Forensic Psychology L5 - 8 Flashcards
According to Eysenck (1947) where are personality traits rooted in?
- Biological in origin
- Comes about through type of nervous system inherited from parents
What distinctive personality traits do offenders usually have and give examples of this behaviour?
- High extraversion –> impulsive and seek sensation
- High psychoticism –> cold, lack empathy, prone to aggression
- High neuroticism –> unstable and unpredictable
Weaknesses of Eysenck’s theory: (-5)
- 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
Farrington et al (1982):
Offenders tended to score highly on psychoticism when compared to non-offenders but not on extraversion or neuroticism
Modern Personality Theory:
- Digman’s 5 Factor Model (1990)
- Suggest that openness. agreeableness and conscientiousness are important personality dimensions alongside extraversion and neuroticism
Bartal and Holanchock (1979):
- 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
What is the main issue w/ psychological tests?
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
What are the 2 cognitive explanations for offender behaviour?
- Moral reasoning
- Cognitive distortions
Who proposed a stage theory of moral development, how many stages does this have and what are they?
- Kohlberg (1973)
- 3 stages: pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional
Describe the 3 stages of moral development:
- 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
What stage do offenders fall into and what age group is usually in this stage too?
Pre-conventional, which is usually for 3 to 7 yr olds
Give one strength and weakness of moral reasoning as an explanation
+ Research support –> Palmer and Hollin (1998)
- Level of moral reasoning depends on offence –> Thornton and Reid (1982)
Palmer and Hollin (1998):
- 210 female and 122 male non-offenders, 126 convicted offenders using 11 moral dilemmas
- Offenders showed less mature reasoning than non-offenders
Thornton and Reid (1982):
Found that individuals who committed crimes for financial gain had pre-conventional reasoning, whereas those who were convicted of impulsive crimes had no reasoning
What are cognitive distortions for an offender?
An offender’s dysfunctional thinking about their offence, which serves to help them legitimise their behaviour and maintain a positive self-image
What 2 cognitive distortions do offenders have?
- Hostile attribution bias
- Minimalisation
Hostile attribution bias: (2)
- Offender often misinterprets social cues and regards it as aggressive
- Justify their behaviour with this
Minimalisation: (3)
- Offenders justify their offences to themselves by downplaying the significance of their actions
- Often use euphemisms
- Done to reduce feeling of guilt
What type of offender is especially prone to minimalisation?
Sex offenders
Strengths and weaknesses of cognitive distortions: (+1, -4)
+ 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
Why is the explanation of cognitive distortions unscientific? (2)
- Distortions cannot be observed or measured
- This means inferences and self-reporting must be used, which is unscientific
Who proposed differential association theory and what is it?
- Sutherland (1939)
- Offending is learnt through socialisation (association and relationships w/ others)
What is the process of developing criminal behaviour through differential association?
- Everyone’s associations are different (differential associations)
- Attitudes of those around us reinforce our behaviours through approval
Strengths and weaknesses of differential association theory: (+3, -2)
+ 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
