SOC 4410 Criminology Ch 6: Biological and Psychological Explanations of Crime

Early biological theories

theories that attempted to identify physical differences between offenders and nonoffenders

Franz Gall

believed that different areas of the brain controlled intellectual, moral, and criminal tendencies, and in phrenology

Phrenology

the belief that the shape of a person’s skull revealed development in intellectual, moral, and criminal tendencies.

Cesare Lombroso

often called the founder of positivist criminology, argued that some offenders were evolutionary “throwbacks” resembling people from an earlier stage of human development.

Atavists

Humans that were evolutionary “throwbacks”, resembling humans from an earlier stage of human development

Italian soldiers and prisoners

Who were parts of Lombroso’s atavism experiment

Earnest Hooten

Claimed ppl who committed crimes were biologically inferior

Sterilization/forced separation

What did Hooton use his conclusions about biological inferiority to support?

William Sheldon

Who proposed body types affected personality and criminal behavior?

Endomorphs, Mesomorphs, Ectomorphs

What were the three body type categories that William Sheldon proposed?

Endomorph

This body type is heavier, supposedly relaxed and sociable

Mesopmorph

This body type is muscular and supposedly aggressive

Ectomorph

This body type is thin and supposedly introverted and sensitive

Mesophmorph

Sheldon argued this body type to be more likely to commit crimes

Somatology

What was Sheldon’s theory called?

Contemporary biological explanations

Type of explanation in which researchers examine heredity, genes, brain functioning, body chemistry, prenatal development, childhood health, and environmental toxins.

f

Criminality is proven to be genetically inherited (t/f)

concordance

when both members of a pair of twins behave similarly

discordance

when both members of a pair of twins behave differently

MAOA gene

which gene regulates seritonin?

Survival/reproduction

Evolutionary theories propose that behavioral tendencies may persist today that assisted in what?

XYY

What chromosomal variation is possibly connected to criminal behavior?

Testostorone

What hormone is linked with crime but in reality has no proven correlation

PMS

What syndrome affects women and has been attempted to be linked to female crime?

Low seritonin

What neurotransmitter has been associated to aggression

Nutrition and Diet

This factor may interfere with neurological and cognitive development; often an issue in low-income areas

t

Complications during pregnancy and birth may affect neurological and cognitive development (t/f)

ACE’s

include physical or sexual abuse, serious family conflict, deep poverty, and exposure to violence. Repeated exposure can create chronic or “toxic” stress, which may affect neurological development and increase the risk of later behavioral difficulties. These only raise risk, they do not certify crime.

Reduction of lead exposure may have contributed to the decline in crime beginning in the 1990s (t/f)

t

Deliquency

Early puberty may cause higher rates of ____

biosocial/biopsychosocial

This approach recognizes that biological characteristics interact with psychological and social environments.

dual-hazard effect

suggests that offending becomes more likely when a biological vulnerability exists alongside a harmful family or social environment.

Id

Part of personality: instinctive desires seeking immediate gratification

Ego

Part of personality: the rational component that considers reality and consequences

Superego

Part of personality: the internalized moral code or conscience

Jean Piaget

Described stages of a child’s cognitive development

Lawrence Kohlberg

Proposed that ppl also progress through stages of moral reasoning. also suggested that incomplete moral development could contribute to antisocial behavior.

t

There is a link btwn lower IQ scores and delinquency (t/f)

t

Biological and psychological research is most useful when it supports prevention rather than labeling or punishment. (t/f)