Criminal Psychology

concept info evaluation
operant conditioning theory positive reinforcement – receiving pleasant/desired outcome

–          Increases likelihood of behaviour being repeated

–          E.g., earning money when stealing

negative reinforcement – taking away unpleasant/undesired outcome

–          Increases likelihood of behaviour being repeated

–          E.g., killing enemy to remove threat

positive punishment – receiving unpleasant/undesired outcome

–          Decreases  likelihood of behaviour being repeated

–          E.g., receiving speeding ticket or being sent to prison

negative punishment – taking away pleasant/desired outcome

–          Decreases likelihood of behaviour being repeated

–          Taking privileges away (like right to vote or driver’s license etc)

primary reinforcer – used to satisfy biological/primary human need e.g., food or shelter

secondary reinforcer – used to acquire something that meets primary need e.g., money

strengths

–          Can be applied to range of crimes, including murder – e.g., someone may commit crime to get rid of threat, example of negative reinforcement

–          Practical applications – explains how punishment can remove undesirable behaviours – idea is basis of sending people to prison and contributed to development of behavioural management techniques e.g., token economies

weaknesses

–          Reductionist  – ignores biological factors such as genes, or nature of personality in influencing whether we commit crimes

–          Doesn’t account for all possible motivations – can be reproduced in absence of punishment or reinforcement e.g., due to our emotions, how we think or different type of motivation than reward

social learning theory                                observational learning – learning through observing and modelling behaviour of role model

role model – a person who we identify with (similar characteristics and higher status)

vicarious reinforcement – more likely to imitate model and reproduce the behaviour if they’re rewarded for it

mediational processes – internal cognitions determining whether someone will copy behaviour observed of role model

–          Must pay attention

–          Retention – remembering what to copy

–          Reproduction – must be able to physically do it

–          Motivation – direct reinforcement, rewarded/praised

strengths

–          Research supporting Bandura found that aggression was copied when exposing nursery children to aggressive role model, especially if role model rewarded for aggression or of same sex

–          Explains how children learn behaviour in absence of reinforcement so explaining why some behaviour learnt without consequences; learnt from watching and imitating role models

weaknesses

–          Reductionist  – ignores biological factors such as genes, or nature of personality in influencing whether we commit crime

–          Not all criminal behaviour explained by theory – e.g., murder rarely witnessed in real life. Also unlikely that crimes like fraud learned through observing, as typically driven by financial gain

eysenk’s biological theory Extraverted

 

–          out-going, sociable, sensation-seeking strengths

–          biological theory – useful explanation when behaviour is not result of reinforcement (operant) or imitation of role model (SLT)

–          research supportingFarrington et al found criminals had higher levels of neuroticism and psychoticism

weaknesses

–          research refutingFarrington et al found no difference in extraversion between two groups

–          no useful practical applications – tells us what personality type more likely to commit crime but not how to prevent them

–          social desirability bias – evidence based on questionnaire answers, unreliable and lowering validity of findings as participants may lie

Introverted

 

–          reserved and quiet
Neurotic

 

–          unstable, highly emotional and overreactive in stressful situations
Stable –          un-emotional, and unreactive in stressful situations
Psychotic –          cold, lacks empathy, anti-social, aggressive
criminal personality = extravert + neurotic + psychotic

 

–          Type of nervous system we inherit determines whether we possess ‘criminal’ characteristics

–          Extroversion (sensation-seeking, outgoing) – nervous system with low levels of arousal; therefore, requiring external stimulation from environment to raise biological arousal levels

–          Neuroticism – born with highly active and volatile nervous system; prone to responding quickly and over-reactive in stressful situations

effects of punishment on recidivism

recidivism – when criminals reoffend after punishment

rehabilitative – a programme designed to help offenders rather than punish them

detention/custody – a prison sentence

prison –          Held in custody and freedom severely limited

–          Removal from society

–          Positive punishment – receiving undesirable outcome (restricting day-to-day activities)

–          Negative reinforcement – deterrent, encouraging people to follow law

strengths

–          Keeps public safe from potentially dangerous criminal

–          Vicariously reinforce behaviour of others – deterring others from copying their criminal behaviour

weaknesses

–          25% of offenders reoffend within a year

–          Often exposed to more dangerous criminals – can learn new criminal behaviour

–          Violent crime not always rational choice – so may not consider length of sentence, may be due to personality type

community sentencing –          Non-custodial sentence

–          Involves unpaid work – e.g., voluntary work, picking up litter, painting community buildings

–          Treatment programmes – anger management, treatments for alcohol or drug addiction

strengths

–          Chance to make up for actions

–          Can learn new skills – help find employment afterwards

–          Treatment programmes address causes of behaviour

weaknesses

–          30% of offenders reoffend

–          Soft option – may not deter criminals from reoffending

restorative justice –          offender meets with victim

–          distressing experience

–          can understand mistakes and how actions have harmed others

–          discouraging from committing crime

strengths

–          15% reduction in recidivism

–          Can listen to how actions harmed others

weaknesses

–          Distressing experience

–          Unlikely to prevent reoffending if behaviour stems from personality type

treatments to rehabilitate    
token economy programmes –          Based on operant conditioning theory

