Psychological Explanations of Crime Flashcards
Criminals are labelled as “rule _____” and “social cheaters and not “social ______”
“Rule Breakers”, “Social Cooperators”
What are Dualism beliefs?
The mind and body are separate entities, undermines any biological perspective on thinking.
Hobbes (17th century) criminological views?
Humans beings born bad, need to be controlled
Rousseau (18th century) criminological views?
Humans being born good, can be corrupted by society
What were Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions? (each runs high and low)
Extroversion (personality)
Neuroticism (emotions)
Psychoticism
(impulse control)
What dimensions do offenders score high on?
Psychoticism and Neuroticism
What are the 3 aspects of personality according to Sigmund Freud?
Ego, Id, and the Super-ego
What is the Id?
The Pleasure Principal.
Concerned with pleasure and avoidance of un-pleasure.
The ‘child inside’
Primitive aspect of the ‘unconscious mind’
What is the Ego?
The Reality Principle. Grounded in reality. Mediates between the Id & Super-ego
What is the Super-ego
The Morality Principle. Operates at the conscious level. Self observing, moral policeman, conscience.
What is the Psychoanalytic take on crime?
Criminal behaviour can be understood as an expression of buried internal (mental) conflicts that are the result of traumas or deprivations experienced during childhood.
Behaviourism - B F Skinner (1953), Behaviour that results in positive outcomes is…
Self Reinforcing
Behaviour that results on negative outcomes is…
Self Punishing
