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A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY > PAPER 3- TOPIC 4 FORENSIC > Flashcards

PAPER 3- TOPIC 4 FORENSIC Flashcards

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1
Q

Describe Eysenks Personality Theory

A
  • proposed that a certain personality explains offending
  • the character traits involved can be represented along there dimensions
    • introversion-extraversion
    • neuroticism-stability
    • psychotic-stability
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2
Q

Examples of extraversion-intraversion

A
  • sociable - reserved

* impulsive - measured

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3
Q

Examples of psychotism-sociability

A

lack empathy - empathetic

aggressive - calm

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4
Q

Examples of neuroticism - stability

A

impulsive - measured

nervous/highly anxious - calm

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5
Q

What did Eysenck suggest about each trait

A
  • suggested each trait has a biological basis (innate)

- based on the type of nervous system that we inherit

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6
Q

describe the biological basis of extroversion

how it links to criminal behaviour

A
  • determined by under arousal in /under active nervous system
  • seek more arousal and stimulation so engage in dangerous activities
  • struggle to condition so don’t learn from mistakes
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7
Q

describe the biological basis of neuroticism

how it links to criminal behaviour

A
  • highly reactive and unstable sympathetic nervous system
  • respond quickly to fight or flight situations of threat
  • often overanxious, jumpy; and unstable
  • therefore often over-react in situations and behaviour hard to predict
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8
Q

describe the biological basis of psychoticism

how it links to criminal behaviour

A
  • higher levels of testosterone

- more aggressive and lack empathy

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9
Q

Eysenck’s suggested criminal personality

A

neurotic (prone to overreacting to threats)
extravert (seek arousal so engage in dangerous activities)
psychotic (aggressive, lack empathy)

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10
Q

how do these traits result in criminal behaviour

neurotic (prone to overreacting to threats) so …..
extravert (seek arousal so engage in dangerous activities) so ….
psychotic (aggressive, lack empathy) so ….

A

often react violently in situations with little aggravation

commit dangerous crimes

commit aggressive violent crimes

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11
Q

Describe the links of socialisation to personality and offending behaviour

A

•Eysenck believed that personality is only linked to offending behaviour through socialisation

Socialisation = children are taught to accept delayed gratification and live socially orientated (live in community rather than on own)

  • Eysenck believed that those with high extraversion and neuroticism scores had nervous systems that make conditioning (of socialisation) difficult.
  • therefore offenders are likely to be impatient (want immediate gratification), selfish and and act antisocially
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12
Q

How Eysenck measured the criminal personality

A

•using the EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire)

  • measures the level to which someone responds to personality questions along the E, N, P dimensions
  • determined their personality type
  • using this, Eysenck linked these personality traits to criminality
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13
Q

1 Strength of Eysenck’s Personality Theory

1 counter point

A

•Eysenck and Eysenck
compared 2070 prisoners EPQ score to a control group of 2400
-found prisoners across all age scored higher on E, N and P
- increase validity for all 3 dimensions

•Counter: Study doesn’t look at criminals not caught

  • large % of criminals not included in sample
  • criminals caught may display different personality traits then those who weren’t caught
  • not representative of full criminal population
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14
Q

2 weaknesses of Eysenck’s personality theory

A

•cultural factors not accounted for

  • Bartol and Holanchock studied African-American and Hispanic offenders in a max security prison
  • split into 6 groups based on criminal history and nature of offences
  • found all 6 groups were less extrovert than a control group
  • questions generalisability to other cultures

•assumes personality is constant and can be scored

  • too complex and dynamic to be reduced to a score (quantified)
  • people may express different moods and different times so may not be deemed ‘criminal’ at all times
  • also Moffit suggested persistent offending behaviour to be the result of an constant reciprocal process between individual personality traits and environmental reactions to those traits
  • undermined the theory as not static and constant, depends on multitude of environmental factors
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15
Q

Cognitive Theory: Two cognitive processes that explain offending

A
  • Cognitive Distortions

* Moral Reasoning

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16
Q

Define cognitive distortions

A
  • errors or biases in information processing system
  • characterised by faulty and irrational ways of thinking
  • leads to perception of ourselves, others and the world inaccurately and usually negatively
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17
Q

