what makes a criminal?

Psychological explanations of criminal behaviour

If criminal behaviour has a physiological cause it is controlled genetically, so it's a product of evolucion

Lombrose found that prisoners had similar features, so it maybe it comes down to natural selection

Criminal body types

1- Ectomorphic = thin/fragile

2- Mesomorphic = muscular/hard (most likely to be a criminal

3- Endomorphic = fat/soft

Modern physiological explanations for genes and criminality may be down to hereditary factors making it more likely that someone will be a criminal

Jacobs found that XYY men were more aggressive than XY men, and XYY men make up 1.5% of prisoners, they are also less intelligent generally

Osborn and West found that only 13% of non-criminal sons had convictions, but 40% sons with criminal fathers also had convictions, which suggests genes may be partly responsible for crime

Twin studies

MZ's share 100% genes, while DZ share 50% genes

Lyons found that MZ's are not more likely to be both be jailed than DZ's, which means environment is important in early criminal behaviour

Adoption studies

Hard to separate genetic effects in environment in twin studies, in adoption the 2 factors can be explored independently 

There are similarities between adoptive parents and kids, showing that environment is important

Having biological parents with criminal records increases the risk of sons doing the same, showing how genes influence crime

Adoptive parents with criminal records also had increased chance of their sons doing the same = supporting environmental influences

Non-physiological explanations of criminal behaviour

Kids could imitate criminal behaviour from parents, parents are high status models, which influence offspring a lot, same sex models are even more effective

Trzensniewski found that adolescents with low self esteem are more likely to engage in criminal activity

+ and - of behaviourist perspective

Strengths-

Scientific = research done by behaviourists is usually scientific = highly replicable = easily testable because it's about easily observed behaviour

Practical application = understanding roles of observational learning in aggression has helped the violence, we can use classical conditioning as mental disorder therapy and operant conditioning is used to modify compliance to medical recommendations

Weaknesses-

Reductionist = reducing something complex like behaviour, to something simpler like conditioning

By ignoring mental processes, behavioural theories are generally guilty of reductionism, ignores other aspects, e.g. biology, social, cognitive and so putting aggression down to a learned response = reductionist

Ethics = it's not ethical to forcibly alter behaviour and use punishment/manipulation to shape behaviour = unethical

behaviourist perspective

Behaviourist = accounts for behaviour in terms of observable events and ignores "mind" and "emotion", assumes behaviour is a consequence of history, including reinforcement and punishment, the current motivational state and controlling stimuli

Generally accepts inheritance and environmental factors as causes for psychology

learning theory= empiricism (knowledge coming from our senses) since we start a tabula (blank slate) and the physical sciences

Conditioning

Classical conditioning-

Pavlov = an unconditioned stimulus + neutral stimulus = a conditioned stimulus + conditioned response (this can explain salivation, arousal and fear)

Operant conditioning-

Skinner = learning by consequence, e.g. performing a behaviour that results in positive reinforcement makes us more likely to repeat that behaviour, and behaviour that results in negative reinforcement = less likely to repeat

Observing

When an observer imitates modelled behaviour (Bandura's bobo doll), attention to it and memory  = new behaviour

This is a newer idea and apparently suggests behaviour can be unlearned

+ and - of psychodynamic perspective

Strengths

Explanatory power, it explains some bizarre behaviour like multiple personalities, dreams and daydreams

Middle ground = we are strongly influenced by conscious factors but once we're aware of them, we can exert our free will


Weaknesses

Poor methodology, samples are unrepresentative because they involve p's getting psychotherapy and cannot be replicated, some of Freud's ideas come from self analysis so they are not very valid at all

Ideas are vague and hard to test, test and measure... e.g. the oedipus and electra complexes and the unconscious mind 

psychodynamic perspective

Psychodynamic = interaction of various conscious and unconscious mental/emotional processes influencing personality, behaviour and attitudes

Freud believed that were 3 levels of consciousness

1. Conscious = what we are aware of at any given time, e.g. what they're hearing, seeing and thinking

2. Preconscious = memories we can recall by choice, e.g. numbers, an address, product names

3. Unconscious = memories, desires and fears get repressed because otherwise they'd cause people extreme anxiety, but these factors still influence our behaviour without us realising

Freud said we have 2 instincts that are unconsciously in conflict, and one may be dominant over the other

