Forensic Psychology (Paper 3) Flashcards

Question

LOMBROSSO key study

Answer 1

Aim- Identify distinguishing physical features among male criminals which set them apart as offenders Method- Examined features and measurements of nearly 4000 criminals and skulls of 400 dead ones Results- 40% of those examined had atavistic features Conclusion- these characteristics indicated that such people were more primitive in an evolutionary sense - such individuals were not responsible for their actions as it was down to their innate, inherited physiology

Answer 2

Strengths -LOMBROSSO brought science to crime -Used evidence to support theory -Kaplan suggested that those with different features will fave exclusion from society therefore leading to low self esteem Limitations -Correlation does not mean causation -Lack of control during Lombroso’s experiment - didn’t pay the same attention to criminals and those outside of prison -Determinism - is there no free will on whether an individual commits an offence

Answer 3

-Psychodynamic explanation of offending is centred around the role of the unconscious mind and childhood development -Assumes disruption to attachment during early years of life and unresolved crisis in psychosexual stages of development are leading causes of offending behaviour

Answer 4

ID- ‘I want’ pleasure principle EGO- Rational part of personality that attempts to satisfy ID needs

Answer 5

-Concept proposed by Freud -Known as morality principle -Responsible for morals and right or wrong and guilt -Influenced by parents during phallic stage

Answer 6

-If the same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, the child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification -Fail to internalise the moral values of the same sex parent -Would make immoral or criminal behaviour more likely

Answer 7

-May develop if the same-sex parent is overly-harsh -Identify with the same sex parent -Feel unable to ‘live up’ to the parents standards -An individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety and commits crime in order to satisfy the superego need for punishment

Answer 8

-If the superego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values it could lead to offending behaviour -The child internalises the morals of criminal or deviant same-sex parent -A boy that is raised by a criminal father is not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing

Answer 9

-Predicts that if an infant is deprived of a mother or mother figure during the critical period then there will be serious consequences -These consequences include depression, affectionless psychopathology

Answer 10

Aim: To see if early separations (deprivation) were associated with behavioural disorders. In particular, Bowlby defined a particular disorder, affectionless psychopathy, to describe individuals who have no sense of shame or guilt Method: 88 children from 5-16 examined. 44 of these children were thieves 14 of the thieves were classified as affectionless psychopaths. Bowlby interviewed the children and their families Result: 86% of AP experienced early and prolonged attachment separations. Only 17% of the other thieves had experienced such separations. 4% of the control group had experienced frequent early separations. Conclusion: These findings suggest a link between early separations and later social maladjustment. Maternal deprivation appears to lead affectionless psychopathy and antisocial behaviour

Answer 11

Strengths -The only explanation for offending behaviour that deals with the role of emotional factors -This research had implications for prevention of delinquency - trying to prevent delinquency before it’s too late Limitations -Many children grow up without same-sex parents and the vast majority do not turn to crime -The idea of the over-harsh superego & wanting to be punished does not add up - many criminals go to great lengths not to be caught and punished -Correlation not causation

Answer 12

-Psychological personality types -Within this theory it says that our personality is innate and has a biological bias -Personality is genetic, we inherita type of nervous system that predisposes us to offending -He highlights the ‘criminal personality’

Answer 13

-Personality varies along three dimensions -Neurotic, Extravert and Psychoticsm -Criminal personality theory has considerable links with biological explanations as they view behaviour of criminal based off their nervous system

Answer 14

High Psychoticism + Extravert + High neuroticsm

Answer 15

-Extraversion is due to chronically under-aroused nervous system which leads to sensations seeking -This results in the impulsive behaviour -Extraversions do not condition easily and do not learn from mistakes -The thrill of committing a crime might draw them to offending behaviour

Answer 16

-Have over aroused SNS where emotional states aren’t regulated such as fear and aggression -React swiftly and strongly to stressors -Instability means their behaviour is difficult to predict with high levels of emotion

