Psychological Perspective

A. Major Principles
1. individual is primary unit of analysis
2. personality is major motivational element within individual
3. crimes result from abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental
processes within the personality
4. although criminal behavior is condemned by the social group, it may
be purposeful for the individual insofar as it addresses certain felt needs
5. normality is generally defined by social consensus
6. defective, or abnormal, mental processes may have a variety of causes,
including:
a. a diseased mind
b. inappropriate learning or improper conditioning
c. emulation of inappropriate role models
d. adjustment to inner conflicts
B. Demonology
1. individuals were thought to be possessed by spirits which caused good
or evil behavior
2. in Medieval Times people believed that the deviant behavior could not
be changed unless bad spirits were banished
3. trephining
a. method for banishing evil spirits
b. used a crude stone to cut a hole in the skull of a person thought to
be possessed by devils
c. cutting hole supposedly permitted evil spirits to escape
4. exorcism
a. treatment for ridding person of evil spirits
b. included
1. drinking horrible concoctions
2. praying
3. making strange noises
C. Psychiatric Criminology
1. Hervey M. Cleckley
a. The Mask of Sanity (1941)
b. fully developed concept of psychopathic personality
c. described psychopath as a “moral idiot,” or as one who does not
feel empathy with others, even though that person may be
fully cognizant of what is objectively happening around him/her
d. “poverty of affect”
1. central defining characteristic of a psychopath
2. inability to accurately imagine how others think and feel
e. Cleckley describes numerous characteristics of the psychopathic
personality some of which are:
1. superficial charm and “good intelligence”
2. absence of delusions, hallucinations, or other signs of
 psychosis
3. absence of nervousness or psychoneurotic manifestations
4. inability to feel guilt or shame
5. unreliability
6. chronic lying
7. ongoing antisocial behavior
8. poor judgment and inability to learn from experience
9. self-centeredness and incapacity to love
10. unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations
11. an interpersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated sex life
12. failure to follow any life plan
f. psychopathy
1. a constellation of dysfunctional psychological processes as
opposed to specific behavioral manifestations
2. indicators of psychopathy appear early in life, often in the
teenage years
a. indicators include:
1. lying
2. fighting
3. stealing
4. vandalism
b. even earlier indicators may include:
1. bed-wetting
2. cruelty to animals
3. sleepwalking
4. fire setting
2. William Healy
a. use of case study in psychiatry
b. shifted emphasis from anatomical characteristics to psychological
and social elements
c. believed only way to find roots or causes of delinquent behavior was
to delve deeply into individual’s background especially emotional
development
d. found that delinquents had a higher frequency of personality defects
and disorders than non-delinquents
D. Psychoanalytic Criminology
1. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
a. credited with having made greatest contribution to development of
psychoanalytic theory
b. theory attempted to explain all behavior
c. unconscious
1. Freud and his colleagues introduced concept
2. humans have mental conflicts because of desires and energies
that are repressed in the unconscious
a. these urges, ideas, desires and instincts are basic but are
repressed because of society’s morality
 b. dreams are an example of indirect expression of desires
d. saw original human nature as assertive and aggressive
1. it is not learned but is rooted deeply in early childhood
experiences
2. we all have criminal tendencies but during socialization process
most of us learn to control them by developing strong and
effective inner controls
e. psychoanalysis
1. Freud coined term in 1896
2. based an entire theory of human behavior on concept of
psychoanalysis
3. considers criminal behavior as maladaptive or the product of
inadequacies inherent in the offender’s personality
a. significant inadequacies may result in full-blown mental
illness, which in itself can be a direct cause of crime
f. psychotherapy
1. referred to in its early days as the “talking cure”
2. highlighted patient-therapist communication
3. the attempt to relieve patients of their mental disorders through
the application of psychoanalytic principles and techniques
g. personality
1. made up of three components:
a. id
1. based on pleasure principle
2. fundamental aspect of the personality from which
