Psych 475
Exam 1 Study Guide
Note: This is a guide; it is not meant to be all include. You need to read and study Chapters 1 –
4 for this exam.
Criminal Behavior
– Behavior in violation of the criminal code that is intentional and without justification or
excuse
Theory
– Set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view
of explaining and predicting a phenomenon.
Perspectives on Crime
– Sociological criminology
> Examines the relationships of demographic and group variables to crime
▪
Unequal distribution of power in society
▪
Underlying social conditions
▪
Conflict theories
– Psychological criminology
> The science of behavior and metal processes of the person who commits crime
▪
Individual criminal behavior
▪
Cognitive
▪
Neuropsychological
▪
Developmental
> Biological or neurological approach
> Developmental approach
> Trait approach
– Psychiatric criminology
Theories of Crime
– Just-world hypothesis
> things do not happen to people with-out a reason that is closely related to their
own actions
▪
individuals who experience financial difficulties probably brought these
on themselves
– Classical theory deterrence theory
> Free will
– Positivist theory
> Psychological, social, biological influences
Biological and Cognitive Approach
– Cognitions refer to the attitudes, beliefs, values, and thoughts that people hold about
the social environment, interrelations, human nature, and themselves
Developmental Risk factors
– Developmental pathways
– The life course of all humans follows a path, or trajectory
– May be littered with risk factors
– Not all criminal behavior originates in childhood
Social Environmental Risk factors
– Poverty
> 20% of children in the U.S.
> Severe overall effects
> Cumulative and interactive effects
> Strong connection to persistent, violent offending victims and offenders
> Exact relationship between poverty and violence is not understood
> Intertwines with a large number of influences
▪
Racism, family disruption, unsafe living conditions, poor nutrition,
joblessness, social isolation, and limited social support systems
▪
Parenting
▪
Poverty does not cause serious chronic offending
– Peer rejection and association with antisocial peers
> One of the strongest predictors of later involvement in antisocial behavior is early
rejection by peers
> Why are some children rejected by their peers?
Self-control and self-regulation
– Cognitive and language deficits
> Interferes with socialization and the ability to get along with others
> Academic performance
Cumulative Risk Models
– Multiple risk factors
– Accumulation of risk factors in the absence of sufficient protective factors
– Results in negative behavioral, emotional, and cognitive outcomes
– Protective factors can mitigate or eliminate negative influence of risk factors
Developmental Cascade Models
– Dynamic cascade model
– Dodge & Masten
– Emphasizes interaction among risk factors and their effect on outcomes over the course
of development
Parental and Family Risk Factors
– Parental monitoring
> Awareness of child’s peer associates, free time activities, and physical
whereabouts outside the home
> Monitored youths are less likely to participate in drug and alcohol use or engage
in delinquent behavior
Peer rejection
– Inadequate social skills
– Aggressive behavior
– Impulsivity
– Anger or emotional rage
– ADHD
– Gender
> Most research has focused on boys
> Early involvement in aggressive behavior with peers
> Relational aggression
– Gang or deviant group influences
> A direct result of aggression with deviant peer groups
> Antisocial, peer-rejected youths seek out greater contact with similar peer-
rejected and socially unskillful peers
– Preschool experiences
> Quality of childcare
> Multiple childcare arrangements
> Exposure to aggressive peers
> Modeling
– After-school care
> Unsupervised activities
> “Latch key” kids
– Academic failure and school dropout rates remain high in U.S.
> Detrimental effects of mental and psychological development
> Failure to be promoted vs delaying entry
> “Staying back” label
Attachment
– Secure
– Insecure
> Anxious/ambivalent
– Deficiencies in caregiving
Lack of Empathy
– Affective
– Cognitive
– Psychopaths
> Low affective empathy
– Animal cruelty
Twin Studies
– Studies of twins
> Fraternal
▪
Dizygotic
> Identical
▪
Monozygotic
> Some support for the heritability of antisocial behavior
Temperament
– A “natural” mood disposition determined largely by genetics and biological influences
– The quality of parent-infant relationships
Hormones and Neurotransmitters
– Neurotransmitters are chemicals, manufactured in the brain, that are intimately involved
in bio-chemical activity and transmission of messages in the nervous system
– Research has consistently suggested that the neurotransmitter serotonin may play the
most significant role in aggression and violence
Learning and Situational Factors
– Classical conditioning
> Pavlovian
– Instrumental learning
> Operant conditioning
– Social learning
> Learning from watching other people
Behaviorism
– A psychology of consciousness or mind is followed by a psychology of action and
behavior
Social Learning Theory
> Emphasis on cognitive processes
▪
Thinking and remembering
> We learn through the social environment
▪
Observing and listening to those around us
> Maintenance of criminal behavior
> Expectancy theory (p. 91)
▪
A person’s performance level is based on that person’s expectation that
behaving in a particular way will lead to a given outcome
› Julian Rotter
> Imitational aspects of social learning
▪
Bandura
▪
Observational learning
▪
Imitational learning
▪
Models
› The more significant and respected the models, the greater the
impact
> Differential association theory (p. 92-94)
▪
Sutherland
Differential Association Reinforcement Theory (p. 93)
> People learn to commit deviant acts through interpersonal interactions with their
social environment
▪
Akers
> Antisocial behavior as a result of social reinforcement
Frustration Induced Criminality
> When behavior directed at specific goal is blocked, arousal increases, and the
individual experiences a drive to reduce it
> The socialized offender
▪
Berkowitz
▪
Offend because they have learned to through social environment
> The individualized offender
▪
Product of series of frustrations resulting from unmet needs
› High expectation of reaching goal (p. 94)
> Frustration and crime
▪
The more intense and frequent the frustration is in a person’s life, the
more susceptible and sensitive the person is to subsequent frustration
Authority as an Instigator of Criminal Behavior
> Crimes of obedience
> Stanley Milgram’s experiment
▪
Teachers and students
▪
Shock administration
Deindividuation and Moral disengagement
> Bandura
> Moral agency
▪
Behaving in a moral manner
> Moral disengagement
▪
Detachment from moral principles
▪
Dehumanization
