Psychology - Assignment 1 Paige Barton.
This essay will be comparing and contrasting the psychological approaches to crime. Crime "an act or omission which constitutes to an offence and is punishable by law.. " (Oxford, 2009) Three of these approaches are, the psychodynamic which focus on the unconscious and primary studies of the psyche; Id, Ego and mainly focuses on the superego and how it links to criminal behaviour. The learning theories look at how behaviour can be shaped or controlled by ones environment, and finally the biological study shows how genetics, biochemistry, the nervous system and the brain can impact someone’s behaviour from a biological perspective.
Psychodynamic …show more content…
It is a firmly held opinion from recent studies that were conducted with regards to adopted children and whether it was their genes or their environment that played a part in their subsequent criminal activities and attitudes in their later life. "Heritable influences also differ in these studies according to the type of crimes committed, with petty, non-violent offending showing larger genetic influence than violent offenses.." (Mednick et al., 1984). As many studies that try to prove a genetic link there are also as many studies that try to disprove the genetic link one of which is The Adoption Studies investigated by Crowe (1972) "..did not conclude that he found evidence for a genetic basis of crime, but did state , " the results are … in line with those of other [non-adoptive] studies which have reported an increased prevalence of psychopathy among the relatives of criminals" (Jay Joseph, 2001). The biological theory differs from the psychodynamic and behavioural theories because its core belief lies within the opinion that the physiological aspects determine the actions of the individual it does also give scope for any kind of environmental factors and previous life experiences that culminates in a tendency for criminal acts and behaviour. The biological aspect is still not yet quite understood and like many other science elements still needs deconstructing in order for psychologists to fully analyse it because of its extensive complexity therefore the biological approach is perhaps one of the more complicated theories due to its location in the genes which are far from being fully understood in todays scientific
This essay will be comparing and contrasting the psychological approaches to crime. Crime "an act or omission which constitutes to an offence and is punishable by law.. " (Oxford, 2009) Three of these approaches are, the psychodynamic which focus on the unconscious and primary studies of the psyche; Id, Ego and mainly focuses on the superego and how it links to criminal behaviour. The learning theories look at how behaviour can be shaped or controlled by ones environment, and finally the biological study shows how genetics, biochemistry, the nervous system and the brain can impact someone’s behaviour from a biological perspective.
Psychodynamic …show more content…
It is a firmly held opinion from recent studies that were conducted with regards to adopted children and whether it was their genes or their environment that played a part in their subsequent criminal activities and attitudes in their later life. "Heritable influences also differ in these studies according to the type of crimes committed, with petty, non-violent offending showing larger genetic influence than violent offenses.." (Mednick et al., 1984). As many studies that try to prove a genetic link there are also as many studies that try to disprove the genetic link one of which is The Adoption Studies investigated by Crowe (1972) "..did not conclude that he found evidence for a genetic basis of crime, but did state , " the results are … in line with those of other [non-adoptive] studies which have reported an increased prevalence of psychopathy among the relatives of criminals" (Jay Joseph, 2001). The biological theory differs from the psychodynamic and behavioural theories because its core belief lies within the opinion that the physiological aspects determine the actions of the individual it does also give scope for any kind of environmental factors and previous life experiences that culminates in a tendency for criminal acts and behaviour. The biological aspect is still not yet quite understood and like many other science elements still needs deconstructing in order for psychologists to fully analyse it because of its extensive complexity therefore the biological approach is perhaps one of the more complicated theories due to its location in the genes which are far from being fully understood in todays scientific