1. Eros the life instinct = fulfils basic biological needs, e.g. the libido

2. Death instinct = urge for aggression and destruction, this causes war, violence and suicide

Unconscious components of personality

Id- innate, aggressive, sexual and obeys the pleasure principle

Ego- conscious, rational mind and works on the reality principle

Superego- Moral, includes ideas on how to behave and is usually learned from people close to us, is strongly influenced by early experiences and our relationships with our parents

Debates

Free will VS. Determinisim

Freewill = individuals can control their behaviour and they have responsibility for their choices and outcomes, e.g. kohlberg's moral development

Determinism = Behaviour is controlled by genes or past experiences, we have no control over our behaviour, e.g. Casey's delay of gratification 


Nature VS. Nurture

Nature argument = behaviour is influenced by genetics and biology, e.g. Baron Cohen's autism study

Nurture = behaviour is learned through learning and development, e.g. Chaney's funhaler study


Reductionism VS. Holism

Reductionism = breaks behaviour into separate parts and focuses on single factors, e.g. biology, e.g. Sperry's split brain study

Holism = wider view on behaviour, it is too complex to just focus on 1 factor, e.g. Lee et al's lying/truth rating study


Individual VS. situational

Individual = personal characteristics are the main cause of behaviour, e.g. Baron Cohen's theory of mind study (dispositional factors)

Situational = Looks at environmental context, including other people, as being the main cause of behaviour, e.g. Milgram's destructive obedience study

Idiographic VS. Nomothetic

Idiographic = "idios" meaning own or private, a social perspective to personalities, what makes each of us unique

Nomothetic = "nomos" meaning law, concerned with what we share with others and what establishes laws and generalisations, the laws of nature

Johnson + young's gender in kids's adverts (1995)

Context/background

Advertising invades the consciousness of almost everyone, sponsors pay to place adverts in certain locations

Childrens' viewing of adverts prepares them for their roles as capitalist consumers

Conventional sex roles underlie many many adverts, Welch found that girls talk more in adverts if the advert is mainly targeted at girls

Aim

To determine whether advertisers scripted tv adverts differently for females and males in school, linking toys to gender stereotypical roles

Method

sample

Samples of kids' tv shows were recorded, the same was repeated again 2 years later, 15 half an hour long programmes in first sample, 24 half an hour long programmes in the second sample, the total number of adverts was 478

Range of ads per programmed = 8.2-8.9

Advert categories

Food and drink        216

Toys                       188

Educational             21

Recreation               19

Film promotion         20

Other                      14

   

          478

Procedure

Content analysis = examines content and creates categories, suitable for their aim, and then counts an example from categories every time it happens, giving quant. data

Discourse analysis = critically analyses vocabulary, tone and other speech features to interpret meaning

Large % of adverts were for toys, so the toy category was deeper analysed and categorised into 3 groups-

1. ads for boys with boys in them

2. ads for girls with girls in them

3. ads for both with either both or no gender in them

Identified gender in voice-overs and gender exaggeration

Analysed speaking roles of M&F, and "power" in male ads, how many times it was said

Verb element categories=

1- action verbs

2- competition/destruction verbs

3- power/control verbs

4- limited activity verbs

5- feeding/nurturing verbs

Results

188 toy ads, more boy orientated, few gender neutral adverts

              1996      1997      1999      total

boy          30          24         48          102

girl          19           28        16           63

both        14           5           4            23

      

             63            57          68          188

Naming of toys = reinforced gender stereotypes

Boy ads were determined by action figures/computer games

Girl ads = dolls and animals

Adults = majority of ads were male voice in male and mixed, but female in girl adverts

Gender exaggeration = 80% of adverts, except in mixed

No feeding verbs  absent from boy ads but present in 66 female ads, competition verbs = 12x more in boy adverts,

limited activity = more in girl ads

little variation in action verbs

boys had more power than girls in adverts

"power" was used in 1/5 of boy adverts and only once in  a girls ad

Conclusion

Gender stereotypes underlie adverts

Reasons for this may be a reliance on historically successful marketing strategies/profitability in gender-specific consumer behaviour

Evaluation

Hard to approach the area with no preconceived ideas, also gender exaggeration is very subjective to judge, minimal ethical issues because there was no human p's

Strategies to reduce impact of adverts aimed at children

Fsa (food standards agency) = promotion of food to kids dominated by pre-sugared cereals, soft drinks, snacks and fast food

Media literacy

Young kids perceive tv adverts differently from older children and adults, Pine and Nash found that many kids below 7 lack understanding of persuasive intent, so they do not know when they are being manipulated or lied to by adults

