Topic 5: Criminal Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
define ‘crime’
A
Crime is an act (or omission of an act) that is against the law.
2
Q
define ‘anti social behaviour’
A
behaviour that effects other people negatively.
3
Q
What is a cognitive interview?
A
A technique used to enhance the retrieval of information from witnesses. It includes strategies like context reinstatement, reporting everything, changing the order, and changing perspective.
4
Q
What is recidivsm?
A
Persistent reoffending.
5
Q
What is context reinstatement?
A
Reinstating the context increases the accessibility of the information stored in the memory.
6
Q
What does ‘report everything’ mean in a cognitive interview?
A
Allowing the witness to freely recall a narrative of the situation gains an initial account.
7
Q
Why is changing the order important in a cognitive interview?
A
We are more likely to reconstruct a story and draw on existing schemas.
8
Q
What is the purpose of changing perspective in a cognitive interview?
A
Trying to adopt the viewpoint of a different witness can encourage recall of events that may otherwise be omitted.
9
Q
What did Geilsman find regarding cognitive interviews?
A
Increased retrieval using the cognitive interview was due to the guided approach to interviewing, which encouraged participants to remember the crime.
10
Q
What does the PEACE model of ethical interviewing stand for?
A
- Planning & preparation
- Engage & explain
- Account
- Closure
- Evaluate.
11
Q
What is the importance of planning & preparation in the PEACE model?
A
Interviews should have clear objectives.
12
Q
What is the role of engage & explain in the PEACE model?
A
Establishing a rapport is important in interviews; the purpose of the interview should be explained.
13
Q
What is the focus of the account phase in the PEACE model?
A
Good questioning and listening skills are needed to produce a reliable account.
14
Q
What is the purpose of closure in the PEACE model?
A
The interviewee needs to understand what has happened during the interview and what will happen next.
15
Q
What is evaluated in the PEACE model?
A
There is a reflection on the interviewers’ performance to see if the interview went as planned and learn from any mistakes.
16
Q
What are biological explanations for crime?
A
- Brain injury
- damage to the amygdala
- genetics
- personality
17
Q
How does brain injury explain criminal behavior?
A
- Phineas Gage went from being a family-man to aggressive after a brain injury which affected his PFC.
- Williams (2010) - looked at the link between head injuries and criminal acts and found that injuries affect the ability to control impulses
- Grafman (1996) - veterans with damage to the frontal lobe were more aggressive than those with damage elsewhere
18
Q
How does the amygdala explain criminal behaviour?
A
- Charles Whitman - after a mass murder, scientists found a cancerous tumour in the limbic system which impacted the amygdala, thalamus and hypothalamus
- Raine (1997) - looked at which brain areas where dysfunctioning in offenders, found lower levels of activity in the PFC and corpus callosum, the hippocampus and thalamus that have abnormalities could result in criminals being unable to modify their behaviour.
- Yang (2009) - people with psychopathy had lower volume on amygdala
19
Q
What is XYY Syndrome?
A
A genetic condition linked to aggression, characterized by taller stature and behavioral and emotional difficulties and low intelligence. (Jacobs - XYY in prison). (Theilgaard)
20
Q
What does the PEN personality model suggest?
A
Extraversion - sociable, introversion - reserved, neuroticism - anxiety, stability - calm, psychoticism - aggressive.
Individuals with a PEN personality can have predetermined behaviour and therefore are more prone to committing crimes.
21
Q
What are some social explanation of crime?
A
- social learning theory
- labelling theory
- self-fufilling prophecy
22
Q
What is social learning theory in relation to crime?
A
People exposed to criminal role models observe, learn, and imitate criminal behavior.
23
Q
What did Williams (1986) find about TV and aggression?
A
The introduction of TV increased children’s aggressive behaviors as rated by teachers and peers.
24
Q
What did Johnson (2002) find about TV and aggression?
A
- Johnson (2002) - there is a positive correlation between the amounts of TV children watched and increased aggressive behaviour, those who watched the most TV committed the highest number of violent acts
25
What is labelling theory?
A process where a label given by powerful agencies influences a person's behavior and self-concept.
26
Describe labelling thoery as an explanation of Crime?
1)Label is given by powerful agencies of social control (parents, teachers, police or even peers)
2)The labelled person is treated according to the label
3)The label becomes the master status where it overrides the other forms of status a person has
4)Self-concept changes as the person accepts the label. How we see ourselves often relies on how others see us and behave towards us, this can influence a person's behaviour
Lieberman (2014) - juveniles who had been previously arrested were more likely to commit other crimes
27
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
Expectations about a person elicit behaviors that confirm those expectations (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).
