Chapter 5 Trait Theory Criminology

Chapter 5 Trait Theory Introduction to Trait Theories - Trait Theory - The view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits - Subdivided into two major categories: - Those that stress biological makeup - Those that stress psychological functioning - What do we mean by “personality traits”? - Personality reflects the totality of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and ways of interacting with the social world - Personality is comprised of an array of traits (discrete human characteristics) - Vary across people - Stable throughout life course Development of Trait Theory - 1975: Renewed interest for human trait explanations of criminal behavior - Sociobiology (Wilson, 1975) - The view that human behavior is motivated by inborn biological urges to survive and preserve the species - Assumes that while social behavior is genetically transmitted, it adapts to and is shaped by existing environmental conditions - Behavioral traits are shaped by both inherited traits and the environment - Biological and genetic conditions affect how social behaviors are learned and perceived - Behavior is determined by the need to ensure survival of offspring and replenishment of the gene pool - Biology, environment, and learning are mutually interdependent factors - Now more commonly referred to as Biosocial Criminology Contemporary Trait Theory - Compared to the original trait theorists (Lombroso, etc), contemporary trait theories don’t suggest that one biological/psychology trait explains all criminality - Explanations vary based upon the person - Inheritance of criminal tendencies vs neurological deficits vs blood chemistry disorders - Interaction of personal traits (with a genetic/biologic origin) with environmental factors - Individual vulnerability model - Some people develop physical or mental conditions at birth, or shortly thereafter, that affect their social functioning regardless of their environment - Differential Susceptibility model - Some people possess physical or mental traits that make them vulnerable to adverse environmental influences Biological Trait Theories  Biochemical Conditions and Crime - Diet - - - Improper diet can cause chemical and mineral imbalance and can lead of cognitive and learning deficits, which are associated with ASB Lack of proper nutrition in childhood possible pathway to violence Sugar and Hypoglycemia - Mixed evidence on sugar intake and ASB - High levels of reactive hypoglycemia found in groups of habitually violent offenders Hormonal Influences - - - Abnormal levels of androgens can produce aggressive behavior - Related to sensation-seeking, impulsivity, dominance, and reduced verbal skills - Testosterone - Prenatal exposure to unnaturally high levels of testosterone permanently alters behavior - Age-Crime Curve, Gender differences Premenstrual Syndrome - Females more likely to be aggressive and commit suicide just before or during menstruation - Significant number of incarcerated females committed crimes during premenstrual phase - Small percentage of women appear vulnerable to cyclical hormonal changes associated with anxiety and hostility Lead Exposure - Low levels of lead in the blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement - Delinquent children have much higher bone lead levels than the general population Linked to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia Trends in crime associated with environmental levels of lead exposure - About 3% of all US children under the age of 6 are exposed to high levels of lead; more heavily concentrated in minority populations - Environmental Contaminants - Prenatal exposure to PCBs has been linked to lower IQ and attention problems - Severe air pollution shown to cause cognitive deficits and changes in the brain structure - Affects intelligence, cognitive control - Causes neurological deficits associated with school failure - Especially harmful to babies and small children b/c it may affect their developing nervous systems Neurophysiological Conditions and Crime - Neurophysiology: The study of brain activity - Studies show that violent criminals and substance abusers have impairment in the prefrontal lobes (higher cognitive functioning), thalamus (relay station, sleep), medial temporal lobe (long-term memory) - Cognitive misfirings and suppressed neural activity - Executive Functioning (EF) - Higher-level cognitive skills used to control and coordinate your other cognitive abilities and behaviors - Mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember, and juggle multiple tasks - Reduction in EF is associated with a range of developmental, neuropsychiatric, and medical disorders - ADHD, CD, Schizophrenia, major depression, diabetes, alcoholism Brain Structure - Aggressive behavior may be linked to abnormal activity in the amygdala AND a lessening of activity in the frontal lobe - Amygdala- an area of the brain that processes information regarding threats and fear - Frontal lobe- brain region linked to decision making and impulse Control - Age-crime curve, Gender differences - - Reactive vs Proactive aggression - Successful vs unsuccessful psychopaths Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Inappropriate lack of attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity - Associated with poor school performance, grade repetition, bullying, stubbornness, lack of response to discipline - Various causes - - Brain anatomy and function, genes, head injury, prenatal exposure to alcohol or nicotine, environmental toxins Linked to the onset of criminal career - Highly comorbid with CD - - - Associated with higher likelihood of using illicit drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, be physically aggressive, engage in sex offenses in adolescence More likely to be arrested, to be charged with a felony, and have multiple arrests as adults Brain Chemistry - Neurotransmitters: chemical compounds that influence or activate brain functions - Abnormal levels of various neurotransmitters have been linked to aggressive ASB - Dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, COMT, GABA - MAOA- “warrior gene” possible explanation for gender gap - Variance in neurotransmission can be caused by genetics, structure/function abnormalities in the brain, exposure to toxins prenatally or in early childhood Arousal theory - People seek to maintain a preferred level of arousal but vary in how they process sensory input - - A need for high levels of environmental stimulation may lead to aggressive, violent behavior patterns (sensation seekers) Causes are thought to be brain chemistry and/or low resting heart rate - Raine et al. (2014) found that low heart rate may produce a need for stimulation that is associated with aggressive behavior patterns - Strong predictor of chronic aggression and violence, especially when combined with an aggressive personality and adverse environment - Fearlessness hypothesis Genetics and Crime - Gene-crime association may be direct or indirect - ASB is inherited; genetic makeup of parents is passed on to