Psych of Crime Unit 1

Question 1

Adult Attachment and Intimate Partner Violence

Answer 1

Insecurely attached audlts have a greater risk for IPV perpetration. There are two types of IPV batterers:

• Dismissive (positive view of self; negative view of others) use violence to control victims and get what they want. Ex. Felcity’s husband in Waitress
• Preoccupied (negative view of self; positive view of others) use violence when they feel partner withdrawing in fear of imminent abandonement. Ex. Marky Mark in Fear; Bobby and DJ Tanner in No One Would Tell.

Question 2

Attachment and Crime

Answer 2

Insecurely attached kids are more likely to face peer rejection and become juvenile sex offenders.
Sex Offenders - Insecurely attached adults may turn to kids because relationships with them minimize emotional involvement required of offenders and the characteristics of kids match the emotional needs of offender. Ex. Humbert Humbert.
Stalking - MELAY - stalking is defined as unwanted, repeated pursuit and often involves indiviudals who were in a prior relationship.
Insecurely attached adults interpret and respond to social cues innapropriately. Preoccupied / fearful adults attempt to control partner after breakup and can’t let go of relationship.

Question 3

Peer Rejection

Answer 3

We develop our first friendships around age 4 and they are incredibly important for our social development for us in learning social norms and cues. However, some kids (10-15%) experience peer rejection.

Rejected kids have fewer opportunities to learn social norms and practice social skills and are more likely to engage in inappropriate behavior which will lead to negative responses from peers.
Internal consequences of peer rejection include depression, anxiety and lonliness. External consequences include antisocial behavio and delinquency. Ex. Lilo from Lilo and Stitch.

Question 4

Parenting Practice vs. Parenting Style vs. Parental Monitoring

Answer 4

PRACTICE - strategies used to acheive a specific academic, athletic or social goal (Ex. $1 for every A).

STYLE - the way the parent interacts with the child and the emotional climate of the relationship. (Ex. Lorelai had a very lax parenting style on Rory).

MONITORING - awareness of child’s peers, activities, wherabouts, etc. Poor monitoring is a strong indicator of delinquency during later childhood. Some kids are easier to monitor than others.

Question 5

Peer Rejection, Delinquency, and General Strain Theory

Answer 5

GST - kids may expeirence negative emtions associated with rejection. According to GST, there are three forms of strain:
1. Failure to acheive positively valued goals
2. Presentation of noxious stimuli
3. Removal of positively valued stimuli.
Peer rejection is the presentation of noxious stimuli, leading to negative affect. PR is a threat that leads kids to seek out corrective action with antisocial behavior (drugs, violence) or they veleive they will be rejected in the future, which leads ot long-term antisocial behavior (ex. Aileen Wournos). `

Question 6

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Answer 6

AUTHORITARIAN - parent is authority. Strict, expects obedience and respect. Ex. a “military” parent.
PERMISSIVE - no controle, few restrictions. Parent is accepting of kid’s behavior. This is most associated with antisocial and female delinquency. Ex. Juno’s parents in Juno.
AUTHORITATIVE - rational; apply reasonable restrictions; consistent rule enforcement.
NEGLECTING - detached and unengaged; uninterested in controlling child’s behavior. This is most associated with antisocial and male delinquency. Ex. Miriam Pataki.

2 neglectful parents is super bad; but having one authoritative parent diminishes the risk for delinquency and antisocialness.

Question 7

John Bowlby Attachment Theory

Answer 7

There are 4 componnets of the parent-child relationship:

• When child feels threatened, they can turn to caregiver for comfort.
• Parent can serve as a secure base from which the child can secure their surroundings.
• Child wants to stay close to caregiver becasue they will keep child safe.
• When child is seperated from caregiver, child becomes upset and distressed.

Question 8

Types of factors associated with developing antisocial or criminal behavior

Answer 8

RISK FACTORS: indiviudal characteristics and experiences that increase the probability of engagin in crimnial behavior, like poverty and inadequate parenting. Ex. Dexter watching his mom die.

PROTECTIVE FACTORS - indiviudal characteristics and experiences that decrease the probability of engaging in criminal behavior, like empathy and love. Ex. Julia Stiles, dancing and college were protective factors for Sean Patrick Thomas in STLD.

These factors can be social, biological, psychological or developmental.

