacon: opportunity makes a thief Voltaire and Rosseau: free will, hedonism, and flaws in the social contract

Question 3

Classical school of criminology

Answer 3

we are rational beings and freely choose to do wrong when faced with the choice
punishment should be proportionate to the crime

Question 4

Positivist school of criminology

Answer 4

other factors other than free will contribute to criminal behavior
punishment should fit the criminal
seeks to understand the criminal through the scientific method

Question 5

Lombroso

Answer 5

criminals are not evolved as the rest of us

Question 6

Hooton

Answer 6

took physical measurements of different types of criminals

Question 7

Sociological theories

Answer 7

crime is a result of social and cultural forces that are external to an individual that exist prior to any criminal act
structural and subcultural explanations
Cons: people who commit crimes that have never been denied opportunity, applies to certain offenses, doesn’t explain individual differences

Question 8

Structural explanations (sociological theory)

Answer 8

people have similar interests and motivations but different means to achieve them
discrepancies create strain to commit crime

Question 9

Subcultural explanations (sociological theory)

Answer 9

crime originates when various groups of people endorse cultural values that clash with conventional rules of society (gangs)

Question 10

Constitutional theories (biological theory)

Answer 10

Sheldon
3 somatypes: endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph
mesomorphs are more likely to engage in aggressive crimes
cons: oversimplified, correlation not causation

Question 11

Genetic theories (biological theory)

Answer 11

adoption studies show that men with biological criminal parents are 4 times more likely to commit crimes than others
cons: fear people will ignore environmental factors, unclear what aspect is inherited (ANS differences, personality, temperament, physiological)

Question 12

Psychological theories

Answer 12

emphasizes individual differences about the way people think or feel about behavior

Question 13

Psychoanalytic theory (psychological theory)

Answer 13

weak ego and superego cannot restrain id (no research)

Question 14

Personality traits (psychological theory)

Answer 14

higher extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism

Question 15

Personality disorder (psychological theory)

Answer 15

antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy

Question 16

Social-Psychological Theories

Answer 16

crime is learned

Question 17

Control theories (SP theory)

Answer 17

lack internal controls in the absence of external constraints

Question 18

Learning theories (SP theory)

Answer 18

operant learning: behavior is reinforced and outweighs punishment
social learning theory: observation and modeling

Question 19

Social labeling theory (SP theory)

Answer 19

deviance is created by labels (self-fulfilling prophecy), little research due to ethical concerns