1. Top-Down approach

2. Support session this lunch time: research methods
Homework
Due in after half term:
Forensic flip
A2 re-sit exam paper
Support session this lunch time: research methods

3. Social Influence Points Task:
2 points: Which variation of Milgram supports the agentic state explanation?
4 points: Define the terms; compliance, identification and internalisation.
2 points: Define minority influence.
4 points: Explain how Moscovici’s study (blue/green slides) supports one of the key principles of a successful minority influence.
3 points: Describe Asch variation studies
2 Points: Evaluate Milgrams experiment
2 points: Which variation of Milgram supports legitimacy of authority & why?
3 points: Explain how Nemeth’s study (ski accident) supports another a key features of minority influence.
2 points: Describe social support as an explanation for resisting social influence.
5 points: Explain the snowball effect using the terms normative social influence and informational social influence.
Social Influence Points Task:
5 points: Outline Zimbardo’s experiment
3 points: Evaluate the social support explanation
3 points: How can social-crypto amnesia explain social change?
2 points: Outline the Authoritarian Personality.
2 points: I never found maths easy so I made sure I got extra help and worked at it. Internal or external Locus of Control?
4 points: Give a criticism of the explanations of conformity.
2 points: How do you determine if someone has an Authoritarian Personality?
2 points: Yasmine always messages the group chat before she goes out to check if the girls are wearing a coat as she doesn’t want to be the only one who does. What type of conformity is this?
3 points: Use a piece of evidence to support the Locus of Control explanation.
4 points: Milgram & Elms support the Authoritarian Personality explanation – how?
2 points: Give a weakness of the Authoritarian Personality explanation of obedience.
4 points: Give 3 characteristics an internal LoC and explain why this personality will resist social influence.
2 points: Theo has always been a Newcastle fan but only because his Grandad is, he doesn’t really understand football but all of his friends support Boro. His friends explain to him why he should be a Boro fan after their performance this season. Theo now has a Boro season ticket and never misses a match. #UTB. What type of conformity is this?

4. Exam focus
In an observational study, 100 cars were fitted with video cameras to record the driver’s behaviour. Two psychologists used content analysis to analyse the data from the films. They found that 75% of accidents involved a lack of attention by the driver. The most common distractions were using a hands-free phone or talking to a passenger. Other distractions included looking at the scenery, smoking, eating, personal grooming and trying to reach something within the car.
(a) What is content analysis? (2)
(b) Explain how the psychologists might have carried out content analysis to analyse the film clips of driver behaviour. (4)

5. Exam answers
1. Content analysis is a technique for analysing qualitative data of various kinds. Data can be placed into categories/themes and counted (quantitative) or can be analysed in themes (qualitative).
2. The psychologist could have begun by watching some of the film clips of driver behaviour. This would enable the psychologist to identify potential categories which emerged from the data of the different types of distractions seen in the film. Such categories / themes might include: passenger distractions, gadget distractions, etc. The psychologists would then have watched the films again and counted the number of examples which fell into each category to provide quantitative data.

6. Offender Profiling (dates back from 1988)
A behavioural and analytic tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.
Offender profiling is grounded in the belief that it is possible to work out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of their offences.
As Ainsworth (2001) puts it: “profiling generally refers to the process of using all the available information about a crime, a crime scene, and a victim in order to compose a profile of the (as yet) unknown perpetrator.
Aim = to narrow the field of enquiry and list of suspects Methods vary…
Copson (1995) argues police need 4 types of information from Profilers:
Type of person
Future threat
Case linked to others?
Interview strategies to be used with offender.
Tool employed by police when solving crimes – characteristics of the offender can be deduced from the characteristics of the crime scene
OP refers to the process of using all the available information about a crime, a crime scene and a victim in order to compose a profile of the (as yet) unknown perpetrator (Ainsworth, 2001)

7. How is it conducted? Top-Down Approach
Start with an established typology / categorisation and assign individuals to these types based on witness accounts and evidence.
American - Used by FBI
Bottom-Up Approach
Starts by looking at even the minor details of a crime scene and develop a likely hypothesis about the likely characteristics of the offender.
British model

8. Classification system is used to predict and prevent crime
Qualitative profile created from interviews and analysis of crime details/scenes
Top: motives and characteristics of offenders.
Lead to . .
Down: categories creating more knowledge of the crime
Classification system is used to predict and prevent crime

9. Ted Bundy, the “Organised Killer”
Theodore Robert Bundy ( ) was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s. Shortly before his execution, after more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and The true victim count remains unknown, and could be much higher.
Bundy’s killings usually followed a pattern. He was intelligent, charming and attractive. He excelled at law school and fell in love with a young woman at college. After the breakdown of this relationship, Bundy’s killing spree ensued – his victims resembling his college girlfriend with long hair parted down the middle. After escaping police custody twice, Bundy was executed by electric chair in 1989.

10. Some of Bundy’s confirmed victims . . .
WHAT DID THE FBI DO AFTERWARDS?
INTERVIEWED 36 SEXUALLY-MOTIVATED SERIAL KILLERS, INCLUDING BUNDY AND CHARLES MANSON.
DISCUSS: WHY DID THEY DO THIS???????

