Individualistic theories Flashcards
Who discovered psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
What year was Sigmund Freud
1856-1939
What did Freud claim
early childhood experiences determines our personality and future behaviour.
What was Freud’s view
‘the child is father to the man’
What are the three elements of Sigmund Freud’s theory
The ego, superego and the id
Where is the ID located
the unconscious, instinctive, ‘animal’ part of the mind.
What does the ID contain
Powerful, selfish, pleasure-seeking needs and drives, such as the desire for sex, food and sleep.
What is the ID governed by
‘the pleasure principle’ - the blind desire to satisfy its urges at any cost
what would happen if we acted upon these urges?
they would often lead to anti-social and criminal behaviour
What does the superego contain
our conscience or moral rules, which we learn through interactions with our parents during early socialisation in the family.
Freud saw our behaviour as the result of what
the struggle between the ID and the superego
What does ego literally mean
ego : ‘I’
I am pulled in opposing directions, between my desire (ID) and my conscience (superego).
What is the role of the ego
to try to strike a balance between their conflicting demands
What is the ego driven by
‘the reality principle’ it learns from experience that in the real world, our actions have consequences
What does the Ego seek to do
The ego seeks to control the ID’s urges while still finding ways to satisfy them.
What happens if you have a weakly developed superego
the individual will feel less guilt about anti-social actions and less inhibition about acting on the ID’s selfish or aggressive urges.
What happens when there is a too harsh and unforgiving superego
Creates deep-seated guilt feelings in the individual, who then craves punishment as a release from these feelings. the person may reoffend in order to be punished
What happens if there is a deviant superego
the child is successfully socialised, but into a deviant moral code. The child may have a good relationship with his criminal parent, so they internalises their parent criminal values.
What does Bowlby argue
There is a link between maternal deprivation and deviant or anti-social behaviour
What is Bowlby’s view
A child needs a close, continuous relationship with its primary carer (which Bowlby assumed was the mother) from birth to the age of 5 in order to develop normally
What happens if the mother-child attachment is broken through separation in Bowlby’s theory
Even for a short-period it can leave the child unable to form meaningful emotional relationships with others.
What does Bowlby describe when a mother leaves her child as
Affectionless Psychopathy
Who did Bowlby study
44 juveniles thieves who had been referred to a child guidance clinic.
What did Bowlby discover
39% of them had suffered maternal deprivation before the age of 5, compared with only 5% of a control group of non-delinquents
What three features does learning theories of crime generally emphasis?
- Criminal behaviour is learned behaviour
- The influence of our immediate social environment, such as the family and peer groups
- The key role of reinforcement and punishment in the learning process
What did Sutherland argue
An individual learns criminal behaviour largely in the family and peer groups (including work groups)
What two factors does Sutherland use to prove his argument
Imitation and Learned Attitudes
What is meant by imitation of criminal acts
Individuals can acquire criminal skills and techniques through observing those around them
What is meant by learned attitudes
Socialisation within the group exposes the individual to attitudes and values about the law
What did Sutherland discover when studying white collar crime
group attitudes in the workplace often normalised criminal behaviour.
Who created the theory of operant learning theory
Psychologist B.F. Skinner
What is the basic idea of the operant learning theory
particular behaviour results in a reward, it is likely to be repeated.
What is meant by behaviourism
The cause of someone’s behaviour lies in the reinforcements and punishments that shape it.
What is meant by differential reinforcements theory.
all behaviour is the result of reinforcements and punishments
What does B.F. Skinner argue
criminal behaviour is learned through the reinforcements of particular behaviours
What psychologists argues social learning theory
Albert Bandura
What does Albert Bandura argue
we learn much of our behaviour - including our aggressive behaviour - by imitating other people
What did Bandura et al demonstrate
demonstrates this in a series of 4-5 years old. they divided the children into three groups.
What were all children groups shown
a film of an adult model being verbally and physically aggressive towards an inflatable bobo doll.
How many groups did the social learning theory look at
3 groups
What did group 1 get shown
a version of the film where the model was rewarded with praise
What did group 2 get shown
version in which the model was sanctioned
What did group 3 get shown
Control group, version in which they saw, the behaviour was neither rewarded nor punished
What did group 1 imitate
the aggressive behaviours they had seen being awarded
What did group 2 imitate
the least likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour
What did group 3 imitate
observed the model’s actions which was the model being punished
What did the groups learn from the films
No matter what version of the film they viewed, they all learned by observing someone else’s experiences
How can the groups viewing films analogy be applied to criminal behaviour
If an individual observes a peer getting rewarded for their criminality, the theory predicts that the behaviour is more likely to be imitated.
What does the term ‘cognition’ refers to
thinking and mental processes such as attitudes, beliefs, reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, our self-concept and how we interpret the world around us.
What does cognitive theories argue
that these mental process shape our behaviour
What did Psychologists Yochelson and Samenow apply the cognitive theory to
Criminality
What is Psychologists Yochelson and Samenow key ideas
criminals are prone to faulty thinking and this makes them more likely to commit crime
What is the cognitive theory based on
a long-term study of 240 male offenders, most of whom had been committed to psychiatric hospital.
What is thinking errors
they argue that criminals show a range of errors and biases in their thinking and deicison-making
What are the thinking error examples
Lying, secretiveness, need for power and control, super-optimism, failure to understand other’s positions, lack of trust in others, uniqueness
What is Kohlberg’s moral development theory?
a theory of how we develop our moral thinking
What does Kohlberg argue
our ideas of right and wrong develop through a series of levels and stages from childhood to adulthood.
What do young children define right and wrong as
in terms of what brings punishment or rewards
What do adults define right and wrong by
an understanding of underlying moral principles and values
What does Kohlberg’s theory suggest
Criminals’ moral development is stuck at a less mature level than everyone else.
