psychological explan for offending

• eyseneck - criminal personality - PEN
• neuroticism-stability - individuals with high neuroticistic traits like anxiousness and restlessness
• extraversion-introversion - individuals with exteravertism are socialble implusive and assertive
• psychoticism - shows how disposed an individual is to a psychotic breakdown
• genetic predisposition - but environemnt also plays a role
• psychoticism - criminal behaviour

  neuroticism - criminal behaviour in older people

  extraversion - criminal behaviour in younger people
• cons eysencks - self report - lacks reliability
• cognitive distortions - irrational thought patterns which give people a distorted view of reality
• gibbs et al - self centered - minimisation - blaming problems on others - hostile attribution bias
• hostile attribution bias - believing that others are out to get them
• minimisation - minimising the seriousness of behaviour
• kohlberg - different levels of moral reasoning - increases as we get older - ten moral dilemas - heinz dilema
• level 1 - preconventional reasoning - an action is morally wrong is the person who commits it is punished - the right behaviour is the one that is in your own best interest
• level two - conventional reasoning - right behaviour makes others think positivly about you - important to obey laws
• level three - post conventional reasoning - the right course of action is the greatest good for the most people - actions are driven by abstract, universal principles which don't depend on situation
• kohlberg eval - gender bias - carried out on boys only - low generalisability