This skill doesn't develop until about 12-13, Linn found

media literacy - critical awareness of mass media and adverts, including ability to analyse and evaluate different media sources

Media Smart and Be Adwise

Media smart = a non-profit programme for 6-11 year olds, to improve media literacy

Be Adwise = resources produced by media smart to teach young people to think critically about adverts in real life

impact of advertising on children

Children + television

Access to media outlets = increases kids' exposure to positive and negative tv content

Vast numbers for profit channels, including many targeted towards young children supported by advertiser's fees

Children as consumers

Young people are the consumer market, children are the target audience for toys, holidays, food and drinks

Pine and Nash found that kids who watch more adverts request more toys from their parents

Stereotyping in adverts

Stereotype = a fixed impression that we have about an individual, can be negative or positive

Cultural stories about gender are shared and exaggerated through the advertising of kids' toys

Limiting gender roles within advertising limits kids' ideas about how they play and what they play with

This may limit the roles that they'll try to do as adults, Smith found.

Ainsworth + Bell's strange situation study (1969)

Aim

To investigate interaction between infant attachment, response to unfamiliar situations and separation/reunion with attachment figure

Method

Sample

56 1 year olds and their mums, white and middle class. contacted via doctors, 23 were observed longitudinally and observed at 51 weeks, 33 others observed at 49 weeks old

Design

Controlled observation, 8 episodes standardised by all the p's, stranger approached gradually, no alarming behaviour, it took place in a room divided into 16 squares to allow for accurate recording

Chair for kids surrounded by toys on 1 side, a chair for the mother near the door and a chair for a stranger in a triangle formation, the child was allowed to move freely

8 episodes of the strange situation

The mother carried the baby into the room

M put B down, and sat quietly, only participating with play if B wanted attention

Stranger entered, sat for 1 minute chatting to M then showed B a toy before the M left

If B played happily, S remained non participant, if the B was inactive the S tried to play

if he was distressed, she comforted the B

M enters, lets B move to her if they want, S leaves and after the baby plays again, M says byebye and leaves

B left alone for 3 minutes

S enters and repeats step 4

M comes in, S leaves and the procedure ends

Obervers

In an adjoining room, 2 observers described behaviour using a tape recorder, the recorder had a timer click every 15 seconds, the recording was then transcribed and coded

In 4 cases, additional coding was made = high reliability 

Quantitative measures

Frequency measures=

1- locomoter (body movement)

2- manipulating (touching and moving things)

3- visual (looking and examining)

Infants' behaviour=

1-Proximity/contact seeking

2- Contact-maintaining

3- Proximity/interaction avoidance

4- Contact/interaction avoidance

5- search behaviour

Results

1- Exploratory behaviour

Decreased when stranger entered the room and was low in ep. 4 after the mother left

Visual play increased in ep. 5 as mum interested the baby in play

No decrease when the stranger tried to play

2- Crying

No increase in crying in ep. 3, the babies didn't mind the stranger and mum's presence

Increased crying when mum wasn't there

Increased when baby was alone, didn't decrease when S entered again

3-Search behaviour during seperation

Peaked in ep. 6 when baby was alone 

20% cried more 

37% searched more than they cried

4- Proximity seeking/contact maintaining

Increased in ep. 5 when mum came back in, less strong with stranger and sometimes the babies liked contact with the strangers

5- contact-resisting/proximity avoiding

Observed in 1/3 of babies when mum first returned, 1/2 in second return

Babies who scored highly here have also scored high in contact maintaining = ambivilance but also resisting contact

Conclusion

Attachment behaviour increases in threatening situations, mum used as a secure base for exploration

Differences in attachment styles varied between babies

Evaluation

Type B attachments are ideal but this study is ethnocentric, differences can also be explained in variations of rearing practices

Lacks ecological validity, mothers may face depression or guilt when working and taking care of babies simultaneously, distress in the study was unethical  but consent was given and they were not deceived 

development of attachment

Attachment is an enduring emotional bond between 2 people

Critical period = important stage for animals and humans important for later functions

Proximity seeking = wanting to be close to them, they have separation anxiety distress when leaving them and they feel happiness when reuniting

Your 1st attachment is your most important

Attachment in humans

Bowlby studied the imprinting of geese, they imprinted on him

Social releasers = smiling, crying, suckling

Individual differences in humans

Type A attachment = insecure=anxious

Type b = secure

Type c = insecure-ambivalent

Type d= insecure-disorganised (may result in mental health issues)