Answer 17

-Excess dopamine neurons causing overproduction of dopamine -Leads to inhibition of impulses during synaptic transmission potentially causing aggressive behaviour -Hormones such as testosterone also implicated in the psychotic personality -Increased levels of testosterone, more aggression and lack conscience

Answer 18

-Eysenck believed criminality was outcome of innate personality and socialisation -A person is born with certain personality traits, but interaction with the environment is key in the development of criminality -Socialisation = where children are taught to become able to delay gratification and become more socially oriented

Answer 19

1. A child is conditioned 2. Child learns sense of right and wrong 3. Child avoids behaviour which leads to punishment 4. Child controls own impulses People with high extraversion and neuroticism cannot be conditioned easily

Answer 20

-Measures where someone is along Extraversion, neuroticism and Psychoticism -Lie score is out of 9 -Measures how socially desirable you are trying to be in your answers -Those who score 5 or more on this scale are probably trying to make themselves look good and not being completely honest

Answer 21

-Compared 2010 male prisoners score on personality test and 2422 male control group -Sub divided into age group (16-69) -Across all age groups, prisoners recorded higher scores on EPQ than controls -Only conducted on males- Beta bias

Answer 22

Limitations -Cultural bias - Eysenck studied mainly white western European participants, guilty of property crimes (doesn’t measure personality for serious crimes) -Oversimplification of the classification of criminals -Farrington et al (1982) - reviewed 16 studies and found that offenders tend to score highly on P and N measures but NOT always on E

Answer 23

-Faulty, irrational ways of thinking which can cause individuals to perceive themselves, others or the world inaccurately, usually negative -“My partner hasn’t text me in the last few hours, he must be angry with me, he’s about the break up with me ... well i’ll get in their first”

Answer 24

-Errors or biases in peoples informational processing characterised by irrational thinking -Ways of thinking so that reality has become twisted and what we perceive no longer represents what’s true -A persons perception of events if wrong but think is accurate

Answer 25

-Hostile attribution bias and minimilisation

Answer 26

-What we think when we observe someone’s actions and inferring what these actions mean -Violence caused by the perception that other peoples acts are aggressive -In the case of offenders, such negative interpretations can be linked to their aggressive or violent behaviour Example: See guy pulling up trousers + experience negative thoughts = aggressive behaviour

Answer 27

Participants- 62 males (30 violent criminals, 15 with a history of sexual abuse and 17 controls) Method- They were shown 20 ambiguous faces (10 male and 10 female) and asked to rate fear and anger Findings- The violent criminals rated the faces as angry more often than the control group

Answer 28

-Downplaying seriousness of an offence -Some will underplay their offences -Helps individual to accept consequences of behaviour -Research suggests individuals who commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimilisation

Answer 29

Robber says ‘they got loads of money’, ‘I need to support my family’, ‘it won’t really affect their lives’

Answer 30

-Barbaree, among 26 imprisoned rapists, 54% denied offence at all and 40% minimised harm caused

Answer 31

-Based his theory on criminal and non criminal responses to a number of moral dilemmas -Decisions and judgements were then summarised into a stage theory of development -The higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning

Answer 32

-3 levels of moral reasoning and each stage represents a more advanced form of moral understanding -Kohlberg uses his levels of moral reasoning to explain criminal behaviour -He claimed criminals’ ideas of right and wrong would be developed in childhood as one of the stages of development -He suggested criminals moral reasoning is lower than non criminals

Answer 33

-Stage 1: doing what is right because of fear of punishment, if punishment can be avoided then they will do wrong -Stage 2: Doing what is right for personal gain, perhaps a reward. Rewards outweighs punishment.

