The Psychological Theories Of Criminal Behavior

Albert Bandura created the bobo doll experiment in 1961, the aim of this experiment was to show that if children where witnesses to aggressive displays by an adult of some sort they would imitate this behaviour when given an opportunity. The tested group contained 36 young girls and 36 young boys all aged between 4 and 5 years which was then divided into 3 groups of 24 – the aggressive condition, the non aggressive condition and the control group. The first group involved the children watching aggressive models, where the children where then subdivided by sex of the role model they were exposed to. The second group

Describing and Evaluating the Major Theories of Cause of Criminal Behaviour and the Impact of Crime on Victims and Society

(P1)The biological approach means that our behavior is the cause of biological factors. This approach looks at our genetics to construct a reason why we act the way we do and why we develop abnormal behaviors. The brain and nervous system are the biological approach and so are chemical changes in the body .This can mean chemical reactions in the brain. For instance, in eating disorders - twin studies were carried out and it was shown that if one identical twin suffered from an eating disorder then the other twin would also be more likely to suffer from a disorder as well. This did not happen with non-identical twins, suggesting that the

No, I don’t believe that all delinquents are psychologically abnormal. Many theories relate to delinquent acts such as Choice Theory and Trait Theory. The trait theory suggest that delinquent acts come from personal problems and conditions. Choice theory believes that juvenile offenders are rational decision makers. The decision to violate the law comes after weighing of the benefits and cost of criminal behavior. These two theories suggest that a person reacts to environmental and social circumstances in a unique fashion. For example, a youth that lives in a poor neighborhood would sell illegal drugs to make money. Another might do great in school to get away from their environment.

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytical) theory was developed by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800’s and has gained increasing popularity in the history of criminality (Siegel, 2005). Freud believed that every individual carries “[the] residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which then guides our future interpersonal relationships” (Siegel). Freud theorized that the personality is a three-part structure made up of the id, ego, and super ego. These three components work together in creating a behavior. The id creates the demands, the ego put the demands created by id into a larger context using reality, and finally the superego suppresses the id and attempts to make the ego behave morally, rather than realistically. Psychodynamic theory is significant to criminology because it explains “criminal” or “abnormal” behavior is the result of irregular development of the psyche.

The psychological positivism theory concentrates on all of the mental aspects of why an individual commits a crime, and associates it with their intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behaviour. It looks at the determinations, thoughts, intentions and reactions of criminals and all that contributes in the criminal behaviour. Explanations of criminal behaviour were explained by looking at the work of Sigmund Freud (1956-1939). He established the psychoanalytical model in which he believed that a human progresses, early in life. Freud discusses that the human personality has three sets of interacting forces. These include the id, the ego and the superego. These are three components in a human personality that pledge them to behave in the manner they do and make individuals they are. Firstly Freud believes that humans are born with their id. He suggests that the id holds importance for personality. The id allows a new-born to get its desires met by crying. Freud mentions that the id is set on getting pleasure and the id wants whatever feels good despite the circumstances. In addition to this Freud had mentioned the second component of the personality develops. This is known as the ego, it understands feeling and emotions of others and takes them into account. Freud then suggest that the ego meets the needs of the id, at the same time looking at the reality of the condition. Lastly Freud mentions that when a child is five the development of the third personality

Biological Theories are vastly growing with fascinating research. The main stump is concretely linking it to criminal behavior, because some theories are more relatable than others. Theories involving temperament and hormones give real life biological explanations, while others like extrovert and introvert behaviors, and neuroticism explain a weaker link to crime. However, all theories are valuable in exploring the root of crime.

There are many perspectives in which one can analyze and understand why a person decides to commit a crime. Some perspectives are social learning theory, strain theory, classical and rational choice theory, deterrence theory, biological and psychological positivist theories, among others. However, for the purposes of this paper, the biological and psychological theories will be discussed.

The aim of this essay is to compare, contrast and evaluate two sociological theories of crime causation and two psychological theories of crime causation.

In this essay, two theories specifically focusing on sexual offending against children are compared and critical evaluated. Finkelhor’s (1984) Precondition model integrates four underlying factors that might explain the occurrence of child sexual abuse and categorizes them into four preconditions: motivation to offend, overcoming internal inhibitors, overcoming external inhibitors and overcoming child’s resistance that occur in a temporal sequence where each is necessary for the other to develop. The Precondition model provides a framework for assessment of child molesters but is criticized for a lack of aetiological explanations and for paying to little attention to cognitive factors. Ward’s (2003) Pathways model suggest that clinical

When looking at criminal activity and the direct connection to the criminal behavior we see that there have been many research trials that have taken place over the history of humankind (Mishra & Lalumiere, 2008). Two of these research areas that have been developed to attempt to understand the causes of criminal behavior are known as biological and psychological perspectives of crime causation. These two sectors have their principles that are held in their theories as a standard scientific understanding of the basics that each evaluation of criminal behavior is built on (Dretske, 2004).

However, while the overstimulation of the Id and the failure to acquire and develop the the Ego and SuperEgo leads to criminal tendencies, while aggression may be out of adaptive values, and while genetic studies have pointed towards the influence of genes and criminal behaviour, these theories alone are insufficient to account for crime. Evolutionary theory does not explain or predict for the extreme degrees of aggression in individuals nor has the genetic theory proven for 100% heritability; which raises the need for us to examine the Nurture camp of crime theories as well.

Every theory of crime has at least 2-3 meta-theoretical levels above it. The fundamental issues are usually addressed at the approach level, and are often called the assumptions, or starting points, of a theory, although the term "assumptions" more strictly refers to the background or domain boundaries one can draw generalizations about. Above the approach level is the Perspective level, the largest unit of agreement within a scientific community, and in fact, the names for the scientific disciplines. Perspectives are sometimes called paradigms or viewpoints, although some people use the term paradigm to refer to untestable ideologies such as: (1) rational choice; (2) pathogenesis; (3) labeling;

Key elements to psychological theory consist of mental health, hormones, and even neurological issues. When one finds he or she has a mental health problems it causes an imbalancement in the brain that can cause one to commit a crime without the knowledge of the wrong-doing. Hormone imbalancements can cause similar problems. Many imbalancements in the body can