Forensic psychology Flashcards
1
Q
What is forensic psychology?
A
Concerns the application of psychological principles to different stages of the criminal justice system - includes understanding of criminal behaviour + considering how to deal with people who have committed crimes.
2
Q
What is crime?
A
Refers to any behaviour that is unlawful and punished by the state. An act that is harmful to an individual, group or society.
3
Q
Give 2 ways of measuring crime.
A
Official statistics
Victim surveys.
4
Q
What is the top-down approach to offender profiling?
A
An analysis of previous crimes creates a profile of a likely offender. Relies on intuition and beliefs of the profilers.
Is the America FBI approach to profiling.
5
Q
Give 3 features of an organised offender.
A
- Planned offences.
- High degree of control during crime.
- Average high intelligence.
6
Q
Give 3 features of a disorganised offender.
A
- Victim likely to be random.
- Little evidence of planning.
- Unskilled work/unemployment.
7
Q
Give an example of an organised offender - what did this person do to put themselves in the organised category. (2 things)
A
Ted Bundy, an American serial killer. Murdered numerous young women and girls which shows he has a type he targeted.
Bundy was charming and highly intelligent, had a degree in psychology.
Killed he claims up to 30 women, Tf he had high control over his murders because he was able to get away with a lot of murders.
8
Q
What is offender profiling?
A
Method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime and crime scene.
9
Q
A weakness of the top-down approach is that can only be applied to particular crimes, explain this.
A
Best suited to crimes that reveal important details about the suspect such as rape, arson.
More common offences such as burglary reveals very little about the offender - Tf unable to create a profile.
10
Q
What is the undermining evidence about the top-down approach.
A
Canter et al.(2004) analysed data from 100 murders in USA. Analysed in terms of 40 characteristics, found no evidence of a distinct disorganised type of killer. Suggest most serial killers are organised which undermines the utility of the system as a whole.
Problem of this it has a cultural bias, just to the USA, characteristics of a murderer in collectivist cultures may be different.
However, does have historical validity.
11
Q
A weakness of the top-down approach is that the organisation types are not mutually exclusive.
A
Possible for offender to be of high intelligence who commits a spontaneous murder - Tf, difficult to categorise some offenders as one type of another.
12
Q
A weakness of the top-down approach is it was developed on the basis of 36 killers in the USA.
A
- Small sample size.
- Cultural bias.
- Based of the most dangerous, sexually motivated killers. Unrepresentative of the typical offenders, cannot be generalised to wider population.
13
Q
What is the bottom-up approach in offender profiling?
A
A data-driven approach where statistical techniques are used to produce predictions about the likely characteristics of an offender.
14
Q
What approach is investigative psychology and geographical profiling?
A
The bottom-up approach of offender profiling.
15
Q
What are the 3 features of investigative psychology.
A
- Interpersonal coherence
- Significance of time and place
- Forensic awareness
16
Q
What is interpersonal coherence in the investigative psychology - Bottom-Up approach.
A
Personality is consistent which provides clues, and changes in circumstances which may provide other clues.
17
Q
What is significance of time and place in the investigative psychology - Bottom-Up approach.
A
These may give indications about where offender lives.
18
Q
What is forensic awareness in the investigative psychology - Bottom-Up approach.
A
An experienced criminal may reveal their knowledge, eg: wiping fingerprints.
19
Q
What is geographical profiling in the bottom-up approach.
A
Form of bottom-up approach based on pattern shown by the location of locations of a series of crimes.
20
Q
What is the circle theory in geographical profiling (Canter and Larkin).
A
Criminals commit crimes within a circle: marauder (live within the circle) or commuter (travels to circle).
21
Q
Where did geographical profiling originated from?
A
Rossomo
Spatial consistency - offender’s operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes.
Produces a 3D map which will show probability of an offenders residence.
22
Q
2 limitations of the bottom-up approach. Eval points.
A
- Not as scientific as they claim to be. Uses objective statistical techniques and computer analysis which makes them appear scientific. Data used to drive these systems is only related to offenders who have been caught. In practice inevitably biased.
- Lack of success of circle theory. Not a useful approach because the research support for Canter and Larkin showed 91% of offenders identified as marauders, Tf classification not very useful.
- Lack of value in geographical profiling. Rossomo claims that while it may not solve crimes it can prioritise house-to-house searches but cannot distinguish between multiple offenders in same area. Therefore, critics question how much more it offers than the critical method of policing placing pins on a map.
23
Q
1 strength of investigative psychology in the bottom-up approach. Eval point.
A
Canter’s first attempt at profiling was very successful and allowed eg: Gary and Copson (1995) using investigative profiling and found over 75% of officers questioned said the profilers’ advice had been useful.
