What moves people to commit minor or major crimes? Most, people who commit crimes seem normal or experience less or possible no remorse. The psychological theories often provide information that can help us understand crime causation. Psychologist study behavior which emphasizes on determinants that lie within an individual by focusing on the effects of exploitative personality characteristics, poor impulse control emotional arousal, an immature personality, among others, in a person who commits a crime. Psychological theories focus especially on the influence of individual and family factors on offending. Psychological theories are usually developmental, attempting to explain the development of offending from childhood to adulthood. Most psychological
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Hence, the theories, methods, and knowledge of other types of antisocial behavior can be applied to the study of crime. The six major fundamental assumptions made by most psychological theories of crime causation are the following: the individual is the primary unit of analysis, personality is the major motivational element, abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes within the personality lead to crime, criminal behaviors that addressed "felt needs", normality, and defective or abnormal mental processes. In the early psychological theories, behavioral conditioning and personality disturbances and diseases were the two areas of focus. Conditioning is referred to the psychological principle that states behavior can be decreased or increased through reward, punishment or other stimuli. The most common motivational idea is that people are naturally hedonistic and selfish, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Another classic idea is that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal; if their level falls below the optimum, they will try to increase it, whereas if it is above the optimum they will try to decrease it. Thus, someone who is bored might seek excitement. Mental diseases can be categorized in three main groups, psychopathy, psychopath, and
Hence, the theories, methods, and knowledge of other types of antisocial behavior can be applied to the study of crime. The six major fundamental assumptions made by most psychological theories of crime causation are the following: the individual is the primary unit of analysis, personality is the major motivational element, abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes within the personality lead to crime, criminal behaviors that addressed "felt needs", normality, and defective or abnormal mental processes. In the early psychological theories, behavioral conditioning and personality disturbances and diseases were the two areas of focus. Conditioning is referred to the psychological principle that states behavior can be decreased or increased through reward, punishment or other stimuli. The most common motivational idea is that people are naturally hedonistic and selfish, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Another classic idea is that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal; if their level falls below the optimum, they will try to increase it, whereas if it is above the optimum they will try to decrease it. Thus, someone who is bored might seek excitement. Mental diseases can be categorized in three main groups, psychopathy, psychopath, and