11. Top-down approach
Based on theories that the FBI have developed about the type of people who commit different crimes.
They use the theories to categorise crimes using the evidence from crime scenes and witness statements.
Once they have categorised the crime they can start to construct a profile of the typical criminal who would commit that type of crime.
It is based on the concept that ‘behaviour reflects personality’ so if you can understand their behaviour you can work out who they are.
It's based on police experience and case studies rather than psychological theory.
It's suitable for the more extreme/unusual crimes, such as murder, rape and ritualistic crimes.

12. Organised or Disorganised?
Ex: can you spot two problems with using these classifications? Note them down
Organised or Disorganised?

13. Characteristics of organised and disorganised
Behaviour towards victim
Crime scene detail
Characteristics of criminal
serious offenders have certain signature ‘ways of working’ (modus operandi) and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics of the individual

14. The top-down approach
Organised
Disorganised
Behaviour towards victim
Victim targeted
Controls conversation
Victim selected at random
Crime unplanned
Avoids conversation
Crime scene detail
Weapon absent
Body hidden from view
Body moved from crime scene
Attempts to clean up
Weapon present
Sexual activity after death
Body left in view at crime scene
Characteristics of criminal
High intelligence
Socially competent
Sexually competent
Skilled occupation
Average intelligence or lower
Socially immature
Sexually incompetent
Poor work history
Lives alone
Lives close to crime scene
serious offenders have certain signature ‘ways of working’ (modus operandi) and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics of the individual

15. What does this crime scene tell you about the offender responsible?

16. FBI profiling process Data assimilation
Data compiled from police reports, post mortems, crime scene photos etc.
Crime classification
Profilers decide whether the crime scene is organised or disorganised
Profile generation
Offender’s physical, demographic (age, race, job etc.)
and behavioural characteristics (habits and personality)
Crime reconstruction
Hypotheses about crime sequence, offender & victim behaviour etc.
Develop hypothesis about the behaviour of victim
Develop MO (modus operandi) about offender

17. 10 minute challenge! Answer both
Define what is meant by offender profiling (3marks)
Distinguish between organised and disorganised types of offender (4 marks)

18. Define what is meant by offender profiling (3marks)
Offender profiling is a behavioural and analytic tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals. It is grounded in the belief that it is possible to work out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of their offences.

19. Research… Arthur Shawcrosss (caught using the top-down approach)
Paul Britton (Collin Stag wrongly convicted for Rachel Nickell’s murder)

20. Evaluation of the Top-Down Approach
In pairs, discuss the issues with using this approach.

21. Problems with typological profiling
What problems can you identify with the FBI’s approach to offender profiling?
Assumptions about stable types (Alison 2002)
Subjective judgements (Godwin 2002)
Small and unusual sample, self-report (FBI Science unit)
Support / reliability (canter 2004)
Simplistic (Holmes 1989; Walter 1999)
Limited use…

22. Evaluation Only applies to particular crimes
This kind of profiling is best suited to crimes scenes that reveal details about the suspect such as rape, torture etc.
More common offences such as burglary do not lend themselves to profiling because the crime scene doesn’t reveal much about the offender.

23. Evaluation Two categories is too restrictive Invalid?
Having only 2 categories is very simplistic as it is likely that criminals do not fit neatly into either category – this makes the prediction of their characteristics difficult
It is likely that there will be more than two types
REDUCTIONIST Every crime scene fits into one of two categories and then predictions are made but this allows for a rapid solving of the crime

24. Evaluation Original sample
The approach was developed using interviews with 36 killers in the US – 25 were serial killers, the other 11 were single/double murderers
This is too small and unrepresentative to base a profiling system that may have a significant influence on the nature of police investigation
Also, it is not sensible to rely of self-report data with convicted killers when constructing a classification system
THE SCIENCE PART Ressler didn’t allow others to read his work so how accurate are the categories?

25. Evaluation Based on outdated models of personality
Based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and contexts.
This approach is naïve and informed by old-fashioned models of personality that see behaviour as being driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external factors that may be constantly changing.

26. Evaluation Opposing evidence for disorganised type
Canter et al. (2004) analysed data from 100 murders in the USA. Although the findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, this was not the case for disorganised which seems to undermine the classification system as a whole.
Nevertheless, this system is still used in the US and has widespread support.

27. Evaluation Influential Adopted and enhanced all over the world
Helps to link offences/facilitate predictions regarding timeframes (Ainsworth, 01)
Challenge stereotypes

28. PLAN (bullet point) An answer to:
Discuss the top-down approach to offender profiling, referring to evidence in your answer.
[16 marks]

29. FBI
TOP DOWN
Type
Motives
Reductionist
Individual
Think like a criminal
Little scientific evaluation
Quick
Subjective interpretation
BOTTOM UP UK
Behaviour
What offender does
Holistic
Looks at offence
Statistical
Correlations
Slow
Criminal consistency theory