Week Eight - Physical Characteristics Of Offenders Flashcards
Mesomorphy and Testosterone
Explanation and Criticism..
Sheldon (1949) had a theory that males fell into three general body types: endomorph, ectomorph and mesomorph.
Of these the mesomorph, having a muscular body, little body fat and adventurous, fearless, competitive, low-empathy, risk-taking personality, is the most likely to become a criminal
Eight studies have tested this relationship and all have found that mesomorphs are more often offenders that the other body types.
Sheldon’s work is now seen as simplistic due to a narrow definition of criminal and also perhaps confusing cause and effect, however that is not to say that he was totally mistaken. Even if you cannot tell that someone is a criminal just because they are mesomorphic, there is evidence that the physique and personality do often go together, and that they are more common in offenders.
In considering why this might be, Ellis convincingly argues that the underlying biological factor that leads to personality and physical characteristics of the mesomorph that in turn made them more likely to become criminals is the hormone testosterone.
Testosterone shapes the brain before we are even born and sets it up to respond in a particular way when puberty sets off the massive increase is testosterone levels many years later. This time delay explains why we do not see large correlations between adult testosterone levels and criminal behaviour, although there are consistent associations between them
There is also evidence that testosterone is especially important in violent offences including domestic violence and other aggressive crimes.
This theory might help to explain why females are so much less likely to be involved in such crimes. Baby girls are not set up in the womb to respond to testosterone in the same way as baby boys, and later levels of testosterone are much lower in females
Fight or Flight
Explanations..
Our response to danger depends on a web of systems that predispose us either to flee from the threat or to fight.
There are significant and well-established links between criminal behaviour and different aspects of these systems
For example, Fearlessness is a trait with biological underpinnings that is linked to offending and anti-social acts. Gao et al (2009), using a large sample of about 1,800 children, found that 3 year olds who show a less than normal intensity fear response to a noise had an increased chance of being convicted by the age of 23
Overall, the evidence for lower than normal activity in the body’s arousal systems of ant-social, delinquent and criminal persons seems convincing and plausible; it also relates to psychological and sociological theories. It makes sense in the evolutionary framework within which we are considering biological factors. However, it should be obvious that having a low arousal level cannot, by itself, cause crime any more than any other biological factor can.
