Access Psychology
Hannah Butler
hbutler@stvincents.co.uk
Discuss on your tables......
• CRIME IS A RESULT OF EVIL PEOPLE
• CRIME IS PREVENTABLE
• CRIME ALWAYS HAS A PERPETRATOR AND A
VICTIM
• CRIME IS PERFORMING IMMORAL ACTIONS
• CRIME IS SOMETHING OTHER PEOPLE DO
• CRIME IS A RESULT OF THE UNFAIR
SOCIETY THAT WE LIVE IN
• CRIME IS DEPENDANT ON YOUR VIEWPOINT,
I.E. THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE DEFINITION
The Biological approach to Psychology
• The biological perspective is a way of looking
at psychological topics by studying the
physical basis for animal and human behaviour.
• It is one of the major perspectives in
psychology, and involves such things as
studying the immune system, nervous system
and genetics.
• This field of psychology is often referred to
as biopsychology or physiological psychology.
• The biological perspective is relevant to the
study of psychology in three ways:
• 1. Comparative method: different species of
animal can be studied and compared.
• This can help in the search to understand
human behaviour.
• 2. Physiology: how the nervous system and
hormones work, how the brain functions, how
changes in structure and/or function can
affect behaviour.
• For example, we could ask how prescribed
drugs to treat depression affect behaviour
through their interaction with the nervous
system.
• 3. Investigation of inheritance: what an
animal inherits from its parents, mechanisms
of inheritance (genetics).
• For example, we might want to know whether
high intelligence is inherited from one
generation to the next.
• Each of these biological aspects, the
comparative, the physiological and the
genetic, can help explain human behaviour.
Basic assumptions
• Psychology should be seen as a science, to be
studied in a scientific manner (usually in a
laboratory).
• Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of
biology (e.g. genes/hormones).
• Human genes have evolved over millions of
years to adapt behaviour to the environment.
Therefore, most behaviour will have an
adaptive / evolutionary purpose.
Biological explanations of crime
Biological explanations of crime
• The common assumptions of the biological
theories of crime are that physical attributes
can lead an individual to criminal activities.
• Generally, the thought was that certain
physical attributes were passed down from
parent to child, making the child more at risk
of committing crimes.
What does a criminal look like?
Draw a picture of what you think a typical criminal
looks like
Cesare Lombroso-the father of
criminology
•Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) was an
Italian criminologist and physician, who
founded the Italian School of Positivist
Criminology.
•He rejected the classical school of
criminology.
•Came up with a theory which stated
that criminality was inherited, and that
someone "born criminal" could be
identified by physical defects, which
confirmed a criminal as savage,
or atavistic (throwback to an earlier
stage of human evolution)
• In 1876, Lombroso suggested that 40%
of criminals were ‘born criminals’ and it
was possible to identify them from
their skull and facial features.
• He collected the physical
measurements from criminals and noncriminals and conducted post-mortem
examinations, concluding that criminals
differed from non-criminals in their
appearance.
• Through his work, he claimed that
criminals had the following physical
characteristics:
• a head that was different in size and shape
to the heads of those of the same race
• asymmetry of the face
• eye defects
• large jaws and cheekbones
• ears that were either very small or that
stood out from the head like the ears of a
chimpanzee
• twisted, upturned or flattened noses in
thieves
• aquiline or beak-like noses in murderers
• swollen nostrils and a pointed tip to the
nose
• fleshy, swollen and petruding lips
• cheeks that look like they have pouches in
them, like a hamster
• a cleft palate
• a chin that was either receding,
excessively long or short and flat (as in
apes)
• abnormal teeth
• lots of wrinkles
• hair that was more like the hair of the
opposite sex
• He also suggested that criminals had
excessively long arms. These features he
concluded suggested that criminals were
reverting to a primitive type of man with
physical features similar to those of apes.
• The male with five or more of these physical
anomalies is marked as a born criminal
• Lombroso also maintained that criminals
had less sensibility to pain and touch;
more acute sight; a lack of moral sense,
including an absence of remorse; more
vanity, impulsiveness, vindictiveness,
and cruelty; and other manifestations,
such as the excessive use of tattooing.