Two examples of cognitive distortions

A

Hostile attribution bias

Minimalisation

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18
Q

Describe hostile attribution bias

A
  • tendency to judge ambiguous situations as aggressive, when in reality they are not
  • attributes normal behaviour to negative things
  • —-> e.g. being ‘looked at’ may trigger violent, disproportionate response
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19
Q

Describe minimalisation

A

an individual downplays the consequences or significance of their behaviour

  • believe consequences are not as bad as they seem or justified
    (e. g. sex offenders are prone to this)
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20
Q

describe a study showing hostile attribution bias occurs in offenders

A

•Schönenberg and Aiste
- showed 55 violent offenders images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions

-compared to non-aggressive control group, violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile

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21
Q

Describe Kohlbergs Moral Reasoning

A
  • summarises people’s decisions and judgements on issues of right or wrong, into stages
  • —> he assumes this applies to moral behaviour
  • the higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning
  • theory based on Kohlbergs interview of boys and men about their moral reasoning about the Heinz dilemma
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22
Q

Level 1 of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning

A

Pre-conventional Morality
>Stage 1
- punishment orientation (obey rules to avoid punishment)

> Stage 2
- instrumental orientation or personal gain (obey rules for personal gain)

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23
Q

Level 2 of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning

A

•Conventional Morality

> Stage 3
- ‘good girl’ or ‘good boy’ orientation (obey rules for approval)

> Stage 4
-maintenance of social order (obey rules to maintain law and order)

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24
Q

Level 3 of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning

A

•Post-conventional morality

> Stage 5
- morality of contract and individual rights (rules may exist for greatest good but don’t always work in the interest of all, so may be disobeyed)
—>e.g. Heinz saving his wife’s life by stealing

> Stage 6
- morality of conscience - obey if meets individual’s personal set of ethical principles

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25
Q

What % of adults reach post-conventional morality reasoning

A

10%

26
Q

Where does Kohlberg suggest offenders classify in the stages of moral reasoning

A

•pre-conventional level
-where they believe crime is justified if rewards and outweigh cost of punishment

-individuals at higher levels tend sympathise more with rights of others & show more honest and non-violent behaviours

27
Q

1 strength 1 weakness of cognitive distortions as a way to explain criminal behaviour

A

•use in real world

  • application to therapy
  • CBT explains and challenges irrational thinking
  • encourages offenders to own up to their behaviour reducing ‘minimalisation’ behaviour
  • studies suggest minimalisation in therapy reduces recidivism
  • practical value

•level of moral reasoning may depend on the offence

  • (although) Thornton and Reid found people who commit crime for financial gain (e.g. robbery) were more likely to show pre-conventional moral reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (e.g. assault)
  • found that pre-conventional morality is associated with crimes in which there’s a good chance of evading punishment
28
Q

1 strength 1 weakness of moral reasoning as a way to explain criminal behaviour

A

•Research support

  • Palmer and Hollin study of 330 Male and female non-offenders
  • control group of 126 convicts
  • given moral dilemma related Qs
  • results show criminal group show much less maturity in reasoning than non criminal
  • considers women too so fills gap from Kohlberg’s research

•Sample gender bias

  • only studied men and boys
  • disregarded the moral reasoning of women
  • this is beta bias, suggesting men and women are some when we can’t be sure from this evidence
29
Q

Define differential association theory

A
  • explanation to offending
  • individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for offending behaviour through social interaction and association with intimate social groups they identify with

(similar to SLT)

30
Q

what is meant by Sutherland’s key principles

A

set of scientific principles that show explain how conformity to offending or conformity to abiding by law, occurs in all people, for all types of crime

31
Q

Describe Sutherland’s proposed key principles

A

• criminal behaviour is learnt though same process as all behaviour
- through association with intimate personal groups (e.g. friends, family- people they identify with )

• 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀
-these are either directional towards or against committing crime

  • person will become an offender if pro-criminal attitudes outweigh anti-criminal attitudes
  • the frequency and intensity of learning experiences required to become a criminal varies for each person
  • a ‘need’ to commit crime isn’t sufficient explanation —> instead it is socially learned
32
Q

How does Sutherland’s differential association theory link to socialisation in prison

A
  • prison inmates learn criminal techniques from those they identify with, through observation and imitation or direct teaching
  • account for higher recidivism rates after offenders leave prison
33
Q

