5 - PSYCHOLOGY AND CRIME

HISTORICAL CONTEXT- main people to use..

• Cesare Lombroso: father of criminal profiling; focused on the “criminal type.”

• Wilhelm Wundt and William James: founders of modern psychology.

• Both fields were part of modernity’s faith in science — explaining human behaviour scientifically rather than morally or spiritually.

What is the core question asked

Core question: Can psychology or criminology truly be called a science?

Nature vs Nurture- what is they key debate?

• Debate: Are we shaped by biology (nature) or environment (nurture)?

• Modern psychologists: behaviour results from interaction of both.

• Early biological explanations (e.g., body types, hormones, heredity) failed to account for environmental influence.

• Modern stance: behaviour = biology × environment.

• Key text: Wilson & Herrnstein (1985), Crime and Human Nature.

Psychoanalytic Theories (Freud, Aichorn, Bowlby)

• FREUD

• Freud: Mind = id (instincts), ego (rational self), super-ego (moral conscience).

• Crime = failure of the super-ego to control id impulses.

Psychoanalytic Theories (Freud, Aichorn, Bowlby)

• ALCHORN

Aichorn (1925): concept of latent delinquency—underdeveloped super-ego leads to criminal predisposition.

Psychoanalytic Theories (Freud, Aichorn, Bowlby)

• BOWLBY 

• Bowlby (1944): maternal deprivation → antisocial behaviour; separation from mother damages emotional development.

• Critiques: unscientific, untestable, overly interpretative, yet influential in youth justice and welfare policy.

Social Learning & Behavioural Theories

• Crime is a learned behaviour.

• Influenced by Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory: behaviour is learned from close social groups.

• B.F SKINNER…

Operant Learning — behaviour shaped by rewards and punishments (ABC model: Antecedent–Behaviour–Consequence).

Social Learning & Behavioural Theories

• BANDURA..

• Social Learning Theory — people learn by observing others (e.g., aggression through imitation).

• Core idea: deviance is socially and environmentally conditioned.

Trait-Based Personality Theories (Eysenck)

• Eysenck: personality = clusters of traits:

• ntroversion–Extroversion

• Neuroticism (emotional instability)

• Psychoticism (predisposition to psychopathy)

• High scorers on all three → more prone to crime.

Trait-Based Personality Theories (Eysenck)

• Eysenck- Critiques 

• Weak empirical evidence for crime–extroversion link.

• Tautological: impulsiveness both cause and effect of crime.

• Led to psychometric testing for predicting criminality, though still methodologically flawed.

Cognitive Theories

• Focus on how criminals think and make decisions.

• Yochelson & Samenow (1976):

• The Criminal Personality — identified 52 “errors of criminal thinking.”

• Crime = result of faulty cognitive processes.

• Led to cognitive-behavioural programmes (CBT) used in prisons to correct “criminal thinking.”

• Critiques: limited scope, neglects social inequalities (class, race, gender), overly reductionist.

Contemporary Narrative Approaches

• Crime seen as shaped by personal stories or “narratives of feeling.”

• Narrative therapy: helps offenders re-author their life stories and assume responsibility.

• Reflects modern correctional focus on rehabilitation and self-control rather than punishment.

Key Takeaways / Summary

• Psychology offers valuable insights but often overstates its explanatory power.

• Myths (e.g., “born psychopaths”) are largely media creations.

• Psychology’s practical role: offender profiling, rehabilitation, eyewitness research, etc.

• Still, tension remains between psychology’s scientific aspirations and criminology’s sociological focus.

Beccaria 2015 quote

‘Beccaria’s rational man gave way to the determined individual of positivist science”

Defining psychological positivism 

• crime explained through personality, emotion, and cognition rather than conscious choice

• shares positivist faith in causation, prediction and treatment

Carrabine et all 2020 quote

“Behaviour is a product of internal psychological processes rather than free will”

Jones 2008 quote

“Moral reasoning and emotion are central to understanding why some individuals transgress social norms”

FREUD- what were his key points?

• Freud linked emotional development with moral reasoning

• offending may reflect unresolved guilt or moral immaturity

• highlights the emotional dimension of criminal behaviour 

Hans Eysenck-

• Personality and conditioning

• what personality traits affect criminal tendencies?

• - extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism 

• poor conditioning reduces conscience formation

• crime results when conditioning fails to regulate impulses

SOCIAL LEARNING

• CARRABINE ET AL 2020 QUOTE

“Learning occurs through observing and imitating others’ behaviour”

• environment shapes criminal habits through rewards and reinforcement 

Attachment and early experience

• Bowlby..?

• Bowlby’s attachment theory linked maternal deprivation to later offending 

• weak attachment disrupts empathy and emotional regulation 

• emotional security underpins moral behaviour 

Treatment and rehabilitation challenges

• CBT, anger management show limited success with psychopathy 

• debate whether psychopathy is treatable or a fixed personality disordder

• risk management strategies often prioritise containment over rehabilitation