Criminal Psychology, Psychological Problems, and Developmental Psychology Study Guide

Criminal Psychology: Cooper and Mackie (1986)

Bibliographic Information

• Authors: Cooper, J. and Mackie, D.

• Date: 1986

• Title: Video Games and Aggression in Children

• Publication: Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 726-744.

Background and Rationale

• Previous Television Research: Research prior to this study indicated that television violence increases the tendency toward aggressive behaviour in children. Historically, these studies primarily utilized male participants.

• Arousal Theory: Viewing aggression is believed to heighten physiological arousal, which subsequently increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.

• Habituation and Subject Groups: Evidence suggests that "heavy watchers" of television violence demonstrate less physiological arousal to new violence compared to control groups. Consequently, children with the least exposure to violence are expected to be the most aroused and thus most likely to act aggressively upon exposure.

• Girls as a Focal Group: Because girls generally have less exposure to and experience with violence, the researchers hypothesized they might be the group most aroused by violent contexts, potentially showing more pronounced reactions than boys.

• Video Game Revolution: Video games have significantly changed children’s leisure time. Many believe these games negatively impact behaviour.

• Active vs. Passive Engagement: Unlike television viewers, who are passive recipients, video game players are active participants. Video games allow researchers to compare the effects of active engagement (playing) versus passive reception (observing) within a violent context.

Study Aim and Hypotheses

• Aim: To investigate whether computer-generated games depicting high levels of violence affected children, and specifically, if effects differed between boys and girls.

• Hypothesis 1: Boys and girls will perceive video games differently.

• Hypothesis 2: Aggressive video games will have a greater impact on children’s behaviour than non-aggressive video games.

Research Methodology and Design

• Method: This was a laboratory experiment using an independent measures design.

• Independent Variables (IV):     * Condition: Participants were placed in a high aggression, low aggression, or control group.     * Role: Participants were designated as either a "player" or an "observer."

• Data Collection Techniques:     * Observation: Used to gather experimental data during play sessions.     * Self-Report: Questionnaires assessed video gaming experience, perceptions of the games, and interpersonal aggression.

• Sample Description:     * Total: $84$ children ($44$ males, $40$ females).     * Grade Level: Fourth- and fifth-graders.     * Location: Schools in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, USA.     * Pairing: Children were paired randomly within the same sex and grade level. Parent consent was obtained.

• Apparatus and Materials:     * Aggressive Game: Missile Command (destroying laser beams before they demolish cities; involves shooting and violence against people and objects).     * Non-Aggressive Game: Pac-Man (chasing and being chased by ghosts in a maze; minimal violence, almost no shooting).     * Control Task: A pen and paper game involving magic markers to solve mazes featuring Star Wars and Tron characters.     * Toy Room Selection:         * Aggressive toy: $3$ foot high plastic Shogun Warrior with spring-releasing fist and dart-firers.         * Active toy: Nerf Basketball set with a shooting net.         * Skill-based game: Table-top Pop-up Pinball game.         * Quiet toy: Large set of Lincoln Logs and roofing pieces (building set).

Experimental Procedure

• Initial Step: One week before the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire about their existing video game experience.

• Session Start: Pairs were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Missile Command, Pac-Man, or the maze-solving control.

• Play Phase: One child in the pair played the game for $8$ minutes while the other observed. Experimenters recorded the player's cumulative score.

• Observer Instructions: Observers were told to watch and could advise or encourage partners but were forbidden from participating.

• Aggressive Play Measurement (The Toy Room):     * The players were sent to a room with the four pre-selected toys and told they could do "anything they liked" while waiting for a second observer.     * A second observer sat in the corner and covertly recorded toy choice, order of use, and duration of play.

• Interpersonal Aggression Measurement:     * Simultaneously, the observers were sent to another room to assess interpersonal aggression via a punishment/reward task.     * Children chose the "worst" of three bad behaviours (talking back, hitting, stealing).     * They selected a punishment (not allowed out, restricted TV, or sent to their room) and pressed a red button to determine the duration of the punishment.     * This was repeated three times for bad behaviours and once for "doing something good" (helping, stopping a fight, cleaning). Rewards included high-interest items like staying up late.

• Crossover: After $8$ minutes, roles switched: players went for the interpersonal measure, and observers went to the toy room.

• Final Tasks: Before returning to class, participants completed a manipulation check and a questionnaire using $5$-point rating scales (measuring action, violence, liking of the game, and desire to continue play).

Key Findings

• Experience: $34/44$ boys had video games at home compared to $17/40$ girls. Average play time was $42.57$ minutes per day.

• Perception: Missile Command was perceived as most violent/active. Players across all conditions perceived games as more active than their observer counterparts. Males showed stronger confidence in performance across all games.