24
Q
What are cognitive distortions in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
A
Faulty, irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves and others in a way that does not match reality. As a result our perceptions are wrong and allow the offender to deny or rationalise their criminal behaviour.
25
What is hostile attribution bias in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
One example of cognitive distortion which is where the other people's actions are misinterpreted as aggressive.
26
What is minimalisation in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Offender downplays seriousness of one's offences to explain the consequences as less significant or damaging than they already are.
27
What is Kohlberg's level of moral reasoning in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Refers to how an individual draws on their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong.
28
What are the three levels of morality Kohlberg suggested in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Pre-conventional morality
Conventional
Post-conventional
29
What stage of morality are offenders most likely to be in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Pre-conventional, characterised by avoiding punishment and gaining rewards, associated with less mature and child-like reasoning.
30
How do people progress through the stages of Kohlberg's moral reasoning.
People progress as a consequence of biological maturity and by having opportunities to discuss and develop their thinking.
31
Conventional levels of morality people who break the law would feel what?
Feel their behaviour was justified to break the law because it helps maintain relationships or society.
32
What is Schonenberg and Aiste (2014) research support for hostile attribution bias.
Give a weakness.
- Showed 55 violent offenders in prison, shown ambigious faces and found they are more likely to interpret angry faces as aggressive than normal.
- Small sample size of this study has been generalised to 'violent offenders'.
33
What is the research support for minimalisation in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Eval point.
Kennedy and Grubin (1992) found that sex offenders ofren downplayed their behaviour saying that it was something people typically do.
34
What is the real world application for cognitive distortions in the psychological explanations of offending behaviour. Eval point.
Give a weakness.
Heller et al. (2013) worked with a group of young men who were mainly disadvantaged groups in Chicago. CBT techniques for those who attended 13x1 hour sessions had a 44% reduction in arrests.
-Mainly young men, beta gender bias.
35
What is a criticism of Kohlberg's moral reasoning. Eval point.
Krebs and Denton argue moral principles JUSTIFY behaviour, not cause it.
36
What is an ISSUE of Kohlberg's moral reasoning? Eval point.
Ignores the differences women have to men in offending and morals - beta bias.
37
How does Kohlberg's moral reasoning have real worl application. Eval point. What does Kohlberg gather and say from this?
Gilligan set up Cluster Schools that can encourage moral discussions which foster moral development.
led them to suggest Belonging to a democratic group and being involved in making moral judgements facilitated moral development.
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57
What is the genetic explanation of offending behaviour?
Genetic explanations suggest offenders inherit a gene/combination of genes that predisposes them to commit a crime. 'Criminal' genes are transmitted from parent to child.
58
What did Lange (1930) find which supports the genetic explanation of offending behaviour?
Lange investigated 13 MZ twins and 17 DZ twins where one of the twins had served time in prison. He found for the other twin = 10 MZ twins also went to prison compared to only 2 DZ twins.
59
What are the two genes that can have an influence on crime?
```
Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA)
Cadherin 13 (CDH13)
```
60
Who was Mobley and how has he helped the genetic explanations of offending behaviour?
Mobley was a convicted murderer and became infamous because his defence appeal was based on the argument Mobley was genetically predisposed to be violent as his family had been responsible for crimes such as rapes and murder.
61
What is a problem with Mobley's defences argument.
| Eval point.
Anyone could kill anyone without punishment if they were not punished and your genes were a legitimate reason.
62
What is the diathesis-stress genetic explanation for offending behaviour? (use word epigenetics)
Current thinking of epigenetics proposes an interplay where genes are 'switched' on and off due to environmental factors. Your genes create a vulnerability for an individual to commit a crime and your interactions with the environment act as the stressor.
63
Give an example of the diathesis stress model for genetic explanations.
Caspi assessed anti-social behaviour at age 26 and found that 12% of those men with low MAOA had experienced maltreatment when they were babies but were responsible for 44% of violent convictions.
64
What are neural explanations of offending behaviour?
Considers how the structures of the brain may be different in criminals.
65
What is the comparative head injury data in the US that gives us an insight into neural explanations of offending behaviour?
In general 8.5% of US population have had a brain injury compared with 60% in US prisons.
66
What did Raine (2004) cite in the pre-frontal cortex region of the brain.
Raine (2004) cited 71 brain imagining studies showing murderers etc.. have reduced functioning in the pre-frontal cortex.
67
What does the pre-frontal cortex regulate?
Emotional/Moral behaviour.
68
What is the limbic system?
Subcortial structures, such as the thalamus/amygdala linked with emotion and motivation.
69
What did Raine (2004) find in the limbic systems?
Raine found in murderers abnormal asymmetries may lead to offending behaviour.
70
What two neurotransmitters have been found may lead to offending behaviour (Neural explanations).
