Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME (1) TYPICALLY INVOLVE THEORIES OF PERSONALITY OR LEARNING. MOST RESEARCH HAS MADE ONE OF TWO VALUE ASSUMPTIONS: 1. Offender deficit there is something wrong with the offender. (Frizzle had something wrong with him) 2. Differentiating traits there are traits such as impulsivity and aggression that distinguish between criminals and noncriminals. We can use different personality test to find these different triats. Critics of these theories: very little emphasis on the strengths of the offenders ( but this is changing now), and ignore the potential environmental factor on individual behaviors ( this is also now being included). Others argue that psychological factors which is focused on individual differences are necessary related to the personality and are central importance to both the causation and control of crime. We have to focus on the individual. Because the motivation to commit arises from one’s own desire for material good and excitement. Thus we should look at what beliefs and values each criminal has internalized. This individualistic perspective is very dominant. There is other perspective as well like community psychology and also the situational approach, which states that we have to look at the environmental stressors that cause this behavior. Community psychology: analyzes social problem including crime as largely the product of organizational and institutional characters of the society and it Is closely related to sociology. There are four levels of analyses for this perspective. 1) Individual (what psychological problems do the individual have) 2) small group level (social problems arise when there are problems in the group such as peer influence, drug abusing friend that can influence the person) 3) organizational (organization in society like the police have not accomplished what they are suppose to like stopping crime) 4) institutional or community level: social problems are created by institutions i.e. the problem that individual faces is due to law created by the society). Most of community psychologist focuses on organizational and institutional levels. The psychoanalytic theory (by freud) Freud did not develop a theory of crime, but his followers applied his theory to criminality . To Freud, human nature is inherently antisocial(at birth we are biological being but it takes process of learning to become social beings) and good behavior requires effective socialization (What makes us humans is our ability to learn from others). The lifelong features of personality are fixed in childhood (people that were loud are still loud. Our personality seems to remain same) He argued that everyone goes through 5 developmental stages of life that include oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages. He believes that personality of composed of three states. 1) The id (biological drives like food, drink, sex, it always wants something and stuff) 2) The ego (screens and controls the id. Ego means self your perception of who you are) 3) The superego (internalized values & norms = conscience.) Examples’ I am gonna punch him (ID)à no it is not right (superego)à I guess I will not (Ego). Thus based on this the role of ego/superego was to control the id. Id and the superego are unconscious and psych are more concerned with these and only ego is conscious as it is self. Like others, He was concerned with the unconscious elements of personality. The ego and the superego develops through successful resolute of conflicts presented at each stage of development ( both biological and social factors are involved in solving these issues) Why does crime occur based on this theory?
Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality 1. Crime occurs when the ego and superego are unable to control the aggressive, antisocial instincts of the id. (id is were thought about crime start) 2. Criminal behavior is a form of neurosis (mental/emotional disorder). 3. The criminal seeks punishment to alleviate guilt over unconscious desires. ( 4. Crime is a means of obtaining substitute gratification of needs and desires not obtained in family. 5. Crime is due to traumatic events which have been repressed (during war, fritizel’s mom abandoned him and he was pissed off) 6. Crime may be an expression of displaced hostility (express what they are feeling etc.) 7. John Bowlby: stable attachment to a mother (figure) is essential to be able to show affection to others (men need mother figure to show affection to others and in the video fritzel did not had that). Family is essential for Socialization. THE THEORY HAS MANY WEAKNESSES: 1. It is essentially untestable because it relies on unobservable underlying constructs such as id, ego, and superego. These cannot be measured ( they are unconscious) 2. Also, it is circular in that aggressive acts are explained by aggressive impulses, but the only evidence of the impulses are the aggressive acts. (it uses itself as its evidence) MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORIES (1) Key to understanding criminality is the development or failure to develop a sense of morality and responsibility (The more morally developed you are the less likely it is that you will engage in crime. But why is it that some do other’s doing). This theory is based on child development theory of French psychologist Jean Piaget in that Theory: Moral reasoning develops in three stages of moral judgments. 