1 strengths of differential association theory as an explanation of offending and COUNTERPOINT

A

•Research Support

  • Osborne and West found when father has criminal conviction, 40% of sons have committed a crime by age 18
  • 13% of sons have with non-criminal father’s
  • shows criminal behaviours and attitudes are result of social learning

•COUNTER- this could also be explained by biological factors

  • genetic inheritance
  • may be partially correct but a diathesis stress model may offer better account as it combines the social factors with genetic vulnerabilities
34
Q

1 weakness of differential association theory as an explanation of offending

A

•doesn’t account for all types of crime and criminals

  • ‘smaller crimes’ are more subject to social learning influence than more violent crimes (e.g. murder, rape)
  • explanation also can’t explain why most offences are committed bu under 21s.
35
Q

1 strength of differential association theory as an explanation of offending

A

•at time of publishing, it significantly changed the focus of the origin of criminal behaviour

  • started to move away from early biological explanations like Lombroso atavistic theory, and ideas that criminals were weak or immoral
  • showed that bad (deviant) social environments can be at blame rather than bad people
  • highlighted by ‘white-collar crime’ which was committed by those seen as ‘respectable’
  • real world application as ‘bad’ social environments can be changed
36
Q

Define psychodynamic explanations to offending

A

-describing the unconscious drives and instincts that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour to offend

37
Q

Describe features of the superego

A
  • internalised sense of right and wrong
  • based on morality principle
  • punishes the ego for wrongdoing (guilt)
  • Blackburn said that an inadequate superego (under or over developed) gives the ‘id’ free rein so offending is inevitable
38
Q

Three types of inadequate superego proposed by Blackburn

A
  • deviant superego
  • weak superego
  • strong superego
39
Q

Describe the strong / over-harsh superego

A

•based on identification with overly harsh and punitive parent

  • superego is crippled by guilt and anxiety
  • unconsciously drives the individual to offend in order to satisfy the guilt through the punishment
40
Q

Describe the weak superego

A

•absence of a loving same-gender parent during childhood

  • can’t identify with parent and internalise a fully formed superego during phallic stage
  • so it can’t punish the id with guilt
  • leads to selfish, uncontrolled behaviour (no care of others or consequences)
41
Q

Describe the deviant superego

A

•if same gender parent is deviant or immoral

  • a immoral superego with deviant values is internalised
  • leads to offending
42
Q

The role of emotion in psychodynamic explanations

A

the inadequate superego allows primitive, 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 demands of the id to be most influential in guiding moral behaviour

  • the explanation deals with emotional life of individual
    e. g. role of anxiety and guilt in developing offending behaviour
43
Q

Describe Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory

A
  • prolonged absence of mother figure during critical period (up to 2.5 years), would result in emotional and intellectual consequences
  • ability to form a warm, continuous relationship with a mother figure allowed for meaningful relationships to be formed in adulthood
44
Q

Effects of maternal deprivation

A

Intellectual development - abnormally low IQ

Emotional development - affectionless psychopathy (don’t experience guilt or empathy)
-as a result, likely to engage in offending

45
Q

Describe Bowlbys 44 thieves study and how it applies to offending

A
  • Bowlby interviewed 44 thieves to see if they were AP
  • interviews their mother to discover any early separation
  • compared to control group of non-criminal, emotionally disturbed young people
  • found 14 thieves were classified as AP
  • 12/14 AP thieves experienced prolonged early separation
  • only 2 out of control group experiences that early separation

-concluded that effects of maternal deprivation lead to development of affectionless psychopaths and therefore offending occurs

46
Q

1 strength 1 weakness of the psychodynamic explanation to offending (Bowlbys Maternal Deprivation)

A

STRENGTH
•Research support
-Goreta did a Freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment
-she found disturbances in all of their superegos
-all experienced unconscious feelings of guilt and need for self- punishment (found through offending)
-Goreta explained it as a consequence of a strong / over harsh superego
- supports idea of psychic conflicts leading to offending

WEAKNESS
• Based on an association
-Hilda analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people
- found maternal deprivation was poor predictor or future offending
- the ‘link’ between frequent or prolonged early separation from mother and offending in later life is not necessarily causal
-may be other confounding variables
-maternal deprivation may only be one of many reasons for later offending

