Unit 2: AC3.2 Evaluate theories

Question 1

Learning theories - Bandura, 3 strengths of this

Answer 1

• The bobo doll experiment showed the model did have an effect on the child’s behaviour, therefore cause and effect was established
• The experiment and variables eg gender and actions of the model were controlled, and thus allowed greater accuracy
• The study has been replicated with slight changes and similar results were found

Question 2

Learning theories - Bandura, 3 weaknesses of this

Answer 2

• The bobo doll is in a laboratory setting - therefore low ecological validity, a very limited social situation. Modelling, however takes place within the family where children are familiar with their rolemodels.
• The experiment involved ethical issues due to exposing the children to aggression with the understanding that they would imitate it, therefore issues concerning protecting the child from psychological and physical harm.
• The children had never played with the doll before the experiment, so they were more likely to follow the adult. Cumberbatch (1997) found that children who had not played with a bobo doll before were 5x more likely to imitate the model who is familiar with the doll,

Question 3

Freud’s psychodynamic theory - 3 strengths

Answer 3

• Just because the theories are odd, does not mean they are wrong.
• Psychodynamic theories have contributed to research about crime and behaviour. In particular, the focus on childhood experiences and the importance of them on future behaviour should not be underestimated
• The id, ego and superego relate to all different parts of the brain and their functions and development. The limbic system is the brain’s emotion centre, rather like the id, ad the prefrontal cortex is responsible for rational decision making, just like the ego.

Question 4

Freud’s psychodynamic theory - 3 limitations

Answer 4

• Psychodynamic theories of offending are no longer accredited by psychologists due to the difficulty of testing concepts eg the unconscious mind.
• These theories are very unscientific and lack objective interpretation. It is a very subjective process where different analysts may draw different conclusions.
• There is a lack of quantitative data from Freud’s case studies. He knew his patients and therefore could not be objective. He also psychoanalysed himself, studying his own dreams and childhood memories.

Question 5

Eysenck’s personality theory - 3 strengths

Answer 5

• Eysenck’s research on soldiers in hospital supported this theory. he predicted the most traumatised soldiers would cause high or neurotic.
• If this theory is correct and tendencies towards criminal behaviour are detectable in childhood, then it may be possible to intervene at an early stage and prevent such development. This could lead to interventions based on parenting or early treatment and thus prevent crime.
• His personality testing has formed the basis of many modern personality tests that try to predict people’s behaviour in different situations, eg psychometric tests. DeYoung suggests that there is a link between P, E and N scores and brain processes eg the release of dopamine being linked to extroversion, and high levels of testosterone linked to psychoticism.

Question 6

Eysenck’s personality theory - 3 limitations of this

Answer 6

• The theory suggests that personality is genetic and fails to consider that it may change over time.
• Research in this specific areas relies on self-report measure about a person’s perspective of their personality, this can result in biased or deliberately false answers.
• Lack of reliability : people may not respond exactly the same to the same questions every day or every time. Alternatively, they may provide an answer that they believe the researcher expects or desires.

Question 7

Lombroso - 3 strengths of this.

Answer 7

• Lombroso was the first person to give criminology a scientific credibility.
• A lot of supporting evidence, for example Bath Spa University suggests that less attractive individuals are more likely to be considered guilty of a crime.
• Lombroso labelled prisons ‘criminal universities’ and suggested prisoners came out much worse than when they went in. Given todays recidivism rate, this is very perceptive.

Question 8

Lombroso - 3 limitations

Answer 8

• Lack of a control group, no comparison can be made
• Not everyone with atavistic features is a criminal, and not all criminals have these features.
• Scientific racism - DeLisi indicated that many of the atavistic features defined are specific to people of African descent.

Question 9

Sheldon - 3 strengths

Answer 9

• A good sized sample was used (200) and importantly, he had a control condition of non-offenders (students) to compare results with
• Although the issue of reliability, Glueck and Glueck found in their research that in a sample of delinquents, 60% were mesomorphs, whereas in a non-delinquent sample, there were only 31%.
• Did find that criminal groups were more mesomorphic.

