PSYCHOLOGY AND CRIME
OCR A2
APPLIED MODULE
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PSYCHOLOGY & CRIME:
INTRODUCTION
• There is no single definition of crime that is
acceptable to everyone.
• Crime = anything forbidden or punishable by
criminal justice system.
• Classifications differ between societies
• Factors such as; - intention & age
- culture & history
influence definitions of crime.
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APPLICATION OF PSYCHOLOGY
TO CRIME: Forensic Psychology
Questions relevant to psychology & crime:
• Do criminals think in different ways to
others?
• What is the best way to prevent crime?
• How reliable is court testimony?
• Does fear of crime match the reality?
• Psychological consequences of being a
victim?
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Application of Psychology to Crime
Relevant psychological approaches to Crime:
• Developmental Psychology
• Biological Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Abnormal Psychology
Can you think of any examples from the above
approaches?
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EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOUR
• Theories of criminal behaviour
• Individual & Cultural Differences in
criminal behaviour
• The social context of crime
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THEORIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
*Nature - Nurture debate; is behaviour a result of
genes or the effect of the environment?
Biological Explanations:
• Physiognomy;
1. Lomrosco (1876):following Darwin, he suggested that
criminals form a primitive retarded species with physical
features such as;
* a sloping brow, prominent jaw, extra nipples, toes or
fingers.
* mentally; show no guilt, no morals, lack deep
meaningful relationships.
But, flawed research. Goring (1972): compared 3000 convicts
with 3000 non-convicts. No significant differences.
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Physiognomy:
2. Sheldon’s (1942) somatotypes: these are 3
basic body types he believed were correlated
with personality including delinquency.
Endomorphs;
• Fat & soft
• Sociable
• relaxed
• Enjoys food
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Sheldon’s somatotypes
Ectomorphs:
• Thin & fragile
• Solitary
• Restrained
• introverted
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Sheldon’s somatotypes
Mesomorphs;
• Muscular & hard
• Aggressive
• Callous
• Adventurous
• Associated with
criminality
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Sheldon’s somatotypes
Sheldon’s Research: criminal group
• Using photos, rated 200 college students & 200
male delinquents on body type
• Results; college students balanced amongst 3 body
types, criminal group were predominantly
mesomorphic.
• Cortes & Gatti (1972); criticise Sheldon;
unreliable classification, selective (biased)
delinquent group, too subjective. Research
highlights influence of environmental factors such
as social class.
• Evaluation…?
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Biological Explanations; Eysenck’s
Personality Theory
Eysenck (1977): antisocial behaviour caused
by interaction between personality
(biologically based) and environment.
• Theory only applies to ‘victimful’ crimes
• Personality determined by biological
constitution & genes.
• Temperament measured on three
dimensions.
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Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions
• Extraversion-introversion (E)
- introverts; cautious, reserved, shy.
- extraverts; sociable, impulsive, aggressive
and unreliable = criminals!
• Neuroticism- stability(N)
- neuroticism; nervous, anxious, easily
upset. High scores on
neuroticism/emotionality = criminal
behaviour.
• Psychoticism (P)
- hostile & uncaring attitude, cruel, lack of
empathy = hardcore, violent offenders.
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EVALUATING EYSENCK’S THEORY
• SUPPORTING
• Recognises biology
& environment
• Importance of
genes
• Some supporting
research
• PROBLEMS
• No evidence for
consistent
differences
between intoverts
& extraverts
(Zuckerman et al,
1988)
• Flawed research;
inadequate control
groups
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(Passingham, etc)
PSYCHOANALYTICAL EXPLANATIONS
• Psychoanalytic theory originated from
Freud
• Emphasis on unconscious mind; repressed
memories & instinctive drives
• Personality consists of Id, Ego, & Superego
• Id & Superego in constant conflict
• Insufficient balance = unstable, morally
weak behaviour (Kline, 1987)
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Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
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BOWLBY’S THEORY: Can disruption to
attachment cause affectionless
psychopathy?
• ‘Maternal Deprivation’ : disruption in
attachment bond between mother & child
in early years may lead to later
deviance/juvenile delinquency.
• Based on psychoanalytic view; being raised
in a dysfunctional family can cause longterm damage to ‘superego’ or conscience.
(eg; lack of control, anti-social behaviour).
• See sheet for full study.
• Evaluation…?
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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES OF
CRIME
• Bandura (1977): Social Learning Theory;
• Three main influences on peoples behaviour;
1. External reinforcement
2. Vicarious reinforcement (observational learning)
3. Self-reinforcement (internal pride/shame)
• See Bandura’s study ‘Bashing Bobo’ (1977)
• Sutherland (1939), (1947): Theory of
Differential Association; criminal behaviour
learned through social interactions. (Norms,
attitudes of group).
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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS
What other factors can you think of?
• Poverty:
- Many studies show a positive correlation between
poverty & criminal behaviour: Eg; Ehrlich (1974);
rates of property crime in USA and low income.
- Dependence on welfare & link to delinquency
(Offord, 1982, Ousten, 1984)
- Unemployment; as principal cause of crime
(Benyan, 1994)
- Problems of inequality (eg; Goodman et al, 1997)
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Social & Cultural Factors continued
• Family Background:
- Small no. of families responsible for large
proportion of offences; Cambridge study
(West, 1982)
- Link between delinquency & broken homes;
eg; Bowlby, Glueck & Glueck, 1950).
- Large family size; Farrington (1996). (See
sheet).
- Evaluating: problems of other variables.
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ETHNICITY
• In Britain & USA a higher proportion of
Afro-Caribbean and Black African are
convicted of offences than other ethnic
groups. Eg; June 1998 in Britain 1245 of
black people, 185 whites, 168 of Asians
(per 100,000) were convicted (Dodd,
2000).
• Problems of discrimination/racism?
- Crawford (2000); harsher sentences for
Afro-Americans than whites.
- Macpherson Report (2000); racism.
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GENDER
Most significant difference in recorded
crime; more offences by males than
females.
• 80% of all crimes committed by men
• Aggressive crime, sex offences, robbery
are very rarely committed by women.
Why??
• Social conformity? (see Heidensohn, 1996)
• Freud (1925); Oedipus complex
• Value of gendered analysis of crime
(Messerschmidt, 1993)
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