Transcript Insert Book Title Here

Chapter 6
Psychological and Psychiatric
Foundations of Criminal
Behavior
Frank Schmalleger
PowerPoint presentation created by
Ellen G. Cohn, Ph.D.
Key Terms
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Forensic psychology:
The application of the science and profession
of psychology to questions and issues relating
to law and the legal system
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Forensic psychiatry:
A medical subspeciality applying psychiatry to
the needs of crime prevention and solution,
criminal rehabilitation, and issues of the
criminal law
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Major Principles of
Psychological Theories
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The individual is the primary unit of
analysis
Personality is the major motivational
element within individuals
Crimes result from abnormal,
dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental
processes within the personality
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Major Principles of
Psychological Theories
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Criminal behavior may be purposeful for the
individual insofar as it addresses certain felt
needs
Normality is generally defined by social
consensus
Defective, or abnormal, mental processes may
have a variety of causes, such as improper
conditioning, poor role-models.
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Theory in Perspective
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Psychiatric Criminology
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Also known as Forensic Psychiatry
A complex set of drives and motives operating
from recesses deep within the personality to
determine behavior
Period: 1930s – present
Concepts: psychopath, sociopath,
antisocial and asocial personality
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Early Psychological Theories
Two main threads:
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Conditioning
The frequency of a behavior can be increased or
decreased through reward, punishment or
association with other stimuli
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Personality disturbances and diseases of the
mind
Psychopathy and mental disease
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The Psychopath
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Psychopathy:
A personality disorder characterized by
antisocial behavior and lack of affect
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Psychopath/sociopath:
An individual who has a personality disorder,
especially one manifested in aggressively
antisocial behavior and who is lacking in
empathy
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The Mask of Sanity
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Hervey M. Cleckley (1941) – developed
concept of a psychopathic personality
Psychopath as “moral idiot”
Poverty of affect – inability to accurately
imagine how others think and feel
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Psychopathic Characteristics
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Superficial charm and
“good intelligence”
Absence of delusions
Absence of nervousness
Inability to feel guilt or
shame
Unreliability
Chronic lying
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Ongoing antisocial
behavior
Poor judgment
Self-centeredness and
inability to love
Social unresponsiveness
Poorly integrated sex life
Failure to follow a life
plan
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Antisocial Personality Disorder
According to the American Psychiatric
Association, an Antisocial/asocial
personality includes:
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Individuals who are basically unsocialized
and whose behavior pattern brings them
into repeated conflicts with society
Individuals who exhibit an antisocial
personality are said to be suffering from
antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)
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Antisocial Personality
Disorder
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The World Health Organization describes antisocial
personality as a “personality disorder usually coming to
attention because of a gross disparity between behavior
and the prevailing social norms, characterized by at least
three of the following:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Callous unconcern for the feelings of others
Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility
Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships
Very low tolerance to frustration
Incapacity to experience guilt and profit from experience
Marked proneness to blame others for failures.
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Causes of ASPD
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Somatic causes - based on physiological
features
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Malfunction of central nervous system
characterized by low state of arousal.
Psychogenic causes – rooted in early
interpersonal experiences
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Inability to form attachments early in life
Sudden separation from mother early in life
Other forms of early insecurity
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Personality Types and Crime
Hans Eysenck – Crime and Personality (1964),
looked at personality types.
 Crime as the result of fundamental personality
characteristics
 Three personality dimensions
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Psychotics – most likely to be criminal-lack of
creativity, empathy, tough-mindedness, and antisociability.
Extroverts: outgoing, carefree, dominant,
venturesome, and operating with high energy.
Neurotics: Irrational, shy and moody.
