criminal psychology

• name the 5 types of crime

  • violent
  • drug-related
  • sexual
  • anti-social
  • acquisitive
• describe the social construct of crime

  societies decide on which behaviour is criminal, usally based on what society thinks is acceptable at that time period, for example euthanasia.

  norms=behaviours/acts that fit within the accepted rules of a society.

  deviation from norms=behaviours/acts that do not fit within the accepted standards of a society.
• how is crime measured?

  offical statistics, data on all recorded crimes committed within a particular area. Recorded by the police, then analysed, held and relased by the government.
• another way to measure crime is...

  because some crimes are undetected, researchers rely on self-report surveys to uncover the 'dark figure'. They are sometimes confidential surveys which ask convicted criminals about other crimes they have committed. Or even use victim surveys.
• Social learning theory of crime

  Theory that explains criminal behaviour in terms of observation and imitation
• explain the social learning theory (part 1)

  • begins with role models, people that we look up to and respect.
  • then we go through identification where we decide we want to be like these people.
  • then observation where we pay attention to the behaviours and then imitate them.
• social learning (part 2)

  they are then motivated to imitate due to vicarious reinforcement = where they observe others being rewarded for their behaviour and therefore want the same rewards

  however, if they experience direct reinforcement, behaviour is strengthened and likely to be repeated due to positive outcomes. Behaviour then becomes internalised, where the behaviour becomes apart of them and doesn't need to be reinforced.
• describe 1 criticism of the social learning theory

  ignores the role of nature

  the theory only focuses of the role of nurture. Some psychologists argue there is a criminal gene, without this inherited tendency to commit crimes people cannot learn to be criminals.
• describe another criticism of the social learning theory

  doesnt explain how it begins.

  if each generation of criminals has learned the behaviour from the previous,there has to be a point at which it began. Therefore it does not explain the origins of criminal behaviour.
• cooper and mackie study into the transmission of aggression.


  design:

  researchers used a laboratory experiment to carry out the study using independent measures.

  IV=the game played/observed

  DV=aggression levels after playing/observing the game
• cooper and mackie study into the transmission of agression.


  sample:

  schools in the suburbs of New Jersey, USA.

  84 nine to eleven year olds.

  parents gave consent for them to take place.
• cooper and mackie study

  results=

  in the pre-experiment questionnaire, 61% of all participants reported having a video game system at home, more boys than girls.

  type of game had no effect on interpersonal aggression.

  participants in the aggressive game condition spent more time playing with the aggressive toy than participants in the other two conditions.
• cooper and mackie criticisms

  bias=

  the study only investigated a limted range of age. Which does not represent all children or even adults. Therefore it is difficult to generalise.

  Similarly, it is culturally biased as the study is on children from new jersey the impact of video games may be influenced by the cultural setting. It is difficult to generalise to children from other states or countries.
• cooper and mackie study

  procedure=

  1. two groups, played or observed, either missile command(high aggression), pacman(low aggression) or pen and maze(control condition).
  2. then taken to the playroom- observed which toys each child played with(aggressive,active,quiet,skill).
  3. asked questions about reward/punishment of behvaiour using a buzzer.
• role of culture=

  collective set of norms that determines a way of life for a group of people. as cultures change,so do their norms.
• Eysenck's criminal personality theories


  these theories view criminal behaviour as being fixed, it suggets the impulse to behave in a criminal manner is something people are essentially born with.
• Eysenck devised questionnaires to score 3 personality trats.

  extraversion=measures how out-going an individual is.

  high score - the person is sociable,lively and sensation seeking.

  inside the brain - extraverts have a low level of arousal in their cerebral cortex because the stimuli is restricted by the RAS and therefore need more stimulation from their environment, leading to risky and anti-social behaviour.

  Also have a stronger dopamine reward system, which means they respond more positively to reinforces like sex and money.
• Eysenck devised questionnaires to score 3 personality traits.

  neuroticism = measures how anxious an indiviual is.

  high score - the person is anxious and react very strongly to aversive stimuli.

  inside the brain - the ANS becomes over-aroused and affects the limbic system, causing violent and unstable behaviour.
• Eysenck devised questionnaires to score 3 personality traits.


  psychoticism = measures how impulsive and aggressive an individual is.

  high score - aggressive and egocentric

  inside the brain - due to excess of dopaminergic neurons, which causes an overproduction of dopamine and leads to less inhibition of impulses in the brain during synaptic transmission
• Heaven study, into delinquency,extraversion,psychoticism and self-esteem.

  design:

  used a longitudinal study.

  sample:

  282 adolescents aged 13 to 15 years old from two catholic schools in Australia.

  All students had the option to withdraw from the study, but none chose to do so.
• heaven study

  procedure=

  1. participants completed questionnaires at Time 1 (around 14 years old) and 2 years later at Time 2 (around 16 years old).
  2. measured psychoticism, extraversion and self-esteem.
  3. used self-report to measure delinquency, looked at violence, vandalism and theft.
• heaven study


  results=

  delinquency scores were put in a table, showed males were more likely to engage in delinquency at times 1 and 2.

  there was a positive correlation between psychoticism and delinquency at both times.
• eysenck's theory criticisms

  eysenck's theory is accused of ignoring individual differences. He tried to place people under broad categories. Critics argue is wrong to 'lump together' these groups and assume they have similar reasons for turning to crime.
• eysenck's theory criticisms

  deterministic=

  the theory suggets that people are born with their personaility types. Therefore their chances of becoming criminals are mainly driven by biology. Critics argue that this suggests crime is largely out of the control of the individual.
• describe a critcism of the Heaven study

  the sample is culturally biased. The sample only used children from roman catholic schools, ignoring other religions. Religion has a strong influence on children's moral behaviour. This is difficult to generalise.
• describe another criticism of the Heaven study

  the use of self-report can lead to invalid data. Due to social desirability, the participants may not have been honest about information. The participants might also not be aware of their personaility traits when answering questions.
• High levels of extraversion and neuroticism, according to Eysenck, make people difficult to condition. This is learning by association and consequence.
• Eysenck believes children are born with their personality traits, he claims those who score highly on extraversion and neuorticism may be more resistant to early socialisation in terms of learning moral behaviour.
• what is the effect of prisons on criminals?

  Prisons take away freedom,rights and privileges, criminals should learn to avoid criminal behaviour in the future. Prisons are also punishing because the living conditions are poor.
• what is the effect of fines?

  Fines are used for minor crimes, such as traffic offences etc. In the same way that money can be a incentive for committing crimes, loss of funds has the opposite effect and acts as a deterent.
• what is the effect of community sentences?

  Community sentences is where the offenders make some payment back to society, often by giving up their time to contribute to the community in some way. Usually made obvious to the public that they are doing community service, the psychological punishment of shame and guilt are apart of the process.
• Rehabilitation is about promoting pro-social behaviour to help reduce crime, this can be done through restorative justice. This actively involves the victim of the crime, the victim will meet the person who commited the crime. This makes the criminal aware of their actions. Offenders are encouraged to take responsibility, usally apologising, returning stolen money.
• Another way to rehabilitate offenders is through the use of positive role models, these can be reformed criminals or even professionals. Offenders need to be able to observe others behaving in pro-social ways so that they have something to imitate. They need to see the behaviour as rewarding, such as gaining respect or trust or a job.