2 - Developmental Factors

developmental factors

study of change over time, preprogrammed by biological maturation

crime can be highly ______ over the lifespan

transient

developmental trajectories

influences, something taking a path, factors that mediate the outcome

• where an individual is in life changes which factors have greatest influence

• soccer ex., strength of kick, foot placement, air pressure of ball

• ex., having low IQ in childhood leads to negative peers in adolescence

the 5 developmental risk factors

1. cognitive deficits

2. scholastic factors

3. familial factors

4. low SES

5. antisocial peer affiliation

cognitive development

refer to attention, concentration, memory, higher executive functioning (like planning, problem solving, anticipating)

• individually administered

• reliable

• tap a broad range of abilities

measures of cognitive development

• standardized IQ batteries

  • valid and reliable

  • predict academic success and future career well (highly correlated)

• neuropsychological measures

  • ex., grip strength, spatial reasoning, differing between tones

social cognition

ability to comprehend the behaviour and motives of others

• should be considered alongside IQ

moral reasoning

not well correlated with offending behaviour. Criminals can understand and comprehend their actions, but don’t care

DIT (defining issues test)

test about moral development (ex., Singh and the tree bark soup)

differential apprehension effect / artifact

idea that individuals that are less intelligent aren’t good at covering up their crimes, they are more likely to get caught and convicted which over-represents them in criminal samples

• they are NOT more likely to commit crimes

intellectually deficient

IQ < 70 (2SD), 2% of criminals, 9.5% including less serious offences

IQ is a _____ predictor of criminality than social class

stronger

FSIQ (full scale IQ)

global measurement

• white (majority) crime slightly increases as IQ decreases

• black (minority) crime slightly increases as IQ decreases

VIQ (verbal IQ)

experience in formal education, subset of skills

• largest difference between low and high crime and IQ

PIQ (performance IQ)

immediate problem solving

• IQ drops to a lesser degree as crime increases compared to VIQ

4 possible answers to why low IQ associated with criminality

1. apprehension artifact (less success concealing crime)

2. IQs lower due to delinquent lifestyle (drugs, school dropout)

3. IQ effects are mediated by poor scholastic achievement and social adjustment

4. low IQ scores are correlates of deeper, more pervasive deficits (ex., psychopaths differ in brain)

mediator

attenuate relationship between IV and DV

• ex., scholastic adjustment for black people

• dimmer switch

moderator

enables or disables relationship between mediator and DV

• ex., race between IQ and criminality

• on / off switch

interaction effect

when lines on the graph aren’t parallel

results of Perry preschool project

experimental group went to preschool for 1-2 years and had home visits by teachers

at age 27, 71% of experimental subjects had HS diploma vs. 54% of control

• how many years of schooling completed was the most positive predictor of lower later offending

_______ schools produce fewer delinquents

parochial, as parents are more invested and strict

school atmospheres that are _____ ___ _____ produce fewr delinquents

warm but restrictive

changes in the brain before 25

at full size by 11-12 (g) and 13 (b), but changing neural organization

proliferation

the formation of new synaptic connections through learning

• adolescence period of neural exuberance where new connections are rapidly formed in response to environmental stimuli

pruning

critical part of brain maturation involving the loss of unnecessary synaptic connections

• takes place through myelination

myelination

growth of white matter that insulates neurons and makes brain more efficient

• maladaptive behaviour due to habits made from physical neural connections

mesolimbic system

reward center

• disproportionate amount of approach seeking behaviour without consideration of consequences in adolescence

ventral tegmental

releases dopamine into nucleus accumbens

• affects motivation to pursue reward stimuli

prefrontal cortex

responsible for higher executive functioning

• decision making

• suppressing urges

• social decision making

• mental sketch pad for forecasting

• dynamic filtering

• pumps the brakes on reward seeking behaviour by inhibiting neural transmissions

approach tendency

reward-seeking behaviour based on past reinforcement

50% of neurons in reward center are pruned before adulthood, giving greater capacity to _____ _____ combined with lower approach tendencies

defer gratification (a hallmark of maturity)

dynamic filtering

choosing what to pay attention to in the prefrontal cortex

the PFC has the ability to ___ ____

inhibit behaviours

• as it develops later, tendency for risk taking is strong

risk taking in adolescence is not due to ____ ____ or inability to accurately ____ ____

risk tolerance, calculate risk

• these are intact

• adolescents understand the consequences, just don’t think before acting

moderate corporal punishment is associated with increased child _______

aggressiveness

when is the biggest jump in antisocial behaviour when it comes to CP from the mom?

biggest jump from never to not in 6 months

due to:

• punishment contingency improperly structured

• modelling effects

• disrupting child-parent bonding

• lowered self-esteem

punishment contingency

needs explicit relationship between behaviour and consequences, as well as consistency

• stimulus salience, should be the most recent behaviour before consequence

CP also associated with increased risk for mental health problems and diminished _____ later

empathy

disproportionately high number of criminals come from ____ ______

broken homes (single parent families)

• though often confounded with other factors like SES

it is ______ for children to be raised by single parent than household with conflict

better

Loeber and Dishion’s low risk ASB factors

• dad’s discipline: firm but kind

• mom’s supervision: attentive, suitable

• parent’s affection: warm

• family cohesiveness: close but differentiated

Loeber and Dishion’s high risk ASB factors

• dad’s discipline: lax, erratic, or excessive

• mom’s supervision: distant, detached

• parent’s affection: hostile

• family cohesiveness: unintegrated OR enmeshed

chaos theory

philosophy and physics, even in cases of apparent randomness, there are underlying patterns and causal forces at play

sensitive dependence on initial conditions

also known as butterfly effect

• small differences at one point can cause massive differences elsewhere

Moffit’s model of criminality

• crime by youth sharply increases between puberty and 18

• after, most youth return to crime-free lives (AL)

• 5% go on to be career criminals (LCP)