Answer 34

-Stage 3: Doing what is right according to majority to be good -Stage 4: Doing what is right because it is your duty and helps socieyy

Answer 35

-Stage 5: Doing what is right even if it is against the law because the law is too restrictive -Stage 6: Doing what is right because of our inner conscious which has absorbed the principles of justice and equality and sacredness of life

Answer 36

-Kohlberg conducted a longitudinal study over a period of 12 years -75 young American males aged 10-16 years old at the start of stage were aged 22-28 by end -10% adults reached post conventional level -Majority of criminals do not progress from pre conventional level of moral reasoning -Kohlberg found that a group,of violent youths were significantly lower in their moral development than non violent youths

Answer 37

Strengths -Demonstrated that his moral stages were universal as he later studied children in Britain, Mexico, Turkey and USA, amongst others Limitations -Does moral reasoning necessarily lead to moral behaviour? Theory is based on thinking, not our actual actions -Most of Kohlbergs reasrch conducted on males

Answer 38

-Proposes that people become offenders when they are exposed to offender behaviours of pro crime attitudes at home -Considers offender behaviour to be learned, rather than biological or cognitive

Answer 39

-Pro crime attitudes are evident when family or people at home are encouraging about offending -They may display a tolerance for criminal behaviours, or they may discuss offending as way of survival -Considered to be extremely influential in development of offender behaviour

Answer 40

-Proposed ppl become offenders when they are exposed to crime in the family and/or pro crime attitudes at home -Sutherland claims all crim behaviour is learned from other people and that it is the repeated exposure to pro crime attitudes or behaviours that increase likelihood of someone offending

Answer 41

High frequency + high intensity + high duration = likely to commit a crime

Answer 42

-Followed 411 males (all working in working-class, deprived inner-city area of London) -Longitudinal study (between 8 and 50 years old) -By the end, 41% had at least one conviction -Most significant childhood risk factors (between 8 and 10) for later offending is family criminality, risk-taking, low school attainment, poverty, poor parenting -Suggests that offenders will come from families and groups who have pro-criminal norms

Answer 43

Strengths -Can answer for more types of crimes for all races, gender and social groups as all these can be socialised. Helps tackle cause of all crimes -Moved emphasis of biological causes, more realistic approach Limitations -Doesn’t account for individual differences, some ppl more easily led than others -Correlation not causation - who is influencing who?

Answer 44

Genes and neural explanation

Answer 45

-Propose that one or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour -This is researched through twin studies where identical and non identical twins are compared

Answer 46

-‘Criminal gene’ -Breaks down brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline -This gene variant means potentially having large quantities of these chemicals (serotonin) in the brain -Bruner et al, analysed DNA of 28 violent crim and found 5 share particular gene leading to abnormally low level of MAOA- linked to aggression

Answer 47

-Increases likelihood of becoming criminal -Jari Tiihonen et al. (2015) studied 900 offenders and found evidence of low MAOA and CDH-13 genes -Those with gene variant 13 times more likely to have history of repeated violent behaviour

Answer 48

Looked at 3586 twin pairs in Denmark: Males Concordance rate of 35% for MZ twins (identical) Concordance rate of 13% for DZ twins (non-identical) Females Concordance rate of 21% for MZ twins (identical) Concordance rate of 8% for DZ twins (non-identical)

Answer 49

-Modern understanding of genetic influence no longer proposes that one or even a few genes alone will determine behaviour -Someone may have biological tendencies towards crimes, but they will need some sort of environmental trigger to actually become a criminal

Answer 50

-Structures of brain may be different in criminals -Differences in neural transmitted levels e.g. high levels of noradrenaline have been linked to violence and aggression and low levels of serotonin linked to impulsivity

Answer 51

-Cited 71 brain imaging studies showing that murderers, psychopaths and violent individuals have reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex -This is the area involved in regulating emotions, planning, personality, decision making and controlling moral behaviour -Low activity in this area is associated with impulsiveness and loss of control

Answer 52

-Investigated whether there was any difference in the brain activity of murderers and non-murderers -Sample was 41 violent murderers and 41 non murderers -Using PET scanning techniques, Raine found differences in brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and areas of the limbic system (amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus etc)

Answer 53

Strengths -Diathesis model takes into account both biology and environment -PET scans scientific method Limitations -Although criminality does run in families, so do other risk factors associated with criminality (pro-criminal attitudes) -Deterministic - the genes a person is born with determine later behaviour, BUT not everyone with this gene has become a criminal

Answer 54

-Refers to different methods of rehabilitating offenders, or the different ways of keeping the general population safe.

