G543 - Criminal Thinking Patterns - Yochelson And Samenow Flashcards
How many participants were there? From what backgrounds? how many of them had pleaded NGRI?
255 males from various backgrounds (black, white, inner city, suburbs, wealthy, poor etc). 1/2 had pleaded NGRI and a roughly equal number of criminals had not made the plea
How was data collected?
A series of interviews over several years
What type of therapy was used?
Freudian-based
What did the Freudian based therapy supposed to do?
Find the root cause of the participants’ criminality. By discovering this and facing it, the criminals were expected to improve their behaviour
How many thinking errors were identified?
52
How were the thinking errors identified?
Through looking at common thinking patterns that were distinguishable in the criminal personality
What 4 groups were the thinking errors categorised into?
- being fearful of other people and needing power and control
- not accepting responsibility for their own behaviour
- having no empathy or trust in other people
- fantasising about the excitement of committing crimes
Who many participants completed the study?
30
How many criminals changed as a result of the study?
9
What did Yochelson and Samenow conclude criminals have? and routinely make what? Which affect what?
Criminals have distinct thinking patterns and routinely make thinking errors meaning their cost-benefit analysis is different from ordinary people
What did they aim to understand and to establish?
To understand the make-up of the criminal personality and to establish techniques that could be used to alter the personality disorders that produce crime
