Instead, there are several fundamental assumptions of psychological theories of criminality (and human behavior in general) that I will follow here (Mischel, 1968). These are: 1. The individual is the primary unit of analysis in psychological theories. 2. Personality is the major motivational element that drives behavior within individuals.
Although it isn't clear in the paragraph whether Harry has a twin or not, if he did this could have a massive influence on his behaviour. Let's say Harry had an mono-zygotic twin, who shared a 100% concordance rate with him. Early twin studies generally found higher concordance for criminality amongst MZ than DZ twins, which would support the suggestion of a genetic influence. However, this research has said to be flawed due to a combination of small samples and poor methods of determining whether a particular twin pair was MZ or DZ. The rationale underlying the use of twins in explaining criminal behaviour is that if 1 MZ twin shows signs of aggressive behaviour, and the other one does too, then it is down to genetic influence.
Background Research on Criminology Criminology is the scientific study of crime its causes and how to resolve it. One common theory of criminology is the psychological theory. This theory explains crime in the mind set of the criminal. The psychological theory of crime is basically that some people are born with a mind which is intended to do harm to others. In other cases some criminals are born with the lack of humility, which is the ability to put yourself in the situation of the person who you are doing harm to.
This suggests that high anxiety situations have a negative impact on EW identification accuracy. In the second one he considered the recall of culprits and scene details. He found that details were correctly recalled by 64% for low anxiety conditions compared to 52% for high anxiety conditions. This shows that high anxiety reduces the ability to identify details of a crime. Also, we have to consider that eyewitnesses victims of a violent crime will register more the situations that pose a treat to them, like the criminal’s weapon.
Discuss the problems involved in defining and measuring crime and deviance. This essay aims to discuss the problems involved in defining crime and deviance and measuring crime. The essay will focus on the similarities of crime and deviance and discuss problems in measuring crime statistic. Crime is defined by an act that breaks the law (oxforddictionary 2013) and deviance is any behaviour that is considered out of the ordinary (oxforddictionary 2013). There are different theories on how crime and deviance are viewed.
It does however explain why some people or actions are described as deviant, and can help in understanding crime and deviance. According to item A labelling has changed the theoretical base for the study of criminals. Becker emphasises the significance of crime being a social construct; an action only becomes criminal or deviant once society has labelled it so, and that crime can be argued to be a social construction. He introduced the concept of a master label, referring to the label which a person is given which overrides all other labels. When a person is labelled as negatively, society tends to tend them as such, and this master label often becomes internalised, and then a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs.
They believe that people may be biological more attracted to committing crime than others for example, they believe traits such as aggression and risk taking are inborn in the person and this causes them to commit crimes. They also think that the socialisation of the person leads to their tendency towards crime. They believe, like conservatives and new rightist, that the nuclear family is the best form of socialisation and avoiding crime Another right realist, Charles Murray, believes that the rising crime rates may be due to a rising ‘underclass’, those who are defined by deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly. As mentioned in item a, right realists also believe that the state plays a big part in the rtes of crime. As people can rely on the state to supply them with money people are less encouraged to go out and work to end their money, fathers no longer need to support their children as lone parents can live off benefits, there
Strength / Weakness - research that is in the form of naturally occurring phenomena (Roberts and Lamb) has good ecological validity but is not scientific or replicable as variables were not highly controlled and because it is not artificial. It would also be unethical to test eye witness testimony when a real sensitive subject is being discussed. Strength / Weakness - the results could be due to a number of factors such as: young people may be more used to memory tests or older adults have poorer health leading to memory impairment. Weakness - the research findings are inconclusive. Weakness - the factors given by researchers, such as the ones stated, are only assumptions with no scientific evidence.
Contrast the functionalist and conflict theories of crime. The functionalist would argue that those who transgress are usually dealt with by the law and that order is restored. The conflict theorist would argue that the law enforcement system perpetuates the inequalities and would give the example of how many white-collar crimes go unpunished. Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_8586125_compare-contrast-functionalist-conflict-theories.html#ixzz2iJlpn5zx Contrast the functionalist and conflict theories of crime. The functionalist would argue that those who transgress are usually dealt with by the law and that order is restored.
It is evident that crime and deviance play an important role in society today and form the “out of ordinary” actions that take place as a subsequence. Crime is a well-known term to many and is believed to involve a breach of rules or laws implemented by authorities that lead to convictions or punishment for those involved in the criminal activity. However; deviance is a term which creates much difficulty in terms of a specific definition, but the closet definition came from two men; Downs and Rock who believed that “deviance may be considered as banned or controlled behaviour which is likely to attract punishment or disapproval”. Haralambos and Holborn Sociology, Themes and Perspectives seventh edition, 2008. This demonstrates that there is some concept of difference between criminal and deviant behaviour.