Psychological Explanations of Offending Flashcards
Eysencks Theory - Personality Questionnaire
Eysenck believed that criminality is linked to 3 main personality types that is an innate biological basis.
Extraversion - have an under aroused nervous system meaning they seek external stimulation by thrill seeking or criminal activities to increase arousal
Neuroticism - have an over active autonomic nervous system making them prone to emotional instability which can lead to impulsive behaviour
Psychoticism - high testosterone levels that links to increased aggression and criminal tendencies
EVALUATION - Eysenck Theory of Criminal Personality
STRENGTH - supportive genetic research - Zuckerman found strong (0.52) correlation for neuroticism and a strong (0.51) correlation for extraversion in MZ twins compared with weak relationships (0.24 and 0.12) for DZ twins - suggests genetic as 100% same DNA in MZ - however not perfect correlation do can not be purely genetic
CRITICISM - EPQ is solely self report and the ppts responses may not reflect reality of their personality also only yes or no answers where sometimes may be more appropriate- means that it is less calif to use on offending population who would be more likely to have poor self awareness and show social desirability and therefore doesn’t accurately measure personality - however lie scale accounted for social desirability hence improving validity
STRENGTH - research shows personality is consistent and correlates with criminality - Dunlop et al used ppts students and friends ages 15-75 and delinquency was classed as them having minor offences in the previous 12 months. he found high extraversion and psychoticism as well as lie scales were good predictors or delinquency - provides explantation in alignment with eysenck- however only accounts for delinquency rather than long term behaviour also sample bias who all knew each other so still could be environment
What are cognitive distortions
cognitive distortions are a type of irrational thinking that allows criminals to deny or rationalise their behaviour
Types of cognitive distortions - Hostile Attribution Bias
• Perceiving behaviour as a threat; when behaviour is innocent.
• Acting to defend themselves (flight & fight)
• eg Accidently hitting someone with your shoulder walking past, seen as starting a fight.
Types of cognitive distortions - Minimalisation
The offender minimises the negative consequences of their behaviour either before or after the offence
• Downplaying responsibility for the offence
• Reduce feelings of guilt for own actions
• Putting the blame onto the victim
• E.g. if they hadn’t of wore those clothes…
EVALUATION - Cognitive Explanations of Criminal Behaviour
STRENGTH - Research to support for HAB causing offending - Schonenberg and Aiste 55 violent offenders, matched control to normal pps– happy, angry & fearful facial expressions – offenders saw all facial expressions as aggression - Offenders see non-existent threat – minimalise as defending cog explanation correct
• HAB could be biological (noradrenaline & overactive flight & fight; EPQ).
STRENGTH - Research support for minimalisation causing offending (Kennedy and Grubin)
Sex offenders downplayed - victim to blame, e.g. how acted or dressed.
Minimalisation allows sex offending to occur as justifies reason to offend.
Is it the cause or excuse to justify reason for offending? May be reason for
reoffend, but not initial offence.
Kohlberg Level of Moral Reasoning Stages
Pre-conventional = offender
• Punishment: morally right and wrong depends upon punishment
• Reward: morally right or wrong depending om what the person gains from the situation
Conventional
• Good boy & Good Girl: Moraliry based on what other people think
• Law & Order: Decisions made on obedience to authority and conforming to law
Post-conventional
• Social contract: how society effected and consideration to rights to life
• Ethical Principal Stage - self chosen ethical principles which are valued higher than the law
EVALUATION of cognitive explanations of criminal behaviour
WEAKNESS - major weakness of kohlberg theory of moral reasoning - Krebs and Denton found when analysing real life moral decisions, moral principles were used to justify behaviour after it had been done rather than before - suggests excuse rather than cause of crime - furthermore only studied males and had androcentricism - can not apply to both genders
STRENGTH - support for moral reasoning - study of 128 male juvenille offenders, 38% did not consider the consequences of their actions and 36% were confident they wouldnt get caught - therefore problems with morals - however it still means that 62% and 64% did n=consider consequences and thought about being caught so we cannot say that just moral reasoning is the cause of offending behaviour - it must be other factors
Differential Association Theory (Sutherland)
This theory uses social learning to explain offending. It is more of a sociological theory than psychological because it suggests people are socialised into a life of crime. People that associate more frequently with others that have favourable attitudes to offending will tend to develop attitudes that closely align with them. Sutherland developed a mathematical formula to predict whether or not someone would turn to crime.