Answer 55

Refers to use of prisons to deal with offenders. 4 keys aims of using custodial sentencing: Rehabilitation- ensure offenders correct behaviour to return to society Retribution- punishment for offence and a public acknowledgment to victims and the public that breaking law is not tolerated Deterrence- Show people crime has consequences that are undesirables so they stay clear from offending and decrease likelihood of reoffending Incapacitation- remove offenders from society and increase how safe non offenders feel in everyday life

Answer 56

-Refers to rate of reoffending -If offender spends time in prison and then released they are reoffending if they go on to commit further crimes

Answer 57

Barton- -Imprisonment can be brutal, demanding and devastating -Suicide rates tended to be 15% higher than in general pop -Most at risk are single men, under the age of 24, in the first 24 hours of custody -25% of women and 15% of men have reported symptoms of psychosis

Answer 58

-Abramson et al. (1989) - depression is caused by both helplessness and hopelessness -These are both feelings that offenders entering prison may initially feel

Answer 59

-Having adapted to the norms of prison life, some find it impossible to then cope with ‘real life’

Answer 60

-Some behaviours that are unacceptable in the outside world are encouraged & rewarded inside prison

Answer 61

Strengths -Allows prisoners to gain qualifications (education and employment) -One purpose of prison is deterrence, evidence suggests that prisoners do not enjoy prison as it increases suicide rates Limitations -Ignores individual differences -The psychological effects on prisoners -Just because a criminal is in prison doesn’t mean they won’t commit crimes -Cuts to prison budgets mean anger management, training, education and therapy not always available

Answer 62

-Strategies used to shape behaviour, teaching and eradicating behaviours -Token economies example of this by rewarding desirable behaviour and punishing undersirable -

Answer 63

-Tokens used as rewards (secondary reinforcement) -If prisoner committed crime that involve violence they will be rewarded if they walk away from a fight etc -Tokens can be saved up and exchanged for rewards and privileges such as food, drink and visits. -Tokens can also be taken away

Answer 64

7 components of token economies: 1. Target behaviours are identified 2. Types of tokens are decided 3. Primary reinforcers are identified 4. Reinforcement schedule is decided 5. Exchange criterion i.e. price 6. Time/place for exchange is decided 7. Penalty/fine for engaging in undesirable behaviours

Answer 65

Strengths -Hobbs and Holt (1976) - Observed significant improvement in positive behaviour as a result of the introduction of the token economy Limitations -Prisoners might ‘fake’ behaviour that they know is desirable to get rewarded -Blackburn (1993) - token economies “have little rehabilitative value” and any positive changes may quickly be lost when offenders are released

Answer 66

-Anger management is one way of dealing with offenders; it is centred around a cognitive behavioural therapy approach. -The aim of anger management is to challenge and change the coping methods and thinking patterns of offenders through a series of stages.

Answer 67

1. Cognitive preparation, Reflect on past behaviours that have made them angry. Identify situations/triggers that provoke anger. Thought patterns are challenged - help them recognise that there response is irrational & help them to think about the situations as non-threatening 2. Skill acquisition, New coping skills are learned to enable them to avoid triggers & deal with situations more rationally. Relaxation techniques, stop and think, assertiveness, effective communication 3. Application practise, Role-play a variety of scenarios to practice new skills to control anger. Done in a controlled and safe environment. Therapist will deliberately provoke the individual to see how theyʼd react

Answer 68

Aim: whether anger management courses work Method: natural experiment compared a group of 50 prisoners who had completed CALM and a group of 37 who were assessed as suitable but had not actually taken the course Results: prisoners who completed CALM rated themselves lower on the anger questionnaire. 92% showed improvements on at least one measure of aggression and anger Conclusion: in the short-term, the treatment seemed effective

Answer 69

Strengths -Force offenders to think about crimes Limitations -Not all crimes are motivated by anger -Anger management is expensive - requires a skilled therapist to deliver