Unit 2 Exam Flashcards
What did Lombroso say about criminals being ‘throwbacks’ ?
He argued that criminals were ‘throwbacks’ in time and their atavistic (primitive features) were biological characteristics from and earlier stage of human development manifesting and a tendency to commit crime
What did Lombroso suggest about the stigmata of a criminal, show ?
Lombroso suggested that stigmata of an individual could indicate their biological inferiority
What does atavistic mean ?
Physical Characteristics
How did Lombroso discover the “distinguishing features of criminality” ?
He compared male Italian prisoners to soldiers in a study where he found a number of ‘physical defects’ he thought to be the distinguishing features of criminality
Give three distinguishing features of criminality
A Large Jaw, Hard Shifty Eyes, Fleshy lips, An Insensitivity to Pain, Long Arms
Lombroso used autopsies as evidence to his idea that criminals were ‘throwbacks’ to forms of early man. What did he find ?
He found indentations within the back of his subjects skulls, which resembled those of apes (allowing him to conclude that criminals were throwbacks to form of early man)
Name a problem with Lombroso’s theory
He had no ethnic or gender diversity, so it is unknown if the results would be different for females or people who were not Italian
What did Sheldon argue that criminality was linked to ?
Body types and their partner Personalities
How many Somatotypes did Sheldon suggests there were, and what are they ?
Three. Mesomorph, Ectomorph, Endomorph
What did Sheldon say a Mesomorph was ?
Muscular and Hard, Aggressive and Adventurous
What did Sheldon say an Ectomorph was ?
Thin and Fragile, introverted and restrained
What did Sheldon say an Endomorph was ?
Fat and Soft, sociable and Relaxed
What did Sheldon find about about Mesomorphs, Ectomorphs and Criminality ?
Sheldon found that Mesomorphs were most likely to be criminal and Ectomorphs to be the least
What study did Sheldon use to also find a relationship between Endomorph and Delinquency ?
His study on 400 boys in a residential rehabilitation home for 8 years, where he monitored their growth and made extensive notes on their family background and criminal history
The Gluecks extensively studied Sheldon’s topology. How did they support his findings ?
They did a study of their own and found that 60% of the delinquent population were Mesomorphs, and 30% were Endomorphs
What do Learning Theories focus on?
The role of rewards, punishments and role models
Who introduced the idea of Operant Conditioning?
B.F Skinner
What is operant conditioning?
The idea that the consequences of a behaviour can change the way someone acts, can influence the way others act, or can cause people to reoffend
What is positive reinforcement?
A form of operant conditioning. It involves receiving something good for an action, encouraging the behaviour to be repeated
What is negative reinforcement?
A form of operant conditioning. It involves a response/behaviour that occurs by having a negative outcome or unpleasant event occur due to your action
What is punishment?
Another form of operant conditioning. It involves a negative event following an action which makes you less likely to repeat
What does social learning theory suggest?
That people turn to crime because they have learnt to be criminal by observing or imitating role models
Social learning theorists believe people turn to crime due to two main things… what is Direct Reinforcement?
The act of being rewarded for committing crimes
Social learning theorists believe people turn to crime due to two main things… what is Indirect Reinforcement?
The act of seeing others being rewarded for crime
How did Albert Bandura try to test the ideas put forward by social learning theory?
He conducted the Bobo Doll Study
What did Bandura do in his Bobo Doll study?
36 boys and 36 girls aged 3-6. Split into groups. 24 were exposed to an aggressive model and 24 were exposed to a passive model. They were then split again so that half the children would be exposed to a same sex role model. The child would be put in a room and made to watch the model play with the Bobo doll, and depending on the role model it would play aggressively. The child would later be placed in an ‘experimental room’ where they could play for 20 minutes with toys and the Bobo doll themself
What did the results of the Bobo doll study show?
Children who were exposed to violent behaviour played violently, children who were exposed to gentle behaviour played gently– the experiment demonstrated that children are able to learn through social behaviour such as aggression (observation and imitation), supporting Bandura’s theory
What did Bandura find concerning gender ?
The children were more influenced by role models of the same gender
Bandura later retested the experiment and showed the importance of vicarious reinforcement. What did he find?
He found that children who saw someone being rewarded for playing aggressively would be more likely to imitate the behaviour than those who saw someone being punished
How can social learning theory explain why people commit crime?
Criminals are conditioned to believe violent behaviour is normal and therefore if children see violent behaviour happening around them, then they may do the same because they believe its normal
Give 3 strengths of Bandura’s social learning theory
- Bandura repeated the experiment years later and the results were replicated– making it more reliable
- The experiment and its variables such as gender, actions etc…were controlled, improving the accuracy
- Not deterministic as it suggests people can change
Give 3 weaknesses of Bandura’s social learning theory
- Unethical to use children in this way
- Not all observed behaviour is easily imitated
- Took place in a lab (artificial settings), therefore the findings may not be valid for real-life situations
What polices have been informed by learning theories ?
Token Economy
How did Operant Conditioning inform policy development?
It allowed for the creation of the Token Economy System within Prisons
What is Token Economy also known as?
The Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme
What is Token Economy?
A behaviour modification policy that focuses on the Positive Reinforcement of Prisoners with Tokens for admired behaviour
What can tokens be exchanged for?
Luxuries