Week 6: Psychological Theories of Crime

Question 1

What are the main psychological/psychiatric theories?

Answer 1

Cognitive Theories including: Moral development, Cognitive Information Processing Theory

Personality Theories including personality disorders and the Five Factor Model

Psychiatric Theories: Mental illness, frustration aggression theories, attachment theories

Behaviour Theories: conditioning and modeling

Criminogenic needs/domains: Risk Factors and Protective factors

Question 2

What are the (5) main assumptions of Psychological theories?

Answer 2

1. The individual is the primary unit of analysis, what matters is internal factors, not necessarily external factors.
2. Personality and mental processes are the source of our motives and drives and should therefore be the primary focus of study
3. Crime is the result of abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes
4. Crime behaviour may address a felt need even if ti breaks social rules and standards.
5. Defective/abnormal mental processes can have many causes: disease, inappropriate learning, inner conflicts, etc.

Question 3

How is inappropriate/abnormal behaviour defined under psychological theories?

Answer 3

Abnormal/inappropriate behaviour is defined as behaviour that is condemned by the social group that the individual belongs to. The larger society creates norms, and community standards as well as definitions of legality and criminality. Essentially normal is defined by social consensus and abnormal is a violation of this agreement.

Question 4

What are the two major ideas which characterize psychological theories?

Answer 4

Personality: the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make a person unique and that tend to remain stable over time. Personality influences our thoughts, behaviours, and emotions.

Behaviorism: a psychological perspective that stresses observable behaviour and disregards unobservable events that occur in the mind.

Question 5

What are cognitive theories?

Answer 5

Cognitive theories are theories which examine thought processes and how people learn to solve problems. Specifically, how people’s mental processes develop around values and morality.

Two primary cognitive theories for criminology are Moral Development Theory and Cognitive information processing theory.

Question 6

What is Moral Development theory?

Answer 6

A cognitive theory which states that moral reasoning develops throughout childhood and into adolescence. This moral reasoning affects our problem solving abilities, values system, and overall morality.

If moral development does not take place in the formative years, it is difficult to develop later.

Question 7

What are Piaget’s 4 stages of intellectual development?

Answer 7

1. Sensory Motor - ego centrism and learning through physical touch
2. Pre-operational - magical thinking, weakened ego centrism, unable to think rationally
3. concrete operational - developing reasoning and logical thinking. No longer egocentric.
4. Formal operational stage - capable of abstract reasoning

Question 8

What is Cognitive Information processing theory?

Answer 8

A cognitive theory which states that how we interpret and process information affects our behaviour. If a “violent” person interprets and processes info with faulty perceptions and assumptions, they are more likely to react aggressively.

e.g. A person bumps into you on the street. An average person might think “oh they must have been distracted and didn’t see where they were going” i.e. interpret it as a harmless accident. However a person with faulty perceptions might interpret it as an intentional insult that threatens their dignity. They feel like they have to react in order to assert their dominance. i.e. it was an intentional act that warrants a reaction (likely an escalated one)

Question 9

What are scripts and which theory do they relate to?

Answer 9

Scripts are related to Cognitive information processing theory.

Scripts affect how we interpret and process the world around us, they are based on our expectations and assumptions. Criminal scripts can lead to the formation of a criminal identity (i.e. the scripts affect our behaviour which affects our identity.)

From a rehabilitative lens, these scripts are what need to be addressed in order to change a person’s behaviour. For example, if a person has a script that tells them the world is out to get them, they are always going to respond defensively and aggressively. In order to change their defensive and aggressive behaviour, we need to change the script.

Question 10

How does mental illness relate to crime?

Answer 10

Although a significant emphasis must be put on the fact that mental illness is not synonymous with criminality, certain mental states can cause criminal or anti-social behaviour in a person who would not behave in such a way if they had the proper treatment. For example, psychosis and mania (from psychological disorders like Bi-polar or schizophrenia) can potentially lead to criminal behaviour.

Question 11

What is the difference between mental disorders and mental illness?

Answer 11

THERE ISN’T ONE…. but the prof seems to think that illnesses are treatable and not related to criminality while disorders are less treatable and associated with criminality. Again, cannot emphasize enough how FALSE this is but she was very specific on this point, no matter how wrong she is.

Question 12

What is the overall concept of behavioural conditioning theory and how does it relate to criminology?

Answer 12

Behavioural Conditioning theory comes from Pavlov and his conditioning of dogs with bells. The main idea is that behaviour can be shaped by rewards and punishments because people prefer pleasure to and avoid pain. Undesirable behaviour can be reduced with punishment and desirable behaviour can be encouraged with rewards.

