Deck 4: Biological and Psychological Theories of Delinquency

Question 1

Biological theories of crime seek to provide a _____ explanation for the actions of offenders.

A) psychological
B) sociological
C) physical
D) political

Answer 1

C

Question 2

These are short lengths of DNA that determine the inherited characteristics that distinguish individuals.

A) androgens
B) cells
C) neurotransmitters
D) genes

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Early attempts to link heredity and genetics to crime relied on the use of _____.

A) bumps on the head
B) eugenics
C) family trees
D) atavisms

Answer 3

C

Question 4

These theories postulated a relationship between the physical appearance of the body and the temperament of the mind.

A) body-type
B) psychological
C) sociological
D) neurotransmitter

Question 5

This idea that the shape of the skull indicated personality was mainly promoted by Franz Joseph Gall.

A) somatotypes
B) body-type theory
C) neuroscience
D) phrenology

Question 6

This is the idea that human beings can be improved by controlled breeding.

A) somatotypes
B) phrenology
C) eugenics
D) genetics

Question 7

This Supreme Court case upheld the right of states to sterilize those determined to be mentally incompetent.

A) In re Gault
B) Brown v. Board of Education
C) Buck v. Bell
D) Ex parte Crouse

Question 8

These twins occur when two eggs are fertilized by two sperm.

A) genetic
B) identical
C) fraternal
D) none of the above

Question 9

What can we conclude from studies of twins and adopted children?

A) Separating the influences of genetics and environment on criminal behavior is difficult.
B) There appears to be a consistent relationship between the antisocial behavior of biological parents and their children.
C) The studies that have succeeded in finding research techniques to separate the influences of genetics and environment are limited to small samples.
D) all of the above

Question 10

According to Fishbein:

A) All human behavior has a genetic component.
B) There are genes for or biological causes of specific human behaviors.
C) The environment can't modify the expression of genetic and biological traits.
D) all of the above

Question 11

In males, the hormone _____ has been linked to increases in aggression and sex drive.

A) estrogen
B) testosterone
C) serotonin
D) epinephrine

Question 12

Which is a general term for male hormones?

A) testosterone
B) endocrines
C) androgens
D) estrogens

Question 13

This theory seeks to explain how environmental conditions interact with the body to produce behavior.

A) criminological theory
B) evolutionary theory
C) biosocial theory
D) all of the above

Question 14

Which is not a criminological objection to biosocial theories?

A) There can't be any genes for crime because crime is socially constructed.
B) Biosocial theories are deterministic and socially dangerous.
C) Biological theories tend to be insensitive to people's feelings.
D) Society might commit too many resources to the rehabilitation of delinquents and adult offenders.

Question 15

According to Walsh, which is an objection to biosocial theories?

A) Society will try harder to rehabilitate delinquents and adult offenders.
B) There can't be any genes for crime because crime is socially constructed.
C) Crime can't have a biological basis because crime rates change slowly, and changes in genes require few generations.
D) Biological theories are too considerate to people's feelings.

Question 16

Freud's _____ contends that our behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts of which we have little awareness or control.

A) psychoanalytic theory
B) eugenics theory
C) body-type theory
D) cognitive development theory

Question 17

According to Piaget, children learn through two primary processes: _____ and _____.

A) assimilation; imagination
B) osmosis; accommodation
C) assimilation; accommodation
D) evaluation; graduation

Question 18

This theorist argued that as humans grow and change, they progress through stages of moral development in which they learn to apply ethical behavior and develop a sense of justice and fairness.

A) Goddard
B) Piaget
C) Gilligan
D) Kohlberg

Question 19

According to Kohlberg, only about __ percent of adults are capable of moving on to post-conventional morality.

A) 5
B) 90
C) 25
D) 10

Question 20

According to Piaget and Kohlberg, children's _____ relationships are key to developing pro-social attitudes and relating to others.

A) parental
B) peer
C) teacher
D) all of the above

Question 21

According to Gilligan, which is a stage in girls' moral development?

