AQA A Level Psychology Paper 3 Studies and Terminology - Forensic Psychology, Cognition and Development, Schizophrenia, and Issues and Debates

Forensic Psychology:

FBI

- Generated fixed typologies off of 36 sexually-motivated murderers - 25 serial killers and 11 single or double murderers. Small sample and serial killers are often pathological liars. May not work for less serious crimes. Unstructured interviews used - not scientific.

Constructing an FBI profile

- 1. Data assimilation 2. Crime scene classification 3. Crime reconstruction 4. Profile generation.

Canter et al. (2004)

- Viewed 100 US murders with smallest space analysis and found distinct types of criminals.

Meketa (2017)

- 85% increase in solved crime in 3 US states when using top-down profiling. Detection techniques used also added interpersonal and opportunistic as categories - suggests wider application.

Investigative psychology

- Using statistical procedures and psychological theory to analyse crime scene evidence and learn about an offender. Consists of interpersonal coherence, significance of time and place, and forensic awareness.

Interpersonal coherence

- The way an offender interacts with their victim may reflect their behaviour in daily life.

Marauder

- A criminal who works closely around their base.

Commuter

- A criminal who travels long distances away from their base.

Geographical profiling

- Using data about where a crime has taken place to locate an area an offender is working in - Not all crimes are reported, meaning that this may not work.

Canter and Heritage (1990)

- Conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis. Found that criminals displayed consistent behaviours when committing multiple crimes - meaning they can be tracked through comparing multiple crimes.

Lombroso

- 383 dead criminals 3839 living criminals. NO control group (may have just been observing natural human differences). Characterised by dark skin, strong jaw, facial asymmetry, use of slang, tattoos, high cheekbones. 40% of crime is committed by atavistic people. EUGENICS/RACISM

Christiansen (1977)

- Studied 3500 twins in Denmark (All twins in a specific region from 1880 to 1910). Concordance rates 35% for MZ and 13% for DZ. Offending behaviour was checked against police records.

Raine et al. (2000)

- 11% less grey matter in the prefrontal cortex (mood regulation) of those with APD than a control. APD is associated with criminal attitudes, more aptly a lack of emotional responses and empathy. Crime therefore could be the result of reduced activity and/or grey matter in the pre-frontal cortex.

Extravert

- Underactive nervous system - seeks excitement and stimulation.

Neurotic

- Overactive SNS - high reactivity and anxiety.

Psychotic

- High testosterone - prone to aggression.

Criminal personality

- Neurotic-extravert-psychotic.

How does the EPQ link to criminality?

- Those with the aptitude for a criminal personality are more difficult to condition into behaving in a certain way, therefore they are less likely to develop anxiety responses to antisocial behaviour.

Eysenck and Eysenck (1977)

- Conducted a study on the scores of 2070 prisoners and 2422 controls. Prisoners scored higher on measures of psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion, thus supporting Eysenck's theory.

Kohlberg (1973)

- Groups of violent youths were significantly lower on levels of moral development than non-violent youths, when accounting for social background and asked through moral dilemmas.

Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning

- Level one (Pre-conventional) - Stage 1 = Behaving to avoid punishment - Level 2 = Behaving for personal gain - Level two (Conventional) - Stage 3 = Behaving for approval - Stage 4 = Behaving to maintain social order. Level three (Post-conventional) - Stage 5 Protecting the rights of the others and the system - Stage 6 = Complex personal ethics and belief system.

Krebs and Denton (2005)

- Kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning may only explain the moral thinking used to justify a behaviour after it has occurred rather than the behaviour that occurs first.

Cognitive Distortions

- errors/biases in information processing.

Hostile attribution bias (HAB)

- When offenders interpret non-aggressive cues as aggressive ones, and often respond violently to them.

Minimalisation

- Downplaying the seriousness of an event.

Barbaree (1991)

- 26 incarcerated rapists - 54% claimed to not have committed a crime and 40% minimalised the crime they had committed.

Differential Association Theory (DAT)

- Developed largely by Edwin Sutherland - we learn values, attitudes, techniques surrounding crime from others. Therefore, there must be a statistical/mathematical way to predict crime as based on the number of criminal interactions - however this requires knowledge of the frequency, intensity, and duration of exposure to deviant attitudes (Not actually possible - behaviour is too subjective).

Learning criminal attitudes (DAT)

- When a person is socialised into a specific group of people, they are exposed to their values and attitudes to the law. Of the number of pro-criminal attitudes outweigh the number of anti-criminal attitudes, it is likely that person will commit crime.

