Biological explantions for offending behaviour: A historical approach

studied byStudied by 0 people
0.0(0)
learn
LearnA personalized and smart learning plan
exam
Practice TestTake a test on your terms and definitions
spaced repetition
Spaced RepetitionScientifically backed study method
heart puzzle
Matching GameHow quick can you match all your cards?
flashcards
FlashcardsStudy terms and definitions

1 / 18

encourage image

There's no tags or description

Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.

19 Terms

1

whats the atavistic form?

An explanation for criminal behaviour, suggesting that certain individuals are born with a criminal personality and this innate personality is a throwback to earlier primate forms.

New cards
2

who came up with the atavistic form?

Lombroso

New cards
3

what did Lomobroso suggest about criminal behaviour?

  • that offenders possessed similar characteristics to lower primates and this could explain their criminality.

  • Based on this theory, Lombroso suggested that criminals are essentially throwbacks to an earlier species. 'Atavistic' means a tendency to revert to an ancestral type

New cards
4

what were some of the primitive characteristics that Lombroso said criminals had?

  • asymmetry of the face

  • nose beak-like in murderers

  • low set brows

New cards
5

how many criminal skulls did Lombroso examine?

  • 3839 in total

  • 383 dead criminals

New cards
6

what were the results of Lomobroso’s observational study?

around 40% of criminals examined had atavistic forms

New cards
7

What did Lombroso suggest about envrionmental influences?

proposed that inherited atavistic form interacted with a person's physical and social environment.

New cards
8

what were Lombroso’s 3 criminal types?

  1. Born criminals

  2. Insane criminals

  3. Criminaloids

New cards
9

what are born criminals?

the atavistic type; throwbacks identifiable from their physical characteristics.

New cards
10

what are insane criminals?

suffering from mental illness.

New cards
11

what are criminaloids?

a large general class of offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed them to criminal behaviour under the right circumstances (i.e. certain physical/social environments).

New cards
12

what did German psychiatrist Ernst Kretschmer suggest?

suggested that there were four types of somatostypes in relation to criminal types

New cards
13

what were the 4 somatotypes?

  1. Leptosome or asthenic - tall and thin; petty thieves.

  2. Athletic - tall and muscular; crimes of violence.

  3. Pyknic - short and fat; commit crimes of deception and sometimes violence.

  4. Dysplastic or mixed - more than one type; crimes against morality (e.g. prostitution).

New cards
14

what is Lombroso regarded as?

the founder of modern criminology

New cards
15

whats the main strength of Lombroso’s theory?

he based his ideas on empirical observation and detailed measurement

New cards
16

whats the main critisism of Lomobroso’s study?

it was observational and lacked adequate controls, When he studied prisoners, he didn't pay the same kind of attention to non-prisoners. Had he done so, it is likely that he would have found as many non-prisoners with the same characteristics as he found in prisoners.

New cards
17

what were the findings of Gorings study?

He compared 3,000 convicts with a group of non-convicts, finding no differences except for the fact that convicts were slightly smaller.

New cards
18

why is Lombroso’s theory an example of alpha bias?

as it is based on the notion that women are less evolved than men, Lombroso believed that women were naturally jealous and insensitive to pain, but also passiv low in intelligence and maternally focused - all of which meant they were less likely to be criminals. Those women who did become criminals, according to Lombroso, had masculine characteristics that turned them into monsters.

New cards
19

whats a strength for somatotypes?

Glueck and Glueck found that 60% of delinquents were mesomorphs, roughly equivalent to the athletic type. William Sheldon created a fairly similar set of somatotypes (ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs). Based on his own study of 200 young adults, he concluded that there were differences between delinquents and non-delinquents in terms of body type - the delinquents tended to be mesomorphs.

New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 18 people
899 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 32 people
794 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 1 person
28 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 103 people
856 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 3 people
761 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 10 people
693 days ago
4.5(2)
note Note
studied byStudied by 39 people
953 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 11 people
776 days ago
5.0(1)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (33)
studied byStudied by 3 people
792 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (62)
studied byStudied by 5 people
765 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (82)
studied byStudied by 10 people
56 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (40)
studied byStudied by 5 people
171 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (20)
studied byStudied by 115 people
507 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (25)
studied byStudied by 12 people
468 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (25)
studied byStudied by 2 people
661 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (38)
studied byStudied by 38 people
8 days ago
5.0(1)
robot