Serotonin
| Noradrenaline
71
How can serotonin levels link to offending behaviour?
Seo et al. (2008) suggest low serotonin predisposes individuals to impulsive aggression and criminal behaviour.
72
Why may MAOA lead to offending behaviour?
Low activity of this gene may lead to offending behaviour as it controls dopamine and serotonin in the brain.
73
Give 2 weaknesses of Lange's early twin studies for genetic explanations of offending behaviour.
Eval point.
- Poorly controlled and judgements made about zygosity were based on appearance rather than DNA testing.
- Moreover, there is a confounding variable with twin studies because MZ twins often share a more similar environment to DZ twins. Tf you cannot separate the effects of genes and environment - cannot strongly support genetic explanations.
74
A weakness of genetic explanations of offending behaviour in concordance rates.
Eval point.
Concordance rates of twins are never 100%. Tf, non-environmental factors must come into play so genetic explanations are guilty of biological reductionism.
75
Give a weakness of neural explanations of offending behaviour? Why does this weaken the explanation?
Eval point.
Regions of the brain and level of neurotransmitters may only be an intervening variable, not a cause of offending behaviour. Research highlights only a correlation between activity in the pre-frontal cortex and criminality. It could be criminality reduces activity in pre-frontal cortex.
Tf, internal validity is not strong because a cause and effect cannot be established.
76
Give the Real World Application of neural explanations of offending behaviour. - could lead to potential methods of treatment.
What validity does it provide?
Eval point.
If low serotonin levels are identified as causing aggression, people in prison can go on diets to enhance serotonin levels. Tf, provides external validity as neural explanations have the potential to reduce offending behaviour.
77
What was Eyesenck's theory for psychological explanations of offending behaviour.
Eyesenck proposed offending behaviour is caused by having a criminal personality - character traits.
78
What are Eyesenck's three dimensions of personality for offending behaviour.
- Extraversion
- Neuroticism
- Psychoticism
79
What is extraversion, 1/3 Eyesenck's personalities?
Extraverts are characterised as outgoing, having positive emotions but easily get bored.
80
What is neuroticism, 1/3 Eyesenck's personalities?
Neuroticism is the tnedency to experience negative emotional states (anger, anxiety) rather than positive emotional states.
81
What is psychoticism, 1/3 Eyesenck's personalities?
Refers to aggressive, anti-social person who lack empathy. May be related to high levels of testosterone. Impulsive/egocentric.
82
How much does Eyesenck claim is due to genetic factors?
67%.
83
How is extraversion determined?
Extraversion is determined by the level of arousal in a person's nervous system. Constantly seeking excitement, risk-taking and dangerous behaviours.
84
How is neuroticism determined?
Stability - Individuals have more reactive, sympathetic nervous systems - slightly unstable, gets upset easily. Opposite end is someone who is stable and has a more unreactive nervous system - calm under pressure.
85
How is psychoticism determined?
Related to higher levels of testosterone - Tf men are more likely to be found at this end of the spectrum as they have higher levels of testosterone.
86
Link between extraverts and criminal behaviour.
Extraverts seek more arous and thus engage in dangerous activities.
87
Link between neurotics and criminal behaviour.
Neurotics are unstable and Tf prone to over-react to situations of threat.
88
Link between psychotics and criminal behaviour.
Individuals are aggressive and lacking empathy.
89
Give supporting evidence (1) for Eyesenck's theory of criminal personality.
Eyesenck (1977) compared 2070 male prisoners' scores on the Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire with 2000 male controls. On measures of ex, ne, ps, and found prisoners recorded higher scores than controls. Supports the predictions of the theory, Tf must have some validity.
90
Give undermining evidence (1) for Eyesenck's theory of criminal personality.
Farrington et al. (1982) reviewed several studies and found that offenders tended to score high on psychoticism but not on extraversion or neuroticism. Suggests extraversion and neuroticism may not be typical characteristics of many criminals and Tf may not be externally valid.
91
Give 1 weakness of Eyesenck's theory of criminal personality. (not enough personality types).
Idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by a single personality type has been heavily criticsed.
Digman's (1990) Five Factor Model of personality suggests brings in openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. From this perspective limiting yourself Eyesenck's 3 dimensions is reductionistic.
92
Give 1 weakness of Eyesenck's theory of criminal personality. (weakness of questionnaire)
The label given to a person depends on the answers they provide. Social desirability involved, Tf results should be treated with caution.
For example 'Are you lively?' -yes -sometimes -no
one may be likely to choose the most socially desirable answer - also it is SUBJECTIVE.
93
Who proposed the differential association theory?
Edwin Sutherland (1939)
94
What is the differential association theory?
| TOTAL NURTURE APPROACH.