Learning techniques (DAT)

- May learn HOW to commit crimes from other offenders. Socialisation in prison can therefore be harmful for both attitudes and techniques.

When is the superego formed?

- Phallic stage of development (3-6).

The weak superego

- Lack of same-sex parent during the phallic stage - cannot internalise their superego - increases chances of crime.

The deviant superego

- Internalises a superego of a deviant parent - does not learn to associate guilt with wrongdoings.

The over-harsh superego

- Very strict parents - results in unconscious desire for punishment - leading to committing crime.

Bowlby (1944)

- 44 thieves study. 14/44 showed affectionless psychopathy. 12/14 of these had prolonged separation from their mother. 2/44 in control group.

Four aims of custodial sentencing

- Deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation.

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing

- Stress + depression, institutionalisation, prisonisation.

Prisonisation

- Behaviours that are normally discouraged in the outside world are encouraged in prison.

Rates of recidivism in retribution vs rehabilitation based countries

- US often exceeds rates of 60% recidivism VS Norway - rates as low as 20%.

UK Ministry of Justice (2025)

- statistics on Suicidality and self-harming in prisons - 96 suicides in 12 months - an increase of 9%. 878 incidents of self-harm per 1000 prisoners in 12 months.

Token economies

- Based on operant conditioning. Tokens act as secondary reinforcers that can be exchanged for primary behaviours. Criminal behaviour can be unlearnt.

How to design a fair token economy

- Target behaviours must be operationalised so that it is fair for all. Scoring systems must also be kept the same across all members of staff. Staff must be trained. Reinforcements should outweigh punishments (by 4:1).

3 stages of CBT for anger management

- Cognitive preparation, Skill acquisitions, and Application practice (Calm People Should Avoid Angry People).

Cognitive preparation (anger management)

- Consider past experiences and realise what the typical pattern of anger is. Identifying triggers - the therapist attempts to change irrational beliefs associated with these.

Skill acquisition (anger management)

- Offenders are. Introduced to a range of techniques such as positive-self talk (cognitive), training how to communicate more effectively (behavioural), and using relaxation training (physiological).

Application practice (anger management)

- Practicing skills they have been taught during a calm and controlled roleplay setting. If the offender behaves appropriately in the roleplay, this behaviour is rewarded by the therapist.

Howells et al. (2005)

conducted an investigation on anger management therapy, comparing it to a control with no treatment. They found little overall impact in comparison to the control. However, some patients who had intense anger levels AND were highly motivated to change, saw significant progress.

Restorative justice

- A method for dealing with offending behaviour in which a criminal makes amends for their actions directly to their victims. Most restorative justice programs have trained mediators, non-courtroom settings, survivors explaining how the crime affected them, focus on positive outcomes.

RJC

- Restorative Justice Council - establishes clear standards for how to run restorative justice, also suggests it can be used in non-criminal settings to prevent and manage workplace conflict.

Strang et al. (2003)

- Conducted a meta-analysis of ten studies looking at offenders who experienced face-to-face restorative justice schemes and those who experienced custodial sentencing. Restorative justice group were significantly less likely to reoffend.

Cognition and Development:

Disequilibrium and equilibrium

- Pushed to learn when our existing schema cannot understand something. This causes the unpleasant feeling of disequilibrium which we wish to escape.

Assimilation (Piaget)

- We add new information to an existing schema.

Accommodation (Piaget)

- We drastically change an existing schema or make a new one to equilibrate new information.

Lazonder and Hamsen (2016)

- Concluded that discovery learning ALONGSIDE considerable teacher input was best for learning - input from others is very important.

Piaget sample

- He studied his own children and university children - likely to be either more motivated or more intelligent than the general wider population. Low external validity.

Piaget's stages of development

- Sensorimotor stage (0-2) - Learning basic coordination - learn object permanence around eight months. Pre-operational stage (2-7) - Lack adult reasoning: struggle with class inclusion, egocentrism, and conservation. Stage of concrete operations (7-11) - Can complete previous stages but struggle with abstract reasoning. Stage of formal operations (11+) - Can cope with abstract ideas including syllogisms.

Piaget and Inhelder (1956)

- Egocentrism with the three mountain task. Child sat looking at three mountains, one with a cross, one with a house, and one with snow. Doll sat on a different angle - shown photos and asked to say what the doll sees. Younger children only pick their POV as they are egocentric.

Piaget and Inhelder (1964)

- There are five dogs and two cats. Are there more dogs or animals? Children in pre-operational stage will claim more dogs.

Conservation

- Mass remains the same even when in different shapes.

