ABSTRACT
Crime fascinates people and arouses strong emotion. In both fact and fantasy it is a very important part of our everyday lives. In this chapter we start by considering how society decides which particular behaviour should be considered criminal and then look at the biological causes of crime and the alternative view put forward by social learning theory. Finally we will consider how psychological research can be applied to criminal behaviour by looking at ways in which crime can be reduced. What's in this Unit?
The specification lists the following things that you will need to be able to do for the examination:
Outline the problems of defining and measuring crime
Explain the concept of a criminal personality
Explain the role of heritability in criminal behaviour
Explain the role of brain dysfunction in criminal behaviour
Describe the facial features associated with criminals
Explain the criticisms of the biological theory of criminal behaviour
Consider social learning theory as an alternative theory
Describe Mednick et al.’s (1984) adoption study into the genetic basis of criminal behaviour
Outline limitations of Mednick et al.’s study
Explain how psychological research relates to crime reduction
