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Forensic and Criminal Psychology > Personality and Individual Differences > Flashcards

Personality and Individual Differences Flashcards

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1
Q

What does intelligence suggest about causes of Criminality?

A
  • school failure and unemployment associated with criminality
  • poor learning experiences = risk takers, less able to avoid detection, lower earning potential, all could result in criminality
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2
Q

What did Herstein (1994) and Farrington (1990) find?

A

HERSTEIN (1994) - those with a lower intelligence are more likely to be involved in large scale social crime
FARRINGTON (1990) - 1/3 boys scoring 90 or below became juvenile delinquents. Also had poor academinc achievement.

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3
Q

What did Cullen (1997) and Moffit (1981) find?

A

CULLEN (1997) - adjusted Herstein’s data to include socio-economic status in relation to criminality - found 0.15.
MOFFIT (1981) - analysed 31,000 males - found 0.17.

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4
Q

What did a meta-analysis find on IQ and criminality, what does this research suggest?

A

Juvenile criminality + IQ = 0.2
Adult criminality + IQ = 0.1

This suggests that criminals that are less intelligent are more likely to get caught.
HOWEVER - IQ based on verbal intelligence - does this result in poor academic achievement?

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5
Q

What three personality variables are related to criminality?

A

Impulsivity
Self-Control
Sensation-Seeking

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6
Q

How does Impulsivilty relate to criminality?

A

The tendency to act without thought for the consequences.

Arbuthnot (1987) - related, not a strong relationship

Loeber (2012) Pittsburg Youth Study

  • IQ at age 12 predicts delinquency
  • Impulsivity at age 12 predicts delinquency

Farrington (1993)
- impulsivity of youths predicts convictions at age 32

Farrington (1994)
- restlessness key factor in conviction of violence

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7
Q

How does Self-Control relate to criminality?

A

Gottfredson (1990)

  • why doesn’t everyone commit crime?
  • self-control is acquired through parenting, and is important in resisting a criminal urge
  • crime = short term gain + long term loss
  • self-control helps look past short term gains

Pratt & Cullen (2000)
- important predictor of criminality across broad spectrum of offenders

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8
Q

How does Sensation Seeking relate to criminality?

A

Zuckerman (1994) defines sensation seeking as ‘situations of a high intensity, taking risks for the experience’
- sensation seeking is linked to boredom, which is linked to criminality and substance abuse

Burt & Simmons (2014)
- high thrill seeking predicts offenders
- low self-control predicts offenders
This is because those high in thrill seeking, don’t have the self-control to reduce it

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9
Q

What is Eysenck’s Theory of Criminality (1977)?

A

Based on Biological Approaches

  • there are three personality dimensions
  • Extraversion - Introversion
  • Neuroticism - emotional stbility
  • Psychoticism - socialisation
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10
Q

How does Extraversion work in Eysenck’s Theory?

A

Extraversion;
- biology - caused by cortisol under-arousal, therefore traits derive from the need for environmental stimulation

  • extraversion & crime - need for stimulation.

increased risk-taking + reduced capacity to learn from experience = increased risk of criminality

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11
Q

How does Neuroticism work in Eysenck’s Theory?

A

Neuroticism;
- biology - caused by over-arousal of autonomic nervous system (fight/flight), therefore traits derived from over-sensitivity to environmental stimuli

  • neuroticism & crime - difficult coping with stress

don’t consider consequences of actions + reaction of habit response = exacerbate existing antisocial tendencies

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12
Q

How does Psychoticism work in Eysenck’s Theory?

A

Psychoticism;
- biology - hormones & enzymes. high testosterone, low MOA, low dopamine, low seratonin

  • psychoticism & crime - characteristics linked to antisocial behaviour
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13
Q

What did Cale (2006) find in their meta-analysis to support Eysenck’s Theory?

A

Cale (2006)
Meta-analysis of 52 studies.

  • Psychoticism MOST strongly associated with antisocial behaviour (.39)
  • Neuroticism NEXT strongly associated with antisocial behaviour (.19)
  • Extraversion WEAKEST association with antisocial behaviour (.09)
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14
Q

What are Eysenck’s Typologies?

A

Eysenck suggested TWO broad types of criminals;

  • High Extraversion, High Neuroticism, High Psychoticism = ACTIVE OFFENDER
  • young, low IQ, violent
  • High Psychoticism, High Neuroticism, Low Extraversion = INADQUATE OFFENDER
  • older, introvert
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15
Q

What evidence is there for Eysenck’s Typologies?

