Chapter 8 Psychology of Violence and Intimidation

What are the four categories of causes of violence?

(1) biological,The biological factors refer to the wide array of neurological, physiological, or chemical influences on aggression and violence. (2) socialization,Socialization factors refer to those processes through which a person learns patterns of thinking, behavior, and feeling from his or her early life experiences (3) cognitive, Cognitive factors refer to the ideas, beliefs, and patterns of thinking that emerge as a result of interactions with the world during a person's lifetime. (4) situational factors.Situational factors refer to the characteristics of the environment, such as stress or aggression in others, that encourage or engender violent behavior

Hate Crime Statistics Act

A 1990 federal statute that directs the FBI to collect data on all crimes motivated by hatred of or bias against victims based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Physical or mental disability bias was added in 1997.

8.A student who receives an anonymous note in her locker stating "We would be better off without you around anymore" has received a(n) _____ threat.

A veiled threat

Bias crimes

Also called hate crimes. These are criminal offenses motivated by an offender's bias against a group to which the victim either belongs or is believed to belong.

Biological factors

Any physical, chemical, genetic, or neurological condition associated with development of a specific behavior.

Aggression

Behavior that is intended to cause harm or damage to another person

Situational factors

Characteristics of the psychosocial environment, such as stress or aggression in others, that encourage or engender violent behavior.

10.Which type of stalker outlined by Beatty et al. (2002) is often plagued by delusions, schizophrenia and/or other serious mental disorders?

Erotomania stalking

5.Which type of stalker outlined by Beatty et al. (2002) is often plagued by delusions, schizophrenia and/or other serious mental disorders?

Erotomania stalking

Summarize the negative effects of constant viewing of violence in the media.

Exposure to dramatic violence on TV and in the movies is related to violent behavior. viewing a steady diet of violence on the screen has the following negative effects: • It increases the viewer's fear of becoming a victim, with a corresponding increase in self-protective behaviors and increased distrust of others. • It desensitizes the viewer to violence. That is, viewers often become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. • It encourages some individuals to become more involved in violent actions. • It demonstrates how desired goods and services can be obtained through the use of aggression and violence. • Sexual violence in X- and R-rated videotapes has been shown to increase sexual aggression in some males.

Describe the four major categories of workplace violence.

In the first type, the assailant does not have a legitimate relationship to the work- place or to the victim. He or she usually enters the workplace to commit a criminal action, such as a robbery or theft. Robbery is the principal motive for most workplace homicide, accounting for 85% of workplace deaths (Gregorie & Wallace, 2000). The second type of assailant is the recipient of some service provided by the workplace or victim and may be either a current or a former client, patient, or customer. Most often, this individual is unhappy with the product or service he or she received from the agency or company. In August 2010, an individual entered the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Maryland and took several people hostage. Although this could have ended in violence toward the hostages, the man—who had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the media outlet—was himself shot by police (see Photo 2.2). The third type of assailant has an employment-related involvement with the workplace, as a current or former employee, supervisor, or manager. This assailant is often referred to as a "disgruntled employee" who enters the work- place to punish or get back at some individual or the agency or company in general. Amy Bishop was allegedly irate because her colleagues did not support her bid for tenure. According to Gregorie and Wallace, disgrun- tled employees account for approximately 10% of workplace homicides. The fourth type has an indirect involvement with the workplace because of a relationship with an employee, such as a current or former spouse or partner. Often, this situation concerns domestic violence or spousal/partner abuse.

Love obsession stalkers

In this form of stalking, the stalker and victim are strangers or casual acquaintances. The stalker seeks a love relationship with the object of his or her obsession.

Erotomania stalking

In this form of stalking, the stalker usually has serious mental disorders and is considered delusional. Public figures are typically the targets.

Serial murder

Incidents in which an individual (or individuals) kill a number of people (usually a minimum of three) over time.

Mass murder

Involves the killing of three or more persons at a single location with no cooling-off period between the killings.

List any five findings from the research on stalking.

Juvenile stalkers appear to be more dangerous and violent than adults. According to Baum et al. (2009), about 1 in 4 adult victims reported having experienced some form of cyberstalking, such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%). 8% of women and 2% of men reported that they had been stalked at some point in their lives Researchers believe that the motives of most stalkers are to control, intimidate, or frighten their victims.

Clearance rate

Law enforcement term for the proportion of reported crimes that have been solved through an arrest or exceptional means, such as adeathbed confession.

Creature-comfort killer

Murderer whose primary motive is to acquire activities (business interests) or objects (money) that provide a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle.

Instrumental violence

Occurs when the injury of an individual is secondary to the acquisition of some other external goal of the offender.

Violent Criminal Apprehension Program

Pro- gram designed to communicate with and help the nation's law enforcement agencies to investigate, identify, track, apprehend, and prosecute violent serial offenders.