Conditioning theory suggests that people behave criminally because they have been conditioned into the behaviour some how.

Question 13

Who is Tarde and what are his main contributions?

Answer 13

Tarde was an early criminologist who rejected Lombroso’s biological theories.

He suggested that people pattern their behaivour after the beahviour of the people around them, especially people who they had close intimate contact with (e.g. parents, friends etc.)

Tarde was the beginning of social learning theories in criminology.

Question 14

What is Bandura’s social learning theory?

Answer 14

Bandura’s social learning theory suggests that our behaviour is shaped by role models who allow us to observe, imitate, and model our behaviour after. We learn from others what behaviour is rewarded and has desirable outcomes and what behaviour is punished and has undesirable outcomes.

Question 15

How did Bandura explain aggression?

Answer 15

According to Bandura, our life experiences teach us about aggression. Watching other people be aggressive normalizes aggression.

Likewise, aggression can also be used as tool (e.g. it can be a protective response that produces a reward - i.e. if you behave aggressively to keep people away, it is rewarded in that people will often avoid you if you are aggressive.)

Question 16

What is Frustration-aggression theory?

Answer 16

Frustration-aggression is a maladaptive response. When their goals are frustrated or limitations are imposed, the person becomes aggressive.

Question 17

What is the law of diminishing returns in relation to aggression?

Answer 17

The law of diminishing returns is a response to the idea that vicarious aggression can be a cathartic alternative to aggressive criminal behaviour. the Law of diminishing returns suggests this won’t work because vicarious aggression will need to escalate over time in order to produce the same effect.

Question 18

What are criminogenic needs?

Answer 18

Criminogenic needs comes from the work of Bonta and Andrew. It is the idea that we have risk factors that increase a persons likelihood of engaging in criminal behaviour and protective factors that decrease a person’s risk.

Question 19

What are the 8 major risk factors linked with criminality. Which are the top 4?

Answer 19

The top 4 risk factors are:
1. Having a previous criminal history
2. Anti-social attitudes
3. Criminal associates
4. Anti-social personality.

Other risk factors include:
1. Low social achievement relating to education and vocation
2. Family factors (criminal families, marital conflict, poor parenting skills)
3. Substance abuse
4. Lack of prosocial pursuits and productive activity.

Question 20

What are rehabilitative approaches based on Bonta and Andrew’s work?

Answer 20

• Community organizations which target risk factors
• Cognitive skill development to tackle anti-social attitudes
• Drug treatment
• integration programs after incarceration
• Education and employment programs.

Question 21

What are the 4 components of moral reasoning?

Answer 21

1. Moral sensitivity - the ability to see an ethical dilemma
2. Moral judgment - the ability to reason correctly about what “ought” to be done
3. Moral Motivation - a commitment to do the right thing
4. Moral character - persistence in the face of fatigue or temptations

Question 22

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Answer 22

Emotional intelligence can be a protective factor against immoral behaviour. It is the ability to monitor and manage a person’s emotions, combine empathy and intelligence to interpret the emotions of other individuals and groups, the the ability to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.

Question 23

What are the key differences Piaget noticed in moral reasoning between early and middle childhood?

Answer 23

Early Childhood:
- Retributive Justice - doing something bad leads to punishment. Children require someone else to make the rules and they understand that if you don’t obey the rules, you will get in trouble. They only think something is bad if they get caught.
- Until age 6/7, children can’t understand intent (someone’s motives do not affect the severity of their actions, it doesn’t matter if it was on purpose or by accident)
- Judge how bad something is based on how extreme other people’s reaction is to it.
- They see punishment as a way of restoring harmony after a wrong doing.

Middle Childhood:
- Able to tell the difference between accidents and malicious intent.
- tend to have an “eye for eye” understanding of morality and justice
- Tend to favour reciprocal cause and effect punishment (fair punishment)
- Understood that rules are not black-and-white and that morality is not based on reward and punishment (bad things sometimes go unpunished, good things sometimes go unrewarded)
- Wanted to understand punishment and rules, didn’t accept things at face value.
- Focused on distributive justice (fairness in the allocation of rewards) instead of retributive justice (getting what you deserve).

Question 24

How did Piaget view the role of warmth and abuse in moral reasoning development?

Answer 24

Warmth and care create a positive self image and sets a foundation for the development of empathy and healthy attachments. It also sets the child up to be able to more effectively learn, especially in terms of moral reasoning.

Abuse creates a sense of fear and anger towards the world and causes children to withdraw. It hinders the development of moral reasoning skills, of empathy, and of their ability to form healthy attachments.

