Criminology Unit 2 AC2.2 INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES

General Criticisms of Individualistic theories

Artificiality Sample Bias Neglect of Social Factors

LEARNING THEORIES Social Learning Theory KEY IDEA

Bandura argues that we learn behaviour through observation and imitation of others. If we see a model being rewarded for acting in a deviant way, we don't need to experience the reward ourselves in order to copy it.

Social Learning theory

Bandura argues that we learn much of our behaviour (including aggression) through imitation. Therefore, this observational approach is known as social learning theory.

What did Bandura mean by 'models'

Bandura refers to the people we imitate as models, and we are more likely to imitate people's behaviour who we believe to have a higher status than us.

Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory What causes deviant or anti social behaviour

Bowlby argues that there is a link between maternal deprivation and deviant or anti social behaviour

The Superego

Contains our conscience and morals, which we learn in early interaction with family I.e. we maybe punished for trying to satisfy urges without regard for others. Through socialisation, we learn what's right and wrong. When we don't act correctly, our superego punishes us with feelings of guilt and anxiety.

TOO HARSH AND UNFORGIVING SUPEREGO

Creates deep seated guilt feelings in an individual, who then craves punishment as release from these feelings. This person may engage in compulsive repeat offending in order to be punished.

LIMITATIONS

Critics doubt the existence of an 'unconscious mind'. How do we know about it if it's unconscious? Psychoanalytic explanations are unscientific and subjective - they rely on accepting the psychoanalyst's claims that they can see into the workings of the individuals unconscious mind to discover their inner conflicts and motivations.

SAMPLE BIAS

researchers often use studies of convicted criminals, but these may not be representative of the criminals who got away, so they are not a sound basis for generalising about all criminals.

Cognitive theories of crime argue

that these mental processes shape our behaviour. For example, how we interpreted a situation affects how we respond to it. Thought processes affect our emotions; if we interpret a situation as threatening, it may trigger feelings of fear or anger.

Briefly outline the evidence that supports Bowlby's theory

Bowlby bases his theory on a study of 44 juvenile thieves who had been referred to a child guidance clinic. He found that 39% of them had suffered maternal deprivation before the age of 5, compared to only 5% of a control group of non-delinquents.

Psychodynamic Theoires Bowlby KEY IDEA

Bowlby stresses the importance of the parent-child bond. He sees maternal deprivation as a cause of criminality.

STRENGTHS

Bowlby's research showed that more oh his sample of 44 juvenile delinquents had suffered maternal deprivation (39%) than a control group of non-delinquents (5%). His work shows the need to consider the role of parent-child relationships in explaining criminality.

Describe the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

Eysenck found that most people have personalities somewhere around the middle on both scales. By contrast, criminals tend to score highly on both E and N- they tend to be strongly extroverted and neurotic.

According to Freud what determines our personality and future behaviour.....

Early childhood experiences In his view the child is father to the man and our early experiences determine whether we will go onto act into anti- social ways.

Sutherlands differential associating theory

Edwin Sutherland argues that individuals learn criminal behaviour largely in the family and peer groups (including work groups), and is the result of two factors: Imitation and Learned attitudes

Eysenck's Personality theory KEY IDEA

Eysenck sees criminality as the result of an extraverted-neurotic (high E, high N) personality. Extraverts seek stimulation, leading to rule-breaking, while neurotics' anxiety prevents them learning punishment. Psychotic (P) personalities are more likely to offend.

LIMITATIONS

Farringdon examined a range of studies. These show prisoners are neurotic and psychotic, but not extraverted. The E scale (extraversion) may be measuring two separate things: impulsiveness and sociability. Offenders score highly on impulsiveness (they lack self control), but not sociability (they are loners). Evidence on prisoners shows a correlation between personality type and criminality, but this doesn't prove that personality types causes criminality. It could be the other way round: being in prison might cause someone to be neurotic. Convicted offenders (on whom the theory is based) may not be typical of offenders as a whole. For example, less impulsive (low N) maybe more likely to avoid getting caught. Eysenck used self report questionnaires, which may not produce valid results: people may lie when asked about themselves.

Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to measure people's personality traits, ranking them on an E scale and an N scale

For example, a person with a high E score are very extraverted, whereas people with a low E score are very introverted.

The Ego

Freud saw our behaviour as a result of the struggle between the id and the superego. The ego's rule is to try to find the balance between these conflicting demands. The ego is driven by the reality principle. It learns from our experiences in the real world and that our actions have consequences. - A child may learn that snatching a biscuit has a consequence of a punishment The ego seeks to control the urges of the if, but also while satisfying them. - If the child says please and waited nicely for the biscuit, it would satisfy both the Id and superego.

Psychodynamic Theories Freud KEY IDEA

Freud's psychoanalytic theory explains criminal behaviour in terms of faulty early socialisation preventing the individual resolving unconscious conflicts between the id and the superego.

Eysenck's personality theory

Hans Eysenck developed a theory of criminality based on his theory of personality. He argues that criminality is the result of a particular personality type. For Eysenck, our personality is made up of two dimensions:

According to Freud, the human personality contains three elements in tension with each other

ID SUPEREGO EGO

What can happen to a child if they do not form the correct attachment at an early age?

In his view, a child needs close continuous relationships with its primary carer ( which bowlby assumed to be the mother ) from birth to age 5 in order to develop normally. If this attachment is broken through separation, even for a short period, it can leave the child unable to form meaningful relationships with others. Bowlby describes this as 'affection less psychopathy' and in some cases can lead to criminal behaviour.

Imitation

Individuals can acquire criminal skills and techniques through observing those around them.

LIMITATIONS

It was a retrospective study, where the delinquents and their mother's had to accurately recall past events. This can be a problem, especially if it involves recalling emotive experiences. Bowlby accounts for the delinquency of 39% of the children in terms of maternal deprivation, but doesn't explain why the other 61% were delinquent. Deprivation cannot be the only cause. Bowlby's own later study of 60 children who had been separated from their parents for long periods before they were 5, found no evidence of 'affectionless psychopathy. Bowlby overestimates how far early childhood experiences have a permeant effect on later behaviour (also a criticism of Freud). Sammons and Putwain note that the idea of a link between material deprivation and criminality is no longer widely accepted.

How does Kohlberg's view of how our ideas of right and wrong develop?

Kohlberg argues that our idea of right and wrong develop through a series of levels and stages from childhood, at the 'pre-conventional' or 'pre-moral' level, children define right or wrong. On simply if they get punishments or rewards. Whereas by adulthood, we know right and wrong from our moral and principle values.

LIMITATIONS

Kohlberg focuses on moral thinking rather than moral behaviour. Someone may be perfectly capable of thinking morally while acting immorally.

Describe the personality dimension of psychoticism

Later, Eysenck added psychoticism as a further personality dimension. People with a high P score are more likely to engage in criminality.they tend to be cruel, insensitive , aggressive and lacking in empathy. High P can overlap with serious psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia.

What did the Bobo doll experiment show about criminal behaviour?

Later, the children were left to play with the Bobo doll. Group 1 imitated aggressive behaviours they had seen be rewarded. Group 3 also acted aggressively, but less so group 2 were least likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour. This can be applied to criminality, if you see someone being rewarded for a crime, you are likely to imitate it.

Learning theories

Learning theories of crime generally emphasise three key features: • Criminal behaviour is a learned behaviour • The influence of our immediate social environment, such as our family and peer groups • The key role of reinforcement and punishment in the learning process

Id

Located in the unconscious it's the instinctive 'animal' part of the mind. It is powerful, selfish, pleasure seeking needs and drives such as the desires for sex food and sleep. It's governed by the pleasure principle- the blind desire to satisfy urges at any cost. If we acted on urges as we felt them, they would lead to anti-social and behaviour.

LIMITATIONS

Not everyone who is exposed to criminal influences becomes criminal. They might learn from family or peers how to commit crime, but never put this into practise.

