Individualistic Theories Of Crime

Question 1

What are the psychodynamic theories of crime?

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud: Id ego superego
Bowlby’s attachment theory
Megargee’s ‘overcontrolled’ violent offender

Question 2

What do the id ego and superego make up?

Answer 2

The psyche

Question 3

What is the id, superego and the ego?

Answer 3

The id represents desires
The superego restricts us from doing bad
The ego is the decision maker

Question 4

How does a weak superego lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 4

Weak superego can be developed due to poor relationships within the family, which results in the person not worrying about taking part in anti social behaviour
Don’t see criminal acts as wrong and are happy to satisfy their id

Question 5

How does a deviant superego lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 5

If a child’s same sex parent is criminal, they wont understand that these acts are wrong.
Develops a deviant superego as they aren’t punished for deviant behaviour

Question 6

How can a strong superego lead to criminal behaviour?

Answer 6

Makes someone feel guilt over the smallest things, which makes them feel that they need to commit crime in order to get caught and be punished - eases the guilt
Also stops a person express desires building up. Aggressive or sexual desires can build up and overwhelm the ego resulting in them being expressed suddenly through violent acts - murder/rape

Question 7

What does Bowlby mean by ‘affection less psychopath’

Answer 7

Disruption of the relationship with the mother can damage a persons ability to relate to others.
Can’t form meaningful social relationships.

Question 8

What did Bowlbys ‘44 thieves’ study show?

Answer 8

Maternal deprivation was related to later criminal behaviour.
39% of young criminals experienced disruption in their relationship with their mother, compared to 5% of a non-criminal group

Question 9

How is Bowlbys study criticised?

Answer 9

Unrepresentative sampling- too small

Overestimated the impact of early life experiences

Question 10

What does Megargee argue about an ‘over controlled’ violent offender?

Answer 10

Represent a small group of violent offenders; inability to express anger in ‘normal’ ways and eventually explode- anger and aggression all at once
Normally no history of aggression

Question 11

What is a criticism of Megargee’s theory?

Answer 11

Does not separate whether offenders do not experience anger normally or whether they just don’t express it

Question 12

What is the evaluation of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 12

Rely on concepts such as the unconscious mind- cannot prove this exists
Only explain behaviour after it’s happened
Highly subjective
Time consuming

Question 13

Name the social learning theory

Answer 13

Bandura’s Bobo doll study

Question 14

What does Bandura’s bobo doll study show about criminal behaviour?

Answer 14

Behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation- learn criminal behaviour from those around us

Question 15

What were the statistics for Bandura’s study?

Answer 15

Tested 72 children; 36 boys 36 girls
Aggressive model was shown to 24 children
Non aggressive model was shown to 24 children
No model shown to 24

Question 16

What were the outcomes of Bandura’s study?

Answer 16

Children observing the aggressive model copied such behaviour
Girls showed more physical aggression responses if the model was male
Boys were more likely to imitate same sex models than girls
Boys more physically aggressive

Question 17

What are the criticisms of Bandura’s study?

Answer 17

Cumberbatch- children who had not played with the doll before were 5x more likely to imitate aggressive behaviour
Can be seen as unethical
Study was measured immediately- don’t know if there’s long term effects

Question 18

Name the psychological theory

Answer 18

Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality

Question 19

What does Eysenck say about certain personality types?

Answer 19

Some personality types are more likely to commit crime because they crave excitement, but are slow to learn that crime has bad consequences.

Question 20

Who carried out Eysenck’s questionnaire and what did it suggest?

Answer 20

700 soldiers being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital where he worked.
Suggested there were number of different personality traits.

Question 21

What were the 3 dimensions Eysenck proposed?

Answer 21

Extraversion/Introversion
Neuroticism/stability
Psychoticism

Question 22

What personality traits are more likely to lead to criminal behaviour and why?

Answer 22

Extrovert
Neurotic
Psychotic
More likely to offend because it is difficult for them to control their immature impulses.

Question 23

What are the criticisms of Eysenck?

Answer 23

There is no consistency in people’s behaviour- changes all the time
Theory tells us the traits of a criminal nut not why they commit crime
Bias- knew the soldiers

Question 24

How is Eysenck’s theory useful?

Answer 24

Suggests criminal tendencies are detectable in childhood- interventions in place to reduce crime