Criminology Chapter 5: Trait Theories

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Positivism

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The branch of social science that uses the scientific method of the natural sciences and suggests that human behavior is a product of social, biological, psychological, or economic forces.

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Psychopathic Personality

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A personality characterized by a lack of warmth and feeling, inappropriate behavior responses, and an inability to learn from experience. Some psychologists view psychopathy as a result of childhood trauma; others see it as a result of biological abnormality.

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Atavistic Anomalies

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According to Lombroso, the physical characteristics that distinguish born criminals from the general population and are throwbacks to animals and primitive people (savage people from primitive times). He believed those who were repeated assaulters or thieves were born criminals and inherited a set of primitive physical traits such as big jaws, strong canine teeth (indirect heredity from alcoholism, insanity, or syphilis..or offspring of criminal parents).

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Biological Determinism

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A belief that criminogenic traits can be acquired through indirect heredity from a degenerate family whose members suffered from such ills as insanity, syphilis, and alcoholism or through direct hereditary (being related to a family of criminals).

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Criminal Anthropology

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Early efforts to discover a biological basis of crime through measurement of physical or mental processes.

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Inheritance School

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Advocates of this view trance the activities of several generations of families believed to have an especially large number of criminal members.

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Somatotype

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A system developed for categorizing people on the basis of their body build. Mesomorphs have well developed muscles and an athletic appearance. They re active, aggressive, sometimes violent, and the most likely to become criminals. Endomorphs have heavy builds and are slow moving. They are known for sluggish behavior, rendering them unlikely to commit violent crime and more willing to engage in less strenuous criminal activities such as fencing stolen property. And lastly Ectomorphs are tall, thin, and less social and more intelligent than other types. These types are the least likely to commit crime.

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Biosocial Theory

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An approach to criminology that focuses on the interaction between biological and social factors as they relate to crime.

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Biophobia

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Sociologists who held the view that no serious consideration should be given to biological factors when attempting to understand human nature.

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Sociobiology

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The scientific study of the determinants of social behavior, based on the view that such behavior is influenced by both the individual's genetic makeup and the interactions with the environment.

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Reciprocal Altruism

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According to sociobiology, acts that are outwardly designed to help others but that have their core benefits to the self (hidden agenda).

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Trait Theory

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The view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological and/or psychological traits.

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Equipotentiality

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View that all individuals are equal at birth and are thereafter influenced by their environment.

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Hypoglycemia

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A condition that occurs when glucose (sugar) levels in the blood fall below the necessary level for normal and efficient blood functioning.

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Androgens

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Male sex hormones.

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Testosterone

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The principle male steroid hormone. Testosterone levels decline during the life cycle and may explain why violence rate diminish over time (Aging out).

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Neocortex

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A part of the human brain; the left side of the neocortex controls sympathetic feelings toward others.

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Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

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The stereotype that several days prior to and during menstruation females are beset by irritability and poor judgement as a result of hormone changes.

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Cerebral Allergies

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A physical condition that causes brian malfunction due to exposure to some environmental or biochemical irritant.

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Neuroallergies

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Allergies that affect the nervous system and cause the allergic person to produce enzymes that attack wholesome foods as if they were dangerous to the body. They may also cause swelling of the brain and produce sensitivity in the central nervous system- conditions that are linked to mental, emotional, and behavioral problems.

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Neurophysiology

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The study of brain activity.

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Electroencephalograph (EEG)

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A device that can record the electronic impulses given off by the brain, commonly called brian waves.

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Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD)

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An abruptly appearing, maladaptive behavior that interrupts an individuals lifestyle and life flow. In its most serious form, MBD has been linked to serious antisocial acts, an imbalance in the urge-control mechanisms of the brain, and chemical abnormality.

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Learning Disability (LD)

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A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written languages.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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A psychological disorder in which a child shows developmentally inappropriate impulsivity, hyperactivity and lack of attention.

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Conduct Disorder (CD)

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Children with ADHD who continually engage in aggressive and antisocial behavior in early childhood.

