Physiological Theories

Question 1

What are the two theories??

Answer 1

Lombroso 1876
Sheldon 1940

Question 2

What is the lombroso theory??

Answer 2

Men and Woman are bron criminal and you can tell by facial aspects
He measured 4000 prisoners and 300 dead prisoners skulls looking for features in common

those who fit this were ‘atavistic form’ - not evolved or primitive

Question 3

List four features??

Answer 3

Long nose
Long arms
Large chin
Enormous Jaw

Question 4

Explain the main body of Lombrosos theroy??

Answer 4

Thoes who are atavistic are pre social, cannot control impulses and have a reduced senstivity to pain ( tattoos) - People were born criminals and you can identify them through physical features.

Question 5

What is the Sheldon theory??

Answer 5

Expanded on Lombrosos - body types - Mesomorphs are more likley to commit crimes while ecotos are least likely

Question 6

What are the 3 body types?

Answer 6

Ectomorpgh - Skinny, Intrverted and anxious
Mesomorph - Large, muscular and aggressive/adventurous
Endomorph - Fat, sociable amd relaxed

Question 7

What was the study??

Answer 7

4000 scantily dressed men meticulesly measured and came up with the three body types. College students had a smaller ratio than deliquents (4.6-3.8)

Question 8

A03 for Lombroso??

Answer 8

+ Lombroso was the first person to study crime scientifically, using objective measurements to gather evidence. Previously crime was seen as a moral or religious issue.
+ His later work took some limited account of social and environmental factors, not just heredity.
- Not everyone with atavistic features is a criminal and not all criminals have them.
- Scientific racism - DeLisi (2012) indicated that many of the atavistic features defined are specific to people of African descent.

Question 9

A03 for Sheldon??

Answer 9

+ Sheldon used a good-sized sample (200) and he used a control condition of non-offenders (students) to compare his results to.
+ Glueck & Glueck (1956) found that in a sample of delinquents, 60% were mesomorphs, while non-delinquents, only 31% were mesomorphs.
- Sheldon did not explain how ectomorphs and endomorphs could also be criminal.
- Does not take into account that someone’s ‘somatotype’ is not fixed. People’s bodies change throughout their lives.