DEVIANT SUPEREGO

One where the child is excessively socialised, but into a deviant moral code. They may have a perfectly good relationship with their criminal parents, so the superego will not inflict guilt if they think that the behaviour is correct.

LIMITATIONS

Operant learning theory is based on studies of learning in animals. This is not an adequate model of how humans learn criminal behaviour. This theory ignores internal mental processes such as thinking, personal values and attitudes. It explains criminal behaviour solely in terms of external rewards and punishments. Humans have free will and can choose their course of action. For example, we can choose to do something that causes us suffering in order to help someone else.

LEARNING THEORIES Operant Learning KEY IDEA

Operant learning theory, or behaviourism, states that if a particular behaviour (including criminal behaviour) results in a desirable outcome (reinforcement), it is likely to be repeated. If it results in an undesirable outcome (punishment), it is unlikely to be repeated.

Neurotic

Personalities are anxious, moody, often depressed and prone to over reaching. Whereas emotionally stable personalities are calm, even tempered, controlled and unworried.

Extraverted

Personalities are outgoing, sociable , excitement seeking, impulsive, carefree, optimistic, often aggressive, short tempered and unreliable.

Introverted

Personalities are reserved, inward looking, thoughtful, serious, quiet, self controlled, pessimistic and reliable.

How does this relate to crime?

Psychoanalytic theories see anti-social behaviour as caused by an abnormal relationship during early socialisation, for example neglect/ excessively lax or strict parenting. It can cause a weak, over harsh or deviant superego.

Operant learning theory

Psychologist B.F Skinner devised the idea that if a particular behaviour results in a reward, it is likely to be repeated (positively reinforced). If behaviour results in an undesirable outcome it is not likely to be repeated (punished).

ARTIFICIALITY

Researchers often use laboratory experiments, but how someone behaves in a laboratory may not reflect how they would act in reality.

Psychodynamic theories

See our personaloties as containing active forces that cause us to act as we do. These powerful urges, feelings and conflcits within the unconscious mind. Criminal behaviour is the result of an individuals failure to resolve these inner conflicts in a socially acceptable way.

Describe how differential reinforcement theory explains criminal behaviour

Skinner argues that all behaviour is the result of reinforcements and punishments so this must explain criminal behaviour too. Jeffrey argues that criminal behaviour is learned through reinforcements of those behaviours. If a crime is more rewarding than the consequences they are more likely to engage in that behaviour. Rewards for crime could be financial or emotional.

STRENGTHS

Skinner's studies of learning in animals show that they learn from experience through reinforcement. Some human learning is also of this kind. This can be applied to offending. Jeffery states that if crime leads to more rewarding than punishing outcomes for an individual, they will be more likely to offend.

Learned attitudes

Socialisation within the group exposes the individual to attitudes and values about the law. Some maybe favourable to the law and some maybe unfavourable. - If the individuals internalises more unfavourable than favourable attitudes and values, they are more likely to become criminals.

STRENGTHS

Some studies show delinquents are more likely to have immature moral development, as the theory predicts. Thornton and Reid found the theory to be truer for crimes such as theft and robbery (which may involve reasoning) than crimes of violence (which are often impulsive.

Learning Theories DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION KEY IDEA

Sutherland argues that we learn criminal behaviour through socialisation in social groups where the attitudes and values we are exposed to in these groups favour law-breaking.

Behaviourism

The cause of someone's behaviour lies in the reinforcements and punishments that shape it. This is why operant learning theory is also known as behaviourism.

STRENGTHS

The fact that crime often runs in families supports the theory. People with criminal parents are more likely to become criminals themselves, perhaps because they have learned criminal values and techniques in the family. Matthews found that juvenile delinquents are more likely to have friends who commit anti- social acts, suggesting that they learn their behaviour from peer groups. The attitudes of work groups can normalise white collar crime, enabling offenders to justify their behaviour.