Question 10

Sheldon - 3 limitations

Answer 10

• He couldn’t really explain how ectomorphs and endomorphs can also be criminals.
• Does not take into account that people’s somatotype is not fixed, people’s bodies change throughout their lives.
• If a mesomorph’s shape is considered criminal, do courts think this too? The judicial system may treat them more harshly, increasing the likelihood that they will officially be labelled as criminal.

Question 11

Jacobs XYY theory - 2 strengths

Answer 11

• One study by Jacob et al. found that a significant number of men in prison had XYY sex chromosomes, instead of the normal XY.
• Adler et al indicated that it is possible that aggressive and violent behaviour is at least partly determined by genetic fators.

Question 12

Jacobs XYY theory -3 limitations

Answer 12

• Focusing too heavily on genetics ignores the behaviourist approach
• Theilgaard researched the traits of XYY men compared to XY men. He found the characteristic of aggression was not associated with the XYY men.
• Studies have found that genetic abnormalities are widespread throughout the general population and therefore do not explain aggression.

Question 13

Twin studies - 3 strengths

Answer 13

• Such studies are natural experiments, as the biological relationships between the twins is a naturally occurring variable
• Christainsen supports the view that criminality does have a genetic component.
• The results of twin studies have helped in prevention of vulnerable disorders

Question 14

Twin studies - 3 limitations

Answer 14

• The small sample in twin studies may not be representative of the general population
• If twins are brought up in the same environment, criminality could just as easily be related to nurture as to genetics.
• Early twins studies were inadequately controlled and lacked validity as to whether the twins were DZ or MZ, which was based on appearance not DNA.

Question 15

Marxism - 3 strengths

Answer 15

• Highlights the impact of selective law enforcement and how white-collar crime is under-policed
• Demonstrates how the law reflects differences in power between the social classes. Also, how inequality in society can lead t criminal behaviour.
• Does provide a explanation for crime that covers all social classes and a variety of offences.

Question 16

Marxism - 3 limitations

Answer 16

• Largely ignores other non-class inequalities, eg gender or ethnicity,
• Overstates the amount of crime in working-class communities. For instance, not all working-class people commit crime. In addition, not all capitalist societies have high crime rates (consider Japan and Switzerland)
• There are many prosecutions for white-collar or corporate crime.

Question 17

Labelling theory (interactionism) - 3 strengths

Answer 17

• Shows how law is often enforced in a discriminatory way. It highlights the consequences of labelling.
• Highlights weaknesses in official statistics which allow bias in law enforcement.
• Highlights the role of media in defining and creating deviance and for producing moral panics.

Question 18

Labelling theory (interactionism) - 3 limitations

Answer 18

• Fails to explain why deviant behaviour happens in the first place. There is no acceptance that some people may choose deviance.
• Ignores the victims of crime and focuses on the ‘criminal’. There is a potential to romanticise crime.
• Criminals do not need a label to know they are doing wrong. Plus, labelling does not always lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 19

Right realism - 3 strengths

Answer 19

• Has helped produce and shape the government’s research into crime. For example, it has stimulated a range of victim surveys and practical measures to combat crime.
• Offers a more practical approach to tackling crime than its mainly theoretical predecessors such as marxism or labelling.
• Research by Flood-Page et al supports the view of the decline of the family. They found children, particularly males, from lone-parent backgrounds and step-families were more likely to offend than those who lived with wo natural parents.

Question 20

Right realism - 3 limitations

Answer 20

• Ignores the increasing gap between rich and poor creating resentment(relative deprivation)
• Ignores wider structural causes of crime eg poverty
• Too readily accepts crime stats. For example, it fails to explain white-collar crime. The focus is on young males and street crime.

Question 21

Left realism - 3 strengths

Answer 21

• Explores the role of the victim of crime, especially the poor or vulnerable, in much more depth than any other criminological theory.
• Recognises multiple causes of crime.
• Left realism avoids the worst excesses of both right-and left-wing approaches by neither glorifying nor attacking the police.

Question 22

Left realism - 3 limitations

Answer 22

• Does not explain why everyone in relative deprivation fails to turn to crime.
• Arguably made up of a mixture of other theories pulled together.
• Fails to explain white-collar or corporate crime.