Psychology of Violence and Intimidation

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key terminology and theoretical perspectives from Chapter 8 on the psychology of violence, including homicide typologies, threat assessment, and stalking.

Violence

Physical force for inflicting pain, discomfort, or abuse.

Aggression

Behavior with intent of harming another individual.

Ethnocentrism

A factor that limits the ability to assess race and ethnic differences in criminal violence.

Instrumental violence

A classification of criminal violence along a continuum.

Reactive/expressive violence

A classification of criminal violence along a continuum.

Observational learning

A process through which viewing media violence contributes to aggression.

Threat

The expression of intent to do harm.

Threat assessment

The process of predicting future violence.

Psychological risk assessment

The evaluation of the likelihood of dangerous behavior.

Code of silence

A type of school threat characterized by the fear of repercussions.

Leakage

An important preventive strategy in school threat assessment involving the disclosure of intentions.

Safe School Initiative Report

A study of school shootings that determined revenge was a motive for more than half and that no useful profile for a "school shooter" exists.

Criminal homicide

Causing death without legal justification.

Murder

Unlawful killing with malice.

Manslaughter

Unintended killing resulting from unjustifiable conduct.

Serial murder

When an individual separately kills a number of people.

Spree murder

Multiple killings with no cooling-off period.

Mass murder

Victimization categorized as classic or family.

Visionary type

A specific typology of serial killer.

Mission oriented type

A specific typology of serial killer.

Hedonistic type

A specific typology of serial killer.

Power/Control type

A specific typology of serial killer.

Hate or Bias Crimes

Crimes motivated by the offender's bias against a group.

Stalking

A course of conduct that causes fear.

Cyberstalking

A form of traditional stalking that uses new forms of communication and provides anonymity.

Bullying

A form of peer aggression.

Cyberbullying

Peer aggression conducted through all pervasive digital communication.