PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

CRIMINOLOGY
PROJECT ON

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

SUBMITTED TO: DR. ANJU CHOUDHARY

SUBMITTED BY: AMRAPALLI SHARMA

CLASS/SECTION B.A.LLB (HONS.)/A

SEMESTER: X

ROLL NUMBER: 9/15

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Apart from the efforts of oneself, the success of any project depends largely on the
encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express our
gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this
project. I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Dr. Anju Choudhary- my
Criminology professor. I can’t say thank you enough for her tremendous support and
help. I would like to thank my friends and classmates who gave their valuable
suggestions whenever needed. The guidance and support received from all the people
involved who contributed and who are contributing to this project, was vital for the
success of the project. I am grateful for their constant support and help.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SERIAL NO. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 4

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY
2. 5

3. MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME 7

4. BEHAVIOURAL THEORY 8

5. COGNITIVE THEORY 9

6. PERSONALITY AND CRIME 11

7. PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY 13

INTELLIGENCE AND CRIME

8. 14

9. CRITICISM 15

10. CONCLUSION 16

11. BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Crime is not as simple as we think it is. It is a very complex phenomenon that changes across
time and culture. How people deal with crime, how they think about crime and how they punish
crime is different according to one another. That is where criminological theories come into play.
“A good theory is said to provide a foundational lens through which to interpret and
understand the manifestation of a behavior. In the field of criminology, the theoretical lens
has been primarily guided by concepts germane to the fields of sociology, psychology, and
biology, and the behavior to be explained is typically behavior that violates the codified laws of
our society (i.e., crime and delinquency).” (Miller, 2009).

Psychological theories focus on the individual’s personality and behavior. Over the years, they
have been influential in shaping society’s thoughts about crime and criminal justice policies.
When examining psychological theories of crime, one must be cognizant of the three major
theories. The first is psychodynamic theory, which is centered on the notion that an
individual’s early childhood experience influences his or her likelihood for committing future
crimes. The second is behavioral theory. Behavioral theorists have expanded the work of
Gabriel Tarde through behavior modeling and social learning. The third is cognitive theory, the
major premise of which suggests that an individual’s perception and how it is manifested affect
his or her potential to commit crime.

The first pioneer, Charles Goring (1870–1919), discovered a relationship between crime
and flawed intelligence, examining 3,000 convicts in England. He found no physical
differences between noncriminals and criminals; he did find that criminals are more likely
to be insane, unintelligent, and to exhibit poor social behavior. A second pioneer is Gabriel
Tarde (1843–1904), who maintained that individuals learn from each other and ultimately
imitate one another. Interestingly, Tarde thought that out of 100 individuals, only 1 was
creative or inventive and the remainder were prone to imitation.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

MAIN EXPONENT: SIGMUND FREUD

Imperative to this theory are the three elements or structures that make up the human personality:

1. THE ID:-
Freud believed the id represents the unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other
necessities over the life span. Most important is the idea that the id is concerned with
instant pleasure or gratification while disregarding concern for others. This is known as
the pleasure principle, and it is often paramount when discussing criminal behavior.

2. THE EGO:-
The second element of the human personality is the ego, which compensates for the
demands of the id by guiding an individual’s actions or behaviors to keep him or her
within the boundaries of society. The ego is guided by the reality principle.

3. THE SUPEREGO:-
The focus of the superego is morality. The superego serves to pass judgment on the
behavior and actions of individuals. The advocates of psychodynamic theory suggest that
an individual committed a crime because he or she has an underdeveloped superego.

In sum, psychodynamic theory suggests that criminal offenders are frustrated and aggravated.
They are constantly drawn to past events that occurred in their early childhood. Because of a
negligent, unhappy, or miserable childhood, which is most often characterized by a lack of love
and/or nurturing, a criminal offender has a weak (or absent) ego. Most important, research
suggests that having a weak ego is linked with poor or absence of social etiquette, immaturity,
and dependence on others.