A) orientation through individual survival
B) morality of nonviolence
C) goodness as self-sacrifice
D) all of the above

Question 22

Who originated the intelligence test and the concept of mental age?

A) Binet
B) Gilligan
C) Darwin
D) Piaget

Question 23

This measure of intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test, is usually the ratio of mental age to chronological age.

A) intelligence quotient
B) the bell curve
C) moral development
D) all of the above

Question 24

Intelligence researchers are now relatively good predictors of this.

A) behavior
B) athletic ability
C) school performance
D) all of the above

Question 25

Some researchers say that low I.Q. doesn't directly cause delinquent behavior, but is a risk factor in that it _____.

A) affects self-control
B) affects school performance
C) increases the susceptibility to pressure from antisocial friends
D) all of the above

Question 26

According to _____, some people are more sensitive to their environments than others, and some studies have found that this difference can be observed in their genes.

A) Piaget's hypothesis
B) comparative advantage hypothesis
C) Riemann hypothesis
D) differential susceptibility hypothesis

Question 27

This researcher contended that human beings experience crises of a psychosocial nature because our individual psychological needs conflict with the needs of society.

A) Freud
B) Lombroso
C) Erikson
D) Gilligan

Question 28

Which is not one of Freud's three aspects of the personality?

A) id
B) superego
C) ergo
D) All of the above are Freud's aspects of the personality.

Question 29

Many experts have serious reservations about Freud's perspective. Which is not one of these?

A) Freud's components of the personality are difficult to measure.
B) Freud's contention that personality is fixed in early childhood and never really changes
C) Freud's understanding of women is a product of the social environment of 19th-century Europe.
D) Freud's idea that infants go through six stages of sensorimotor development

Question 30

Freud's specific contention that _____ is a major feature of the study of juvenile delinquency.

A) females are passive, inherently jealous, and inferior to men
B) various attributes of the personality are products of heredity
C) personality is formed in childhood
D) all of the above

Question 31

Which characteristic is not one that the Gluecks found to be pronounced in delinquents?

A) fearlessness
B) hostility
C) introversion
D) impulsivity

Question 32

This research instrument has been found to be accurate in distinguishing offenders from non-offenders.

A) I.Q. testing
B) psychoanalytic evaluation
C) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
D) all of the above

Question 33

In children, this is defined as a pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures.

A) psychopathy
B) oppositional defiant disorder
C) sociopathy
D) empathy

Question 34

This consists of emotional and behavioral problems that occur in children and adolescents, and may involve defiant or impulsive behavior, drug use, or criminal activity. It is linked to child abuse, parental drug or alcohol abuse, family conflicts, genetic defects, and poverty.

A) conduct disorder
B) intellectual disorder
C) psychopathy
D) panic disorder

Question 35

The idea that children can inherit criminal tendencies from their parents is very recent.

Question 36

By studying identical twins raised in separate families, it's possible to examine their differences in behavior and then attribute those differences or similarities to genetics or environment.

Question 37

Comparing the legal records of adopted children with both their adoptive and biological parents is not a good way to determine the relationship between genetics and environment.

Question 38

Separating the influences of genetics and environment on criminal behavior is difficult.

Question 39

According to Fishbein, all human behavior has a genetic component.

Question 40

A gene or groups of genes can directly cause antisocial behavior.

Question 41

Some biosocial theories assert that crime might be an adaptation that, while harming society, allows individuals to survive and reproduce.

Question 42

According to Kohlberg, human beings develop ethical behavior all at once during infancy.

Question 43

According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, a person's ability to make moral judgments means that he or she will automatically engage in moral behavior.

Question 44

Research concerning moral development has been done primarily on males.

Question 45

Intelligence and school performance aren't the sole indicators of the likelihood of juvenile delinquency.

Question 46

There is no controversy over the claim that intelligence tests are culturally biased.

Question 47

Researchers have found links between learning disabilities and encounters with the juvenile justice system.

Question 48

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory has been found to be accurate in distinguishing offenders from non-offenders.

Question 49

A study of adolescent male delinquents did find that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for adolescents could predict some violent juvenile offending.