Psychologists approach the task of explaining delinquent and criminal behaviour by focusing

on an individuals personality. In particular, they examine the processes by which behaviour

and restraints on behaviour are learned. These processes often are conceived as being the
result of the interaction of biological predispositions and social experiences.

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Among the earliest psychological theories of crime were those based on the work of Sigmund
Freud (18561939). Freud argued that human nature includes a great reservoir of instinctual
drives (the id) that demand gratification. These drives are restrained by moral and ethical
codes (the superego) that children internalize as a result of their great love for and
attachment to their parents. Adults develop a rational part of their personality (the ego) that
mediates between the drives of the id and the restraints of the superego. Because the id is a
relatively constant drive, criminality is assumed to result from the failure of the superego, a
consequence of its incomplete development. However, the empirical evidence for this theory
is thin.
Later psychological theories of crime were based on behaviour theory, such as that of the
American psychologist B.F. Skinner (190490), who viewed all human behaviourcriminal
and otherwiseas learned and thus manipulable by the use of reinforcement and punishment
(see behaviourism). The social learning theory of Ronald Akers expanded behaviour theory to
encompass ways in which behaviour is learned from contacts within the family and other
intimate groups, from social contacts outside the family (particularly from peer groups), and
from exposure to models of behaviour in the media, particularly television.
Beyond these broad psychological theories, it is sometimes argued that crime is associated
with certain mental conditions. Mental illness is generally the cause of a relatively small
proportion of crimes, but its perceived importance may be exaggerated by the seriousness of
some of the crimes committed by persons with mental disorders. The closure of many
American mental institutions in the 1960s and 70s thrust many mentally ill people into the
surrounding communities, where some of them later became troublesome. Because
authorities had no other place to put them, there was a strong tendency for mentally ill people
to end up in jails and prisons.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
"The faults we first see in others are the faults that are our own." (Honore de Balzac)
Within the psychological-psychiatric perspective, it has been psychiatry, and
primarily psychoanalysis, that has made the most inroads into criminology. Psychiatry
is the older profession, going back to the earliest days of medicine in dealing with the
problems of mental disease. Psychoanalysis emerged out of psychiatry with the work of
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Psychology, particularly that branch of it with the most
relevance for criminology, abnormal psychology, came into its own during the twentieth
century. Central to the psychological perspective is the idea that almost all causes of
criminal behavior originate in the personality. Personality is defined as the complex
set of emotional and behavioral attributes that tend to remain relatively constant as the
individual moves from situation to situation. Psychiatry goes a step further by

postulating that mental illness and crime both have similar properties (in being
responses to the same stressors and each having maladaptive qualities).
THE PSYCHIATRIC APPROACH
As long ago as 1870, Henry Maudsly, in his book, Body and Mind, wrote that
criminals would go insane if they didn't engage in crime. This is because their
pathological urges must find expression in something. So, it has long been recognized
that there is a strong relationship between mental illness and crime (not to say that one
is the cause of another). The most widely cited psychiatrist on the subject is Seymour
Halleck (1971) who postulated that the pathological urges which lead to crime are
rooted in emotional experiences of oppression which is characterized by an
overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Criminal adaptation to this condition of
helplessness occurs because choosing crime over other possible alternatives provides
certain psychological advantages or gratifications, as follows:

the adaptational advantages of crime in changing one's environment are more

desirable than illness or conformity

crime involves activity, and when man is engaged in motoric behavior, he feels
less helpless

however petty a criminal act may be, it carries with it a promise of change in a
favorable direction

during the planning and execution of a criminal act, the offender is a free man,
immune from the dictates of others

crime offers the possibility of excitement

crime calls for the individual to maximize his faculties and talents which might
otherwise lie dormant

crime can relieve feelings of inner oppression and stress

crime increases external stresses, which allows the individual to concentrate

upon these threats to his equilibrium and temporarily allows him to abandon his
chronic intrapsychic problems

once a person has convinced himself that the major pressures in his life come
from without, there is less tendency to blame himself for this failure