Question 25

What are Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral development?

Answer 25

Pre-conventional Morality: Early Childhood
- Stage 1: Person has a fear of punishment and see’s authority figures as the source of morality. Tend to be quite egocentric and operate from a “might is right” perspective.

• Stage 2: Person tends to operate out of self-interest, still guided by rewards and punishment, and has a relatively individualistic outlook. They see right and wrong as relative.

Conventional Morality: Middle Childhood
- Stage 3: person begins to develop a concern for others, they value what the group thinks and seek social approval. They start to look at thinks from other people’s perspectives.

• Stage 4: Person recognizes the need for a societal system in order to prevent anarchy, they believe they have a duty to uphold the law and contribute to their social group.

Principled Morality: Late childhood
- Stage 5: The person recognizes the social contract and individual rights. They think in terms of the greatest good for he greatest number.

• Stage 6: The person develops universal principles of justice and rights and believes in the dignity and rights of all.

Kohlberg suggested that most people do not get past the conventional stage.

Question 26

Which three theorists built on Kohlberg’s ideas?

Answer 26

Carol Gilligan: suggested that moral reasoning is based on Justice (problems of inequality and oppression, values reciprocity and human dignity) but also on responsibility and care (problems of attachment and abandonment, values human needs).

Martin Hoffman: Empathy connects ethics of justice and ethics of care. We need empathy to understand the harmful consequences of behaivour on others. With an integration of empathy and cognition, we have true moral reasoning.

Moche Blatt: We can raise each other up in terms of moral reasoning, moral people make other people more moral. Blatt emphasized the role of teachers in developing moral reasoning in their students.

Question 27

What are risk factors and protective factors for empathy and why is it related to moral development?

Answer 27

Empathy is important for moral development because it acts as a bridge between the ethics of care and the ethics of justice. It helps people develop a sense of morality that is a balance between justice, fairness, individual rights, and our responsibility to others.

Protective factors that encourage empathy development include: stable resilient parents, strong attachment, nurturing environment with structure, opportunities to help others, moral character modelling.

Risk factors that impede the development of empathy include: a lack of positive role models, weak school/community attachment, anti-social peers or adult influences, unresolved bullying or victimization, anti-social attitudes and ACEs such as:
- Physical and sexual abuse
- neglect
- exposure to mental illness in the family
- exposure to substance abuse
- exposure to the justice system

Question 28

Define Anti-social personality disorder.

Answer 28

ASPD is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, an the violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.

Childhood signs include: lying, stealing, truancy, resisting authority.
Adolescent signs include: early and/or aggressive sexual behaviour, excessive drinking and substance use, delinquency

Adulthood includes an accumulation of the above as well as: inability to maintain work, inability to function as a responsible parent, failure to accept social norms or laws, and a lack of empathy or concern for others.

Question 29

What are characteristics of “psychopathy” … if it were a real disorder…

Answer 29

Characteristics of psychopathy include:
- Unreliability
- pathological lying and deception
- egocentricity and grandiosity
- impulsivity and poor judgement
- lack of remorse or guilt
- lack of empathy
- shallow affect
- inability to maintain healthy relationships
- abuse of power in sex
- lack of long-term commitments
- Exploits others
- Manipulative (charismatic)

Question 30

Name a few variables from Robert Hare’s Psychopathy checklist.

Answer 30

Scored on a scale of 0-2 per item with a score of 30-40 indicating psychopathy.

Variables:
- glibness/superficial charm
- grandiose sense of self-worth
- need for stimulation/prone to boredom
- pathological lying
- conning/ manipulative
- lack of remorse/guilt
- shallow affect
- callous/lack of empathy
- parasitic lifestyle
- poor behavioural controls
- promiscuous sexual behaviour
- early behavioural problems
- lack of realistic long-term goals
- impulsivity
- irresponsibility
- failure to accept responsibility for own actions
- multiple short-term marital relationships
- juvenile delinquency
- revocation of conditional release
- criminal versatility

Question 31

How is “psychopathy” treated?

Answer 31

• Very difficult to treat; individuals who indicate psychopathy tend to be very good at “cheating” the system or manipulating the people there to help them.
• Trauma therapies and neuroscience might offer some development in treating psychopathy.
• Prevention is the best strategy including early interventions.

Question 32

What causes “psychopathy”?

Answer 32

• lack of healthy attachment due to abuse or neglect (extreme ACEs)
• unresolved internal rage
• some potential neurological differences
• low state of arousal leading to increasingly extreme behaviours