• Enjoyment: Boys enjoyed playing more than watching; girls (except in the maze game) enjoyed observing more than playing.

• Effect on Toy Play:     * Missile Command significantly increased aggressive play and general activity in girls but decreased their quiet and skill play.     * Pac-Man increased girls' quiet play and decreased activity.     * Boys' behaviour was largely uninfluenced by the specific game condition, except for a decrease in skill and overall activity in the Pac-Man condition.

• Interpersonal Aggression: Boys used the buzzer more than girls generally, but there was no specific "game-played" effect. Buzzer time increased over trials for those who played rather than observed.

Conclusions

• Playing and observing video games has measurable consequences specifically on girls' behaviour.

• Aggressive games increase the likelihood of subsequent aggressive toy play in girls.

• Boys' behavior was not similarly affected.

• Interpersonal aggression measures were not affected by playing or observing video games for either sex.

• Experimental effects were similar for those playing and those observing.

Criminal Psychology: Heaven (1996)

Bibliographic Information

• Author: Heaven, P. C. L.

• Date: 1996

• Title: Personality and Self-Reported Delinquency: A Longitudinal Analysis

• Publication: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 747-751.

Background and Study Aim

• Context: Previous research links individual differences to antisocial behaviour. Many studies use Eysenck’s model involving extroversion (E), psychoticism (P), and neuroticism (N).

• Specific Aim: To test if psychoticism, extroversion, and self-esteem at "Time 1" are significant predictors of self-reported delinquency two years later ("Time 2").

• Inclusion of Self-Esteem: Self-esteem replaced neuroticism because the predictive value of N has been questioned, and low self-esteem is theorized to be a facet of neuroticism that compensates for delinquency.

• Hypothesis: Measures of psychoticism, extroversion, and self-esteem are significant longitudinal predictors of self-reported delinquency.

Methodology and Sample

• Design: Longitudinal study using self-report questionnaires and correlational analysis over a two-year period.

• Sample (Time 1 - August 1992):     * $282$ adolescents ($146$ females, $136$ males) from two Catholic high schools in New South Wales, Australia.     * Age range: $13$-$15$ years (modal age: $14$).

• Sample (Time 2 - June 1994):     * $123$ females ($84\%$ follow-up) and $112$ males ($82.3\%$ follow-up).     * Modal age: $16$ years.

• Materials:     * Revised short forms for Psychoticism and Extroversion (Eysenck, Eysenck and Barrett, 1985).     * $10$-item global self-esteem measure.     * Delinquency measures: $6$-item interpersonal violence scale and $8$-item vandalism/theft scale ($1$ = Never to $4$ = Often).

• Procedure: Questionnaires were completed anonymously during class time ($30$-$40$ minutes). Numbers were used for tracking, but confidentiality was assured.

Key Findings and Conclusions

• Gender: Males engaged in more delinquency at both time points.

• Psychoticism: Psychoticism at Time 1 and 2 correlated with delinquency at both times. It was identified as the best predictor, supporting Eysenck’s Criminal Personality Theory.

• Extroversion: Correlated with delinquency at Time 2 only.

• Statistical Significance: Personality factors explained only a modest percentage of variance; the longitudinal influence was weak.

• Conclusion: The hypothesis was not significantly supported. Personality variables have limited utility as long-term predictors; psychosocial and environmental factors may be better determinants.

Psychological Problems: Daniel, Weinberger and Jones et al. (1991)

Bibliographic Information

• Authors: Daniel, D. G., Weinberger, D. R., Jones, D. W., et al.

• Date: 1991

• Title: The effect of amphetamine on regional cerebral blood flow during cognitive activation in Schizophrenia.

• Publication: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 1907-1917.

Background and Rationale

• Hypofrontality: Schizophrenia is linked to physiological hypoactivity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

• Dopamine Function: Dopamine suppresses spontaneous neural activity to enhance the "signal to noise" ratio, improving response to specific tasks.

• Inference: A dopaminergic agonist (like amphetamine) should increase dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activation during tasks requiring that area.

• Aim: To investigate dextroamphetamine's effects on DLPFC and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST).

Methodology

• Design: Double-blind, placebo-controlled lab experiment.

• Sample: $10$ chronic schizophrenic patients from the National Institute of Mental Health research wards at St Elizabeth’s. All were stabilized on haloperidol ($0.4\,mg/kg/d$) for $6$ weeks prior.

• Materials:     * Psychiatric Symptom Assessment Scale (PSAS).     * Tasks: WCST (cognitive) and BAR (sensorimotor control - matching bar orientations).     * Scanning: Xe Dynamic Single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT).

• Procedure: Subjects received an oral dose of either placebo or $0.25\,mg/kg$ dextroamphetamine. Testing occurred $120$ minutes post-ingestion (peak plasma levels). Order was counterbalanced.

