psychlotron org uk Spot the alleged criminal Spot

psychlotron. org. uk Spot the (alleged) criminal

Spot the (alleged) criminal Politician Estate agent What are their alleged crimes? psychlotron. org. uk Musician

Today’s session You are learning to. . . • Critically evaluate psychological theories psychlotron. org. uk You are learning about. . . • Physiological theories of criminal behaviour

Physiological theories • Theories that link criminal behaviour to biological form and function psychlotron. org. uk – Atavistic form (Lombroso) – Somatotype (Sheldon) – Extra Y syndrome

Atavistic form theory • Lombroso (1876) psychlotron. org. uk – Criminality is inherited – Genetic transmission of throwback/atavistic (i. e. primitive) features – Physical features indicate criminal tendencies

psychlotron. org. uk Lombroso (1876)

psychlotron. org. uk • Can you tell whether someone is a criminal just by looking at them? • How would you test this idea scientifically?

Lombroso (1876) • A number of significant flaws: psychlotron. org. uk – Lack of a control group for comparison – Sample included people with psychological/physiological disorders – ‘Crime’ is a social construction – ‘Single defective gene’ theories - doubtful

Lombroso (1876) • A number of significant contributions: psychlotron. org. uk – Later believed that most criminality was ‘acquired’ – environment, poverty, education – Shifted study of crime to an empirical basis – ‘The father of modern criminology’ (Shafer, 1976)

Somatotype theory • Sheldon (1949) – ‘Constitutional psychology’ – Criminality is linked to temperament – Temperament is linked to bodily build psychlotron. org. uk • Ectomorph • Endomorph • Mesomorph

Relaxed and hedonistic Energetic and adventurous Solitary and restrained psychlotron. org. uk Source: www. pponline. co. uk Sheldon (1949)

Sheldon (1949) • The mesomorph’s personality makes him more likely to engage in criminal activity psychlotron. org. uk – Thousands of photographs rated 1 – 7 for mesomorphy – College students & delinquents compared – Delinquents had higher mesomorphy ratings (4. 6 vs. 3. 8)

Sheldon (1949) – Influence of testosterone on body and behaviour? – Effects of stereotyping and labelling? psychlotron. org. uk • Sheldon’s constitutional psychology is no longer taken seriously • But there is a small association between bodily build and criminality. How could this be explained?

psychlotron. org. uk • Last year you looked at the effects of sex chromosome abnormalities on development. What did you learn?

Chromosomal abnormalities XXY XYY Male with feminine characteristics Male with exaggerated male characteristics psychlotron. org. uk XY

Chromosomal abnormalities • ‘Extra Y’ syndrome was suggested to lead to: psychlotron. org. uk – High testosterone levels – Powerful bodily build – Heightened aggression – Propensity for violent crime

Chromosomal abnormalities – Normal testosterone levels – Normal aggression levels – Taller, but not necessarily more powerful – Prone to developmental disorders and learning difficulties psychlotron. org. uk • XYY males not actually as predicted (Graham et al, 2007):

Chromosomal abnormalities • XYY males are rare in the general population and over-represented in the offender population psychlotron. org. uk – However, their crimes are not violent ones – So why are XYY men at a greater risk of offending?

• Single factor theories of criminality are always likely to fail psychlotron. org. uk – ‘Crime’ is not a natural or homogenous category of behaviour – It is self-evidently the result of interaction between a range of factors – Different explanations for different types of crime