MCQ 13 Dec Flashcards
Bystander effect
people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present. One explanation for the bystander effect is that the presence of others lowers the individual bystander’s sense of responsibility. Moreover, this diffusion of responsibility (i.e., the diminished sense of responsibility a person feels when he or she believes that others would or should intervene) is more likely to occur when a bystander can remain anonymous, when there are relatively few victims, and when the victim is perceived to be dissimilar to the potential helper.
Deindividuation
Diminished sense of self awareness. People under the cover of anonymity may deliberately choose to engage in behavior about which they might otherwise be inhibited, including aggression.
Social facilitation
a person’s performance on a well-learned task will be enhanced by the heightened arousal caused by the presence of others
frustration–aggression hypothesis
frustration—defined as anything that blocks a person from attaining a goal—may be a trigger for aggressive behavior in the presence of a new set of potential victims.
proximal variables
Variables occurring close in time to the event
Distal variables
Variables occurring in the distant past relative to the event
Biological Theories
Theories that view criminal behavior as the result of genetics, psychophysiology, neurological functioning, and biochemistry. (E.g. greater preponderance of criminals among sons whose biological parents also were criminals, males have a greater propensity for physical aggression than do females has been attributed to higher levels of testosterone, a lack of proper nutrients during critical periods of prenatal development or pre- or postnatal exposure to toxic agents)
Sociological Theories
Traditional theories (e.g., anomie, strain, control, subculture) that attempt to explain crime in relation to various factors in society such as social class, poverty, and social inequity. Thus, a person’s socioeconomic status, determined by education, occupation, income, and neighborhood characteristics, explains substantial variability in criminal behavior. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with a higher rate of crime.
Strain theory (Merton)
Theory: criminal behavior is caused by undue frustration experienced as a result of pathological social structures (e.g., social inequality, poverty) that prevent a person from achieving the middle-class expectations for material success. The frustration leads the person to engage in socially deviant behavior, such as crime, to attain goods and social prestige.
Subculture theory (Wolfgang & Ferracuti, 1981)
Theory: individuals who engage in criminal activity are merely conforming to the hedonistic, hostile, and destructive values of lower-class culture. Indeed, in the deviant subculture, the nonconformists who do not engage in theft, drug use, and gang affiliation are said to be the true deviants.
Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory
Theory: criminal activity represents learned behaviors that develop through a person’s interactions and experiences with the social environment. This learning takes place as a result of various processes, including observing and imitating the criminal behavior of others, receiving positive consequences for engaging in criminal behavior (e.g., peer approval), realizing that such behavior can effectively lead to desired outcomes (i.e., have instrumental value), and developing a high sense of self-efficacy in using antisocial means to achieve one’s aims.
Routine Activities Theory (cohen and felson)
Theory: crime occurs when three elements converge: (1) a motivated offender, (2) a suitable target, and (3) the absence of a capable guardian.
Pitfall of psychology
Determinism
Pavlov
Classical Conditioning
Skinner
Operant Conditioning (positive reinforcement)
