Forensic Psychology L5 - 8

Question 1

According to Eysenck (1947) where are personality traits rooted in?

Answer 1

• Biological in origin
• Comes about through type of nervous system inherited from parents

Question 2

What distinctive personality traits do offenders usually have and give examples of this behaviour?

Answer 2

• High extraversion –> impulsive and seek sensation
• High psychoticism –> cold, lack empathy, prone to aggression
• High neuroticism –> unstable and unpredictable

Question 3

Weaknesses of Eysenck’s theory: (-5)

Answer 3

• Conflicting research evidence –> Farrington et al (1982)
• Too simplistic –> how can someone who commits murder have the same personality type as someone who commits theft?
• Does not align w/ modern personality theory
• Cultural differences –> Bartal and Holanchock (1979)
• Based on idea that personality can be measured through personality tests

Question 4

Farrington et al (1982):

Answer 4

Offenders tended to score highly on psychoticism when compared to non-offenders but not on extraversion or neuroticism

Question 5

Modern Personality Theory:

Answer 5

• Digman’s 5 Factor Model (1990)
• Suggest that openness. agreeableness and conscientiousness are important personality dimensions alongside extraversion and neuroticism

Question 6

Bartal and Holanchock (1979):

Answer 6

• Studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in max security prison in NY
• Divided into 6 grps based on criminal history and nature of offences
• All grps found to be less extravert than non-criminals

Question 7

What is the main issue w/ psychological tests?

Answer 7

Many psychologists believe there is no such thing as a stable personality and it is changing on a daily basis dependent on the situation they are in

Question 8

What are the 2 cognitive explanations for offender behaviour?

Answer 8

• Moral reasoning
• Cognitive distortions

Question 9

Who proposed a stage theory of moral development, how many stages does this have and what are they?

Answer 9

• Kohlberg (1973)
• 3 stages: pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional

Question 10

Describe the 3 stages of moral development:

Answer 10

• Pre-conventional –> punishment and reward oriented
• Conventional –> Individual does what is expected of them by others
• Post-conventional –> Individual develops more autonomous decision-making based on principles of right and justice

Question 11

What stage do offenders fall into and what age group is usually in this stage too?

Answer 11

Pre-conventional, which is usually for 3 to 7 yr olds

Question 12

Give one strength and weakness of moral reasoning as an explanation

Answer 12

+ Research support –> Palmer and Hollin (1998)
- Level of moral reasoning depends on offence –> Thornton and Reid (1982)

Question 13

Palmer and Hollin (1998):

Answer 13

• 210 female and 122 male non-offenders, 126 convicted offenders using 11 moral dilemmas
• Offenders showed less mature reasoning than non-offenders

Question 14

Thornton and Reid (1982):

Answer 14

Found that individuals who committed crimes for financial gain had pre-conventional reasoning, whereas those who were convicted of impulsive crimes had no reasoning

Question 15

What are cognitive distortions for an offender?

Answer 15

An offender’s dysfunctional thinking about their offence, which serves to help them legitimise their behaviour and maintain a positive self-image

Question 16

What 2 cognitive distortions do offenders have?

Answer 16

• Hostile attribution bias
• Minimalisation

Question 17

Hostile attribution bias: (2)

Answer 17

• Offender often misinterprets social cues and regards it as aggressive
• Justify their behaviour with this

Question 18

Minimalisation: (3)

Answer 18

• Offenders justify their offences to themselves by downplaying the significance of their actions
• Often use euphemisms
• Done to reduce feeling of guilt

Question 19

What type of offender is especially prone to minimalisation?

Answer 19

Sex offenders

Question 20

Strengths and weaknesses of cognitive distortions: (+1, -4)

Answer 20

+ Beneficial in treatment of criminal behaviour –> CBT, reduced incidence of cognitive distortions is highly correlated w/ reduced risk of offending
- Hostile attribution bias cannot explain pr-medicated aggression –> works better for impulse
- Minimalisation doesn’t explain cause of offending, only its rationalisation
- Cannot account for source of the thoughts –> nature or nurture?
- Unscientific

Question 21

Why is the explanation of cognitive distortions unscientific? (2)

Answer 21

• Distortions cannot be observed or measured
• This means inferences and self-reporting must be used, which is unscientific

Question 22

Who proposed differential association theory and what is it?

Answer 22

• Sutherland (1939)
• Offending is learnt through socialisation (association and relationships w/ others)

Question 23

What is the process of developing criminal behaviour through differential association?

Answer 23

• Everyone’s associations are different (differential associations)
• Attitudes of those around us reinforce our behaviours through approval

Question 24

Strengths and weaknesses of differential association theory: (+3, -2)

Answer 24

+ Accounts for crime within all sectors of society –> Similar between working-class communities and more affluent groups
+ Successful in moving emphasis away from early biological explanations of crime
+ More desirable and realistic solution than eugenics/moral solution (punishment)
- Difficult to test scientifically –> hard to measure pro-crime attitudes
- Deterministic –> not everyone who is exposed to criminal influences go on to commit crime