Psychological explanations Flashcards
who does the psychodynamic approach come from and who applied it to offending?
Freud, although he didn’t directly address offender behaviour. Blackburn was one of the researchers who applied freud’s theories to offending behaviour
what was blackburn’s theory called?
the inadequate superego
when is the superego formed?
at the end of the phallic stage when children resolve the Oedipus complex
when is offending behaviour inevitable according to blackburn’s theory of the inadequate superego?
when the superego is deficient, as the Id Is given free reign.
what are the three types of inadequate superego?
the weak, deviant and over harsh superegos.
why is the psychodynamic explanation different to the other explanations?
it acknowledges the role of anxiety and guilt (crucial factors in understanding offending behaviour)
what happens to a child for a weak superego to be formed?
the SAME SEX parent is missing during the phalic stage meaning that the child can’t internalise a fully formed superego due to no opportunity for identification.
define devient superego.
the child internalises an immoral superego which leads to offending behaviour
what causes an overhears superego?
really over harsh and punitive parents who make their child crippled by guilt and anxiety. this leads to the child committing crime due to their need for punishment.
the idea of parenting and childhood experiences being the root cause of offending behaviour links to Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. What are maternally deprived individuals characterised by?
lack of guilt, empathy and emotion towards others. (AFFECTIONLESS PSYCHOPATHY)
What did Bowlby’s 44 thieves study conclude about affection less psychopathy and how does this link to offending behaviour?
when bowl by analysed 44 thieves, 14 of them showed affectionless psychopathy characteristics. Of the 14, 12 had maternal deprivation showing a link between childhood and offending behaviour. this is the basis of the inadequate superego theory.
what was Goreta’s research support for the overhears superego?
analysis of 10 offenders referred to psychiatric care. They all showed a need for punishment and self guilt. In the overhears superego theory, need for punishment manifests itself as offending behaviour, supporting the theory.
Kochanska (2001) contradicted Goreta’s research support by stating that….
we would expect children with harsh parents to show guilt and anxiety however this is not true as many children with these parents display a lack of guilt.
a limitation of the psychodynamic explanation is the gender…
bias. Freud’s theory states that girls will have a weaker superego than boys due to then not experiencing castration anxiety as boys do.
in the uk, how many times more men are in prison than women?
20 times!
a limitation of the psychodynamic explanation is that many factors can’t be EMPIRICALLY TESTED. This means…
it is impossible to scientifically measure over harsh parenting, so we can only judge the inadequate superego on face value.
psychodynamic explanation is good because It acknowledges…
the role of anxiety and guilt in offending behaviour
what is the main point of Eysenck’s theory?
that the type of nervous system we inherit is where our personality traits originate and what makes us more or less likely to commit crime.
what is the criminal personality type according to Eysenck?
neurotic-extravert-psychotic
what are the categories of personality in Eysenck’s theory?
extravert, neurotic, psychotic
extraverts seek….
excitement, stimulation and risky things
extraverts have an…..
underactive nervous system
neurotic’s are…
nervous, jumpy and unpredictable
what nervous system has a higher level of reactivity for neurotics?
sympathetic
psychotic people have a higher level of…
testosterone
psychotic people are aggressive and…
unemotional
what does socialisation teach children
to delay gratification and become more socially orientated
people with high E and N scores become less socially orientated because they are harder to condition. What does this mean for them?
they seek instant gratification and are more developmentally immature. This means that they are more likely to behave antisocially, linking to offender behaviour.
how did Eysenck relate offending behaviour with other personality traits?
the EPQ. (Eysenck personality questionnaire)
How did Eysenck et al create evidence to support the theory?
compared 2070 male prisoners and 2422 male controls results on the EPQ. they found that the prisoners had higher N, E and P scores, agreeing with the theory.
How did Eysenck et al create evidence to support the theory?
compared 2070 male prisoners and 2422 male controls results on the EPQ. they found that the prisoners had higher N, E and P scores, agreeing with the theory.
Some of the central assumptions of the criminal personality have been challenged by Farrington. how?
conducted a meta analysis of relevant studies and found high levels of psychoticism but not neutroticism or extraversion.
Moffit (1993) drew a distinction between adolescent only criminality and criminality that lasts into adulthood. What does Eysenck’s theory not tell?
how long the offending will go on for. Persistence of offending behaviour could link to environmental influences which suggests a more complex picture for Eysenck’s theory.
