Psych: Atavistic Form

• Who proposed atavistic form?

  Lombroso
• What is the basic assumption of atavistic form?

  The innate physiological makeup of an individual causes them to become a criminalL
• Lombroso (1876) said that offenders possessed similar characteristics to...


  Lower primates
• Whose theory did Lombroso base his own upon?

  Darwin's
• Criminals are throwbacks...


  To an earlier species
• Name some of the traits of offenders that Lombroso outlined

  Asymmetry of the face, jaw, cheekbones, nose, eye defects, excessive length of arms, fingers, and toes
• Lombroso later recognised it was unlikely that one factor would be the cause of criminality and instead, inherited atavistic form...


  Interacted with a person's physical and social environment
• Lombroso identified three types of criminals, what are they?

  Born criminals

  Insane criminals

  Criminaloids
• Born criminals


  The atavistic type - throwbacks identifiable from their physical traits
• Insane criminals


  Those suffering from mental illness
• Criminaloids


  A large general class of offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed them to criminal behaviour under the right circumstances
• What are the AO3s of atavistic form?

  Deterministic

  Lack of scientific evidence

  Alpha bias
• Deterministic


  Lombroso's theory is deterministic for suggesting that criminals can't control their behaviours. If some people are born criminals it means that offenders have no say in their behaviour so they aren't responsible fot their crimes. This creates problems for our legal system, which is based on free will. But Lombroso later modified his theory to add criminaloids - people predisposed to crime, but not determined to be offenders. Later theories that examine the role of both environment and upbringing have more credibility today, casting doubt on Lombroso's atavistic form as a theory.
• Lack of scientific evidence

  Lombroso's method was deeply flawed because he didn't systematically study a control group of non criminals. Goring repeated this study with a control group comparing 3000 convicts with a group of non convicts. There were no differences in facial or cranial characteristics except that convicts were slightly smaller with a lower intelligence. This questions Lombroso's scientific credibility.
• Alpha bias


  Lombroso's theory has significant alpha bias because he believed that women were less evolved than men. They were naturally jealous and insensitive to pain but also passive, low in intelligence, and had a maternal instinct. These traits neutralised their negative ones and meant they were less likely to be criminals. Female criminals had masculine characteristics that were beneficial in a man but in a woman created a "monster". This unfounded sexism makes it difficult to accept other aspects of Lombroso's work and means that his study can't be applied to all criminals.