An explanation of offending behaviour in terms of learning theory, how interactions with others lead to the formation of attitudes about crime, as well as acquiring specific knowledge about how to commit crimes.
95
What is learned in the differential association theory?
- A child learns attitudes towards crime eg: desirable (what is acceptable in community) or undesirable.
- May also learn specific methods/techniques for committing crimes.
96
How is the differential association theory learned?
- Learned through frequency (how often you come into contact with individuals).
- Operant/vicarious reinforcement - child may be directly reinforced for deviant behaviours through praise or punishment.
97
Who is the differential association theory learned from?
- Peer groups/family members.
- Also learned from wider community, the degree to which the local community supports or opposes criminal involvement determines the difference in crime rates from one area to another.
98
Sutherland (1939) promoted 9 key principles to his differential association theory.
- Criminal behaviour is learned rather than inherited.
- Learned through association with others.
- Association with intimate personal groups.
99
Give a weakness of Sutherland's (1939) study - cannot account for all types of crime.
eval point.
Impulsive crimes such as rape may be less equally explainable than theft. Linking to this, Newburn (2002) found association cannot explain why most offences are committed by younger people and that only 40% of offences are committed by people u21.
100
Give a strength of differential association theory. Can explain crime...
eval point
```
It can explain crime in a variety of social contexts eg: violent assaults are common in working class communities but rare in upper class.
Sutherland introduced "white collar crime", non-violent crimes by businesses such as fraud. He says how these crimes tended to be committed by the middle-class.
```
101
Osborne and West (1979) found supporting evidence for the differential association theory.
Eval point.
Osborne and West (1979) found where a father had a criminal conviction, 40% sons committed crime compared to non-criminal fathers. By coming into contact with parents you Tf become associated with them. This can also be explained by genetics.
102
What is a dispositional theory of the differential association theory.
Eval point.
Genes you inherit define you, biology you cannot dispute. The absence of biological factors is a drawback because they must play some role. For example the diathesis-stress theory. The SLT on its own is insufficient.
103
What is affectionless psychopathy?
A behaviour disorder in which the individual has no ability to experience shame or guilt and lacks social conscience. Means that they may find it 'eaiser' to commit crimes.
104
What is maternal deprivation?
The loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver.
105
What is the 2 psychodynamic explanations of offending behaviour?
- The role of superego in moral behaviour
| - Maternal deprivation
106
What does Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory suggest?
Prolonged early separation between mother and child have long term emotional consequences.
107
Give 1 consequence of maternal deprivation.
Affectionless psychopathy - lack of empathy, normal affection and guilt.
108
What was Bowlby's study into 44 thieves about?
Compared criminal behaviour with a control group of 44 people and 44 people that were at a Child Clinic. None of the control group experienced early separations, whereas 39% of the thieves at the Child Clinic did. Also found the thieves almost all who had frequent separations had an affectionless character.
109
In Freud's theory of psychoanalysis what are the 3 components to personality?
the id
ego
superego
110
What is the id in Freud's psychoanalysis?
Id represents our primitive wants - our greeds.
111
What is your superego? (Freud)
Superego works in opposition to the id as it represents our moral and social constraints.
112
What is your ego? (Freud)
The ego is part of the mind that is a reality principle that balances both the id and the superego
113
How can one have an undeveloped superego according to Freud?
Occurs because of a lack of identification with you same sex parents which results in little control over anti-social id impulses.
114
How can one have an overdeveloped superego according to Freud?
Child may develop an overidentification with strict same sex parent. Results in feelings of guilt and anxiety whenever these id drives arrive. (Strength as it brings in biological factors).
115
What is an ISSUE with Freud's psychodynamic explanation of offending behaviour?
Eval point.
It has an alpha gender bias. Freud says women develop weaker superegos because they do not identify with their same sex parent as strongly as boys do.
If women have weaker superegos then more women should be driven by their id and we would expect to see more women as criminals. This is not the case.
116
What is a strength of Freud's psychodynamic explanation of offending behaviour? (emotion)
Eval point.
Important consideration of emotion/combined with biological reasons.
Cognitive explanations miss out on how emotion affects behaviour. Psychodynamic addresses this issue. Also recognises the important role of biological influence and the importance of early childhood experiences.
117
Give a weakness of Bowlby's maternal deprivation findings for a psychodynamic explanation of offending behaviour. (not causal findings)
Eval point
The thieves prolonged separation cannot be said to have caused the emotional problems because the separation was not manipulated. The study can only demonstrate an association between separation and emotional problems.
118
Real world application for psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour. (Bowlby's findings)
Eval point.
Bowlby's findings helps prove that reducing early separation reduces delinquency. Help prevent early separation in the first place.
Emotional separation is key, children coped reasonably well with separation from their parents if alternative care was provided.