Bartol and Hollanchock found that Eysenck’s theory is not generalisable cross culturally by…
competing the EPQ on African Americans who were split in to groups depending on the nature of their offence. They compared them to a control group and found that all six offending groups were less extroverted than the controls. this goes against Eysenck’s theory.
what are the two cognitive explanations for offending?
level of moral reasoning and cognitive distortions
what Is moral reasoning?
the way a person thinks about what is right and wrong.
who theorised level of moral reasoning?
Kohlberg
what does a lower stage of moral reasoning mean?
the person is more driven to avoid punishment/ gain a reward than actually having internalised morals of what is right and wrong.
name the three stages of moral reasoning
preconventional (driven to gain rewards/ avoid punishment)
conventional (maintaining the social order)
post conventional (morality of conscience)
why are people with higher reasoning abilities less likely to commit crime?
the sympathise more and have traits such as honesty, generosity and non violence
Hollin and Palmer conducted research support for Kohlberg’s theory. What did they do?
assessed 332 non offenders against 126 convicted murderers using moral dilemma questions and found that the offender group showed up less mature.
Thornton and Reid suggested that Kohlberg’s theory may not apply in the same way to all types of crime. How did they find this?
they found that robbers were more likely to be in the pre conventional stage than more impulsive crimes like murder and assault. This is due to their desire to avoid punishment and gain instant reward.
Kolhberg’s theory provides insight into the…
criminal mind. Showing that offenders are more childlike and egocentric than the law abiding majority.
what are cognitive distortions?
faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that means we perceive ourself, others and the world around us negatively and inaccurately.
cognitive distortions link to the way that offenders interpret…
other people’s behaviour and justify their actions
what are the two subcategories of cognitive distortions?
hostile attribution bias and minimalisation
define hostile attribution bias
judging unknown situations as threatening when they probably aren’t. This can lead to aggressive behaviour on behalf of the offender.
In 2014, Schenberg and Jusyte conducted a study to support hostile attribution bias. What was it?
55 offenders and a matched control group shown images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions and found that offenders were more likely to perceive them as aggressive.
what is minimisation?
an attempt to downplay the severity of an offence.
what was Barbaree’s 1991 study on minimalisation?
he found that when assessing 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied the crime and 40% minimised their offence
why does the theory of cognitive distortions have real world application?
can be applied to CBT where the distortions are challenged and the offender can be held accountable for what they’ve done. This has been proved to reduce rated of reoffending.
Howitt and Sheldon found that level of cognitive distortion depends on the type of…
offence. Non contact sex offenders had more distortions that contact sex offenders.
cognitive distortions can’t help to predict future offending behaviour as…
having distorted thoughts doesn’t mean that offending will actually occur.
what is differential association?
an expiation for offending that states that offending behaviour is learnt through interaction with others.
who theorised differential association?
Edwin Sutherland
the theory is designed to discriminate between those who…
become offenders and those who do not
what values help to mathematically predict the likelihood of someone becoming an offender?
frequency, duration and intensity of exposure to deviant and non deviant norms and values
differential association draws attention to the fact that…
interaction with deviant others and environments are more to blame than deviant people for offending behaviour
differential association runs the risk of stereotyping…
those who come from impoverished crime-ridden backgrounds
if the number of anti crime people in a group Is less than the number of pro crime people then the person is…
less likely to offend
as well as attitudes… learned behaviour can occur in differential association. Some examples of learned behaviour are…
breaking into a house, jump starting a car.. etc.
how does differential association explain why many criminals go on to reofffend?
when in prison, the criminal may learn attitudes and behaviours from other inmates that they might take out of prison with them.
sutherland’s theory links to Eysenck’s theory as it argues the importance of…
non offending familial relationships developing non offender behaviour in the children
Despite being able to ‘mathematically predicting the likelihood of offender behaviour’ Sutherland’s theory is not scientifically reliable because…
it’s impossible to accurately measure the variables such as frequency of exposure to crime.
the theory contrasts with popular belief that impoverished people are the only people who are likely to offend as…
it explains why upper class white collar offences can happen. (As a result of exposure to pro crime attitudes.)