–          Tokens – secondary reinforcers given when pro-social behaviour displayed

–          Can be exchanged for rewards e.g., food privileges, longer visits, telephone calls

–          Rewards must be genuinely valued by prisoners, to motivate them

–          Encouraging repetition of pro-social behaviour – which becomes learned and desired behaviour

strengths

–          Evidence suggesting it produces short term increase pro-social behaviour

–          Hobson + Holt (1976) found significant increase in pro-social behaviour (cooperating, doing chores, queueing correctly for dinner) when token economy introduced to 3 prisons

weaknesses

–          Prison staff must be committed to programme – failure to give out tokens leading to antisocial behaviour

–          Ineffective for offenders committing crimes due to anger issues – anger management programme more effective in that case

anger management programmes –          Offenders work with therapist to identify triggers causing outbursts

–          Taught skills to control anger – e.g., breathing techniques – and may play role play activities to practise more pro-social behaviour

–          Prosocial behaviour achieved once no longer reacting to triggers

strengths

–          Dowden et al (1999) – found that high risk offenders receiving this treatment were less likely to reoffend than those who didn’t

weaknesses

–          Relies on offender being motivated to change

–          Not effective for criminals whose behaviour doesn’t rely on anger – some commit violent crimes without anger, and are instead cold and calculated

–          Psychopaths learning techniques to hide anger – making it easier for them to commit crimes in future without being detected

K E Y   S T U D I E S
Bandura (1961)

 

aims –

–           To see if children will imitate aggressive and non – aggressive role model behaviour if not rewarded

–           To see if children are more likely to copy same-sex role models than opposite-sex role models

–           To see if boys are more aggressive than girls

 

sample size

–          72 (equal numbers of boys and girls)

–          37 – 69 months old

experimental groups – 48 (8 subgroups of 6 children)

–          24 – aggressive role models

  • Hitting, punching, throwing bobo doll + verbally aggressive comments e.g., ‘kick him’

–          24 – non-aggressive role models

  • Played with familiar nursery toys, not bobo doll

control group – 24 watching no role model behaviour

procedure

–          After 10 mins with role-model, taken in another room to play for 20 mins, being observed through one-way mirror

results

–          Children exposed to an aggressive role-model, whether male or female, reproduced more physical and verbal aggressive behaviour than those in non-aggressive groups

–          Boys far more likely to imitate same-sex aggressive role model, in terms of copying physical aggression, than girls

–          No significant difference in imitation of verbal aggression between sexes

–          Girls found to spend significantly more time playing with dolls and tea set, whilst boys spent more time playing with gun

conclusions

–          Children can learn through observation in absence of reinforcement

–          Exposure to aggressive adult role models may increase the likelihood that children will give an aggressive reaction, particularly if the model is of the same sex

strengths

–          Standardised procedure

  • Good test-re-test reliability – research easily replicated  to check consistency of findings
  • Internal validity – ensured all children experience exact same conditions

–          Matched pairs design – groups matched on pre-test aggression levels to prevent participant variables from becoming extraneous variables

weaknesses

–          Ethical concerns – children deliberately exposed to aggression and the long term effects on the behaviour of the children could not be predicted

–          Demand characteristics – children may have tried to guess aims due to unfamiliar environment

–          Testosterone – plays role in aggression, could explain why boys are more aggressive than girls

–          Lab experiment – unfamiliar, artificial environment – lacks ecological validity

Charlton et al (2000)

aim –

–          To see whether the introduction of television would cause children to become more aggressive, or display more anti-social behaviours

IV – introduction of television

DV – behaviour of children before and after TV introduced

location – st Helena (pop. 5000)

sample – random sample of school population (between 3-8)

procedure

–          Behaviour recorded via video recordings

–          cameras located in school playground

–          1994 – before intro

–          2000 – after intro

findings

–          No change in anti-social behaviour observed in playground (e.g., fighting, hitting. Kicking) after television introduced

–          Boys had tendency to display 4x more antisocial acts than girls

–          Both boys ang girls displayed twice as much prosocial behaviour compared to antisocial behaviour+

conclusions

–          Television had little influence on behaviour of children studied and children weren’t copying behaviour witnessed on tv

–          Close-knit nature of community and high levels of adult surveillance over children may explain why tv had little effect on their behaviour

strengths

–          Ecological validity – natural experiment, conducted in real life setting rather than artificial conditions

–          High validity – covert, children not aware they’re being observed so behaviour more natural and unaffected by observers’ presence (no demand characteristics)

weaknesses

–          Lacks internal validity – researcher didn’t have control over what programmes people were actually watching, which would’ve determined exposure to aggressive role models

–          Lacks generalisability

  • programmes available on st Helena not same as mainland television (e.g., teenage mutant ninja turtles not available)
  • findings limited to particular community – Williams (1981) conducted similar study in 3 Canadian communities  and found increase in aggression