individualistic theories - evaluation

Question 1

FREUD - PSYCHODYNAMIC
strength - theory points to the…

Answer 1

• importance of early childhood and family relationships in understanding criminal behaviour
• practical

Question 2

FREUD - PSYCHODYNAMIC
strength - psychoanalytic explanations…

Answer 2

• have had some influence on policies for dealing with crime and deviance
• real life application

Question 3

FREUD - PSYCHODYNAMIC
weakness - psychoanalytic explanations are…

Answer 3

• unscientific snd subjective
• rely on accepting the psychoanalyst’s claim that they see into an individual’s unconscious mind

Question 4

FREUD - PSYCHODYNAMIC
weakness - psychodynamic theories of offending…

Answer 4

• no longer accredited by psychologists due to difficulty of testing

Question 5

BOWLBY’S MATERNAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
strength - bowlby’s research showed…

Answer 5

• more of his sample of 44 suffered maternal deprivation (39%) than non-delinquents (5%)
• credibility

Question 6

BOWLBY’S MATERNAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
strength - work shows the need…

Answer 6

• to consider the role of parent - child relationships in explaining criminality
• practical

Question 7

BOWLBY’S MATERNAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
weakness - it was a…

Answer 7

• retrospective study
• delinquents and mothers had to accurately recall past events
• can be emotional, unreliable

Question 8

BOWLBY’S MATERNAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
weakness - bowlby’s own later study…

Answer 8

• of 60 children who’d been separated from their parents for a long time before 5, found no evidence of ‘affectionless psychopathy’

Question 9

SUTHERLAND’S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (LEARNING)
strength - Farrington (1995)

Answer 9

• investigated antisocial behaviour in 411 men in London
• approximately 45% went on to commit crime
• crime in family one of several commom traits

Question 10

SUTHERLAND’S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (LEARNING)
strength - Matthews found that…

Answer 10

• juvenile delinquents more likely to have friends who commit antisocial acts
• learn behaviour from peer groups

Question 11

SUTHERLAND’S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (LEARNING)
weakness - farrington 1995 also suggested…

Answer 11

• poverty and low educational achievement were key factors in the study and played a part in criminality

Question 12

SUTHERLAND’S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (LEARNING)
weakness - not everyone…

Answer 12

• who is exposed to ‘criminal influences’ becomes a criminal
• might learn from family and peers how to commit crime, but not practice it

Question 13

OPERANT LEARNING THEORY - SKINNER
strength - skinner’s studies on…

Answer 13

• animals show that they learn from experience through reinforcement
• some human learning is also like this

Question 14

OPERANT LEARNING THEORY - SKINNER
strength - can be applied to offending

Answer 14

• Jeffery (1959) - if crime leads to more rewards than punishments for an individual, they’re more likely to offend

Question 15

OPERANT LEARNING THEORY - SKINNER
weakness - based on studies of learning in animals

Answer 15

• not an adequate model of how humans learn criminal behaviour
• generalisability

Question 16

OPERANT LEARNING THEORY - SKINNER
weakness - ignores…

Answer 16

• internal mental processes (thinking, personal values, and attitudes)
• explains solely in terms of external rewards and punishments

Question 17

MORAL DEVELOPMENT (KOHLBERG)
strength - some studies

Answer 17

show delinquents are more likely to have immature moral development

Question 18

MORAL DEVELOPMENT (KOHLBERG)
strength - thornton and reid

Answer 18

• found theory to be truer for crimes such as theft and robbery (involve reasoning)
• rather than violent crimes (often impulsive)

Question 19

MORAL DEVELOPMENT (KOHLBERG)
weakness - focuses on

Answer 19

• moral thinking, rather than moral behaviour
• someone maybe perfectly capable of thinking morally whilst acting immorally