Question 9

Antisocial vs. Criminal Behavior

Answer 9

ANTISOCIAL - clinical term; this is behavior that is serious and habitual and causes harm to others. Not neccesarily criminal, however it begins in childhood and moves into adulthood.

CRIMINAL - legal term; conduct that leads to and includes an unlawful act. This begins in childhood.

Ex. repeatedly telling a girl to kill herself is antisocial. Killing the girl is criminal.

Question 10

Mary Ainsworth’s Infant Attachment Theory

Answer 10

SECURE - child feels secure i nparent’s presence. Is upset when parent leaves, and happy when they return. AS adults, they can have happy, healthy relationships.

INSECURE ANXIOUS / AMBIVALENT - the child doesn’t explore and play when parent is around. It’s upset when they leave and very angry, upset or hostile when they return. Caregiver responsiveness is inconsistent. As adults, they want intimacy but can’t give it. The seek constant approval.

AVOIDANT - child couldn’t give a crap if parent stays or goes. They expect rejection in caregiver responsiveness. As adults, they place more emphasis on persoanl growth than in interpersonal relationships. Ex. George Clooney in Up in the Air.

Question 11

Developmental Focuses Regarding Antisocial and Criminal Behavior

Answer 11

1. Identifying risk factors in children to develop antisocial / criminal behavior.
2. Identifiying factors that can protect kids form factors that are associated with antisocial / criminal behavior.
3. Identifying developmental pathways that expose us and protect us form these risks.

Question 12

Adult Attachment Patterns

Answer 12

SECURE - self confidence and self-worth. Have no problems with intimacy and romantic relationships. Ex. Gigi in He’s Just Not That Into You.

PREOCCUPIED - negative perception of self, positive perception of others. Feels unworthy of love due to inconsistent parenting. Ex. Helga Pataki

FEARFUL - negative perception of self and others. Avoid intimacy due to parental rejeciton. Dependent on others approval, but expect rejection. Ex. Cinderella.

DISMISSIVE - negative perception of others, positive perception of self. Self-reliant, distance themselves form others. Ex. Henry Lee Lucas.

Question 13

Empathy

Answer 13

Empathy is the precursor for pro-social behavior, and an inhibitor of aggressive behavior. If you have empathy, you’re less likely to commit crime; if you don’t have empathy, you’re more likely to go cray. There are two types of Empathy:
AFFECTIVE: experiencing another person’s emotions. Ex. that chick from mean girls who doesn’t even go here.
COGNITIVE - understanding someone else’s emotions from their point of view.
We start to develop empathy at an early age, but empathy deficencies also start at an early age and can affect someone for the rest of their life. Securely attached infants model empathy after their parents; however others don’t have such luck.

People who engage in violence may not be able to understand the pain of their victims

Question 14

Empathy - Regulation, Emotionality and Attachement.

Answer 14

EMOTION REGULATION - the ability to adjust the intensity and duration of an emotional response. This is something that is learned through parental monitoring. It is how one learns to cope with their feelings and not let them take over.
NEGATIVE EMOTIONALITY - how quickly, intensly, and how long someone experiences negative affective states (anger, fear, sadness). Insecurely attached infants are most likely to be high in negative emotionality and low in empathy because, like emotion regulation, they never learned how to control their emotions. This means that they can’t shift their focus off of themselves onto someone else and experience their emotions.

Question 15

Callous-Unemotional Traits

Answer 15

These are traits that are exhibited in a subgroup of juveniles who are low in empathy and have conduct disorder tendencies. They have absence of guilt and restricted emotional display and bad interpersonal skills. They have no problem using people for their own personal gain.

Several studies conducted found that kids with these traits were 300% more life to be bad at a young age, they had the highest levels of impulsivity and a the lowest response to punishment, and they kids with CE traits and CD were most likely to recidivate.

Question 16

Empathy and Psychopathy

Answer 16

Psychopaths have difficulty recognizing emotion in others. Their ability to recognize visual and vocale emotions in others is deficient. Since they can’t see the emotions in others, it’s easy to exploit them.

Question 17

Conduct Disorder

Answer 17

It is repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of other or major societal norms are violated. YOU MUST BE UNDER 18 TO BE DIAGNOSED WITH THIS.
There are 4 main CD groupings:
1. Aggressive behavior that causes or threatens physical harm to other people or animals.
2. Non-aggressive behavior that causes property loss or damage.
3. Deceitfulness or theft.
4. Serious violations of rules.