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Chemical Restraints or Chemical Straitjackets

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Antipsychotic drugs such as Hadol, Stelazine, prolix in, and Risperdal, which help control levels of neurotransmitters (such as serotonin/dopamine), that are used to treat violence-prone people.

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Arousal Theory

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A view of crime suggesting that people who have a high arousal level seek powerful stimuli in their environment to maintain an optimal level of arousal. These stimuli are often associated with violence and aggression. Sociopaths may need greater than average stimulation to bring them up to comfortable levels of living; this need explains their criminal tendencies (edge work).

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Contagion Effect

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Genetic predispositions and early experiences make some people. Including twins especially, they are susceptible to deviant behavior, which is transmitted by the presence of antisocial siblings in the household. The relationship between identical twins may be stonger and more enduring than other sibling pairs so that contagion and not genetics explains their behavioral similarities.

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Defective Intelligence

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Traits such as feeblemindedness (poor judgement), epilepsy, insanity, and defective social instinct, which Goring believed has a significant relationship to criminal behavior. For ex: Choosing the wrong group of friends that plays into an unstable and dangerous environment and shapes you individually within society. You are easy to faultier and be a follower even to lesser people.

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Psychoanalytic or Psychodynamic Perspective

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Branch of psychology holding that the human personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes developed early in childhood.

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Behaviorism

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The branch of psychology concerned with the study of observable behavior rather than unconscious motives. It focuses on the relationship between particular stimuli and people's responses to them (how someone responds to a fist fight, what they do or don't do and say).

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Cognitive Theory

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The study of the perception of reality and of the mental processes required to understand the world in which we live. Freud believed that we all carry with us residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which then guide future interpersonal relationships. The term psychodynamic is broad but focuses on the influence of instinctive drives and forces and the importance of developmental processes in shaping personality. Mainly focuses on the influence of early childhood experiences on the development of personality, motivation, and drives.

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Id

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The primitive part of people's mental makeup, present at birth, that represents unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other life-sustaining necessities. The id seeks instant gratification without concern for the rights of others.

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Pleasure principle

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According to Freud, a theory in which id-dominated people are driven to increase their personal pleasure without regard to consequences.

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Ego

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The part of the personality, developed in early childhood, that helps control the id and keep people's actions within the boundaries of social convention.

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Reality Principle

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According to Freud, the ability to learn about the consequences of one's actions through experience.

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Superego

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Incorporation within the personality of the moral standards and values of parents, community, and significant others. Part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience reflecting social standards of parents, community, and significant others.

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Conscience

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One of two parts of the superego, it distinguishes between what is right and wrong.

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Ego Ideal

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Part of the superego, directs the individual into morally acceptable and responsible behaviors, which may not be pleasurable.

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Eros

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The instinct to preserve and create life, a basic human drive present at birth.

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Thanatos

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According to Freud, the instinctual drive toward aggression and violence.

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Oral Stage

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In freud's schema, the first year of life, when a child attains pleasure by sucking and biting.

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Anal Stage

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In Freud's schema, the second and third years of life, when the focus of sexual attention is on the elimination of bodily wastes.

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Phallic Stage

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In Freud's schema, the third year, when children focus their attention on their genitals.

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Oedipus Complex

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A stage of development when males begin to have sexual feelings for their mothers.

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Electra Complex

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A stage of development when girls begin to have sexual feelings for their fathers.

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Latency

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A developmental stage that begins at age 6. During this period, feelings of sexuality are repressed until the genital stage begins at puberty, this marks the beginning of adult sexuality.

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Fixated

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An adult who exhibits behavior traits characteristic of those encountered during infantile sexual development (puberty).

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Inferiority Complex

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People who have feelings of inferiority and compensate for them with a drive of superiority.

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Identity Crisis

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A psychological state, identified by Erikson, in which youth face inner turmoil and uncertainty about life roles.