1) Preconventional level morals and values are “do’s and dont’s” and are associated with punishment (up to age 11). Roles and social expectations are external to the self they are egocentric (they don’t know why do/don’t. they have not internalized the rule and value. It is just they said and he said etc.). young child is simply to avoid punishment. Thus it is best for child to develop/solve problems so he can progress through. 2) Conventional level – the individual has internalized and identifies with the rules and expectations (adolescent and adult can now say why they are/no allowed to do things. If we stay at 2nd stage, their will be no crime). You want to get along with others. 3) Post conventional level morality based on selfchosen principles (something uncommon). These may be universal rights, duties, etc. (i.e. demonstration against something. They are taking self chosen behavior/ideas etc. they put themselves on the line for issues that don’t concern them)
Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality Critics of moral development theory: Gilligan has criticized the theory, saying it does not apply to females and is malecentered (androcentric=male centred). Compared boys’ and girls’ moral reasoning Boys develop a justice perspective ( oh serve him right he stole). Formal rules define right and wrong Girls develop a care and responsibility perspective ( what could have made this person do this crime). As a result of this, female rarely obtain the higher stages. The author of this theory says that the only way for woman to go is through taking on men’s roles and leave traditional responsibilities. Personal relationships define reasoning Overall, Some studies have shown that higher levels of moral reasoning are associated with lower levels of delinquency (criminal behavior), but correlations are relatively low. thus both situational and individual are important determinant of behavior. HANS EYSENCK’S THEORY (1) Feels that crime is natural and easy to explain. The focus should be why many do not commit crimes. . The theory is based on classical conditioning (Punishment creates a conditioned avoidance (fear) of a disapproved act. For this to occurs, must look at frequency of pairing of US and CS and precise content of the Conditioning program) .This conditioned fear is the conscience. Note that extreme force is not needed). Feels children refrain from crime because of fear of punishment Criminals do not develop this conditioned respon se because they are biologically less susceptible to conditioning or because they have had ineffective socialization. There is a linkage between personality type(extrovertism, neurotism and psychotism) and susceptibility to conditioning: Extraverts are less susceptible to conditioning than introverts (because of their high need for excitement. If also high on neurotic then most likely to be a criminal and delinquent) High on Psychotic are the worst ones involved in more serious offences. Evidence is contradictory, but theory does show how inherited psychological traits can be interrelated with social factors to produce criminality ( you can be psychological prone but through conditioning can become noncriminal) Social learning theory: Combines social factors with individual cognitive functions (the ability to think & choices which is central to this theory). Focuses on individual behavior and takes into account the environmental influences and social conditioning of an individual The idea of “modeling” individuals can learn new behaviors through direct experience or observing the behavior of others. Several studies (e.g., Albert Bandura) have shown that aggressive behaviour is learned ([1.] the role of the family (abusive parent=aggression in you as well), [2.] subcultural influences e.g. peers influence specially in area where violence is valued and [3.] symbolic modeling e.g. television ( a Symbolic modelin: lot of evidence but some people doesn’t agree with this conclusion. Such as your automatic reactivity to a watching a violent crime decrease if you have previously watched violent scenes. Only for men but for woman it is the opposite.). Thus the best deterrent to antisocial activities is more attractive prosocial models/alternative or through increased sanctions or punishments. there are two types of punishment: 1) direct: discourages the current transgressor from committing these again in future 2) vicarious: punishment serves as a deterrent to others ( legal sanctions: belief that there are legal consequences to you action despite the reality that most crimes go unnoticed. Social sanction: which involves people looking at you badly and stigmatizing you and self sanction or self imposed moral standard which are the best ones.
Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality Operant conditioning: BEHAVIOUR IS SHAPED(closely approximated to the final behavioral goal) THROUGH REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS (Burrhus F. Skinner) Burgess and Akers theory of “differential reinforcement”: the balance of rewards and punishment that governs behaviour. Reinforcment: any process that strengthens a behavior and Punishment: any process that weakens a behavior It is a ‘soft behaviourism’ (somewhat emphasizes the environment) because it allows for individual choice and cognitive processes ( you want what is good and not what is bad and thus you change your behavior accordingly) Study: Operant conditioning theory has been applied to the treatment of delinquents (i.e. token economy programs like ‘Achievement Place,’ where individuals earn points for good behavior and lose points for bad behavior as a way to control behavior). Once you remove those rewards, in the long run it does not work. But for short and medium it is ok. ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY (1) MANY TERMS FOR SAME BEHAVIOURS: Psychopathy, sociopathy, moral insanity, antisocial personality disorder. Has been used as a ‘wastebasket’ category for people whose behaviour cannot be explained by any other theories Now some evidence that the traits underlying this disorder form a valid and clinically meaningful cluster. But often psychopathy is confused with a mental disorder like screzophrenia ( but this has significant impact on your ability to choose between right and wrong) The typical view of psychopath is someone who commits horrible crimes with no sense of guilt or remorse ( i.e. Clifford Olson: killed 11 children’s. He entered into the plea bargin and got In exchange grave). However, these are extreme cases and most psychopaths are not violent offenders (several inmates in Canada and the US could be considered psychopathic but not all committed violent crimes). Description of antisocial personality disorder now used instead of psychopath: The essential feature of Antisocial Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. You don’t become psycho when you are in adulthood but usually in very early age ( no care for others. Many children’s are in this faze but they grow out of it but some don’t) How to measure ASPD: Robert Hare has done much of the research on psychopathy in Canada and With his colleagues, he developed revised psychopathy checklist (that are strong predictors of violence and recidivism) Incidence in (Canadian) population about 3% for men and 1% for women. Incidence in prison is about 40% (not all of them commit those worse crimes though. Some suggest that depending on how one interprets the diagnostics criteria it leads to different % of people being diagnosed) Antisocial personality theory hypothesizes that psychopath individuals do not learn from punishment (even if they do, they extinguish it rapidly) t and do not experience fear or anxiety about the consequences of their behavior (and can’t use contextual cues like someone is in pain). As a result, have a High rate of recidivism (more likely to reoffend). It has been suggested that problem in the prefrontal cortex, (fearless/low arousal) and hippocampus ( no fear conditioning), and amygdala ( in emotional response) seem to be effected in these individuals. More intelligent=less violent and impulsive psychopaths. But we should not expect every psyco to be violant.s
Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality It is not just institutionalized people that are psychopaths. Study done in general population found that they were well educated, smart, and thus are more likely to evade convectionss. Thus we should not just focused on people in institution. We need to look at general populations. There are actually psychopaths in the corporate world but we don’t notice them because 1) they have social manipulation skill 2) because of their need for dominance and manipulation, they may appear as leaders and have great management skill 3) confidence, strength, cal, are often valued in the business world 4) increase risk and thrill involved in business world greatly suits these individuals specially ability to gain power, control, status, and possession’s as you go up the ladder. Last note: we don’t have any treatment for these people. Clifford Olson and Lee are a prototype of a psychopaths Crime and mental illness In the 1950s, some psychiatrists felt that all crime was caused by mental illness. The current view is that most criminals are not mentally ill, but the proportion of offenders who are mentally ill is higher than that of the general population. Despite this, no one knows as we are not constant as to the definition of mental disorders. There is great variability in number of mentally ill offenders across different regions, suggesting availability of health care, attitudes, practices of policies of law enforcement and legal institution may play a role.
Any disorder was btw 1667% and serious like schrezophrenia was 512 in jail. The rate of current serious mental illness for male inmates was 14.5% and for female inmates it was 31.0% in one US study and btw 1825 of age. About 20% of people with a mental disorder have a cooccurring substance use problem. A lot of people start getting problem while in the jails so there is a need for treatment before and after going to the jails ( try screening before entering into jails. This lead to high health care cost. Also problem for the one who has disorder ( self hard, suicide etc) and the staffs and the people around him ( other offender who might get ill while in jail) We should alos focus on proving police way to deal with mentally ills. Why so many are in jails: One reason for the higher representation of mentally ill persons in prison is deinstitutionalization – releasing the mentally ill from asylum. Therefore, police had no choice but to arrest disturbed people because they could not be committed to mental health facilities. Some say that it is due to our public policies practices that we have so many mentally disorder in jails. On admission to federal prisons, 12% of men and 25% of women have mental illness
Chapter 9: psychological perspective on criminality
States of mental disorder in Canada. 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. About 20% of people with a mental disorder have a cooccurring substance use problem Schizophrenia affects 1%, major depression impacts 8% and anxiety disorder 12% of people 7 0% of mental health problems and illnesses start during childhood or adolescence Ages 1524 are more likely to report mental illness and/or substance use disorders than other age groups About 10 percent of women will experience postpartum depression. Married women have higher rates of depression than single women, with depression most likely during childbearing years. Depression/anxiety in women occurs most frequently between the ages of 25 and 44. Girls entering puberty are twice as likely than boys to experience depression/anxiety. One in seven men will develop depression/anxiety within 6 months of becoming unemployed.