Forensic psychology: biological explanation -atavistic

Question 1

who came up with the atavistic form?

Answer 1

.cesare lombrosso

Question 2

what did lombrosso believe?

Answer 2

.believed that he had identified physical features that suggest an innate criminal tendency
.believed that crimanals were a ‘evolutionary throwback’ (less developed)

Question 3

what 3 types of criminals did he indentify?

Answer 3

born criminals -the evolutionary throwback
insane criminals -suffering from mental illness
criminaloids -people who commit crimes because of bad experiences

Question 4

what did kretchsmer do?

Answer 4

.identified body types and common crime types

Question 5

what were the link between the body types and common crime types called?

Answer 5

somatotypes

Question 6

what are some examples of the somatotypes?

Answer 6

.athletic (tall and muscular) -crimes of violence
.pyknic (short and fat) -crimes of deception

Question 7

what were some strengths to this biological explanation (atavistic form)?

Answer 7

.scientific for its time -lombrosso was one of the first to study the criminal rather than just the crime (did it with a sample of over 50,000)
.biological determinism -compatible with modern views of genetic influence

Question 8

what were some of the weaknesses to this biological explanation (atavistic form)?

Answer 8

.inadequate use of control subjects -lombrosso was more focused on criminals than non-criminals so we don’t know the normal ranges for the abnormalities we observed
.gender bias -lombrosso demonstrated alpha bias (believing woman to be less evolved than men making them incapable to commit crime)