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Latent Delinquency

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A psychological predisposition to commit antisocial acts because of an id-dominated personality that renders an individual incapable of controlling impulsive, pleasure-seeking drives.

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Bipolar Disorder

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An emotional disturbance in which moods alternate between periods of wild elation and deep depression.

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Attachment Theory

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The belief that the ability to form attachments- that is, emotionally bond to another person- has important lasting psychological implications that follow people across the life span.

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Alexithymia

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A deficit in emotional cognition that prevents people from being aware of their feelings or being able to understand or talk about their thoughts and emotions, they seem robotic and emotionally dead.

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Psychosis

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A mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. People experiencing psychosis hallucinate, have paranoid or delusional beliefs, change personality, exhibit disorganized thinking, and engage in unusual or bizarre behavior.

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Disorders

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Any type of psychological problems (formerly labeled neuroses or psychoses) such as anxiety, mood and conduct disorders.

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Schizophrenics

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A type of psychosis often marked by bizarre behavior, hallucinations, loss of thought control, inappropriate emotional responses. Schizophrenic types include Catatomic, which characteristically involves impairment of motor activity;
Paranoid, which is characterized by delusions of persecution; and
Hebephrenic, which is characterized by immature behavior and giddiness.

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Paranoid Schizophrenics

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Individuals who suffer complex behavior delusions involving wrong doing or persecution- they think everyone is out to get them.

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Social Learning Theory

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The view that human behavior is modeled through observation of human social interactions, either from observing those who are close and form intimate contact, or indirectly through the media. Interactions that are rewarded are copied, while those that are punished are avoided.

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Behavior Modeling

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Process of learning behavior (notably aggression) by observing others. Aggressive models may be parents, criminals, in the neighborhood, or characters on television or in video games and movies.

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Moral Development

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The way people morally represent and reason about the world.

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Humanistic Psychology

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A branch of psychology that stresses self-awareness and "getting in touch with feelings".

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Information Processing

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A branch of cognitive psychology that focuses on the way people process, store, encode, retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems.

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Personality

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The reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and emotions, that distinguish one person from another.

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Sadistic Personality Disorder

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A repeat pattern of cruel and demeaning behavior. People suffering from this type of extreme personality disturbance seem prone to engage in serious violent attacks, including homicides motivated by sexual sadism.

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Psychopath

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People who have an antisocial personality that is a product of a defect or aberration (abnormal) within themselves.

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Sociopath

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Personality disorder characterized by superficial charm and glibness (shallow), a lack of empathy for others, amoral conduct (lack morals), and lack of shame, guilt, or remorse for antisocial behavior. The term may be used interchangeably with psychopath, but both terms have been replaced by antisocial behavior disorder.

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

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A widely used psychological test that has sub scales designed to measure many different personality traits, including psychopathic deviation (Pd scale), schizophrenia (Sc scale), and hypomania (Ma scale).

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Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire

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A test that allows researchers to assess each personality traits as control, aggression, alienation, and well-being. Evaluations using this scale indicate that adolescent offenders who are crime prone maintain negative emotionally, a tendency to experience aversive affective states (hateful states) such as anger, anxiety, and irritability.

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California Personality Inventory

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A frequently administered personality test used to distinguish deviant groups form non-deviant groups.

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Intelligence

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A person's ability to reason, comprehend ideas, solve problems, think abstractly, understand complex ideas, learn from experience, and discover solutions to complex problems.

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Nature Theory

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The view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior.

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Nurture Theory

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The view that intelligence is not inherited but is largely a product of environment. Low IQ scores do not cause crime but may result from the same environmental factors.

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Primary Prevention Programs

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Treatment programs that seek to correct or remedy personal problems before they manifest themselves as a crime.

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Secondary Prevention Programs

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Treatment programs aimed at helping offenders after they have been identified.

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Tertiary Prevention Programs

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Crime control and prevention programs that may be a requirement of a probation order, part of a diversionary sentence, or aftercare at the end of a prison sentence.