GCSE OCR Psychology - Criminal Psychology

• alternative type of rehab

  positive role model provided

  someone the criminal identifies with

  criminal observes and imitates the role model

  the criminal internalises the new behaviour
• restorative justice


  the criminal meets the victim of the crime

  they are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions

  they apologise and try to repair the harm they have done

  this brings them into the community rather than excluding them
• rehabilitation


  process of changing or reforming a criminal through socialization
• heaven study criticisms

  sample culturally biased - only used catholic schools, religion has a strong influence on behaviour. also fee-paying school and income and crime often linked.

  age bias - children may have been to old to properly establish factors that lead to delinquency.

  used closed questions - lack construct validity, the use of simple questions to measure complex ideas is not appropriate. using quantitative date hides depth.
• heaven study conclusions

  aligned with previous research, psychoticism is associated significantly with self reported delinquency

  heaven pointed out that the 3 factors only explained a small percentage of the variance in delinquency

  evidence for influence on delinquency over time was quite weak
• heaven study results

  males more likely to engage in criminal behaviour in times 1 and 2

  positive correlation between delinquency and psychoticism at times 1 and 2

  weaker positive correlation with extraversion at time 2 only
• heaven study procedure

  all three questionnaires checked for internal reliability and, apart from psychoticism scale, scored well

  80% participants responded at time 2

  students assured of confidentiality and that nothing they say would be told to school or authorities
• heaven study design


  longitudinal study - investigated extraversion, psychoticism and self-esteem at time 1 and whether they were significant predictors of delinquency after 2 years (time2)
• heaven study sample

  282 adolescents (146 female, 136 male) from two independent Catholic schools in New South Wales, Australia, age range 13-15 years
• heaven study hypothesis

  measures of psychoticism, extraversion and self-esteem would be significant predictors of self-reported delinquency
• eyesenck's theory criticisms

  critics say the concept of psychoticism is not useful (they argue it is simply a definition of criminal behaviour)

  eyesenck's theory ignores individual differences
• psychoticism biologically

  an excess of dopaminergic neurones causes an overproduction of dopamine. excess dopamine causes inhibition of impulses in the brain during synaptic transmission
• neuroticism biologically

  eyesenck argues that the autonomic nervous system, which is activated during emotional situations and regulates the activity of the limbic system, becomes over-aroused, leading to higher levels of violence
• extraversion biologically


  the RAS is a part of the brain stem that regulates the stimuli sent to the cerebral cortex. in extraverts the cerebral cortex is under-aroused because stimuli is restricted by the RAS. so stimulation is gained by criminal behaviour. also have a stronger dopamine reward system.
• psychoticism


  people who score high are impulsive, aggressive and selfish

  criminals are often psychotics - characteristics are directly related to crime
• neuroticism


  people who score high are anxious, angry and prone to guilt

  criminals are often neurotics - stuck in patterns of behaviour to relieve high stress levels
• extraversion


  people who score high are outgoing, sociable and confident

  criminals are often extraverts - need a lot of stimulation and are thrill seekers
• criminal personality


  a collection of traits that make a person different from 'normal', law-abiding people
• eyesencks theory


  the impulse to behave in a criminal way is something you are born with
• cooper and mackie's study criticisms

  sample biased and therefore difficult to make generalisations. age bias and cultural bias.

  study was in an artificial setting leading to low levels of ecological validity
• cooper and mackie's study conclusions

  measurable consequences of playing and observing video games on girl's behaviour

  playing aggressive video games increases girl's activity and likelihood of playing with aggressive toys

  boys not affected by video games
• cooper and mackie's study results

  girls in aggressive condition spent more time playing with the aggressive toy. boys no difference.

  type of game played had no effect on interpersonal aggression

  children had higher interpersonal aggression after playing not observing
• cooper and mackie's study procedure

  8 mins to play or observe

  one of each pair taken to play room or test room

  in play room: aggressive toy, skill toy, quiet toy. experimenter left child alone and recorded which toys were played with and for how long

  test room: asked how they would punish a child they caught behaving badly and reward a child for good. pressed a buzzer to show. (measuring interpersonal aggression)

  then both completed a questionnaire rating experience of game
• cooper and mackie's study conditions (procedure)

  condition 1 - aggressive video game (missile command)

  condition 2 - non-aggressive video game (pac man)

  condition 3 - control condition (pen and paper maze game)
• cooper and mackie's study variables


  IV - type of game played

  DV - aggression levels after playing/observing game
• cooper and mackie's study design

  lab experiment, independent measures design
• cooper and mackie's study sample

  84 participants, 9-11 years old from New Jersey
• cooper and mackie's study hypothesis

  playing an aggressive video game will lead to increased aggression in children compared to other types of game
• criticisms of social learning theory

  only focuses on the role of nature, ignoring role of nurture (criminal gene?)

  the theory doesn't explain how criminal behaviour starts in the first place

  the theory doesn't account for people who turn to crime, despite not having any criminal role models

  if the theory is correct it should be easier to reduce crime (criminal behaviour should be weakened through punishment if it is strengthened by positive enforcement) (around half of criminal re-commit)
• direct reinforcement


  when a behaviour is strengthened and likely to be repeated due to positive outcomes for the individual
• vicarious reinforcement


  process where the observer sees the model rewarded, making the observer more likely to imitate the model's behaviour
• internalisation


  the behaviour becomes an integral part of your personality due to continual reinforcement
• imitation


  you recall the behaviours and copy them
• observation

  you pay attention to the behaviour and memorise it
• identification


  you align yourself with the person and decide you want to be like them
• role model


  usually, parent, older sibling etc. of same sex. someone you look up to and want to be like.
• social learning theory

  role model, identification, observation, imitation, internalisation
• what are self-report surveys

  researchers ask members of the public confidentially about crimes they have committed. convicted criminals are asked about additional crimes to the ones they have committed. victims asked about crimes they experiences but didn't report.
• criminal behaviour is subjective

  it changes over time and can be viewed as a social construct
• 4 types of sentences


  prison, community work, fines, discharge