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Early Psychiatric Theories
Psychiatric criminology
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Envisions a complex set of drives and
motives that operate from within the
personality to determine behavior
Crime is caused by biological and
psychological urges mediated through
consciousness
Little emphasis on the role of the external
environment
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Theory in Perspective
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Psychoanalytic Criminology
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Emphasizes the role of personality in human
behavior
Sees deviant behavior as the result of
dysfunctional personalities
Period: 1920s – present
Concepts: id, ego, superego, sublimation,
psychotherapy, Thanatos, neurosis,
psychosis, schizophrenia
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The Psychoanalytic Perspective
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Psychoanalysis:
Criminal behavior is maladaptive, the result
of inadequacies inherent in the personality
of the offender
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Psychotherapy:
The attempt to relieve patients of their
mental disorders through the application of
psychoanalytic principles and techniques
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Psychoanalytic Structure of
Personality
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The Psychoanalytic Perspective
Sublimation:
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A process in which one item of consciousness is
symbolically substituted for another
Improper sublimation may lead to crime
Thanatos – a death instinct or death wish
Neurosis:
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Individuals are in touch with reality but may be
anxious or fearful of certain situations
Most neuroses do not lead to crime but some may
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The Psychotic Offender
Psychosis: mental illness characterized by a lack
of contact with reality
Characteristics of psychotic individuals
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A grossly distorted conception of reality
Inappropriate moods and mood swings
Marked inefficiency in getting along with others and caring for
oneself
Schizophrenics and paranoid schizophrenics
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Schizophrenics: Characterized by disordered or disjointed
thinking, in which the types of logical associations they make
are atypical of other people.
Paranoid schizophrenics: Suffer from delusion and
hallucinations.
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Theory in Perspective
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Frustration-Aggression Theory
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Frustration is a natural consequence of living
and a root cause of crime
Criminal behavior as a form of adaptation
when it results in stress reduction
Period: 1940s – present
Concepts: frustration, aggression,
displacement, catharsis, alloplastic and
autoplastic adaptation
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The Link Between Frustration
and Aggression
Freud: Aggression is a natural response
to frustrating limits
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Frustration-aggression theory (J. Dollard)
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Direct aggression toward others is the most
likely consequence of frustration
Aggression can be manifested in socially
acceptable ways or engaged in vicariously
by watching others act aggressively
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Crime as Adaptive Behavior
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Alloplastic adaptation:
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Crime reduces stresses that the individual faces by
producing changes in the environment
(empowerment)
Allows disenfranchised offenders to feel empowered.
Autoplastic adaptation:
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Crime leads to stress reduction as a result of internal
changes in beliefs and value systems
Offender blames failures in life on crime.
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Theory in Perspective
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Modeling Theory
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People learn how to behave by modeling
themselves after others whom they have the
opportunity to observe
Period: 1950s – present
Concepts: imitation, interpersonal
aggression, modeling, disengagement
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Modeling Theory
Gabriel Tarde’s three laws of imitation and
suggestion:
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People in close contact tend to imitate each
other’s behavior
Imitation moves from the top down
New acts and behaviors either reinforce or
replace old ones
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Modeling Theory
Albert Bandura’s modeling theory
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Everyone is capable of aggression but must
learn how to behave aggressively
Social learning factors determine what forms
aggressive behavior takes, its frequency, the
situations in which it is displayed, and the
targets selected for attack
People learn to act by observing others
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Modeling Theory
Aggression can be activated or provoked in
various ways
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Disengagement: people who devalue
aggression may engage in it by constructing
rationalizations to overcome internal inhibitions
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Attributing blame to the victim
Dehumanization
Vindication of aggression by legitimate authorities
Desensitization from repeated exposure
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Theory in Perspective
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Behavior Theory
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Individual behavior that is rewarded will
increase in frequency, while that which is
punished will decrease
Period: 1940s – present
Concepts: operant behavior, conditioning,
stimulus-response, reward, punishment
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Behavior Theory
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Stimulus-response approach
Operant behavior: behavior choices
operate on the environment to produce
consequences for the individual
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When behavior results in rewards, it will
probably become more frequent
When behavior results in punishment, the
frequency of that behavior decreases
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Behavior Theory
