Individualistic theories

individualist

Learning theories

focuses on the role of rewards, punishments and role models

Psychodynamic

emphasise the individuals personality characteristics that are related to criminality

Psychological theories

looks at the role of childhood trauma and unconscious forces in determining criminality

Bowlbys maternal deprivation study

Aim = to test the maternal deprivation hypothesis. To see whether early seperations were assosiated with the risk of behavioural disorders. ‘affectionless psychopathy’.

Bowlby usd this term to describe eople who feel no guilt . they lack social conscience.

Bowlby research procedure

• the participants in this study were 88 children from age 5-16 who were referred to the child guidance clinic where Bowlby worked

• 44 of the children were referred to the clinic because of stealing. 16 of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths

• the remaining 44 had no committed any crimes

• Bowlby interviewed the children ad their families and was able to build a record if their early life experiences

Bowlby found that 86% of those thieves diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths had experienced early separation from their mothers.

conclusion = suggests there was a link between early separations and later social and emotional maladjustments .

maternal deprivation leads to affectionless psychopathy

Behaviourist Psychology

Behaviourism is a theory of learning based on the idea

that all behaviours are leant. Biological explanations, behaviourism suggests that criminality is not something that is innate. It is learnt through interactions with the environment. An important part of learning is the consequences for a behaviour

Operant conditioning’ is based on the consequences of a behaviour

1. positive reinforcement = receiving something good for an action which encourages behaviour to be repeated

2. negative reinforcement = the removal of something bad when a certain behaviour is reproduced, allows the behaviour to be repeated

3. punishment = involves a negative event following the action which makes you less likely to repeat the actions again. Not the same as negative reinforcement

positive and negative consequences

positive consequences = keeping stolen items, not getting caught committing crime, thrills

Negative consequences = crime and record, prison, being disowned.

social learning theory

Behaviourism suggested that learning takes place directly e.g. a person would have o experience the consequences of n action themselves in order to learn the behaviour. Social learning theory believed learning could also take place indirectly through observation and imitation of role models.

Bandura bobo doll study

Bandura suggested that children learn and imitate behaviours through observations, showing that exposure to adult aggression leads to n increased physical and verbal aggression. He experienced this through Bobo dolls.

He found boys were more physically violent then girls.

In a later study, Bandura showed the importance of vicarious reinforcement. This occurs when you learn behaviour by seeing another person being rewarded/punished.

He showed them films of a person being rewarded/punished for behaving aggressively. The children who saw the person being rewarded were much more likely to imitate the behaviour than those who saw the person punished

Sutherland Differential association theory

Sutherland applied SLF to crime directly he was most interested in explaining why people committed WCC.

He said that our own social interactions lead to criminality

interactions lead to two learning processes exposure to pro criminal attitudes and being taught the techniques used to commit crime.

Sutherland was interested mostly why people commit WCC

Evaluation for operant conditioning

Strengths=

• Skinners research with animals ha shown that they learn through experience of being rewarded this can be applied to humans

• Jeffreys argues that this can be applied to offending if it leads to more rewarding than punishing outcomes, offending behaviours is like to continue

Limitations =

Studies based n animals face issue of generalisation when trying to explain human behaviour, such as criminalities.

OC explanations ignores internal processes, such s thinking, beliefs, values an free will, only refer to simplistic concept of rewards and punishment

Evaluation of differential association theory

Strengths=

• DA theory is supported by the fact that crime often runs in families

• Mathew found that delinquents were more likely to have friends that had committed anti social acts, showing young people offend after interactions with criminal peets

Limitations = Not everyone who has been exposed to pro attitudes commit crime. The model cant explain this.

Psychodynamic theories

Freuds drew attention to the importance of memories/traumatic experiences that occurred during childhood which became stored in the unconscious part of the psyche which influenced an individuals conscious thoughts/behaviour. Resulted in a range of personality disorders = criminal activity

Freud believed tat we can understand human behaviour best by examining early childhood experiences.

Freud theory of consciousness and theory of personality = related to crime.

Freud theory of consciousness

1. the conscious mind included everything we are aware of. We think and talk rationally

2. the preconscious mind is the part of the mind that represents ordinary memory. While we are not consciously aware of this information at any given time, we can retrieve it, and pull into consciousness when needed.

3. the unconscious mind is a place for feelings, thoughts, urges and memories that outside of our awareness.

according to Freud the unconscious continues to influence our behaviour and experience.

he explained that criminal behaviour is a product of our unconscious desires.

Freud theory of personality

Id = is completely selfish, immediate gratification. May also lead to aggression and violence

Ego = the mediator between the other two parts of the personality. It develops around the age of 2. The role is to reduce conflict between the demands of the id and the superego.

Super ego = forms around the age of 5. it is our internalized sense of right and wrong. The super ego is responsible for our feelings of guilt and shame.

Blackburn imbalance of the 3 parts of the personality

weak superego = if a same sex parent is absent during the early stages of childhood because the child does not have anyone to identify with. Leads to antisocial or criminal activity

deviant superego = if the child’s parent is deviant and lack morality then they will internalise this when they identify with them at 5. Will more likely engage with criminal behaviour

overharsh superego = if a child is severely punished they will be overwhelmed with guilt unconsciously. Drives the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego need for punishment

Evaluation for Freud psychodynamic of criminality

Strengths =

childhood experiences shape adult behaviours = criminal development

Limitations =

Studies show little proof that children raised without a same-sex parent (weak superego) are more likely to be criminals.

Eysenck personality traits

personality refers to patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that differs between individual. These are relatively consistent from one situation to another and over time

extroversion = They are talkative, assertive, and enjoy connecting with others.

introversion = linked with narcissism

psychotism = delusions and hallucinations not just as symptoms of breakdown, but as a desperate attempt at healing