PSY2205 Lecture 9: Personality and Crime Flashcards
Give a bit of an introduction of the history of research into personality and crime would ya darlin
Cesare Lombroso – “Criminal Man”, (1876).
Theory now discredited but it was the first empirical attempt at investigating ‘criminal’ personality.
He argued that the physical shape of the head and face determined the “born criminal”.
Lombroso studied Italian criminals and identified criminal ‘atavism’ – physical features related to our early ancestors, apes, lower primates and early man.
Sheldon (1942) argued that an individual’s body shape (Somatotype) was correlated with their personality.
Give an alternate explanation for Sheldons findings.
People with a muscular build have learned from an early age that the easiest way to get what they want is to behave in an aggressive manner.
Muscular builds are recruited by gangs because of their perceived uses in criminal activity.
Whats the link between Eysenck’s personality theory and crime
Eysenck’s theory links biological, social and psychological factors.
Links physiological arousability with conditionability.
Sees personality as playing a critical role in the process of socialisation.
The speed and efficiency of a child’s socialisation depends on their conditionability (which Eysenck links to arousability in the nervous system).
Originally concentrated on just 2 factors - Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N):
Low E and low N condition most easily (stable introvert).
High E and high N condition least well (neurotic extravert).
Low E and high N (also High E and Low N) will be at a mid-point in conditionability terms.
Individuals with this type of personality will develop poor social control and be more likely to behave in an anti-social manner. In turn anti-social behaviour can lead to higher levels of crime and criminal prosecution.
High P is related to offending particularly with crimes involving hostility towards other people.
Say a quickie about the link between Personality Disorders and crime
Evidence does link some Personality Disorders with some criminal behaviours and crimes.
Psychopathy (e.g., Hare)- linked to Eysenck’s ‘psychoticism’
Anti-social personality disorder (APD)
The Dark Triad Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy
The Big 5 – some associations with offender characteristics.
What is the link between personality and perceptions of justice?
Clark, Boccaccinis, Caillouet, & Chaplin (2007).
Seventeen juries deliberated to a verdict (n285),
High levels of juror extraversion was associated with not guilty verdicts or verdicts for the defendant.
Extraversion was also associated with being selected as a jury foreperson. Foreperson extraversion was associated with longer jury deliberation times and perceived foreperson influence on decision.
What are two types of crimes?
Social-conventional transgressions (e.g., speeding, acquisitive crime/shoplifting)
Violate the arbitrary, but commonly agreed conventions that facilitate a system
Moral transgressions (e.g., violent crime)
Acts that have implications for the rights and welfare of others
How do personality disorders influence perceptions of justice?
Participants were significantly more likely to give a restorative sentence (involving rehabilitation programme) to offenders with schizophrenia compared with depressed or no MHD when the crime was acquisitive.
Conversely
Participants were significantly more retributive in their punishment of offenders with schizophrenia (compared with depressed and no MHD) in the violent crime condition.