47
Q

1 strength 1 weakness of the psychodynamic explanation to offending (Freud’s tri-part personality)

A

STRENGTH
•Research support
Ressler found 42% of 36 sex murderers interviews were sexually assaulted as youngsters
-Dietz and Warren 76% of 41 serial rapists were abused when young
-support for Bowlbys maternal deprivation as they had disrupted early childhood

WEAKNESS
•Gender bias
-assumed in Freuds theory that girls develop a weaker superego than boys, as same gender parent identification is weaker) don’t experience castration anxiety like boys)
-according to the theory, girl’s superego should be less realised and leads them to be more prone to offending
-20x men in prison than women
-alpha bias in the theory

48
Q

define offender profiling

A

• an investigative tool used by police to narrow down the list of likely suspects of a crime, by predicting the profile characteristics of the unknown criminal

49
Q

Define top down approach

A
  • start with pre-established typologies
  • work down, to assign offenders to one of two categories based on evidence of the crime scene, nature of crime and witness accounts
50
Q

4 stages of constructing a top down FBI profile

A
  • Data assimilation (gathering of crime scene evidence)
  • Crime scene classification (organised or disorganised)
  • Crime reconstruction (hypothesis how events occurred and behaviour of victim)
  • Profile generation (hypotehsis about a criminal based on the assigned category and criminal behaviour
51
Q

describe how the top down approach originated

A
  • based on data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers (like Ted Bundy)
  • decided each case could be categorised into two , based on the crime’s characteristics (organised / disorganised murders)
  • if data from a new crime scene matched some of the characteristics of one category, we can predict other characteristics of the offender or crime that would be likely
52
Q

how does the idea of the “modus operandi” link to top down profiling

A

• idea that offenders have signature ways of working
- and that this correlates to particular social and psychological characteristics —> (that distinguish the two categories)

e.g.
modus operandi of organised offenders is high precision and control
modus operandi of disorganised offenders is inaccuracy

53
Q

describe features of an “ORGANISED OFFENDER”

A
  • shows evidence of planning the crime
  • deliberately target victims (and a certain type of them)
  • high precision and competence (maintain control)
  • little clues at crime scene (hide weapon and body)
  • higher average intelligence (high skill, professional job)
  • socially and sexually competent (usually married with kids)
54
Q

describe features of a “DISORGANISED OFFENDER”

A
  • little planning (more spontaneous, impulsive)
  • less control and precision at crime scene (leave body or weapon)
  • have lower than average IQ (may be unemployed or low skilled)
  • less socially competent (history of sexual dysfunction, failed relationships)
  • tend to live alone and near where crime scene is
55
Q

Describe the bottom up approach

A

systematically analysing data at crime scene to generate a profile of an offender (predict characteristics, social background and motivations)

56
Q

2 forms of bottom up approach to profiling

A
  • investigative psychology

* geographic profiling

57
Q

Describe investigative psychology

and the 2 beliefs central to the theory

A

• apply statistical procedures with psychological theory (IC & FA) to analysis crime scene evidence

create a statistical database, of patterns of behaviour in previous crimes, for comparison

looks for patterns and consistencies in the new crime compared to the previous crimes in the database

specific details of offence can match to previous crimes to reveal important details about offender (e.g. personal history, background, whether a series of offences are linked etc..)

•key concepts are interpersonal coherence and forensic awareness

58
Q

Define interpersonal coherence

A

idea that how the offender behaves during the crime and interacts with the victim, is linked to their behaviour in everyday situations

59
Q

Define forensic awareness

A

extent to which individuals who have an idea of forensic measures and so ‘cover their tracks’

  • as they’ve likely been subject to police interrogation before
60
Q

Describe geographical profiling

A

• uses information about the location of linked crime scenes (𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴) to make inferences about an offender’s centre of gravity (operational base) and jeopardy surface (location of future offences)

  • based on spatial consistency (idea that people commit crimes within a limited geographical space they are familiar with)

•includes circle theory

61
Q

Describe Canter’s circle theory

A

pattern of offending forms a circle around the offender’s home base

  • based on the distribution of offences, we can describe offenders as
    •marauders- operates close proximity to home base
    or
    •commuters- travelled a distance away from usual residence to offend

these two categories can give insight into whether attack was planned or opportunistic

A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY (21 decks)

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