drives, wishes, urges, and desires emanate
3. fundamental drives include:
a. love
b. aggression
c. sex
4. id operates according to pleasure principle seeking full
and immediate gratification of its needs
5. id is largely unconscious
b. ego
1. based on reality principle
2. primarily charged with reality testing
3. primarily concerned with how objectives might be best
accomplished
4. tends to effect strategies for the individual that
maximize pleasure and minimize pain
5. inherently recognizes that it may be necessary to
delay gratification to achieve a more fulfilling long term
goal
c. superego
1. based on the ethical principle
2. much like a moral guide to right and wrong
 3. assays the ego’s plan, dismissing some as morally
inappropriate while accepting others as ethically viable
4. “ego-ideal”
a. part of superego
b. symbolic representation of what society values
c. differs from conscience in that it is less forceful in
controlling behavior in the absence of the
likelihood of discovery
E. Modeling Theory
1. Laws of Imitation
a. Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904)
1. French social theorist
2. discounted biological theories of Lombroso
3. suggested it was possible to infer certain regularities or laws
that appeared to govern the social world
4. Tarde believed imitation was basis of any society
a. imitation is the tendency of people to pattern their
behavior after the behavior of others
b. Three Laws of Imitation
1. Law # 1
a. individuals in close intimate contact with one another tend
to imitate each other’s behavior
2. Law # 2
a. imitation moves from top down
b. examples
1. poor people tend to imitate wealthy people themselves
2. youngsters tend to emulate those older than
themselves
c. Law # 3
1. law of insertion
2. new acts and behaviors tend to either reinforce or
Replace old ones
3. examples
a. music of each generation replaces the music of
the one that preceded it
b. politics of young people eventually become the
politics of the nation

2. Modeling theory of Aggression

a. developed by Albert Bandura
b. a complete theory of aggression must explain
1. how aggressive patterns are developed
2. what sustains such actions after they have been initiated
c. aggressive behavior is learned
d. social learning factors determine the
1. specific forms that aggressive behavior takes
 2. frequency with which it is expressed
3. situation in which it is displayed
4. specific targets selected for attack
e. modeling theory is a form of social learning theory
1. it asserts that people learn how to act by observing others
f. once aggressive patterns of behavior have been acquired it
becomes necessary to show how they can be activated
1. aggression can be provoked through
a. physical assaults
b. verbal threats
c. thwarting a person’s hopes
d. obstructing goal seeking behavior
e. deprivation
f. “adverse reductions in the conditions of life”
1. a lowered standard of living
2. onset of disease
3. a spouse leaving or caught cheating
2. aggressive behavior can be perceived as holding future
benefits for individuals exhibiting it
a. aggressive behavior can be seen as a means to a
desired end
g. individuals sometimes become aggressive because they are
rewarded for doing so
1. early 20th century American concept of a “macho” male figure
was often associated with expectation of substantial reward
2. “reduction of aversive treatment” simply standing up for oneself
can improve the way one is treated by others
a. oftentimes, standing up to a bully is the most
effective way of dealing with the harassment one might
otherwise face
h. everyone has self-regulatory mechanisms that can ameliorate the
tendency toward aggression
1. people reward or punish themselves according to internal
standards they have for judging their own behavior
2. aggression may be inhibited in people who value conduct that
include
a. religious standards
b. ethical standards
c. moral standards
3. disengagement
a. process whereby rationalizations are constructed that
overcome internal inhibitions
b. disengagement may result from
1. attributing blame to one’s victims
2. dehumanization through
a. bureaucratization
 b. automation
c. urbanization
d. high social mobility
3. vindication of aggressive practices by legitimate
authorities
4. desensitization resulting from repeated exposure to
aggression in any of a variety of forms
3. criticisms of modeling theory
a. lack of comprehensive explanatory power
1. how can striking differences in sibling behavior be explained
when early childhood experiences were likely much the same?
2. why do apparent differences exist between the sexes with
regard to degree and type of criminality, irrespective of social
background and early learning experiences?
