Psychological Theory of Crime

440 Words2 Pages
Crime experts have been trying for years and years to understand why people commit crime. Or why people end up being victimized. Did they see something as a child that would scar them mentally to the extent of harming others? Were they born with a master trait that influences certain behaviors? Maybe it’s because of others behavior that they learned to act this way? These are just a few questions I had after reading the Psychological Theories of Crime. Back in the late 1800’s, a physician by the name of Sigmund Freud created the Psychodynamic Theory. This is when ones personality has an imbalance due to problems encountered during early development. Some suffer from mood disorders, fearfulness, impulsiveness and extreme anxiety. Psychosis, on the other hand, can actually control the patients personality. Schizophrenia is the most commonly known. This results in visions and/or voices in their head. Behavior learned through the interaction of others is viewed as the Behavioral Theory. Theorists believe that children model their ways after the act of surrounding adults. This results in violent behavior, thinking that it is right. There are a number of different influences that can trigger violent behavior: verbal abuse and threats; feeling direct pain; ECT. Social learning theorists are very determined to find out if entertainment media are an influence of violence. Feelings and thoughts are what distinguishes one person from another. Some look at criminal behavior as a result of a disturbed personality structure. People who suffer from an anti social personality are often called “Antisocial”, “Psychopath”, and “Sociopath”. Defining characteristics include impulsivity, irresponsibility, risk taking, detachment issues and anti social behavior. These three theories are from the Psychological Theory of Crime. These are criminals that all suffer from a long history of

More about Psychological Theory of Crime

Open Document