Unit 2 AC2.2

Question 1

What are the four Individualistic theories?

Answer 1

Psychodynamic, psychological, learning & cognitive

Question 2

What are Psychodynamic theories?

Answer 2

They see our personality as containing active forces that cause us to act the way we do.
Psychoanalytic theories see anti-social behaviour caused by abnormal relationships with parents during early socialisation.

Question 3

What is Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalyse theory?

Answer 3

Key idea: Early childhood experiences determine personality and behaviour. Freud identified 3 elements of the human personality: the ID, Ego and Superego.

Question 4

What is the ID? (Freud)

Answer 4

• Found in the unconscious mind
• Instinctive part of mind
• Governed by pleasure principle - desire to satisfy urges

Question 5

What is the Superego? (Freud)

Answer 5

• Contains conscience of moral rules
• Learnt through interactions with parents during early socialisation
• Develops idea of right and wrong

Question 6

What is the Ego? (Freud)

Answer 6

• Role is to balance ID and Superego
• Reality principle
• Learns from experience in real world
• Ego works to satisfy ID’s desires in a morally acceptable way

Question 7

How does Freud’s theory link to crime?

Answer 7

• Weakly developed superego: individuals will feel less guilt about anti-social actions. Acts on the ID’s selfish and aggressive urges.
• Harsh and unforgiving superego: creates extreme guilt, craves punishment as a release from feelings, may be involved in repeat offending
• A deviant superego: Child is successfully socialised but into deviant morals (child has a good relationship with criminal father and as a result superego will not feel guilt).

Question 8

What is Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Theory

Answer 8

He sees maternal deprivation as a cause of criminality. A child needs a close relationship with its mother from birth to age 5 in order for normal development. If that relationship is broken the child could be unable to form meaningful emotional relationships.

Question 9

What is affectionless psychopathy? (Bowlby)

Answer 9

An inability to show affection/concern to others.

Question 10

How does Bowlby’s theory link to crime?

Answer 10

He believed that disruption of this primary relationships could lead to a higher incidence of juvenile delinquency, emotional difficulties and antisocial behaviour.

Question 11

44 Thieves study (Bowlby)

Answer 11

• 1944
• Study of 44 juvenile thieves who had been referred to a child guidance clinic
• Found that 39% of them had suffered maternal deprivation before the age of 5
• Compared with only 5% of a control group of non-delinquents (also 44)

Question 12

What is Eysenck’s Personality theory?

Answer 12

Eysenck sees criminality as the result of extraverted-neurotic personality. Extraverts seek stimulation, leading to rule breaking, while neurotics’ anxiety prevents them learning from punishment.

Question 13

What were Eysenck’s conclusions?

Answer 13

Conditioning and genetic inheritance.
- Conditioning: some psychologists argue that through experience, we learn to seek pleasure and avoid plan
- Genetic inheritance: E argues that we learn from others but we also inherit a nervous system which causes us to develop criminal personality.

Question 14

How does genetic inheritance cause criminality? (Bowlby)

Answer 14

Extraverts: have a nervous system that needs a high level of stimulation from the environment so they are constantly seeking excitement. Leads to impulsive rule-breaking behaviour.
Neurotics: Harder to condition into following society’s rules due to high anxiety preventing them from learning from punishment

Question 15

What is psychoticism (Bowlby)?

Answer 15

People with a high P score are more likely to engage in criminality. Tend to be solitary misfits who are cruel, insensitive, aggressive and lacking in empathy.

Question 16

What are learning theories?

Answer 16

• Criminal behaviour is learned behaviour
• Influence our immediate social environment
• Key role of reinforcement and punishment in the learning process

Question 17

What is Sutherland’s differential association theory?

Answer 17

We learn criminal behaviour through socialisation in social groups where the attitudes and values we are exposed to in these groups favour law-breaking.
- Imitation: individuals acquire criminal skills and techniques by observing others around them
- Learned attitudes: socialisation within the group exposes individuals to attitudes and values about the law

Question 18

How does Sutherland’s theory relate to white collar crime?

Answer 18

Sutherland found that group attitudes in the workplace often normalised criminal behaviour by claiming everyone was doing it. This made it easier for individual members to justify behaviour.

Question 19

What is the Operant Learning theory (Skinner)?

Answer 19

The idea that if a particular behaviour results in a reward it is likely to be repeated. On the other hand, behaviour that is punished is unlikely to be repeated. (Behaviourism)

Question 20

What is the differential reinforcement theory?

Answer 20

Skinner argued that all behaviour is a result of reinforcement and punishment. This must explain criminal behaviour. Tested this theory using rats.

Question 21

How does the Operant Learning theory link to criminal behaviour?

Answer 21

Criminal behaviour is learned through the reinforcement of particular behaviours. If a crime has rewarding consequences, people are more likely to engage in the behaviour.

Question 22

What is the Social Learning theory?

Answer 22

Bandura argues that we learn behaviour through observation and imitation of others. If we see a model being rewarded for acting in a deviant way, we don’t need to experience the reward ourselves in order to copy it.

Question 23

What were Bandura’s experiments?

Answer 23

• Divided 4/5 yr olds in three groups
• Shown a film of an adult model being verbally and physically aggressive towards an inflatable doll
• Group 1: saw the version where the model was rewarded and so imitated the aggressive behaviours
• Group 2: saw the version where the model was punished and so were the least likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour
• Group 3: a control group, neither rewarded or punished however they also imitated the model, slightly less so than G1

Question 24

How does the Social Learning theory link to criminal behaviour?

Answer 24

If an individual observes a model (e.g. a peer) getting rewarded for their criminality, the theory predicts that the behaviour is more likely to be imitated.

Question 25

What are Cognitive theories?

Answer 25

Refer to thinking and mental processes such as attitudes, beliefs, reasoning, decision-making and how we interpret the world. The theories argue that mental processes shape behaviour.

Question 26

What is the Criminal Personality theory?

Answer 26

Yochelson and Samenow argued that criminal behaviour is the result of errors and biases in criminals’ thinking patterns. Based on a long-term study of 240 male offenders, most were in a psychiatric hospital.

Question 27

What ‘thinking errors’ do criminals show?

Answer 27

1. Closed channel thinking (listens to themselves)
2. Victim stance (views self as victim)
3. Uniqueness (unique to others)
4. Fear of fear (refusal to admit irrational fears)

Question 28

What is Kolhberg’s moral development theory?

Answer 28

Argues that our idea of right and wrong develops through a series of levels and stages from childhood and adulthood.
At the ‘preconventional’ or pre-moral level, young children define right and wrong simply in terms of rewards and punishments.

Question 29

How does Kolhberg’s moral development theory link to criminal behaviour?

Answer 29

Criminals’ moral development is stuck at a less mature level than others. They think in regard to rewards and punishments of actions rather than how it affects others. Making them more likely to offend.