Some indicators of CD include bullying, threatning, truancy, stealing, using a weapon or bringing a weapon to school, cruelty to animals, etc.
There are also descriptive features of CD. These include: having little empathy for others; frequently mispercieving other people’s intentions as hostile and responding with aggression which they feel is unjusitified; inappropriately low feelings of guilt or remorse; eaily frustrated, low tolerance, irritability, temper outbursts and recklessness.

Question 18

Subtypes of Conduct Disorder

Answer 18

There are two subtypes of CD:

CHILDHOOD ONSET - in kids under 10, usually male. They are frequently physically aggressive and have “disturbed” peer relationships. They may have been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder in early childhood, which is a less severe form of CD. These kids are more likely to have persistant CD and develop APD.

ADOLESCENT ONSET - these are people diagnosed with CD after 10, with no prior similar diagnoses. They are less likely to be aggressive and have more normal relationships. They are less likely to have persistent CD and less likely to develop APD.

Question 19

Developmental Factors of Conduct Disorder

Answer 19

Some developmental factors that can lead to developing CD include:

• peer rejection
• neglectful parents
• physical or sexual abuse
• lack of supervision or parental consistency
• association with a delinquent peer group
• familial psychopathology
• large family / frequent changing of caregiver
• history of maternal smoking during pregenancy.
• neighborhood exposure to violence

Question 20

Conduct Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 20

YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18 TO BE DIAGNOSED WITH APD AND HAVE A HISTORY OF CD (not neccesarily a diagnosis of CD, but a history of it).

After the age of 15, in order to be diagnosed with APD, the indiviudal must demonstrate @least 3 antisocial behaviors including breaking the law, decietfulness, constant lying, using other people for profit or personal gain, fighting or lack of remorse.

Not everyone who has CD will develop APD, only a portion will. A study found that 75% of people with CD will develop APD, while another study found that 25% of male youths in detention centers who were diagnosed with CD also developed APD.

Question 21

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Answer 21

In order to be diagnosed with this, the symptoms must cause some type of impairment. People diagnosed with this are more hyper and impulsive that normal people and have inattention. Symptoms are usually present before age 7. Impairement from the symptoms must be in at least two settings (either school, work or home). There must be a clear developmental interference.
THERE ARE THREE CENTRAL FEATURES OF ADHD:
1. Inattention
2. Impulsivity
3. Excessive motor activity (moving a lot).
About 3-5% of school children actually have this, mostly males. There may be a biological component to it, if a relative is also diagnosed with it

Kids with ADHD are at an increased risk to commit crime. People with ADHD AND CD have a high risk of having serious criminal careers.

Question 22

Genes

Answer 22

DNA provides genetic instructions that design our human attributes and our individual attributes. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Every cell nucleus has chromosomes, which contain the DNA and the DNA contains segments called genes.
SO cell ->nucleus->chromosome->DNA->genes.

Genes can be active (aka expressed) or inactive; the environement can turn them on and make them active. Complex traits, like intelligence, are influenced by a group of genes, not just one.

Question 23

Genetics and Antisocial Behavior

Answer 23

Some research says that some kids are genetically predisposed to bieng more aggressive than others. To test this, researchers use twin studies.

Question 24

Biopsychologists vs.

Answer 24

BIOPSYCHOLOGISTS- study the biological aspects of behavior; want to determine what genetic variables play a role in certain human behaviors. They recognize that one’s social environment is just as important as biological factors.

Question 25

Peripheral nervous system

Answer 25

Autonomic - controls glands and other muscles

Somatic - controls skeletal muscles

Question 25

Twin Studies and Adoption Studies Regarding Criminal Behavior

Answer 25

Twin studies find that genes may contribute to criminal behavior. The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) found that nature plays a role,esp. in callous unemotional tendencies.
Jaffee et. al. found that maltreatment was the greatest inhibitor for criminal behavior for kids who were already genetically predisposed to antisocial behavior.

Adoption studies wanted to see if adopted kids are more like their birth parents or adoptive parents?
Crowe that adopted kids of female offenders were more likely to a criminal history at age 18 than kids born to non-offender mothers.
Mednick et. al. found that adopted kids of parent’s who had a criminal history were at a greater risk of having a criminal history. In this study, there was no indication that the kids knew that their biological parents had criminal histories.