Are people born or made to be killers? Discussion If they are made to be killers, what do you think makes them that way?

What are individualistic theories of criminality? Unit 1 – Assessment Criteria 1.2 Describe individualistic theories of criminality.

Assumptions of individualistic theories of crime Crime is caused by individual differences based on personality types or experiences that people have. The root of crime is in an individual’s psychological make-up or the development processes that they have experienced.

Criminal personalities? Study of people in prison show that they share certain traits of personality: Hyperactivity Impulsivity Aggression Sensation seeking/risk taking Extroversion or outgoing natures Demand for immediate satisfaction, impatience.

Key names to research Hans J Eysenck (personality theory) Sigmund Freud (psychodynamic theory) Albert Bandura (social learning theory)

H J Eysenck There are four basic personality types. These affect your need for stimulation and your ability to learn. Certain personality types are more likely to commit crime because they crave excitement, but are slow to learn that crime has bad consequences. Download: http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/newResources/criminological/A2_AQB_crim_EysenckTheory.pdf

Can this be criticised? Are psychological assessments of personality and learning styles really reliable? Much research is based on people who are in offender institutions. Are these people typical of all criminals or just those who are caught?

According to Freud: All humans have criminal tendencies. Most people develop inner controls to help them deal with their urges. A child who is not correctly brought up will develop personality problems that cause criminal behaviours.

Freud and crime Freud believed that there are three parts to each person’s personality: Superego (conscience and morality) Ego (rational, sensible and control) Id (selfish, animalistic urges). Criminal behaviour results from unresolved conflicts between these parts of the personality.

Which part of the personality is in control? According to Freud, differing parts of the personality will be in control of your actions. You are preparing for an examination by revising carefully. Id Ego Superego You are in a jealous rage because your partner is talking to other people at a party. Id Ego Superego You are giving money to a person collecting for charity. Id Ego Superego

Albert Bandura People learn by watching the behaviour of others. If children watch adults gaining pleasure from an activity, or being punished, they will either repeat or reject behaviours. Aggression can be learned from watching others behave in an aggressive manner.

Independent study Research Albert Bandura on the Internet. Find out more about Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment. Create a simple, one page learning poster to remind you of the experiment and the conclusions. Download: http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm

Can these approaches be criticised? It puts the responsibility for crime on the individual and ignores social factors. These approaches show how criminals think and offer insight into the faulty thinking that can result in criminal behaviours. They offer therapies to help criminals come to terms with their actions.

Public policy and psychological theory The individualistic approach seeks to understand what drives people to crime. It seeks to treat and rehabilitate criminals through understanding what drove them to their behaviour. This has resulted in treatment programmes, counselling and victim offender mediation where criminals are taught to understand the results of their actions on others.

Discussion questions Is there any value to this approach? If psychologists could understand what processes drive individuals to criminal behaviour, what would be the implications for the prison system and police force? Do these approaches simply reinforce stereotypes of criminals?

Serial killers to research Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer of young men) Fred and Rosemary West (murderers of young women) Aileen Wournos (female killer of men) What happened to these people in their early lives that could have contributed to their criminal behaviours?

Independent Study before the next topic Do further reading and research on the individualistic approach. Make revision lists of arguments in favour or rejecting the individualistic approach to the origins of crime. Independent Study before the next topic

Scenario I’m being abused by my ex-partner who’s living with me most of the time. My son has been excluded from school for bullying younger children. She has a history of choosing abusive partners and was a victim of verbal abuse from her own father when she was a child.

Assessment skill Write a short report (one side of A4) applying one psychological theory of the origins of crime to the scenario. Make a reasonable suggestion as to how the behaviour of the family might be addressed using any one psychological theory. Do not copy and paste from any website or textbook. Refer to the sources that you used.

Final self review How has your understanding of psychological approaches affected or changed your opinions towards criminals or criminal behaviour?