chap 4 Psychology and Crime

psychic determinism

by sigmund freud: all behaviors are caused by conscious or unconscious desires, especially from childhood experiences

id

impulsiveness “it feels good so do it”

superego

skin to a conscience; keeper of prohibitions (judgement) “maybe not”

ego

psychological thermostat (conscious) “maybe let’s compromise”

anxiety

sources from an unmet desire or unconscious desire starts to become conscious

defense mechanisms

denial, rationalization, repression, reaction formation, projection

behaviorists

a specific behavior

BF Skinner

believed that criminals are not abnormal, just responding to rewards & punishments within environment 

classical conditioning

information from stimuli & reaction; can u retain? (most crime NOT learned by this)

operant conditioning

positive reinforcement is a reward that increases target behavior, while negative is removing unwanted stimuli to increase target behavior. Punishment decreases target behavior

observational learning

Albert Bandura conducted Bobo Clown Doll experiements; child watching an adult act aggressive..; agression is learned, not by trial and error (operant) but through observations

operant conditioning

WHY crime: parents’ failure to effectively condition children away, and harsh punishment increases crime

labeling theory

may create negative self image and to peers; formal interventions may increase crim behavior

little empirical support, inaccuracy, nature of the person or nature of the act, and arrest can sometimes reduce future crime

criticisms of labeling theory

perpetrators often unpunished, targets of violence show little pain, few long term negative consequences

does media influence crim behavior?

anecdotal evidence

people mimic crim behavior from media, experiments show exposure to violent media leads to short term aggression

contagion theory

views publicized violence such as mass shootings similar to a disease (1. spread predictabley 2. copycat effects 3. effects difficult to predict 4. cultural script for later shooters 5. evidence that mass shooting events cluster in patterned ways)