STRENGTHS

The idea that criminals' thinking patterns are different from normal has led to other research. For example, PICTS (the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles) is a questionnaire aimed at revealing whether someone shows criminal thought patterns. Successful treatments, known as cognitive behavioural therapy have been developed based on the idea that criminals' thought processes can be corrected with treatment.

Explain how the following problems with the superego can explain crime WEAKLY DEVELOPED SUPEREGO

The individual will feel less guilt about antisocial actions and less inhibition about acting on the id's selfish needs and urges.

Criminal Personality theory What is the key idea of Yochelson and Samenow

The main idea is that criminals are prone to faulty thinking and this makes them more likely to commit a crime.

What does this theory suggest about criminals moral development?

The suggests that criminals moral development is stuck at a less mature level than everyone else's. They are likely to think solely in terms of whether actions will lead to punishment or reward, rather than how it will affect others.

Cognitive learning theory

The term cognition refers to thinking and mental processes such as attitudes, beliefs, reasoning, problem-solving, decision making, our self-concept and how we interpret the world around u

COGNITIVE THEORIES Moral Development Theory KEY IDEA

The theory argues that criminals are stuck at an immature stage of moral development, unable to make correct choices, which leads to criminal behaviour.

LIMITATIONS

The theory is based on laboratory studies. Laboratories are artificial settings and findings may not be valid for real-life situations. The theory assumes people's behaviour is completely determined by their learning experiences and ignored their freedom of choice. This also conflicts with legal views of crime, which assume that we have free will to commit crime. Not all observed behaviour is easily imitated. We might see a film in which a safecracker is rewarded with the loot, but we lack the skills to imitate this behaviour.

STRENGTHS

The theory is useful in describing how some measurable tendencies could increase a person's risk of offending. Eysenck predicts that high E, N and P scores lead to criminality and some studies support his predictions: offenders tend towards being extravert, neurotic and psychotic.

STRENGTHS

The theory points to the importance of early socialisation and family relationships in understanding criminal behaviour. Psychoanalytic explanations have had some influence on policies for dealing with crime and deviance.

What is meant by thinking errors

They argue that criminals show a range of errors and biases in their thinking and decision making.These include lying, secretiveness, need for power and control, super optimism, failure to understand others positions, lack of trust in others, feeling that they are special and they blame others and believe they are the victim. These biases and errors lead to the individual to commit crime.

NEGLECT OF SOCIAL FACTORS

They take little account of the social factors that may cause criminal behaviour, such as poverty and discrimination.

Kohlberg's moral development theory

This is a theory of how we develop our moral thinking. It is relevant to understanding criminals thinking.

Conditioning

Through experience we learn to seek pleasure ( or rewards ) and to avoid pain (or punishment ). If we misbehave , we are punished and so we learn to stop doing it to avoid further punishment.This process is called conditioning.

Explain cognitive behaviour therapy and what it aims to do

Tries to change the delinquents through patterns.

STRENGTHS

Unlike Skinner, Bandura takes account of the fact we are social beings. We learn from the experiences of others, not just from our own direct experience. Bandura shows that children who observed aggressive behaviour being rewarded, imitated that behaviour. This shows the importance of role models in learning deviant behaviour.

How do Consequences affect our behaviour

Whether we imitate that behaviour, mainly depends on the consequences of that behaviour. If we see the model being rewarded, we are more likely to imitate it than if we see them punished for it. Bandaura demonstrated this in a series if experiments with 4-5 year olds. They divided children into three groups. All three were then shown a film of an adult model being verbally and physically aggressive towards an inflatable Bobo doll.

LIMITATIONS

Yochelson and Samenow did not use a control group of non-criminals to see if 'normal' people also make the same thinking errors. Their sample was unrepresentative: there were no women and most of the men had been found insane and sent to psychiatric hospital. Yet Yochelson and Samenow claim that all offenders share the same thinking errors as the sample. There was a high sample attrition (drop-out rate). By the end only 30 were left in the study.

Cognitive theories Criminal Personality Theory KEY IDEA

Yochelson and Samenow's theory sees criminal behaviour as the result of errors and biases in criminals thinking patterns.