Deck 8: Psychological Positivism

Question 1

Psychologists and sociologists cannot agree about the causes of crime.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Learning theories within psychology see offending as something that is learnt because they:

A)look to explain human behaviour as a consequence of the interaction of the individual and the world in which they live
B)understand behaviour to be a consequence of contact with others, particularly via primary sources of socialisation such as the family and peer groups
C)think that school is one place where crime takes place

Answer 2

look to explain human behaviour as a consequence of the interaction of the individual and the world in which they live
understand behaviour to be a consequence of contact with others, particularly via primary sources of socialisation such as the family and peer groups

Question 3

What are the main elements of differential association?

A)the idea that conduct is learned through coming into contact with social norms
B)people learn to be criminal in various different ways
C)criminal behaviour is learnt
D)it is learnt in association with others

Answer 3

the idea that conduct is learned through coming into contact with social norms
criminal behaviour is learnt
it is learnt in association with others

Question 4

What are the criticisms of Sutherland's theory?

A)it does not address why some people choose to deviate and others do not
B)some people never come into contact with criminals
C)powerful and influential people might have more influence over the learning process
D)it is relatively simple

Question 5

Social learning theory is said to have an element of motivation, types of which include:

A)financial reinforcement (resulting in pecuniary reward)
B)external reinforcement (from the environment)
C)vicarious reinforcement (from observing others)
D)self-reinforcement (as a result of taking pleasure or pride from one's own actions

Question 6

What are the two types of reinforcement and punishment in operant learning theory?

Question 7

Kohlberg argued that offending behaviour is associated with less mature moral development. How might this lead them to be involved in criminal activities?

Question 8

What are Eysenck's three personality components?

Question 9

In theory, what are the ways in which low intelligence could be related to criminality?

Question 10

Early life experiences are said to have an impact on later criminality because:

A)Socialisation depends on the internalisation of society's rules during early childhood
B)Impaired parent-infant relationships are causally related to later criminal behaviour
C)Criminal families always pass on their genes causing crime
D)Unconscious conflicts arising from disturbed family relationships at different stages of development - particularly the oedipal stage - are the causes of some criminal acts

Question 11

Why have generally psychoanalytically-influenced theories such as Bowlby's become less popular as a means of explaining delinquency?

A)they have become unethical to conduct
B)they cannot prove that maternal separation is harmful in the long term
C)they are too expensive
D)it is difficult to follow up cases in longitudinal studies

Question 12

The Bobo doll experiment proved that children watching violent television scenes would lead them to behave aggressively.

Question 13

Rational choice theory suggests that the underlying assumption is that actors make calculations about future courses of action on the basis of some assessment, however incomplete or inadequate, of the balance between the benefits or problems that will result.

Question 14

Routine activity theorists such as Cohen and Felson (1979) argue that there are three necessary elements for the commission of most crimes:
• suitable targets (things worth stealing, attacking, etc.);
• a motivated offender (understood through rational choice theory);
• the absence of a 'capable guardian' (someone or something that might ordinarily deter the crime)

Question 15

Cognitive skills training programmes aim to focus directly on offenders' decision -making processes to stop them committing crimes.

Question 16

What is the focus of psychological positivism?

A)it looks at the causes of criminal conduct in the nature and functioning of the body
B)it concentrates on why people become psychologically disturbed
C)it is concerned with theories that focus on the personality and psychological make-up and learning processes of individuals
D)it uses psychological profiling to solve crimes

Question 17

Freud argued that the id, ego and superego are aspects of personality central to psychoanalytic theory. Which is the part that represents conscience in modern psychoanalytic theory?

A)ego
B)id
C)superego
D)ego ideal

Question 18

Until what age did Bowlby argue children need a consistent primary care giver?

A)6 months
B)1 year
C)5 years
D)10 years

Question 19

What percentage of a group of 'delinquent' young people studied by Boulby had experienced significant disruption in their relationships with their mothers?

A)0.1
B)0.39
C)0.54
D)0.75

Question 20

What are the dangers associated with taking data from IQ tests more or less at face-value as actually measuring intelligence, and using this to construct arguments about the differing levels of offending measured among different ethnic groups.