Syllogisms

- Piaget - All yellow cats have two heads. I have a yellow cat called Charlie, how many heads does it have? Younger children cannot handle the abstract scenario so answer 'one'.

Siegler and Svetina (2006)

- 100 five-year-olds from Slovenia. With feedback for class inclusion - children could understand it (dogs are a type of animal so must be included). Children given true explanations saw improvement in scores for class inclusion tests, suggesting younger than 7 can use class inclusion. - Only a criticism of age it starts, not the actual theory.

How does learning take place - Vygotsky

- Learning is a social process. Knowledge is first intermental (external between a more experienced person and a less experienced one) before becoming intramental (internal).

Vygotsky explains cultural differences

- If learning is social and comes from experienced people - reasoning abilities will also come from them. Explains differences across cultures.

ZPD

- Zone of proximal development - Current ability vs potential ability. Expert assistance can help a child cross this.

Scaffolding and its levels

- Scaffolding is the process of helping a child cross the ZPD. Level 5 - Demonstration Level 4 - Preparation Level 3 - Indication of materials Level 2 - Verbal instructions Level 1 - General prompts.

Conner and Cross (2003)

- Observed mothers engaging with their children during problem-solving tasks at 16, 26, 44, and 54 months of age. Mothers moved down the levels of scaffolding as children got older.

Liu and Matthews (2005)

- Whilst Vygotsky's theory has strong application in education - China follows lecture-style teaching in groups of up to 50 effectively. Social interaction may not therefore be a necessity for learning.

Baillargeon and Graber (1987)

- VOE - 24 babies 5-6 months a tall and short rabbit passing through a screen with a window on top. Expected event - short rabbit passing through and not being seen through window. Violation of expectation - a tall rabbit passing through and not being seen in the window. A baby with object permanence will show surprise at violated expectation event. Babies looked at VOE for 33.07 seconds as opposed to 25.11 seconds in the control.

Time looked at VOE

- 33.07 seconds.

Time looked at control - VOE

- 25.11 seconds.

Baillargeon et al. (2012)

- PRS - Went on to propose that infants are born with an innate physical reasoning system, meaning that we have innate understandings of things such as object persistence, to help us make sense of the world.

Selman (1971)

- Procedure - Holly promises not to climb trees to her father. Her friend's cat is stuck up a tree. 30M and 30F children - 20 4 - 20 5 - 20 6 asked to explain how each person would feel if she did/didn't climb the tree. Generated levels of perspective-taking from this.

Selman's levels of perspective taking

- Stage 0 - Egocentric (3-6) - Can understand emotional states but not why. Stage 1 Social-informational (6-8) - Can distinguish between their POV and others. Stage 2 - Self-reflective (8-10) - Can fully appreciate other POVs but only one at a time. Stage 3 - Mutual (10-12) - Multiple POVs at a time. Stage 4 - Social and conventional system (12+) - Understand that understanding other POVs does not = agreement.

Interpersonal understanding (Selman)

- Understand social situations through perspective-taking.

Interpersonal negotiation strategies (Selman)

- Develop skills in how to respond others' thoughts in social situations.

Awareness of personal meaning in relationships (Selman)

- Ability to reflect on social behaviour in the contexts of different relationships.

Gurucharri and Selman (1982)

- Longitudinal study of children over-time - improved perspective taking with age.

Meltzoff (1988)

- ToM - Beads and jars. 18-month-old toddlers observed adults either struggle to put beads in a jar and drop some or saw them do it successfully. When the toddlers were asked to do the task - they dropped no more beads in the experimental than in the control.

Baron-Cohen et al. (1985)

- ToM through the Sally-Anne study. Sally places a marble in a basket. When not looking Anne moves the marble to a box. Where will Sally check first? Given to 20 autistic, 27 non-autistic, and 14 children with Down syndrome. 85% in control but only 20% in autism - may be an explanation for autism (not related to IQ).

Baron-Cohen et al. (1997)

- Sally-Anne study doesn't work on adults. Developed the eye-test for autism. Many autistic adults struggled, further cementing ToM as an explanation for autism.

Rizzolati et al. (2002)

- Discovered mirror neurones after examining electrical activity in monkeys. A researcher picked up their lunch, and the money's neural activity mirrored it.

Mirror neurones' role

- It is suggested that they help us understand the intentions behind actions, and therefore help with ToM and perspective-taking.

Ramachandran (2011)

- Suggests mirror neurones can explain how our culture has developed - allowing for complex social interactions and rules.

'Broken mirror' theory of autism

- (Ramachandran and Oberman) Neurological deficits such as dysfunction in mirror neurones could explain social awkwardness in autism - not complete ability to read emotions and intentions.