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Rewards increase the frequency of approved
behavior
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Positive rewards add something desirable
Negative rewards remove something distressful
Punishments decrease the frequency of
unwanted behavior
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Positive punishments add something undesirable
Negative punishments remove something desirable
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Attachment Theory
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Healthy personality development requires
that children have a warm, intimate, and
continuous relationship with their mothers
Forms of attachment:
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Secure attachment (a healthy form)
Anxious-avoidant attachment
Anxious-resistant attachment
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Theory in Perspective
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Self-Control Theory
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The root cause of crime is found in a person’s
inability to exercise socially appropriate
controls over the self
Period: 1940s – present
Concepts: self-control, general theory,
criminal opportunity
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Self-Control Theory
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Self control: A person’s ability to alter
his or her own states and responses
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Four types of self control
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Impulse control
Control over the contents of the mind
Control over emotional and mood states
Performance control
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Self-Control Theory
Gottfredson and Hirschi – general theory of
crime
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Low self-control is the primary individual-level
cause of crime
Self control: the degree to which a person is
vulnerable to temptations of the moment
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Insanity and the Law
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Insanity (legal):
A legally established inability to understand
right from wrong or to conform one’s
behavior to the requirements of the law
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Insanity (psychological):
Persistent mental disorder or derangement
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Insanity and the Law
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Foucha v. Louisiana (1992)
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Supreme Court recognized that the legal definition of
insanity had no resemblance to the medical or
scientific definition.
Insanity Defense Reform Act (IDRA) – 1984
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Defined insanity as a condition in which the
defendant can be showen to have been suffering
under a “severe mental disease or defect” and , as a
result, “was unable to appreciate the nature and
quality or the wrongfulness of h is acts.”
Burden of proof rests with the defendant.
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Insanity and the Law
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“Not guilty by reason of insanity” (NGRI)
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A defendant can be held for up to 40 days
after a verdict.
After a verdict has been rendered, a civil
proceeding is held to determine if the
defendant should be hospitalized or released.
Intent is to ensure that some found NGRI
does not get released onto the streets.
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Insanity and the Law
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M’Naughten Rule:
Irresistible-Impulse Test
Durham Rule
Substantial-Capacity Test
Brawner Rule
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Guilty But Mentally Ill
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Individual may be held responsible for a
criminal act, even though a degree of
mental incompetence is present
Requirements for verdict
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Every statutory element necessary for
conviction proven beyond a reasonable doubt
Defendant found to have been mentally ill at
the time of the crime
Defendant not found to have been legally
insane at the time of the crime
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Federal Provisions for the
Hospitalization of Individuals
Found NGRI
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Mandatory psychological/psychiatric
examination and hearing
Individual committed if release creates risk
to persons or property due to present
mental disease or defect
Individual discharged when facility director
determines s/he has recovered from
mental disease or defect
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Social Policy and Forensic
Psychology
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Psychological theories continue to evolve
Focus on using past behavior to predict
future behavior
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Assessment of dangerousness
Identification of personal characteristics to
predict future dangerousness
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Social Policy and Forensic
Psychology
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Selective incapacitation
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Policy based on the notion of career
criminality
Seeks to protect society by incarcerating
individuals deemed the most dangerous
Correctional psychology
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Diagnosis and classification, treatment, and
rehabilitation of offenders
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Social Policy and the Psychology of
Criminal Conduct
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Donald Andrews and James Bonta (1994)
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Practical synthesis of psychological
approaches to criminal behavior
Not a new behavioral theory, a call for the
application of what we understand
We know something about what works,
now we need to make use of that
knowledge
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Criminal Psychological
Profiling
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Psychological profiling:
The attempt to categorize, understand, and
predict the behavior of certain types of offenders
based on behavioral clues they provide
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Based on the belief that conscious
behavior is symptomatic of personality
Offender’s specific activities help clarify
his/her personal characteristics,
motivations, likely future behavior
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