•Most of the “born criminals” had
them
•Obscene nature of their
depictions and messages
•Tattoos stood as evidence of
both insensitive to physical pain
and immorality
Lombrosso and the female offender
• Lombrosso also tried to identify
characteristics of female criminals, but
concluded that female criminals were rare
and suggested that they had not
‘degenerated’ in the same way as men because
they had ‘evolved less than men due to the
inactive nature of their lives’.
• Women are less evolved: naturally vengeful
and jealous, their moral sensibilities are
deficient, less sensitive to pain than men
• Natural selection is the reason for
existence of a greater number of male
than female born criminals
• Men are less likely to breed with
physically deformed women
• Women have less chances to transmit
their genes
• Degenerative traits in women would be
less likely than such traits in men to
survive over time
A review of the work of
Cesare Lombroso
Evaluation of Lombroso
• Theory overlooks the bright and handsome criminals
• Theory ignores those who are ugly and live lives of
productive and cooperative labor
• Theory does not look at the variations over time in
crime rates. Since genes change very slowly, there
should be a steady rate of crime over the centuries.
That is not the case. Crime rates vary dramatically.
• He was studying the very poor - people
whose physical development had been
affected by poverty, poor nutrition
• Not everyone who breaks the law ends
up in prison
• This type of theorising neglects the
idea that there is a "grey area" of
criminality - people who commit crimes
but who are not caught and therefore
not imprisoned.
William Sheldon (1949)
"The Varieties of Delinquent Youth"
There is a strong
correlation between
body morphology
(shape) and
criminal behaviour
in teenagers
William Herbert Sheldon (1898 1977)
An American psychologist.
He created the field of somatotype
and constitutional psychology that
tried to correlate body types
with behaviour, intelligence and soci
al hierarchy.
He classified people into three categories:
•Endomorphic
•Mesomorphic
•Ectomorphic
Endomorphic body type
The Endomorph is physically quite 'round', and
is typified as the 'barrel of fun‘ person. They
tend to have:
• Wide hips and narrow shoulders, which makes
them rather pear-shaped.
• Quite a lot of fat spread across the body,
including upper arms and thighs.
• They have quite slim ankles and wrists, which
only serves to accentuate the fatter other
parts.
Endomorphic body type
Psychologically, the endomorph is:
• Sociable
• Fun-loving
• Love of food
• Tolerant
• Even-tempered
• Good humoured
• Relaxed
• With a love of comfort
• And has a need for affection
Ectomorphic boy type
The Ectomorph is an opposite of the
Endomorph. Physically, they tend to have:
• Narrow shoulders and hips
• A thin and narrow face, with a high forehead
• A thin and narrow chest and abdomen
• Thin legs and arms
• Very little body fat
• Even though they may eat as much as the
endomorph, they never seem to put on weight
Ectomorphic body type
Psychologically they are:
• Self-conscious
• Private
• Introverted
• Inhibited
• Socially anxious
• Artistic
• Intense
• Emotionally restrained
• Thoughtful
Mesomorphic body type
• The mesomorph is somewhere between the round
endomorph and the thin ectomorph. Physically,
they have the more 'desirable' body, and have:
• Large head, broad shoulders and narrow waist
(wedge-shaped).
• Muscular body, with strong forearms and thighs
• Very little body fat
• They are generally considered as 'wellproportioned'.
Mesomorphic body type
Psychologically, they are:
• Adventurous
• Courageous
• Indifferent to what others think or want
• Assertive/bold
• Zest for physical activity
• Competitive
• With a desire for power/dominance
• And a love of risk/chance
• Sheldon compiled his study by comparing 400
boys in a residential rehabilitation home.
• He gathered extensive family backgrounds on
each and also monitored their growth for 8
years.
• He found that the Mesomorphs pose the
greatest threat of becoming delinquents and
later criminals.
Convicts were most likely to
mesomorphic, and least likely to
be ectomorphic
• A later study compiled in the 1960s backed up
Sheldon’s theory.
• Herrnstein and Wilson found 60% of the
delinquent population to be mesomorphs and
30% endomorphs.
• In a similar vein others have studied physical
attractiveness and crime (Corsini) and found a
correlation.