Findings and Conclusions

• rCBF Findings: Amphetamine produced a modest, non-significant global reduction in blood flow. However, it significantly increased the ratio of PFC blood flow specifically during the WCST.

• Cognitive Performance: Amphetamine significantly improved two WCST parameters: number of correct responses and percent conceptual level responses.

• Relationship: In the placebo condition, there was no correlation between DLPFC blood flow and performance.

• Conclusions: Amphetamine enhances the cortex’s ability to focus activity on task-specific areas (DLFC). It reinforces task-specific activation despite decreasing global cerebral blood flow.

Psychological Problems: Tandoc, Ferrucci and Duffy (2015)

Bibliographic Information

• Authors: Tandoc Jr, E. C., Ferrucci, P. and Duffy, M.

• Date: 2015

• Title: Facebook use, envy, and depression among college students: Is facebooking depressing?

• Publication: Computers in Human Behaviour, vol. 43, pp. 139-146.

Aim and Background

• Context: College students are prone to depression due to life transitions. Researchers hypothesize heavy social network site (SNS) use contributes to this.

• Facebook Envy: Defined as envy felt after consuming others' personal information. Higher friend counts lead to more points of comparison, potentially fostering inferiority and depression.

• Aim: To examine if heavy Facebook use leads to depression and the role of envy as a mediator, using Social Rank Theory.

Methodology

• Design: Self-report online survey.

• Sample: $736$ journalism students from a Midwestern USA university ($68\%$ female; average age $19$ years; $78\%$ White American). Participants used Facebook for an average of $2$ hours daily.

• Materials:     * Facebook Use: Frequency of activities like status updates, commenting, and "surveillance use" (viewing photos/timelines).     * Envy: $8$-item 5-point Likert Scale (e.g., "Many of my friends have a better life than me").     * Depression: Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).

Findings and Conclusions

• Direct Relationship: No significant direct link between Facebook frequency and depression was found.

• Surveillance/Envy: "Surveillance use" (tracking others) was positively associated with envy. Heavy users experienced stronger envy.

• Mediation: Facebook envy mediates the relationship; surveillance use only leads to depression if it triggers envy. If envy is controlled for, Facebook use can actually lessen depression.

• Friend Network: The size of the friend network did not significantly impact envy levels.

Development: Piaget (1952)

Background and Theories

• Conservation: The understanding that physical characteristics stay the same despite outward changes.

• Theory Stages: Pre-operational children (under $7$) fail to conserve because they are influenced by appearances; Concrete operational children ($7$-$11$) develop this ability.

• Sequence: Number conservation usually develops first, followed by mass and liquid.

Study Details

• Aim: To show concrete operational children are more likely to conserve number than pre-operational children.

• Design: Natural experiment (IV: Age), cross-sectional, independent measures.

• Sample: Small group of Genevan school children, including Piaget’s own children.

• Procedure:     1. Child is shown two rows of counters in one-to-one correspondence.     2. Experimenter asks: "Is there the same number of counters in each row?"     3. One row is spread out (transformed).     4. Question is repeated.

Findings and Criticisms

• Findings: $3$-$4$ year olds said the longer row had "more." Older children ($7$-$11$) correctly identified the number as the same and provided logical justifications.

• Criticisms:     * Questioning: Asking the same question twice creates demand characteristics; children may change their answer thinking the first was wrong.     * Ecological Validity: McGarrigle and Donaldson's "Naughty Teddy" study showed that when changes appear accidental, children as young as $4$ can conserve.     * Sample Bias: Small, culturally specific sample (Geneva).

Development: Blackwell, Trzesniewski and Dweck (2007)

Background

• Implicit Theories of Intelligence: Fixed mindset (intelligence is unchangeable) vs. Growth mindset (intelligence is malleable).

• Context: The transition to junior high school ($12$-$13$ years old) in the USA.

Study 1

• Focus: Relationship between theories of intelligence and achievement.

• Method: Correlational field study in NYC. $373$ seventh graders.

• Findings: Theory of intelligence at the start of seventh grade did not correlate with initial scores but predicted maths grades by the end of eighth grade. Growth mindsets predicted higher grades and greater improvement.

Study 2

• Focus: Impact of an academic intervention on motivation and achievement.

• Method: Experimental intervention. $99$ students ($48$ experimental, $43$ control).

• Procedure: Experimental group taught that "intelligence is malleable" via science-based readings. Control group learned about memory.

• Findings: The experimental group showed significantly more positive mindsets post-intervention. Teachers reported increased motivation in the experimental group. These students achieved better maths grades in the terms following the workshops.

Conclusions

• Growth mindsets lead to stronger learning goals and positive beliefs about effort.

• Mindset is a key factor in achievement motivation during educational transitions.

• Teaching that intelligence is malleable provides clear motivational and academic benefits.