Reactive violence

Refers to physical violence precipitated by a hostile and angry reaction to a perceived threat or dangerous situation. Also called expressive violence.

Spree murder

Refers to the killing of three or more individuals without a cooling-off period, usually at two or three different locations.

Visionary type

Serial killer driven by delusions or hallucinations that compel him (or her) to kill a particular group of individuals.

Mission-oriented type

Serial killer who believes that there is a particular group of people who are considered undesirable and who must be destroyed or eliminated.

Hedonistic type

Serial killer who strives for pleasure and thrills; in this killer's mind, people are simply objects to use for one's own enjoyment.

Distinguish among single murder, serial murder, mass murder, and spree murder.

Serial murder usually refers to incidents in which an individual (or individuals) separately kills a number of individuals (usually a minimum of three) over time. Spree murder normally refers to the killing of three or more individuals without a cooling-off period, usually at two or three different locations. Mass murder involves the killing of three or more persons at a single location with no cooling-off period between the killings.

Thrill killer

Serial murderer whose primarily motivation is to induce pain or to terrify his or her victims.

Simple obsession stalkers

Stalkers who seek power and control after a failed relationship with the victim; often associated with past domestic violence.

Workplace violence

The aggressive actions, including homicides, that occur at the workplace, not necessarily caused by those who work within the organization.

Availability heuristic

The cognitive shortcuts that people use to make inferences about their world. It is the informa- tion that is most readily available to use mentally, and is usually based extensively on the most recent material we gain from the news or entertainment media.

Murder

The felonious killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought.

Cognitive factors

The internal processes that enable humans to imagine, to gain knowledge, to reason, and to evaluate. Each person has his or her own cognitive version of the world.

Provide illustrations of gender, race, and ethnic differences in violence

The two dominant explanations for the gender discrepancies in violent offending are (1) socialization factors (women are less likely than men to be encouraged to be violent) and (2) biological factors (e.g., some researchers have linked the male hormone testosterone to aggression). ??????????

Criminal homicide

The unlawful and intentional killing of a human being; the term encompasses both murder and nonnegligent homicide.

List and define the typologies of serial killers.

The visionary type is driven by delusions or hallucinations that compel him (or her) to kill a particular group of individuals. The mission-oriented type believes that there is a particular group of people who are considered undesirable and who must be destroyed or eliminated. The hedonistic type strives for pleasure and thrills, and, in the killer's mind, people are simply objects to use for one's own enjoyment.

Vengeance stalkers

These stalkers do not seek a relation- ship with their victims but rather are trying to elicit a response or change of behavior from the victim.

Socialization factors

Those processes through which a person learns patterns of thinking, behavior, and feeling from his or her early life experiences.

Cyberstalking

Threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another using the Internet or other forms of online communication.

Identify and provide examples of the two tracks of psychological research on violence.

Two increasingly interconnected streams of research on violence have emerged in recent years. One research stream has examined the many characteristics and demographics of the individual violent offender; the other has examined the immediate contexts and environments in which violence most often occurs (Hawkins, 2003). Studies focusing on the former have examined the social, psychological, and bio- logical factors in interpersonal offending. Studies on the latter tradition have examined family, peer, local community, and neighborhood effects on varying levels of violence.

Power-control killer

Type of serial murderer who obtains satisfaction from the absolute life-or-death control he has over the victim.

Violence

Use of physical force or destruction

What are the two major types of mass murder?

a classic mass murder is when the person barricades himself inside a public building—such as a restaurant or school—and randomly kills persons with whom he has contact. A family mass murder is when at least three family members are killed (usually by another family member).

Why is the term workplace violence somewhat of a misnomer?

because it refers not only to the more physically violent incidents but also to the subtle behavior that threatens violence, such as coercion, intimidation, outright threats, and harassment.

4.Data indicate that compared to adult stalkers, juvenile stalkers:

juveniles participated in higher levels of threats and violence than typically found in adult stalking.

6.Laurence Steinberg's model of adolescent risk taking offers a(n) _____ explanation for _____.

neurological explanation for Moffitt's adolescence-limited offenders.

7.An individual who engages in habitual criminal behavior and demonstrates a cluster of psychological, interpersonal and neurological features that discriminate him or her from the general population is referred to as a(n):

psychopath

Manslaughter

r Unintended killing that results from unjustifiable conduct that places others at risk.

Observational learning

refers to the very strong tendency of human beings to imitate any significant or admired person or model they observe.

1.Researchers agree that both ____ factors and ____ factors are important in understanding violence.

researchers acknowledge that both individual factors and environmental influences must be taken into account in their efforts to understand violence.

3.Which of the following is NOT an effect of heavy exposure to media violence?

see page 276-ebook

2.Schihadeh and Barranco (2010) purport that _____ may lead to an increase in violence among the Latino population.

shift in migration patterns

9.Which event prompted the Safe School Initiative?

the attack at Columbine High School