• However, they could not detect whether
physical unattractiveness played a part in the
initial choice to become deviant or whether
the juvenile court system singled out
unattractive children from others by
adjudicating them delinquent more frequently.
• Sheldon's theories enjoyed a vogue as the
"pop-psych flavour of the month" through the
1950s.
• Modern scientists, however, generally with
occasional exceptions) dismiss his claims as
outdated, if not outright ”quackery”
Hans Eysenck (1916-1997)personality and crime
•Born in Germany-hated the Nazis.
•Moved to UK in the 1930s.
•Most well known for his theory on
personality and crime.
His theory proposed that criminal behaviour is
the result of an interaction between certain
environmental conditions and features of the
nervous system.
Type theory
• Eysenck believed
personality types.
that
there
are
different
• His theory is therefore described as a type theory.
For each personality type there are associated
traits.
Eysenck believed that personality is defined
along 3 strands:
• Neuroticism (N)
• Psychoticism(P)
• Extraversion (E)
Compare their own
opinions with the
opinions of others
Easily break
unwanted
relations
Open and
often
talkative
Extroverts
Interested in
new people
Easily make new
friends or adapt
to a new group
Like action
and
initiative
Say what
they think
Are interested
in their own
thoughts and
feelings
Do not like
the
unexpected
Like
concentration
and quiet
Have
difficulties in
making new
contacts
Need to have
own territory
INTROVERTS
Often appear
reserved,
quiet and
thoughtful
Usually do not
have many
friends
Nature
full of
anxiety
May be
tense or
irritable
Worry a
lot
May have
low self
esteem
Neurotics
Rapid
response
to fear
Feel
guilty
often
Highly
emotional
Extroversion
• Eysenck’s studies showed that the typical
extravert tends to lose his/her temper
quickly, becoming aggressive and unreliable.
• He then believed that extraverts need a
higher level of excitement and stimulation,
known as “arousal theory.”
• The need for high amounts of stimulation
then lead to more likely encounters with the
law.
• “They enjoy pranks and practical jokes and
find challenge in opportunities to do the
unconventional, or even to engage in antisocial
behaviour”
• The physiological bases of extraversion are
related to the Reticular Activating System
(RAS).
• The RAS arouses the cerebral cortex and
keeps it alert to incoming stimuli.
Cerebral cortex
•The Cerebral cortex is the outermost sheet of neural
tissue of the cerebrum of the brain.
•It plays a key role in memory, attention,
perceptual awareness thought, language, and consciousness.
Neuroticism
• The base of neuroticism is frequently linked to
the emotional area of the brain-this dimension
reacts to how one successfully deals with
stressful events.
• Whereas the extraversion centre of the brain is
linked to the central nervous system, neuroticism
relates to the autonomic nervous system.
• Neurotic individuals are believed to achieve an
emotional level quickly and then remain at that
level for a longer amount of time than
non‐neurotic individuals.
Autonomic nervous system
• Autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the part
of our main nervous system that acts as
a control system, functioning largely below
the level of consciousness, and
controls visceral (internal) functions.
• The ANS effects heart-rate, digestion,
respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupil
dilation, urination and sexual arousal.
Psychotism
• Eysenck used the word psychoticism as a word
to identify behaviours that are not explained by
neuroticism and extraversion.
• Eysenck used his research to categorize
individuals who exhibited cold, cruel,
unemotional, and insensitive characteristics, not
the clinical definition of psychotic which means
out of touch with reality.
According to Eysenck
• Extroverts are under aroused,
• Need stimulation
• Less likely to be effected by negative outcomes of
their behaviour i.e. punishment.
• More likely to shrug shoulders at disapproval
• Introverts take punishment to heart.
According to Eysenck
• Extroverts enjoy the ‘thrill’ of a crime as will take
more risks. Joyriding a good example.
To summarise....
• To sum up the Eysenck’s Theory of
Criminality, offenders as a whole will
demonstrate low levels of extraversion
(cortical arousal), high levels of neuroticism
(autonomic arousal), and are more
tough‐minded in the psychotic sense
Homework
• On moodle....
• Modern biological explanation of criminality
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