Differential Association Theory 4 components
Priority - the youjder the offender is when they start to socialise with intimate others that are anti-social, the more important they are eg parents
Duration - the longer the relationship lasts for, the more learning occurs
Frequency - the more often that they have contact with anto social member, the higher the correlation that they will hold the same values
Intensity - the higher the status of the people offenders associate with, the more learning takes place
Study that supports Differential Association - Farrington et al
Longitudinal study of the development of offending and antisocial behaviour in 411 working class males who were studied from ages 8-50 years. They were all living in a deprived inner city area of London. It was found that 41% of the males had been convicted of at least one offence between the ages of 10 to 50. A small proportion of the ppts (7%) were defined as chronic offenders as they committed half of the recorded offences in the whole study. There were other key risk factors were identified including low school achievement, poor parenting, family criminality, risk taking behaviour
EVALUATION of differential association theory
STRENGTH - changed people’s views about the origins of criminal behaviour - theory moved away from biological reasons or personality traits to social factors and is good at explaining non violent crimes like fraud and bribery - this is a strength because it suggests offender behaviour can be prevented by changing the types of people we associate with - however reductionist as biological factors are ignored it could be biological personality means they associate with similar people to themselves rather than causing attitudes to change
STRENGTH - further evidence supporting DAT in that criminality runs in families - Osbourne and West found when the father was a criminal 40% of the sons had committed a crime by 18 compared to 13% of sons with non criminal fathers - therefore fathers act as role models and have a priority influence and intense relationship hence why sons take on pro criminal attitudes - however could support biological if the 40% stored a criminal gene that runs in families such as MAOA-L and CDH13
CRITICISM - only a partial explanation of offending - likely that the theory only accounts for smaller crimes rather than serious crimes like rape or murder - DAT says that we associate with others with pro criminal attitudes but rape and murder are rare in comparison to smaller crimes eg unlikely to grow up with someone with these convictions as they are likely to be caught and in prison DAT however is good at explaining the majority of crimes and therefore may be a better explanation of offending in comparison to other explanations.
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation study (psychodynamic theory)
Bowlby’s theory is psychodynamic as he believed that maternal deprivation could lead to unconscious issues like affectionless psychopathy
88 5-16 years olds, 44 were thieves and interviewed for AP (families also interviewed), other 44 did not commit any crimes
Experimental - 14/44 were AP and 12/14 had prolonged separation in first two years Control - 2/44 had prolonged separation but 0 were APs
Therefore prolonged separation disrupts the formation of a stable bond which is essential for developing emotional and moral understanding
Strengths and Weaknesses of Bowlby theory
Supporting research - thieves study
Practical applications importance of band between mum and baby
Greater stability in childcare practices
Self report - social desirability bias
Retrospective
Correlational
Socially sensitive
Mothers are exclusive carers in only a small percentage of human societies
Psychodynamic explanations - inadequate superego (3 types)
Weak or undeveloped superego - same sex parent is absent and therefore the person has no one to identify with and develop their morals from
Harsh or overdeveloped superego - this is where the child strongly identifies with their strict same sex parent. They have excessive guilt and anxiety
Deviant superego - the child identifies with a deviant, criminal same sex parent and takes on the same deviant morals as them
Strengths and Weaknesses of the psychodynamic superego explanation of offending
STRENGTHS
- only explanation that examines the role of emotional factors, affects of anxiety, rejection and attachment on behvaiour
- real life application in psychoanalysis
WEAKNESSES
- unscientific
- deterministic - many people without same sex parent grow up perfectly law abiding
- men have a stronger superego than women so women should commit more crime - statistically not true
