Psychological Explanations Of Behaviour Flashcards
Eysenck’s theory
Theory of personality assessed via EPQ (Eysenck’s personality questionnaire)
Identifies 3 dimensions
3 dimensions
Extraversion: outgoing, easily bored
Neuroticism: negative emotional states
Psychoticism: egocentric, lack empathy
Biological basis
Each dimension has a mainly innate basis
Links to criminal behaviour
Extroverts seek arousal in dangerous activities
Neurotics over react to threat
Psychotics lack empathy
Cognitive explanations
Cognitive distortions occur when twisted versions of reality is believed
Hostile attribution bias
Tendency towards negative interpretations of of someone else’s behaviour that can lead to increased aggression
Minimalisation
Under exaggerating importance of what you have done, helps offender avoid considering bad outcomes
Level of moral reasoning
Kohlberg’s theory outlined 3 levels of moral reasoning after interviewing boys and men about reasons for their decisions
Pre conventional
Children accept the rules set by authority figures and judge actions by their consequences
Stage 1: focuses on rules enforced by punishment
Stage 2: what counts as right is defined by ones own needs
Conventional
Individuals believe that conforming to social norms is desirable even if this is not out of self interest
Stage 3: what is right is defined by what others expect
Stage 4: duties of each citizen
Post conventional
Individual moves beyond compliance
Stage 5: individual rights may be more important than the law
Stage 6: universal ethical principles
Colby
Found that 10% of adults reach post conventional level, an offender at this level may break the law as a matter of principle
Differential association theory
People very the frequency with which they associate with others and this influences their own attitudes and behaviours towards crime
What is learnt
Pro criminal attitudes
How to commit crime
Who it is learnt from
Intimate personal contacts
