Individual explanations of criminal investigations Flashcards
What did Eysenck develop a theory on? What did it suggest?
Eysenck developed a theory of personality based on 3 dimensions. Suggested each trait has a biological basis – 67% variance due to genetic factors.
what’s extraversion? How’s it determined? how does it link to criminality?
Extraversion – outgoing, positive emotions, may get bored easily. Extraversion is determined by the level of arousal in a person’s nervous system. Under-aroused requires more stimulation. Seek external stimulation to increase their cortical arousal. Extroverts seek more arousal and thus engage in dangerous activities.
What’s neuroticism? how Is it determined? how does it link to criminality?
Neuroticism – experiencing negative emotional states rather than positive emotional states. Neuroticism – determined by level of stability in the sympathetic nervous system. a neurotic person is slightly unstable and reacts quickly or gets upset easily. Neurotics are unstable and are prone to overreact in situations of threat which would explain criminal activity like hot blooded aggression – assault.
What’s Psychoticisim? What’s It related to? How can it link to criminality?
Psychoticism – egocentric, aggressive, impulsive, impersonal, lacking empathy and generally not concerned with others welfare. Psychoticism is related to high levels of testosterone. Men are more likely here. Psychoticism can easily be linked to criminality as individuals are aggressive and lack empathy.
What’s a person born with? where can it be seen?
A person is born with certain personality traits but interaction with the environment is important in the development of criminality. Can be seen in conditioning. When a person does something wrong, they are punished. However, people who were high in extraversion and neuroticism were less easily conditioned.
What supporting research is there for Eysenck criminal investigation?
Patrick Dunlop et al – extraversion and psychoticism as well as lie scales were good predictors of delinquency. Ppts were all students and family (similar personality traits) aged 15-75 (age range, external validity). Delinquency was a self-assessment of minor offences though armed robbery was included.
Zuckerman found +0.52 correlation for identical twins on neuroticism compared with +0.24 for non-identical. The genetic component is not as high as Eysenck had claimed +0.5 correlation means about 40% is due to genes. May be slightly inflated due to MZ twins treated more similarly.
What’s an alternative explanation for eysencks criminal personality?
Support a situational perspective. Someone may be relaxed and calm at home but quite neurotic at work. Mischel and Peake – asked family, friends and strangers to rate 63 students, no correlation between traits displayed. Flawed don’t have one personality.
What methodological issues are there for eysencks criminal personality?
Answers EPQ on a questionnaire. Sometimes but forced to say yes or no. Social desirability bias. 3 traits are good predictors of delinquency, not close enough to use as a means of detecting who is likely to become a criminal.
Who was hostile attribution based proposed by and what was it? what is it an example of?
First proposed by Nasby, Hayden and DePaulo. Its when someone is more inclined to always think the worst. Such negative interpretations then lead to more aggressive behaviour. Its an example of cognitive distortion – so what is perceived no longer represents what is actually true. Such distortions allow an offender to rationalise their behaviour.
is hostile attribution bias normal?
Occasional hostile attribution bias is normal, people who show consistent and high levels of hostile attribution bias are much more likely to engage in aggressive behaviour.
what are some risk factors?
risk factors like bullying by peers or harsh parenting can lead to aggression. Kenneth Dodge – peer teasing at school or child abuse at home more likely to develop high levels of attribution bias.
before a social situation what are the 6 steps? What steps are hostile attribution bias linked to?
1)Encode information in the brain and store it in short term memory. An individual will pay attention and code specific stimuli in the environment. 2) Accurately interpret or give meaning to encoded information (decide if hostile or benign), 3) Decide on a goal or aim, 4)Think about multiple potential behavioral responses, 5) Evaluate potential responses and select the ‘best’ response. 6) Carry out the chosen behavioral response.
linked to problems with step 2 but also step 1 and 4.
What did Dodge theorise?
hostile attribution bias arises when individuals’ hostile schemas about the world that are formed through an interaction between a person’s brain activity and their early exposure to hostile socialisation experiences.
How does it link to criminality?
born with an abnormality, childhood trauma, develop bias, problems with behaviour response, only choose violent, take the aggressive behaviour. Links to interpersonal violence in general.
What supporting research is there for hostile attribution bias?
Matched pairs design, Schonenberg and Justye showed emotionally ambiguous faces to 55 antisocial violent offenders and compared to matched control group. Offenders more likely to interpret any picture that has some expression of anger as an expression of aggression. Misinterpretation of non verbal cues partly explains aggressive impulsive behaviour. Dodge found that children who were rejected by others more likely to show hostile attributions. Children with high hostile attribution bias then went on to exhibit most aggressive behaviours later on. May differ in adults. Research is limited.
