Week 4 : Psychological Perspectives Flashcards
1
Q
Psychological approaches beginning…
A
- Oldest known explanation of deviant behaviour is demonic possession
- ‘evil’ = social construct, relative + evolutive
2
Q
Questions asked by criminologists
A
- What motivates people to kill or maim – or even to commit other, less serious, offences?
- How can many killers seem “so normal” before their crimes, giving no hints of the atrocities they are about to commit?
- Can we identify features of someone’s personality that lead to crime commission?
- If so, can we stop these behaviours?
3
Q
Psychological explanations (2)
A
Divided into 2 major theoretical categories…
(1) Intrapyschic factors (internal psychological)
(2) Learning factors
4
Q
Essential contributors
A
- Henry Maudsley = Believed criminals were ‘morally degenerate’ (lacking in moral development)
- Isaac Ray = wrote on ‘moral insanity’ as a ‘disease never established by a single diagnostic symptom’
- Gustav Aschaffenburg = argued that we are influenced less by heredity than by our social environment + contributed to the idea that criminal behavior is not pathological but a form of socially maladaptive behavior
5
Q
Freud’s Intrapsychic approach
A
- Psychodynamic theory = criminal behavior results from internal conflicts and tensions that emerge in early childhood because of developmental problems and/or problematic interactions with parents or guardians
6
Q
Freud 3 levels of consciousness
A
- Id (subconscious) = In us from birth, most basic biological urges (food, sex, survival) + demands immediate gratification
- Ego (conscious) = Products of learning + experiences, ‘I’ reality principle, adaptive outgrowth of the id, control mechanism that keeps behavior within the boundaries of social convention
- Superego (preconscious) = ages 3-5, moral values, indicator of our socialization process
These are usually in conflict to some degree which can lead to repressed desires/unpleasant memories which can lead to personality disorders
7
Q
Freud defence mechanisms
A
Victims of conflict are likely to resort to one of the 6 defence mechanisms…
1. Repression = ego, keep disturbing thoughts down
2. Denial = block from awareness
3. Projection = ppl attributing own bad thoughts to someone else
4. Displacement = satisfying impulse w sub object
5. Regression = movement backward in psychological time from stress
6. Sublimation = satisfying impulse w socially acceptable sub
8
Q
Frustration aggression theory (learning)
A
- Cognitive perspective, criminal behaviour is the result of faulty or irrational thinking
- Antisocial behavior is often attributed to aggression resulting from frustration
- John Dollard 5 elements…
1. Aggression is always a consequence of frustration (hostile + instrumental)
2. risk of aggression escalates with the degree of outside interference, the frequency of frustrating experiences, and the intensity of the event that instigated the frustration
3. greater the perceived risk of punishment for an aggressive act, the greater the likelihood that the act will not be committed
4. if directing aggression towards the actual source of frustration could result in additional harm, then it is likely to be redirected
5. once frustration has been vented, there is a temporary reduction in the desire to act out aggressively (catharsis)
This is a viable explanation for most criminal acts, and it was the primary theoretical perspective to justify the use of treatment focused on rehabilitation
9
Q
Moral development explanations
A
- Learning-based and process-oriented theories of crime
- Central theme of these theories is their focus on the individual’s development and on developmental stages of a sense of morality and responsibility
- Moral development theory… The theory that morality develops in stages
- First comprehensive maps of human psychological development… Created Jean Piaget
10
Q
Piagets stages of moral development
A
- sensorimotor (0-2) = learning to respond to the environment, developing motor skills, self-focused mental awareness
- pre-operational (2-7) = learning language, drawing, abstract thought still difficult
- concrete operational (7-11) = developing logical thinking + problem solving
- Formal operational (11-15) = learning to deal w abstract ideas + to process theoretical + hypothetical situations, showing signs of moral reasoning + be able to understand higher order reasoning
11
Q
Moral development + criminality (Kohlberg)
A
- Kohlberg applied the concept of moral development to criminality.
- Individuals pass through a common series of stages in which they develop their moral reasoning skills.
- As we progress through the stages, we learn to make decisions about right or wrong and determine the ethically/morally acceptable course of action based on circumstances….
1. Pre-conventional level (0-10) = right is obedience to power + avoidance of punishment + taking responsibility
2. Conventional (teen-20s) = right is being considerate + upholding values of other ppl in society + being good w values of society at large
3. Post-conventional (20+) = right finding inner universal rights, higher order of applying principles to all humankind and being nonjudgemental + respecting all human life
12
Q
Limitations of kohlbergs theory…
A
- does not clarify whether a lower level of moral reasoning predisposes an individual to offend or whether someone who has already offended might be predisposed to avoid further development of their moral reasoning
- doesn’t address possible reasons for delayed or incomplete moral development
- it’s biased in favor of males - there’s a difficulty of quantifying moral development
13
Q
Classical conditioning
A
- Pavlov = a conditioned response can be induced by the condition stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus
4 kinds…
1. simultaneous conditioning = the condition stimulus CS and the unconditioned stimulus UCS occurs together
2. Delayed conditioning = the CS precedes the onset of the UCS and may continue after the commencement of the UCS
3. trace conditioning = the CSS is terminated before the onset of the UCS (there is a delay between the two stimuli)
4. Backward conditioning = the UCS precedes the CSS
Here avoidance learning therapy / aversion theory is used (fear of punishment = extinction)
14
Q
Operant learning
A
- Skinner = believed that human behavior is not the product of free will rather, it is situational, determined only by stimuli to which we simply react
- Reinforcement… token economy, negative reinforcement
- ratio vs interval schedules
- advantages = no dwell on experiences, doesn’t require trained therapists
- disadvantages = not always inmate rights, doesn’t rly integrate into the real world
15
Q
Psychopathy
A
- A personality disorder characterized by a law of empathy + remorse, an inability to learn from experience, low arousal levels + antisocial behaviour (chronic criminal offenders)
- 2 types… charasmatic psychopath + distempered psychopath
- Robert Hare… psychopathy = A mental disorder, especially when manifested as antisocial behaviour… Hare’s psychopathy checklist
- Scores… 30+ psychopathy, 5 normal ppl, 22 non psychopathic criminals
