Forensic Psycholgoy Flashcards
Eysenck’s theory A01
Developed theory of personality types that are more likely to be prone to criminal behaviour based on the idea that characteristic traits tend to cluster among three dimensions: extroversion (outgoing, get bored easily), neuroticism (experience negative emotional states), psychoticism (lack empathy & not concerned about the welfare of people). Personality test to assess personality, the Eysenck Personality Inventory to categorise into 3 dimensions.
Extraverts - seek more arousal
Neurotics - unstable -> prone to over-react
Psychotics - express aggression
Cognitive explanations - distortions
Form of irrational thinking, distortions are ways that reality has become twisted, what’s perceived isn’t true. Can result in a wrong perception.
Examples of cognitive distortions - hostile attributions bias
Tendency to judge ambiguous situations/ actions of others as aggressive/threatening when in reality they are not, leading to increased levels of aggression -> criminality
Examples of cognitive distortions - minimisation
involves down playing the significance of an event/emotion. Common when dealing with guilt to feel less guilty about committing criminal behaviour. Consequences of a situation area under exaggerated.
Differential association theory - psychological explanation
Offending behaviour is explained in terms of social learning, socialised into crime. A child learns attitudes towards crime whether its desirable/undesirable -> potential criminals learn pro-criminal attitudes from those around them
Psychodynamic explanations - maternal deprivation
Bowlby suggested affectionless psychopathy is a consequence of long-term separation from the mother and the infant. This is a lack of normal affection & sense of responsibility which is related to the notion of a psychopath (lack understanding of the feelings of others)
Psychodynamic explanation - inadequate superego
Superego produces feelings of guilt, if superego is deficient, criminal behaviour is inevitable. 3 types of this:
Weak superego - child doesnt identify with same-sex parent -> little control over anti-social behaviour
Harsh superego - child may identify with strict parent, excessive feelings of guilt -> commit crime with a wish to be caught to receive punishment to receive less guilt
Deviant superego - normal identification with same-sex parent, if parent is a criminal, the child adopts the same deviant attitudes
Limitation of eysencks theory
His theory suggests everyone’s personality is consistent, this is not the case. Someone may be relaxed at home but stressed (neurotic) at work. This suggests that your personality is changeable and there may be other explanations for criminality
Strength of eysencks theory
Personality types have a biological bias. Zuckerman found a +.52 correlation for MZ twins on neuroticism compared with a .24 correlation for DZ twins, showing a largely genetic component and may explain offending behaviour on a genetic basis
Strength of cognitive explanations - minimalisation
Kennedy and grubin found that sex offenders downplayed their behaviour and suggested that the victims contributed in some way to the crime, suggesting that minimilisation may explain offending behaviour
Limitation of cognitive explanations
One key failing with this approach is that whilst it’s good at describing the criminal mind, it is less successful when it comes to explaining it, suggesting other explanations for offending may be more useful
Limitation of psychodynamic explanations - maternal deprivation
Other variables may cause emotional problems, not just prolonged separation. Suggesting emotional problems that lead to criminality may have multiple causes
Strength of the psychodynamic explanation
This is the only explanation that deals with the role of emotional factors, it acknowledges how feelings of anxiety may contribute to offending behaviour