Failure to form attachments

Affectionless psychopathy is the inability to feel guilt, empathy or affection for others

Developmental retardation = delayed or retarded intellect

Wood's role of tutors in problem solving study (1976)

Context/background

Tutoring - a tutor knows the answers but because the child doesn't, they help the child figure it out

Problem solving = mastery of problems necessary for success with longer problems, e.g. reading = deciphering of words = deciphering of sentences = deciphering of particular words

Scaffolding = the child carries out a task, or achieves a goal beyond his unassisted efforts, the adult controls the task so the learner can concentrate on the elements of their competence range

Aim

To examine instructional relationships between adult tutors and children with skill acquisition and problem solving

Method

Controlled observation, artificial environment, while p's completed a predetermined building task with intervention and guidance from a tutor

P's were observed in individual sessions, 20 minutes-1 hour

Interactions between them were observed and recorded

Procedure

Sample

volunteer sample, 30 kids (with parents) within a 5 mile radius of Cambridge, Massachusettes (near Harvard Uni)
Recruited through ads directed at parents

Middle class or below, equally divided into 3,4, and 5 years old, half boys and girls in each group

Design

Kids tutored in individual sessions, 20 minutes to 1 hour

Tutor taught them to build a 3D structure with a level of skills beyond their own

The tutor instructed them verbally but let the kids be independent in doing the task themselves

Task was designed to be fun and interesting

Procedure

kids sat with 21 blocks spread in a jumble and played with those for 5 minutes

The tutor took 2 small blocks and demonstrated connecting them or told the children to connect them more, if they could do it alone, the aim was for the child to do as much as possible themselves

Pyramid of built blocks had 6 levels

3 different responses= 

1. child ignored her and carried on playing

2. manipulated the connecting blocks

3. took new blocks and tried to make something similar to tutor's block structure

Assisted category = tutor indicated correct materials

Unassisted = child selected materials

Interventions from tutor = 

1. direct assistance (tutor built the blocks for them)

2. verbal prompt when there was an error (e.g. does this look like this?)

3. straightforward promt e.g. "can you make more like this?"

Inter-scorer reliability- 2 scorers working independently got 94% agreement from 594 events watched on a video tape

Results

age      median no. of acts          % of acts unassisted     showing      verbal

  3             39                                   10                           40%        18%

  4             41                                   50                           63%        40%

  5             32                                   75                           80%        57%

Older kids didn't need previous trial and error as much, the 3 year olds took apart as much as they built, the 4 year olds took the same likeliness to reassemble constructs = able to recognise correct outcomes

Verbal instruction was more useful the older the children were

3 year olds paid little attention to verbal instruction

none of the 3 year olds put 4 blocks together correctly, but all 4 and 5 year olds did

Process of scaffolding

-Recruitment = get kid interested in task 

-Reduction in degrees of freedom - simplifying task, reduce number of step needed

-Direction maintenance = Keep kid on task, despite distractions 

-Marking critical features = Point out relevant features of task, identify difference between what they do and the correct outcome

-Frustration control = strategies to lower stress 

-Demonstration = model the correct outcome

Conclusions

increasing age = greater likelihood of the task success

Younger children could recognise just as well when a task had been correctly achieved 

Type of support needed by kids differed across age group

older children are more likely to accept and act on tutor's advice

Evauluation

Research with young children = less valid

Clinical interview = lower reliability 

Unlikely there was any distress

small sample

Improving learning and revision

mnemonic = a technique to aid the memory and relies on familiar information so we can easily recall things (cognitive shortcuts)

Levels of processing

1- structural (encoding of physical appearance)

2- phonetic (encoding of sound)

3- semantic (encoding level of meaning)

Semantic processing = writing practice essays, explaining topics out loud or making mind maps, flash cards etc.

cognitive development + education

Study of cognitive development

Development a quantitative and knowledge is increased with age

Piaget's stages of cognitive development = 

0-2, Sensori-motor stage = infant begins to explore world through senses and actions

2-7, Pre-operational stage = child represents the world through words and images

7-11, Concrete operational stage = child reasons logically about concrete events and develops a point of view

11+, Formal operational stage = tests hypotheses and understands abstract concepts

Assimilation = process where new information and experiences are incorporated into existence schemas

Impact of cognitive development on education

Concept of 'readiness' from Piaget = framework for curriculum and developmental sequences

Failure by teachers to recognise cognitive change = learners lacking challenges or facing tasks out of their ability