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Mental Disorders and Crime

Within the psychodynamic theory of crime are mood disorders. Criminal offenders may have a
number of mood disorders that are ultimately manifested as depression, rage, narcissism, and
social isolation.

MOOD DISORDERS

CONDUCT DISORDERS OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER

1) One example of a disorder found in children is Conduct Disorder. Children with

conduct disorder have difficulty following rules and behaving in socially acceptable
ways1. Children with conduct disorder are more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors
toward others and they may be cruel to animals. Adolescents with conduct disorder could
also force someone into unwanted sexual activity. Property damage may also be a
concern;
2) A second example of a disorder found in children is Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
Manifestations or characterizations of oppositional defiant disorder include defiance;
uncooperativeness; irritability; a very negative attitude; a tendency to lose one’s temper;
and exhibiting deliberately annoying behaviors toward peers, parents, teachers, and other
authority figures, such as police officers.2 There is no known cause of oppositional
defiant disorder; however, there are two primary theories that attempt to explain its
development.
 THEORY I- Manifestation in children is as early as the toddler years.
 THEORY II- It is a result of faulty learning and negative reinforcement used by
parents or persons in authority.

1
Boccaccini, M., Murrie, D., Clark, J., & Comell, D. (2008). Describing, diagnosing, and naming psychopathy: How do
youth psychopathy labels influence jurors? Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 26, 487–510.
2
Siegal, L. (2008). Criminology: The core (3rd ed.).

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MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME

The most serious forms of personality disturbance will result in mental disorders. The most
serious mental disturbances are referred to as psychoses. Examples of mental health disorders
include bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

1) Bipolar disorder is marked by extreme highs and lows; the person alternates between
excited, assertive, and loud behavior and lethargic, listless, and melancholic behavior.
2) Schizophrenic individuals often exhibit illogical and incoherent thought processes, and
they often lack insight into their behavior and do not understand reality. A person with
paranoid schizophrenia also experiences complex behavior delusions that involve
wrongdoing or persecution. Last, research suggests that delinquent children have a higher
rate of clinical mental disorders compared with adolescents in the general population.3

3
Siegal, L. (2008). Criminology: The core (3rd ed.)

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BEHAVIORAL THEORY

MAIN EXPONENT: ALBERT BANDURA

The second major psychological theory is behaviorism. This theory maintains that human
behavior is developed through learning experiences. The hallmark of behavioral theory is the
notion that people alter or change their behavior according to the reactions this behavior elicits in
other people.4

Social Learning Theory:-

Social learning theory, which is a branch of behavior theory, is the most relevant to criminology.
The most prominent social learning theorist is Albert Bandura. Bandura maintains that
individuals are not born with an innate ability to act violently. He suggested that, in contrast,
violence and aggression are learned through a process of behavior modeling.5 In other words,
children learn violence through the observation of others.

Aggressive acts are modeled after three primary sources:

(1) family interaction,
(2) environmental experiences, and
(3) the mass media.
Operant Conditioning Theory:-
B. F. Skinner’s gave operant conditioning theory. Skinner’s view is that Criminal behavior is
acquired/retained if people experience rewards, and abandoned if they experience punishments.
Skinner identified three types of responses that can follow behavior:
• Neutral operants: Responses from the environment, they don’t increase or decrease the
probability of a behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being
repeated.

• Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated. Punishment is meant to weaken behavior.

4
Bandura, A. (1978). Social learning theory of aggression. Journal of Communication, 28, 12–29.
5
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

COGNITIVE THEORY

MAIN EXPONENT: WILHELM WUNDT; WILLIAM JAMES

A third major psychological theory is cognitive theory. Here, psychologists focus on the mental
processes of individuals. More important, cognitive theorists attempt to understand how criminal
offenders perceive and mentally represent the world around them (Knepper, 2001). Germane to
cognitive theory is how individuals solve problems.