F. Behavior Theory
1. sometimes called the stimulus-response approach to human behavior
2. behavior is determined by environmental consequences which it
produces for the individual concerned
3. an individual’s responses are termed operant behavior because a
person’s behavioral choices effectively operate on the surrounding
environment to produce consequences for the individual
4. stimuli provided by the environment become behavioral cues that elicit
conditioned responses from the individual
5. responses are said to be conditioned according to the individual’s past
experiences
6. behavior theory is often employed by parents seeking to control
children through a series of rewards and punishments
7. rewards and punishments
a. rewards and punishments have been divided into four conceptual
categories
1. positive rewards
a. increase the frequency of approved behavior by adding
something desirable to the situation
b. example
1. when a “good” child is given a toy
2. negative rewards
a. increase the frequency of approved behavior by removing
something distressful from the situation
b. example
1. when a “good” child is permitted to skip the morning’s
chores
3. positive punishment
a. decreases the frequency of unwanted behavior by adding
something undesirable to the situation
b. example
1. when a “bad” child is spanked
 4. negative punishments
a. decreases the frequency of unwanted behavior by
removing something desirable from the situation
b. example
1. when a “bad” child’s candy is taken away
8. B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
a. best known proponent of behavior theory
b. former Harvard professor
c. rejected unobservable psychological constructs, focusing instead
on patterns of responses to external rewards and stimuli
1. basis for behavior modification
2. primary thesis is that all behavior is learned and can be
unlearned
3. concerned with observable behavior
a. based on belief that what is important is not the
unconscious but rather behavior that can be
observed and manipulated
d. undesirable behavior can be eliminated, modified, or replaced by
taking away the reward value or by rewarding a more appropriate
behavior that is incompatible with the deviant one
e. behavior is controlled by its consequences
G. Attachment Theory
1. John Bowlby (1907-1990)
a. an English child psychiatrist who observed children during his
tenure at London Child Guidance Clinic after WWII
b. first to propose attachment theory in 1950s
c. especially interested in maladjusted behavior of children who
lacked a solid relationship with a mother figure
1. concluded that for a healthy personality development to occur
“the infant child should experience a warn, intimate, and
continuous relationship with his mother in which both find
satisfaction and enjoyment”
d. identified 3 forms of attachment:
1. secure attachment
a. the only healthy form of attachment
b. develops when a child is confident that the mother
figure will be responsible and available when needed
c. secure attachments form in early childhood as the
developing infant experiences nurturing and protective
care
1. children develop a secure psychological base if they
are “nourished physically and emotionally, comforted
if distressed [and] reassured if frightened”
2. anxious-avoidant attachment
a. develops when children feel rejection and develop a lack
of confidence concerning parental support and care
 3. anxious-resistant attachment
a. results in feelings of uncertainty which cause the child
(and later the adult) to feel anxious, to become fearful of
his/her environment and to cling to potential caregivers or
partners
2. delinquent behavior arises whenever nonsecure attachments are
created
a. delinquents are “affectionless” meaning that they have not formed
intimate attachments as children and are unable to form such
attachments later in life
3. predicts that most problematic individuals will be those who
a. were abandoned at an early age
b. experienced multiple placements (in foster homes, and so on)
c. had to deal with the early absence of one or both parents
d. faced traumatic conditions in early childhood (physical, sexual, or
other abuse
H. Self-Control Theory
1. refers to a person’s ability to alter his/her own states and responses
2. most obvious when exercised in the face of adversity
a. example
1. when people override their own natural tendencies to act or
when they act contrary to their preferences and impulses
3. four psychological types of self-control
a. impulse control
b. self-control exercised over suppression of unwanted thoughts,
the focusing of thoughts or concentration, reasoning and analysis,
and inference and guided intuition
c. self-control exercised over one’s emotional and mood states
d. controlling performance
1. example
a. when a person persists in the face of adversity or
physical challenges
4. self-control enables people who are able to exercise it to adjust
themselves to a much wider range of circumstances than they
otherwise could
a. psychologists sometimes argue that the majority of today’s personal
and social problems stem from deficiencies or failures in self-control
1. examples of such personal and social problems
a. drug abuse
b. violence
c. school failure
d. alcoholism
e. unwanted pregnancy
f. venereal disease
g. irresponsible money management
h. underachievement
 i. poor eating habits and obesity
j. lack of exercise
k. cigarette smoking
l. delinquency and criminality
I. General Theory of Crime
1. theory created by Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi
2. low self-control
a. accounts for all crime at all times
3. self-control
a. degree to which a person is vulnerable to temptations of the
moment
b. acquired early in life
1. develops by the end of childhood and is fostered through
parental emotional investment in the child
a. includes
1. monitoring the child’s behavior
2. recognizing deviance when it occurs
3. punishing the child
c. low self control is the premier individual-level cause of crime
d. the link between self-control and crime depends substantially upon
criminal opportunity which is a function of the structural or
situational circumstances that an individual encounters
1. the link between self-control and crime is not deterministic but
probabilistic, affected by opportunities and other constraints
e. crimes require “no special capabilities, needs or motivations; they
are, in this sense, available to everyone”
f. Harold G. Grasmick
1. builds on work of Gottfredson and Hirschi
2. identifies some of the characteristics of individuals with low
self-control
a. impulsiveness
b. seek immediate gratification
c. lack
1. diligence
2. tenacity
3. persistence
d. prefer simple tasks
e. want
1. “money without work”
2. “sex without courtship”
3. “revenge without court delays”
f. drawn to activities that are adventurous and exciting
g. prefer physical activity over contemplation or conversation
h. tend to be indifferent or insensitive to the needs of others
i. predisposed to being self-centered
3. those with higher levels of self control are more inclined to
 a. defer gratification in favor of long-term gains
4. self-control is inversely associated with a low frustration
tolerance and with an inclination to handle conflict
through confrontation
5. risk seeking is an important determinant of self-control