A

Van Dam (2007) suggests THREE typologies;

  • High Neuroticism, High Psychoticism, High Extraversion = 8%
  • High Psychoticism, High Neuroticism, Low Extraversion = 29%
  • High Extraversion, Low Neuroticism, Low Psychoticism = 63%
  • typical delinquent is an extravert
  • those high in psychoticism are life time offenders
  • those low in psychoticism are adolescent offenders

Ireland & Ireland (2011) - male prisoners

  • low in Extraversion
  • high in Neuroticism
  • no evidence for Psychoticism

Barack (1978) - women awaiting trial

  • high in Psychoticism
  • high in Neuroticism
  • no evidence for Extraversion
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16
Q

What do the Big 5 by Costa and McCrea (1985) suggest about criminality?

A

Van Dam (2005)

  • low on agreeableness and openness to experience
  • recividists high on neuroticism and lower on agreeableness

Heaven (2006)

  • low on agreeableness
  • low on conscientiousness
  • high on neuroticism
17
Q

What is the Neutralisation Theory? (Sykes & Matza, 1957)

A

Neutralisation Theory states that offenders don’t usually express antisocial behaviour or reject morals.

Offenders use internal mechanisms, or mechanisms of neutralisation, to reduce the inconguity between their attitudes towards offending, and their offending behaviour.

They make themselves believe that their behaviour is acceptable/excusable.

18
Q

What evidence is there for the Neutralisation Theory?

A

US National Youth Survey - Agnew (1994)

  • 93% said that it was wrong to hit people
  • 0.5% said that it wasn’t wrong at all
  • those who admitted to being violent in the past year expressed disapproval of violence
  • 54% accepted statements justifying the violence
  • agreement of the statements predicted violence in the next year

Neutralisation is therefore just as important in predicting criminality as influencing peers are.

19
Q

What is the Criminal Personality Theory? (Yochelson & Samenow, 1976)

A

It suggests that in order to fully understand criminals, we must understand their thinking patterns.
All criminals, despite the types of crime, share the same thought process.
Criminal behaviour is more linked to erroneous thinking, whereas non-criminal behaviour is linked to responsibility.
Criminals have average thinking errors with more intensity and frequency.
Criminals make 52 cognitive errors to differentiate them to non-criminals.

20
Q

What are the limitations of the Criminal Personality Theory?

A

It doesn’t explain the origin of the thought process of criminals.

It isn’t as generalisable to criminals as the participants were all male.

Psychodynamic interviews were used, which isn’t widely accepted nowadays in psychology.

21
Q

What are advantages of the Criminal Personality Theory?

A

It identified that criminals have a distorted thought process, which can help in treatment.

Longitudinal study used, which means that validity increases - it shows that thought process are continuous.

22
Q

What is the Attribution Theory? (Gudjonsson & Singh, 1988)

A

Attribution is defined as the process in which we construct causal explanations to our behaviour.

There are two types of causal behaviour;

  • Internal - dispositional
  • External - situational
23
Q

According to the Attribution Theory (Gudjonsson & Singh, 1988), what do we attribute our behaviours and other’s behaviours to?

A

We attribute OUR behaviour to external factors (due to the situational context and circumstances).

We attribute OTHER’S behaviours to internal factors (due to the personality/personal circumstances).

24
Q

Why was the Blame Attribution Theory (BAI) developed?

A

In order to explain criminal behaviour.

It suggests that there are three independent factors to blaming;

  • External Attribution - circumstances
  • Mental-Element Attribution - mental disorders/cognitive blame
  • Guilt-Feeling Attribution - regret/remorse for committing crime

Violent offenders are most likely to report Mental-Element attribution
External Attribution related to psychoticism and hostility.

25
Q

What is Individualism?

A

Individualism is the suggestion that crime is the result of the inability of deficient individuals to adapt to society.
It explains criminality as the result of individual differences without taking into account the environment/context.

Maquire (2004)

  • suggests that combinations of individual differences may be important
  • the way they are expressed occurs in the context of the environment
26
Q

What is Interactionism?

A

Said to be the most comprehensive explanation as it takes both personal and situational factors into account.

Personality isn’t stable
- how we behave is partly shaped by the circumstances we come across in life

We can’t predict the behaviour of an individual in a certain situation, but across a range of situations, a pattern can emerge.

Forensic and Criminal Psychology (4 decks)

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