Two prominent pioneering 19th-century psychologists are Wilhelm Wundt and William James.
Two subdisciplines of cognitive theory are worthy of discussion:-

1) The first subdiscipline is the Moral Development Branch, the focus of which is
understanding how people morally represent and reason about the world.
2) The second subdiscipline is Information Processing. Here, researchers focus on the way
people acquire, retain, and retrieve information. Ultimately, scholars are concerned with
the process of those three stages (i.e., acquisition, retention, and retrieval).

Jean Piaget (1896–1980):-

One theory within the cognitive framework focuses on Moral And Intellectual Development.
Jean Piaget hypothesized that the individual reasoning process is developed in an orderly
fashion. Thus, from birth onward an individual will continue to develop.

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987):-

Another pioneer of cognitive theory is Lawrence Kohlberg, who applied the concept of moral
development to criminological theory. Kohlberg believed that individuals pass through Stages Of
Moral Development. Most important to his theory is the notion that there are levels, stages, and
social orientation. The three levels are

Level I- Preconventional;

Level II- Conventional;

Level III- Postconventional.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY

With respect to the different stages, Stages 1 and 2 fall under Level I. Stages 3 and 4 fall under
Level II, and Stages 5 and 6 fall under Level III.

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PERSONALITY AND CRIME

MAIN EXPONENT: HANS J. EYSENCK

Personality can be defined as something that makes us what we are and also that which makes us
different from others6. Hans J. Eysenck developed a psychological theory that linked personality
to criminality.

FACTOR ANALYSIS:-

According to him, human personality can be viewed in three dimensions; he used a method
called ‘factor analysis’, which reduces behavior to factors grouped together under separate
headings, that he calls dimensions. Each of the factors is a bipolar dimension, meaning that each
has a direct opposite:
• Psychoticism Vs. Self-Control: Individuals with high psychoticism are considered aggressive,
egocentric, cold and impulsive. On the contrary, those with low psychoticism tend to be warm,
peaceful and empathetic.
• Extroversion Vs. Introversion: People with high extroversion are lively and sociable, whereas
people with high introversion are reserved and quiet.
• Neuroticism Vs. Emotional Stability: Neuroticism is linked with traits such as low self-
esteem, anxiety, shyness and emotionality. People with emotional stability are care-free and even
tempered.

 Antisocial Personality Traits:

Eysenck identified two antisocial personality traits: (1) extraversion and (2) neuroticism.
Eysenck suggested that individuals who score at the ends of either domain of
extraversion and neuroticism are more likely to be self-destructive and criminal7.
Moreover, neuroticism is associated with self-destructive behavior (e.g., abusing drugs
and alcohol and committing crimes).

6
Clark, J., Boccaccini, M., Caillouet, B., & Chaplin, W. (2007). Five factor model or personality traits, jury selection,
and case outcomes in criminal and civil cases. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34, 641–660.
7
Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, M. (1985). Personality and individual differences. New York: Plenum Press.

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 Criminal Behaviour Through Socialization:

According to Eysenck, personality is linked to criminal behavior via socialization
processes.Therefore, based on Eysenck’s personality trait theory, the basic hypothetical
relationships underlying his theory are
Firstly, that criminals and psychopaths exhibit distinctive personality traits or behavior
patterns,
Secondly, there is a genetic basis for these personality traits and finally, the formation of
conscience, which functions to restrain deviant behavior patterns, may be faulty on
psychophysiological grounds, resulting in criminal and psychopathic behavior.

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PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY

Psychopaths are a product of a defect or aberration within themselves.

1) CHARACTERISTICS:-
The antisocial personality is characterized by low levels of guilt, superficial charm,
above-average intelligence, persistent violations of the rights of others, an incapacity to
form enduring relationships, impulsivity, risk taking, egocentricity, manipulativeness,
forcefulness and cold-heartedness, and shallow emotions8.
2) ORIGIN:-
The origin may include traumatic socialization, neurological disorder, and brain
abnormality. Interestingly, if an individual suffers from low levels of arousal as measured
by a neurological examination, he or she may engage in thrill seeking or high-risk
behaviors such as crime to offset their low arousal level.
Other dynamics that may contribute to the psychopathic personality is a parent with
pathologic tendencies, childhood traumatic events, or inconsistent discipline. It is
important to note that many chronic offenders are sociopaths. Thus, if personality traits
can predict crime and violence, then one could assume that the root cause of crime is
found in the forces that influence human development at an early stage of life.