28
Describe labelling thoery as an explanation of Crime?
The process by which one person's expectations about another person become reality by eliciting behaviours that confirm the expectations
Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968) - Teachers expected pupils with higher IQs to do better in tests so, they gave them extra
attention or additional feedback, teacher expectation affects student performance.
29
What factors affect the reliability of eyewitness testimony?
Reconstructive memory, post-event information, arousal, and anxiety.
30
What was the aim of Loftus & Palmer Study 1?
To see how information provided after an event, in the form of leading questions, might affect people's memories.
31
What was the procedure of Loftus & Palmer Study 1?
Participants were shown a video of car crashes and asked about the speed using different verbs.
asked: 'how fast were the cars going when they ____ into each other?' - smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted.
32
What were the results of Loftus & Palmer Study 1?
Mean speed estimates ranged from 31.8 mph lowest verb to 40.8 mph highest verb, based on the verb used.
33
What was concluded from Loftus & Palmer Study 1?
A change of one word in the critical question could significantly affect speed estimates in participants.
34
What was the aim of Loftus & Palmer Study 2?
To show that information after an event can distort memories.
35
What was the procedure of Loftus & Palmer Study 2?
Similar to Study 1 but asked if participants saw any broken glass.
36
What were the results of Loftus & Palmer Study 2?
Participants had a higher estimate for speed than in Study 1.
37
What was concluded from Loftus & Palmer Study 2?
Memory is reconstructed by post-event information.
38
factors affecting reliability of eyewitness testimony - arousal & anxiety
An increase in arousal improves performance on any task, but once arousal passes a critical level, performance tends to decline.
39
factors affecting reliability of eyewitness testimony - catastrophe theory
Feelings of anxiety can become so intense that a sudden catastrophic drop in cognitive performance occurs, leading to a dramatic drop in memory performance. Valentine & Mesout
40
What is weapon focus?
The tendency to focus on the weapon present during a crime and ignore other factors.
41
What did Loftus & Messo (1987) find regarding weapon focus?
Loftus & Messo (1987) - recorded students eye movements when watching a customer taking out a gun or a cheque, they found that the gun arouses more anxiety and therefore we pay more attention to it.
42
What did Pickel (1998) find regarding weapon focus?
Pickel (1998) - weapon focus occurs because the presence of a weapon is unusual in everyday situations and that it is this unusualness of a weapon that makes us focus on it during a crime.
43
What is the aim of Valentine & Mesout study 1?
To validate the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
44
What was the procedure of Valentine & Mesout study 1?
Participants' heart rates were monitored while going through the London Dungeons.
45
What were the results of Valentine & Mesout study 1?
The mean heart rate was significantly higher in the Labyrinth compared to the baseline.
46
What conclusion was drawn from Valentine & Mesout study 1?
The Labyrinth was successful in inducing physiological arousal.
47
What was the procedure of Valentine & Mesout study 2?
Participants completed a questionnaire about what they recalled of the scary person.
48
What were the results of Valentine & Mesout study 2?
Participants who reported lower anxiety levels could describe the scary person better.
49
What conclusion was drawn from Valentine & Mesout study 2?
Supports the catastrophe theory.
50
What factors influence jury decision making?
Gender, attractiveness, race, accent, pre-trial publicity.
51
How does gender influence jury decision making?
* Guy & Edens - male defendants labelled as 'psychopaths' were more likely to be found guilty than female defendants also labelled as psychotic.
* Cruise & Leigh - in a mock jury when the jury were told that a man stabbed a woman, 43% of jurors found him guilty. When the other group of jurors were told the woman stabbed the man, 69% of the jurors found her guilty.
52
What did Castellow find regarding attractiveness in jury decisions?
in a mock trial, participants were asked to read a sexual harassment case and were asked if the defendant was guilty of sexual assault based on the attractiveness of the victim and the defendant. The guilty verdict was highest when the defendant was unattractive, or the victim was attractive. Attractiveness matters when juries look at sexual harassment cases.
53
What did Sigall & Osgrove find regarding attractiveness in jury decisions?
Sigall & Osgrove - participants were shown photos of defendants who were attractive/ unattractive, in the attractive condition they were given shorter sentences for burglary but longer for fraud. Sentences seem to be related to attractiveness although the nature of the crime is also important.
