forensic psych Flashcards
Top-down
An approach to offender profiling based on interviews with 36 serious criminals that uses the intuition of the profiler to determine likely suspects
Bottom-up
An approach to offender profiling created by David Canter that emphasises the importance of data and statistics from previous similar cases to create a profile
Organised offender
Someone who is intelligent and sociable and leaves very little forensic evidence at the crime scene
Disorganised offender
Someone who lacks social skills and has a poor employment history and leaves lots of forensic evidence at their impulsive crime scene
Data assimilation
The stage of top-down profiling where the profiler reviews the forensic evidence
Crime scene classification
The stage of top-down profiling where the profiler decides whether the scene is organised or disorganised
Crime reconstruction
The stage of top-down profiling where the profiler makes a hypotheses about the sequence of events involved
Profile generation
The stage of top-down profiling where the profiler deduces the likely characteristics of the offender
Investigative Psychology
The branch of the bottom-up approach to offender profiling that uses data to identify likely psychological characteristics of offenders
Interpersonal coherence
The theory that offenders are similar in their everyday life as they are while they commit offences - violent crimes are committed by violent people
Forensic awareness
The finding that the extent to which offenders covered their tracks can tell us information about their previous convictions
Geographical profiling
The use of Circle Theory to determine an offenders likely home/base
Extraversion
Personality characteristic characterised by seeking out new experiences
Neuroticism
Personality characteristic characterised by emotional instability
Psychoticism
Personality characteristic characterised by lack of empathy and excessive aggression
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
The questionnaire developed to determine a person’s ratings for extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism
Cognitive Distortions
Ways in which thoughts can be irrational or illogical
Hostile Attribution Bias
A cognitive distortion whereby the person assumes ambiguous behaviour from others is aggressive/negatively-motivated
Minimalisation
A cognitive distortion whereby an offender downplays the severity of their crimes
Levels of Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg’s theory that claims our morality develops and evolves as we mature
Preconventional morality
When a person’s morality is motivated only by whether or not they will be rewarded or punished for their behaviour
Conventional morality
When a person’s morality is motivated by maintaining a reputation as ‘good’
Postconventional morality
When a person’s morality is motivated by their own morals and principles rather than consequences
Inference
Making assumptions about a person’s thought processes based on behaviour and self-reporting
Differential Association Theory
The social learning theory of forensic psychology. It claims we learn offending behaviour from our community and close relationships
Pro-crime attitudes
According to Differential Association Theory, children learn that offending is desirable - though they also learn specific moral codes around offending
Learning specific criminal acts
According to Differential Association Theory, children are taught how to actually carry out offences and which ones are the best
White collar crime
Offences that are financially-motivated and non-violent, such as fraud or embezzlement
Superego
The part of our personality that works on the morality principle
Weak superego
Due to an absent same-sex parent, a child develops this and becomes more selfish and pleasure-seeking
Deviant superego
Due to pro-crime parental figures, a child develops this and has a skewed morality principle
Over-harsh superego
Due to very strict parental figures, a child develops this and it could lead to actually enjoying guilt and shame
Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
Bowlby’s theory that claims an inconsistent mother figure will lead to emotional, social and intellectual issues in a child
Affectionless psychopathy
A condition caused by maternal deprivation, according to Bowlby, which is characterised by a lack of empathy or guilt
Phallic stage
The psychosexual phase where the child becomes aware of their gender and begins the Oedipus/Electra complex
Oedipus Complex
Where young boys compete with their fathers for the affection of their mothers
Electra Complex
Where young girls compete with their mothers for the affection of their fathers
MAOA-L
A gene variant that leads to a desensitisation to serotonin
Amygdala
A part of the limbic system that recognises threats and stressors to initiate the fight or flight response
Prefrontal cortex
Brain area responsible for controlling moral behaviour - found to have reduced functioning in offenders
Serotonin
An inhibitory neurotransmitter. Low levels of this (or insensitivity to it) can lead to offending behaviour
Atavistic form
Lombroso’s theory that offenders are less evolved and this can be seen in their physical characteristics
Somatotypes
The theory that we can predict the type of offences a person will commit based on their body type
Neural correlates
Parts of the brain or neurotransmitters that are linked with a particular characteristic
Custodial sentencing
Where a court requires an offender to be held against their will in a prison or psychiatric hospital
Recidivism
Reoffending and being reconvicted
Retribution
Giving victims and their families a sense of justice by punishing an offender to make them atone for their crimes
Deterrence
Discouraging others from performing the same action, usually by punishing that behaviour
Deindividuation
A psychological effect of prison that removes the identity from prisoners
Token economy
The use of coupons and rewards in prisoners to encourage desirable behaviour
Positive reinforcement
A pleasant response that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated
Punishment
An unpleasant response that decreases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated
Negative reinforcement
An unpleasant response that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated
Anger management
The process of trying to reduce feelings of hostility
Stress Inoculation Model
A type of CBT used for anger management, which helps the patient become more self-aware and more autonomous
Restorative justice
A way of dealing with offender behaviour where the offender meets the victim and tries to repair the damage they did
Rehabilitation
When an offender realises the error of their ways and changes to becoming law-abiding
Copson
82% of US police found top-down approach useful
Alison
Most police rated a bad profile as accurate
Copson
75% of UK police found bottom-up approach useful
Lombroso
Wrote ‘The Criminal Man’ and identified traits
Brunner
All males in one family were violent and had MAOA-L variant
Raine (twin study)
MZ twins had 52% conviction concordance, vs. 21% DZ
Raine (neural)
Low prefrontal cortex activity and amygdala asymmetry in offenders
Caspi
Boys needed both MAOA-L variant and mistreatment to become violent
Dunlop
Extraversion & psychoticism good predictors of delinquency
Van Dam
Very few offenders had all 3 personality traits
Dodge
Aggressive children showed hostile attribution bias
Kenedy & Grubin
Only 1/3 of sex offenders believed they had caused harm
Palmer & Hollins
Offenders scored lower on moral reasoning than non-offenders
Osborne & West
40% chance of conviction in sons of criminals, compared to 18% of non-criminals
Bowlby
12/14 juvenile thief affectionless psychopaths had suffered maternal deprivation
Zimbardo
Found that prisoner participants identified by their number
Hobbs & Holt
Boys who had token economy had 27% increase in social behaviours
Moyes
Recipients of token economy had similar recidivism rates
Taylor & Novaco
Found a 75% success rate in anger reduction
McGuire
Prisoners given anger management less likely to reoffend compared to those on parole
Sherman & Strang
Recidivism rates of 11% in restorative justice recipients compared to 37% in prisoners