8
Jacoby, J. (2004). Classics of criminology (3rd ed.)

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INTELLIGENCE AND CRIME

Criminologists have suggested for centuries that there exists a link between intelligence and
crime.

The ideology or concept of IQ and crime has crystallized into the nature-versus-nurture debate.

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

The nature-versus-nurture debate is a psychological argument that is related to whether the

environment or heredity impacts the psychological development of individuals.

1) Travis Hirschi and Michael Hindelang:

One of two major studies that highlighted this debate was conducted by Travis Hirschi
and Michael Hindelang (1977). These scholars suggested that low IQ increases the
likelihood of criminal behavior through its effect on school performance.9

2) Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray:

The second nature-versus-nature study that warrants attention was conducted by Richard
Herrnstein and Charles Murray (1994). In their book The Bell Curve, these scholars
suggested that individuals with a lower IQ are more likely to commit crime, get caught,
and be sent to prison.
Importantly, these authors transport the IQ and crime link to another level. Specifically,
they suggested that prisons and jails are highly populated with inmates with low IQs. The
researchers discovered that these individuals have a lower IQ than the general public.
Thus, research concludes those criminal offenders who have been caught and those who
have not have an IQ lower than the general population.10

9
Hirschi, T., & Hindelang, M. (1977). Intelligence and delinquency: A revisionist review. American Sociological
Review, 42, 471–741.
10
Herrnstein, R., & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life.

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CRITICISM
Psychological studies are subject to criticism.

 PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY:-
The psychodynamic approach of Freud is considered unscientific in analyzing human
behavior and impossible to be empirically investigated. Some psychologists also criticize
the fact that it over emphasizes sexuality and under emphasizes the role of social
relationships, which do play an important role.
 FACTOR ANALYSIS:-
A number of critics have argued that Eysenck’s data are flawed and scales subject to
response bias. The problem raised here is that the research made comparisons
between convicted offenders and the population at large, which means that it excludes
those who committed crimes and who are not caught.
 OPERANT CONDITIONING THEORY:-
The major criticism about operant conditioning is that it fails taking into account the role
of inherited and cognitive factors in learning, making the explanation of the learning
process in humans and animals incomplete.

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CONCLUSION

In spite of some criticism, Psychological theories are revolutionary in explaining the

association between criminal behavior, personality, intelligence and learning. Psychoanalysis
has been greatly helpful in treating patients and contributory to psychology.
Eysenck’s theory points on some useful directions concerning the prevention of crime; the
underlying tendencies that manifest as criminal behavior might be detectable during
childhood so it proposes solutions to alter socialization experiences and prevent a possible
tendency to turn into delinquency.
Operant conditioning is also useful to explain a wide variety of behaviors (process of
learning, language acquisition and addiction), having practical application that could be
applied in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, or even classrooms.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Bandura, A. (1978). Social learning theory of aggression. Journal of Communication

2. Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, M. (1985). Personality and individual differences. New York:
Plenum Press.
3. Freud, S. (1933). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. New York: Norton.
4. Ilan, Jonathan & Walter, Dorine. (2017). Biological theories of crime versus
psychological theories of crime — Comparison and evaluation of their contributions to
our understanding of crime and/or criminal justice. 10.13140/RG.2.2.14740.14726.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

1. Psychological Theories of Crime <http://criminal-

justice.iresearchnet.com/criminology/theories/psychological-theories-of-crime/>
Retrieved on: 05.04.2020 at 8:15 p.m.
2. Role of Psychosocial Factors in Criminal Behaviour in Adults in India; Sikand, Mehak ;
Reddy, K. Jayasankara <
https://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/pdfs/Sikand&Reddyijcjs2017vol12issu1.pdf>
Retrieved on: 05.04.2020 at 8:20 p.m.

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