Crim Sheldon physiological

• Sheldon believes criminal behaviour is linked to a persons physical form.
• He formed the idea of somatotypes. There are essentially 3 distinct body shapes. Endomorph (fat and soft). Ectomorph (thin and fragile). Mesomorph (muscular and hard).
• He used a sample of photographs from college students and criminals. Rated them 1-7 on their mesomorphy. Delinquents were 4.6 and students 3.8.
• Sheldon used a correlation study, found many convicts were mesomorphic and they were least likely to be ectomorphic. Mesomorphs have a high pain threshold and are extremely ruthless.
• His findings were replicated which improved reliability for his theory. (1)
• Gluck used sheldon’s typology extensively (1)
• Evidence shows that 60% of delinquent population to be mesomorphic and 30% endomorphic.
• This supports the idea that criminals are mainly mesopmorhs, supporting sheldon’s argument. (1)
• However this theory does not take into account that peoples somatotype is not fixed. Peoples bodies change throughout their lives and an individual may be all three. (2)
• Sheldon does not detail if this would lead to changes in personality and criminal behaviour. (2)
• The theory could not really explain how ectomorphs and endomorphs can also be criminals. (2)
• Only focussed on criminals. Just because many criminals are only mesomorphs, it does not mean all mesomorphs are criminal. (2)
• It could be society, not biology that explains the difference. It is not being mesomorphs yet the treatment mesomorphs receive from society. (3)
• It could be that people react different to mesomorphs in ways that increase risk of criminal behaviour. (3)
• Because of these stereotypes people hold about mesomorphs, they may be drawn to delinquent activities by their peer groups. (3)
• Alternatively, the judicial system may treat mesomorphs more harshly, increasing the likelihood that they will be officially be labelled as criminal (BlackBurn 1993) (3)