Lecture 1: Organisation and Theories of Offending

Question 1

Key definitions

Answer 1

• Aggression = purposeful behaviour aimed at harming another person either physically/psychologically
• Violence = physically injuring someone

Question 2

Attachment theory

Answer 2

-Early maternal deprivation leads to emotional detachment, separation anxiety and anger

• Bowlby 44 thieves (1944):
• -> 40% experience separation for at least 6 months
• -> 1/3 described as psychopaths

Study:

• Meta analysis
• Found offenders were significant more insecure, anxious, avoidant in attachments
• Offenders with mental disorders were more insecure

Question 3

Anxious vs Avoidance characteristics

Answer 3

• Avoidance = weaker moral concerns
• Avoidance mediated by discomfort and decreased empathy
• Anxious (resistant) = stronger moral concerns
• Anxious = mediated by need to belong and empathy

Question 4

SLT

Answer 4

• Attention –> retention –> reproduction –> motivation

- BOBO doll study = Bandura (1968)

Question 5

Role of parents

Answer 5

Study:
-Parents use of physical punishment at ages 7 and 11 predicted later antisocial behaviour

Haller et al (2014):
-Maltreatment affects aggressive behaviour displayed in adulthood, emotional response to social challenges and neuronal mechanisms activated by conflict

Question 6

Intervention study

Answer 6

Study:

• 78 early family intervention training program
• DV = child behaviour problems
• Cohens d = 0.38 = small effect size
• 32/100 in experimental offended
• 50/100 in control offended

Question 7

The integrated cognitive antisocial potential theory (ICAP)

Answer 7

Farrington 2005

• Antisocial potential
• Criminogenic factors

Question 8

ICAP: Farrington 2005

Answer 8

• UK based longitudinal study
• Found antisocial behaviour is versatile = number of symptoms not specific one
• Integrates range of early risk factors
• Integrates ideas from other theories
• BUT focuses on offending by males in lower classes

Question 9

ICAP: antisocial potential

Answer 9

• Its the potential to commit antisocial acts
• Start with AP which translates to AB
• Translation depends on cognition and context
• Absolute levels of AP vary with age

Question 10

ICAP: criminogenic factors

Answer 10

Long term (life-time) between individual factors:

• People ordered on continuum from low to high
• High = more adverse environmental and psychological predispositions

Short term (situational) within individual factors:

• Situational factors
• Can develop to long term potential

Question 11

Psychopathy

Answer 11

• Severe personality disorder characterised by high levels of criminality and aggression
• Psychiatric patients characterised by: Facade of normalness, callous, promiscuity, superficial charm (Cleckley, 1941)

Question 12

Measurement of psychopathy

Answer 12

• Hare (1991-2003)
• Classified different characteristics into 2 facets and then further divided them into 2 more

Factor 1: prototypical:

• Facet 1 = interpersonal
• Facet 2 = affective

Factor 2: acquired:

• Facet 3 = lifestyle
• Facet 4 = antisocial

Question 13

Measurement of psychopathy: factor 1

Answer 13

• Superficial charm (1)
• Manipulative (1)
• Lack remorse/guilt (2)
• Callous/lack empathy (2)
• Failure to accept responsibility (2)

-Normally born with it

Question 14

Measurement of psychopathy: factor 2

Answer 14

• Need for stimulation (3)
• Lack of realistic long term goals (4)
• Impulsivity (3)
• Juvenile delinquency (3)

-Typically acquired through accident or upbringing

Question 15

Psychopathy: reoffending rates

Answer 15

• Found general reoffending = 3X higher for psychopaths

- Violent reoffending 4X higher

Question 16

Three factor solution for becoming a psychopath

Answer 16

• Boldness = social potency, fearless
• Meanness = callous, aggressivness
• Disinhibition = impulsivity, risk-taking

Question 17

Two factor solution for becoming a psychopath

Answer 17

Karpman (1941)

• Disagreed with 3 factor model
• Characterises into primary and secondary psychopaths

Primary psychopath:

• Agrees with Cleckley’s description
• Callous, unemotional, lack of empathy, correlated with PCL-R factor 1

Secondary psychopath:

• Disagrees with Cleckley’s description
• Antisocial, anxious, correlated with PCL-R factor 2

Question 18

Types of empathy

Answer 18

Cognitive empathy:

• Ability to take another perspective
• Logical understanding

Affective empathy:

• Refers to feeling what another person is feeling
• Emotional resonance

Both can break down - will have different consequences

Question 19

What happens when empathy breaks down?

Answer 19

• Autism = breakdown in cognitive empathy

- Psychopathy = breakdown in affective empathy

Question 20

Types of aggression/violence

Answer 20

Instrumental/proactive:

• Pre-mediated and aimed at obtaining preferred outcome
• Linked to callousness and lack of empathy
• Linked with primary more than secondary

Reactive:

• An impulsive reaction to others actions
• Linked with secondary more than primary

Question 21

Deficit in psychopaths

Answer 21

-Skin conductance response

• Fear recognition:
• -> 20 images of increasing intensity
• -> Psychopaths had reduced sensitivity to fearful expressions
• Reduced gaze to eye region:
• -> Importance of reading emotions from eye area
• -> Children with CU traits show reduced eye gaze
• -> Eye gaze correlated with fear accuracy
• ->Another study = found psychopaths fixate on the lower part of face, eye fixations positively correlated with fear and anger accuracy

Question 22

Why can’t psychopaths recognise fear?

Answer 22

• Amygdala
• Its deep in temporal lobe
• Processes emotional expression
• Important for aversive conditioning
• Controls automatic responses associated with fear

Question 23

Treatment for psychopathy

Answer 23

-Psychopaths with negative response to treatment, sexually reoffended faster than others

• People who didn’t complete treatment more likely to reoffend
• Successful completed reoffended by less severely