Social Control & Self Control Theory Flashcards
What are the basic assumptions about human nature that are made by social control theorists?
assumes that humans are naturally motivated by self-interest and a desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain
According to a “pure” control theory perspective, what is the key question asked about crime?
Why don’t people commit crime? (since we all have equal motivation to commit crime)
Explain why Hirschi’s social bonding theory is considered a “pure” control theory.
crime becomes likely when bond between individual and conventional society is weak/broken
elements of the “social bond”
commitment, attachment, involvement and belief
Which two of these elements share a great deal of conceptual and empirical overlap (i.e., it is difficult to distinguish them in research)?
commitment and involvement
what is the nature of crime and how does this conception of crime influence the theory that they develop, as Hirschi and Gottfredson described it?
easy gratification, exciting, little skill; from those descriptors it helps create characteristics for those most likely to commit them (ex: low self-control)
Using Gottfredson and Hirschi’s work as a guide, describe a person with low self-control
impulsive, insensitive, physical, risk taking, shortsighted, and nonverbal
How does a person come to develop self-control?
socialization; upon society
What does the empirical evidence from research say about the fluctuation of self control across the lifetime?
While everyone may gain some self control with age, the deck is not
reshuffled. most found that social control “increas[ed] during
adolescence and early adulthood.”
Low self-control does not require crime. How can they avoid crime?
through analagous behaviors that are legal
What is the role of criminal opportunity in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory?
They see it as neccesary for crime to occur but it’s everywhere
What does Pratt and Cullen’s meta-analysis tell us about the empirical validity of self-control theory?
supports self-control theory- behavioral and attitudinal-based measures are predictive of criminal offending (“strongest predictors of crime”
Some argue that self-control is actually a situational “state” rather than a stable individual trait. Explain this argument and what impact it may have on an individual’s probability of criminality.
argues that self-control is a depletable source; it works like a muscle, the more you use it, immediately you become fatigued but long-term, we strengthen our capacities
