Psychological explanations

• Dysfunctional thought processing


  • Metacognition
  • Central control
• Metacognition


  The cognitive ability to reflect on our thoughts and behaviour
• Dysfunction in metacognition

  Disrupts our ability to recognise our own thoughts and behaviours as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else
• Dysfunction in metacognition could therefore be used to explain some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as auditory hallucinations
• Central control


  The cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses
• Dysfunction in central control

  Could explain the symptom of disorganised speech
• Cognitive explanations of schizophrenia

  1. Emphasise the role of dysfunctional thought processing

  2. Identified two kinds of dysfunctional thought processing by Frith et al. (1992): Metacognition and Central control
• Dysfunction in metacognition disrupts the ability to recognise one's own thoughts and behaviours as being carried out by oneself rather than someone else
• Metacognition


  The cognitive ability to reflect on our thoughts and behaviour
• Dysfunction in metacognition would disrupt our ability to recognise our own thoughts and behaviours as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else
• Dysfunction in metacognition could be used to explain some symptoms of schizophrenia, such as auditory hallucinations
• Central control


  The cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses
• Dysfunction in central control could explain the symptom of disorganised speech
• Forms of disorganised speech


  • Derailment (slipping rapidly from one topic to another)
• Eysenck’s theory


  • Proposed a theory of personality
  • Personality traits cluster along two dimensions: Extraversion (E) – Introversion, Neuroticism (N) – Stable
  • Test devised by Eysenck to assess personality is called the Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ)
• Biological basis of personality traits according to Eysenck

  • Personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system inherited
  • Individuals high in E have an under-aroused nervous system and seek excitement and stimulation
  • Individuals high in N have an unstable nervous system, are over-anxious, jumpy, and get upset quickly
• Criminal personality according to Eysenck

  • Individuals high in E and N are more likely to commit crime
  • Personality is linked to criminal behaviour via the socialisation process
  • Criminal behaviour is developmentally immature, selfish, and concerned with immediate gratification
  • Socialisation teaches children to be more socially oriented and to delay gratification through conditioning
  • People with high E and N scores have nervous systems that make them difficult to condition, leading to more antisocial behavior
• Evidence contradicting Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality: Farrington et al. (1982) reported that offenders do not score highly on measures of E or N
• Personality consistency issue: Situational perspective suggests personality may be consistent in similar situations but not across situations
• Personality test limitations: Answers to personality tests may not represent reality, leading to potential inaccuracies in personality assessments
• Cognitive explanations of offending behaviour

  • Two main cognitive explanations: Level of moral reasoning, Cognitive distortions
• Level of moral reasoning


  • Moral reasoning determines whether something is right or wrong
  • Kohlberg proposed a stage theory with three levels: Preconventional morality, Conventional morality, Postconventional morality
• moral reasoning

  A thinking process with the objective of determining whether something is right or wrong
• Individuals progress through levels of moral reasoning


  As a consequence of biological maturity, and also as a consequence of having opportunities to discuss and develop their thinking
• Criminals tend to show a lower level of moral reasoning than non-criminals


  More specifically, criminals are more likely to be classified at the pre-conventional level whereas non-criminals are more likely to have progressed to the conventional level and beyond
• Pre-conventional level of moral reasoning

  Characterised by a need to avoid punishment and gain rewards, and is associated with immature and childlike reasoning
• Individuals at the pre-conventional level may commit crime if

  They believe that they can avoid punishment and gain rewards
• There is evidence to support the suggestion that criminals show a lower level of moral reasoning than non-criminals
• Hostile attribution bias


  The tendency to interpret the actions of others as being aggressive when in reality they may not be
• Criminals may be more likely to interpret the actions of others as being aggressive due to hostile attribution bias


  This causes them to respond aggressively
• Minimalisation


  The tendency to downplay the significance of an event
• Criminals may use minimalisation as a strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt


  For example, a burglar may describe themselves as doing their job or supporting their family to as a way of minimalising the seriousness of their offense
• There is research evidence to support the role of hostile attribution bias in offending behaviour
• There is research evidence to support the role of minimalisation in offending behaviour
• Differential association theory


  1. Is a learning theory of offending behaviour

  2. Explains how individuals can learn to become criminals through their associations with others
• Differential association theory


  • Learning theory of offending behaviour
  • Proposed by Sutherland (1939)
  • Explains how individuals can learn to become criminals through their associations with others
• Social learning theory


  • Proposed by Bandura
  • Demonstrates how children learn through the observation and imitation of models
• According to differential association theory

  If children are exposed to models who engage in offending behaviour and see that behaviour being reinforced, they are likely to imitate it
• Offending behaviour arises from the learning of two key factors from others

  • Pro-criminal attitudes
  • Criminal techniques
• Pro-criminal attitudes


  • An individual will acquire attitudes towards crime from those around them
  • If the number of pro-crime attitudes an individual acquires outweighs the number of anti-crime attitudes they acquire, they are more likely to go on to offend
  • Differential association theory suggests that it should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is that an individual will offend based on the frequency, intensity, and duration of which they have been exposed to pro-crime and anti-crime attitudes