54
What did Abwender & Hough find regarding attractiveness in jury decisions?
Abwender & Hough - females are more lenient towards attractive women whereas men were the opposite.
55
How does race influence jury decision making?
* Stalhly & Walker - jurors may have empathy towards defendants they see as similar to them.
* Pfiefer & Ogloff - white university students were more likely to say that a black defendant was guilty than a white defendant for the same crime
* Skolnick & Shaw - both the race of the defendant and the juror are important in deciding a guilty verdict. The black defendant always received fewer guilty verdicts despite the race of the juror.
* Bradbury & Williams - Black defendants were less likely to be convicted by black jurors and more likely to be convicted by Hispanic jurors.
56
How does accent influence jury decision making?
* Seggie - found that the Australian accent was perceived as guilty significantly more than the non- Australian accent.
* Mahoney & Dixon - a Birmingham accent was perceived as guilty significantly more than the non- Birmingham accent. A black person with a Birmingham accent was perceived as the most guilty of all.
57
What is the impact of pre-trial publicity on jury decisions?
Jurors can be aware of a case before they are elected to be on the jury. This means they may already have formed an opinion of the crime through seeing factual and emotional information. Case study of OJ Simpson -it was the most publicised criminal trial in American history. Fein (1997) found that jurors were more likely to say guilty if they had access to pre-trail publicity.
58
What is the halo effect?
A bias where the perception of a person is influenced by a particular trait or characteristic, leading to a positive impression.
59
What is the key criminological question regarding eyewitness testimony?
Based on theories of memory is eyewitness testimony too unreliable to trust?
60
What does the cognitive explanation suggest about eyewitness memory?
MSM – if someone witnesses a crime, they may not pay attention to all the details, so they won’t be able to remember everything. People may avoid or be unable to rehearse the event as it was traumatic so the memory will decay.
Reconstructive memory (Bartlett) – information is stored in a way that makes sense to them which can be influenced by schemas. When the event is recalled, they may fill gaps in their memory with schemas. Post-event information like leading questions can result in inaccurate memory. See research from Loftus & Palmer
Tulving LTM – episodic memory is susceptible to transformation
61
key question - criminological explanation
Weapon focus – if a weapon is present at the crime, the witness is likely to shift their focus to the unusual object and ignore other factors. See research from Pickel and Loftus & Messo
Pre-trial factors – information witnesses have received before the trial can influence their memory. See research from the case study of OJ Simpson
Catastrophe theory – feelings of anxiety become so intense that a sudden catastrophic drop off in cognitive performance occurs which causes a dramatic drop in memory performance. See research by Valentine & Messout
62
What does the Innocence Project highlight about eyewitness misidentification?
It contributes to a majority of wrongful convictions that have been overturned by post-conviction DNA testing.
63
What was the aim of the practical investigation?
To investigate the effect of memory on eyewitness recall when participants had a time delay in reporting an incident.
64
What was the procedure of the practical investigation?
Participants watched a video about an incident and completed a questionnaire about it. This included 10 fixed response questions. 2 weeks later the participants were asked to complete the same questionnaire again.
65
What are the strengths of the practical investigation?
High internal validity due to quantitative data and high reliability from standardised procedures such as the questionnaire completed was the same for all participants.
66
What are the weaknesses of the practical investigation?
Generalizability is low due to a small unrepresentative sample, and ecological validity is low due to the dramatic nature of the video.
67
What improvements could be made to the practical investigation?
Use stratified sampling for representation and conduct a field experiment for greater mundane realism.
68
What are the components of case formulations?
Offence analysis, understanding the function of offending, and application to treatment.
69
What is the aim of anger management?
To help offenders control their anger through cognitive preparation, skill acquisition, and application practice.
70
What were the results of the Ireland study on anger management?
Significant reduction in angry behaviors and lower self-reports of anger.
71
What is the aim of hormone treatment in criminology?
To decrease the functioning of testosterone and reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
72
What were the results of the Maletzky study on MPA?
Offenders who received MPA committed fewer new offences and no sexual offences.
73
What is psychoticism linked to?
Lacks empathy and is linked to testosterone.
74
What characterizes extraversion?
Being outgoing and related to cortical arousal in the ARAS.
75
What defines neuroticism?
Emotional instability with greater activation levels and lower thresholds in the limbic system.