adopting the criminal role provides an excellent rationalization for inadequacy

crime has a more esteemed social status than mental illness

America has an ambivalent attitude toward crime in that although crime is

regularly condemned, it is also glamorized

deviant behavior sometimes helps the criminal to form close and relatively
nonoppressive relations with other criminals

crime can provide pleasure or gratify needs

The Psychology of Crime Psychologically-based criminologists explain criminal

behavior as the consequence of individual factors, such as negative early
childhood experiences, and inadequate socialization, which results in criminal
thinking patterns and/or incomplete cognitive development.
Psychological Theory and the Criminal Justice System The field of psychology
has influenced community corrections in a number of important areas: (1) the
classification of offenders risk and needs, (2) the development of case
management plans and offender supervision strategies, (3) the techniques
used to interview, assess, and counsel offenders, and (4) the strategies used
to foster compliance with the basic rules of community supervision.
Psychological Theories: An Overview First, they have focused on failures in
psychological development --an overbearing or weak conscience, inner conflict,
insufficient moral development, and maternal deprivation with its concomitant
failure of attachment. Second, they have investigated the ways in which
aggression and violence are learned through modeling and direct experience.
Third, they have investigated the personality characteristics of criminals and
found that criminals do tend to be more impulsive, intolerant, and irresponsible
than non-criminals. Fourth, psychologists have investigated the relation of
criminality to such mental disorders as psychosis and psychopathy
Psychological theories of deviance use a deviant's psychology to explain his motivation and
compulsion to violate social norms. In many ways, psychological theories of deviance mirror
biological explanations, only with an added emphasis on brain function. Whereas historical biological
explanations, such as those provided by the Italian School, used biological traits from the whole body
(e.g., protruding jaws, large ears) as signifiers of a biological propensity for criminal behavior, today's
psychological theories of deviance use the biology of the brain (in terms of the structure of the brain,
levels of neurotransmitters, and psychiatric diagnoses) to explain deviance.
Conduct Disorder
One case study of a psychological theory of deviance is the case of conduct disorder. Conduct
disorder is a psychological disorder diagnosed in childhood that presents itself through a repetitive
and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others and major age-appropriate norms
are violated. This childhood disorder is often seen as the precursor to antisocial personality disorder.
According the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
IV (the professional manual listing all medically recognized mental disorders and their symptoms),
conduct disorder presents as aggressive and disrespectful behavior. Compared to normal controls,
youth with early and adolescent onset of conduct disorder displayed reduced responses in the brain

regions associated with antisocial behavior. In addition, youth with conduct disorder demonstrated less
responsiveness in the orbitofrontal regions of the brain during a stimulus-reinforcement
and reward task. These psychological symptoms of conduct disorder, both in terms of neuroanatomy
and neurotransmitter regulation, help to explain the explanatory link between psychology and crime.
Moreover, they demonstrate the increasingly fluid boundary between psychological and biological
theories of deviance.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - IV

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, the
professional manual listing all medically recognized mental disorders and their
symptoms, conduct disorder presents as aggressive and disrespectful behavior.
Psychological Trauma
Psychological theories of deviance do not necessarily have a biological element. Deviant behavior can
also be explained by psychological trauma in one's past. Take, for example, the case of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). This is a psychological condition in which a traumatic incident in one's past
causes an individual to have abnormal reactions to stimuli. PTSD is frequently invoked in cases of
child abuse, in which the psychological trauma of having been abused as a child can contribute to
deviant behavior in the future. PTSD is also discussed in cases of deviant, violent behavior on the part
of individuals who have experienced trauma while in the military. Consider the case of Sergeant
Robert Bales. Sgt. Bales is an American soldier who has served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan

over the past decade. Sgt. Bales is accused of getting drunk and going into a town nearby his post in
Afghanistan and murdering 16 Afghanis without provocation. Experts are already speculating that the
psychological trauma of multiple redeployments contributed to Sgt. Bales's alleged deviance.

Source: Boundless. Psychological Theories of Deviance. Boundless Sociology. Boundless, 14 Nov.

2014. Retrieved 25 Feb. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundlesssociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-crime-7/theories-of-crime-and-deviance61/psychological-theories-of-deviance-373-8672/