Forensic Psychology (evaluation) Flashcards
The Top-down approach is useful in psychology and is used by the FBI -
Copson questioned police officers of whom 82% said it was successful as a technique and over 90% would use it again. The technique was not said to specifically identify the offender but the approach is defended as it has useful applications other than just identifying the offender and may result in reducing wrong convictions. However through the use of assessing organised/disorganised, Godwin suggested that it is difficult to classify murderers as one or the other as they may have many characteristics of organised but leave the body at the scene of the crime therefore the explanations lack validity.
Top down approach has wider applications -
Suggested it can only be applied to a limited number of crimes such as murder but research has shown that is has been applied to the 3 US states leading to an 85% rise in the cases of burglary, this has resulted in sub categories similar to those of organised and disorganised profiles but organised knowing the victim and disorganised is generally an inexperienced one. Therefore, it has wider applications.
Investigative psychology is supported by Canter and Heritage -
Conducted analysis of 66 sexual assault cases, individuals identified displayed a characteristic pattern of different behaviours and this was useful to see whether two or more offences were committed by the same. Which in evidence did come into conclusion from their findings supporting the effects of how individuals act though their characteristics can lead to analysis of offenders.
Problems with using geographical profiling -
May not be good enough on its own, may only be reliant on the data it receives from witnesses and the police and it is not always accurate and it is estimated that around 75% of crimes are not reported to the police in the first place, if even effective other factors are seen as more beneficial in understanding offending.
Support for the criminal personality -
Eysenck compared over 2000 male controls and over 2000 male prisoners and gave them them the EPQ on measures of all extraversion, neuroticism, psychotic across all the samples the offenders had higher rates across average of personality scores.
Culture bias in Eysecks research -
Eysenck’s theory of personality, with its focus on three primary dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism), was primarily developed and validated using Western populations. This has led to questions about its universal applicability, particularly in non-Western cultures. Here’s a more detailed look at these cultural limitations:
Cultural Variability in Personality Structure:
Cross-Cultural Research: Studies have indicated that the factor structure of personality traits identified in Western populations does not always replicate in non-Western cultures. For instance, research conducted by Church (2001) found that while some aspects of Eysenck’s model (like extraversion and neuroticism) appear across cultures, other traits may manifest differently or not at all, therefore it cannot be used to explain behaviours universally.
Strength of differential association theory -
Changed the shift of explanations away from early biological explanations such as the atavist theory of Lombroso. Socialization: DAT highlights the role of socialization in the development of deviant behavior. It emphasizes that criminal behavior is learned through interactions with family, friends, and peers, thereby stressing the importance of social environments.
Explaining Variation in Crime: The theory helps explain why crime rates vary across different social groups and environments. For instance, individuals who grow up in high-crime neighborhoods or who associate with criminal peers are more likely to learn and engage in criminal behaviour. Comes from SLT.
Difficulty testing DAT -
Aimed to improve the scientific method but ultimately failed as his prediction’s were not testable, the problem is the measurements are not operationalised its pretty hard to distinguish between the amount and type of crime a person has been exposed to.