children; genetic abnormality is directly linked to a variety of ASB - Genes are related to some personality or physical trait linked to ASB - Parental deviance - Cambridge Youth Survey - Adoption studies - Adoptees who had a criminal biological parent AND who had a criminal adoptive parent had the highest rate of being convicted of a crime - Adoptees who had a criminal biological parent and a noncriminal adoptive parent had the second highest rate of being convicted of a crime - Twin Studies - Monozygotic (MZ) twins share 100% of their DNA - Dizygotic (DZ) twins share 50% of their DNA (similar to non-twin siblings) - Minnesota Study of Identical Twins Reared AparT - - MZ twins who are raised together are no more similar to each other than twins who are raised apart, showing a strong genetic component for behavior Inheritability of Crime: Is Crime Inherited? - Partially: heritability estimates from twin studies show that variance in antisocial behavior is about 50% genetic factors and 50% environmental factors - Biosocial criminologists recognize that environments play a significant role in genetic expression and brain functioning Evolutionary Views of Crime - Evolutionary theory focuses on the fact that the ultimate goal of ALL life is reproductive success - Over the course of human history, the most aggressive violent people have gained reproductive advantages that ensure survival of their genetics and have created a population of aggressive young males - Competition for scarce resources influenced and shaped human species - Aggression was crucial to human survival, and therefore those traits were passed down to future generations - The evolution of gender and crime - Survival of the gene pool - Aggressive males have had the greatest impact on the gene pool - Risk-takers: more sexual encounters with a variety of females - Aggressive: more resources and higher social status - Evolutionary benefits of indirect aggression for women Biological Trait Theories: Summary  Biochemical •The major premise of the theory is that crime, especially violence, is a function of diet, vitamin intake, hormonal imbalance, or food allergies. •The strength of the theory is that it explains irrational violence and shows how the environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior. •The research focuses of the theory are diet, hormones, enzymes, environmental contaminants, and lead intake. •The major premise of the theory is that criminals and delinquents often suffer brain impairment. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and minimal train dysfunction are related to antisocial behavior. •The strengths of the theory are that it explains Irrational violence and shows how the environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior. Neurological •The research focuses of the theory are CD, ADHD, learning disabilities, brain injuries, and brain chemistry. Genetic •The major premise of the theory is that criminal traits and predispositions are inherited. The criminality of parents can predict the delinquency of children. •The strengths of the theory include the fact that it explains why only a small percentage of youths in high-crime areas become chronic offenders. •The research focuses of the theory are twin behavior, sibling behavior, and parent-child similarities. Evolutionary •The major premise of the theory is that as the human race evolved, traits and characteristics became Ingrained. Some of these traits make people aggressive and predisposed to commit crime. •The strengths of the theory include its explanation of high violence rates and aggregate gender differences in the crime rate. •The research focuses of the theory are gender differences and understanding human aggression. Psychological Trait View - Focuses on the psychological aspects of crime, including the associations among intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior The Psychodynamic Perspective - Freudian psychology: humans carry with us “residue” of significant emotional attachments and turmoil during childhood, which which then guides our future interpersonal relationships - Human personality has 3 “structures:” Id, Ego, Superego - Links crime to a manifestation of feelings of oppression and the inability to develop the proper psychological defenses and rationales to keep these feelings under control - Criminality enables troubled people to survive by producing positive psychic results - Id, ego, superego closely resemble brain functioning Attachment Theory - The ability to form an emotional bond to another person has important psychological implications that follow people across the life span - Failure to develop proper attachment during infancy and early childhood leads to a number of psychological disorders - Impulsivity, difficulty concentrating, difficulty in school - Meta analysis- lack of attachment predicts involvement in a broad spectrum of criminal activity The Behavioral Perspective - Behavior Theory - Behavior is reinforced with rewards and extinguished by punishments - Social Learning Theory - People learn to be aggressive through life experience - Behavior modeling: - Family interactions - Environmental experiences – Mass media - Factors that may contribute to violent behavior: - An event that heightens arousal - Aggressive skills - Expected outcomes - Consistency of behavior with values Cognitive Theory - Focus is on how people perceive and mentally represent the world around them and solve problems - Information processing theory: - How people process, store, encode, retrieve and manipulate information to make decisions - Influences perceptions of the world - Influences views of where one fits into the world - Environmental and biological factors can alter information processing abilities - - Chronic offenders may continuously use information incorrectly when making decisions Mental Scripts - Internal Dialogue which has the power to shape our realities - Scripts change over life-course - Narrative identities that promote desistance from crime ( Maruna, 2001) Psychological Trait View: Summary  Theory Psychodynamic Major Problems The development of the unconscious personality early in childhood influences behavior for the rest of a person’s life. Criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities. Strengths Research Focus Explains the onset of crime and why crime and drug abuse cut across class lines. Mental illness and crime. Behavioral People commit crime when they model their behavior after others they see being rewarded for the same acts. Behavior is reinforced by rewards and extinguished by punishment. Cognitive Individual reasoning processes influence behavior. Reasoning is influenced by the way people perceive their environment. Explaining the role of significant others in the crime process shows how the media can influence crime and violence. Shows why criminal behavior patterns change overtime as people mature and develop their reasoning powers. May explaining the aging-out process Media and violence; effects of child abuse. Perception; environmental influences Personality and Crime - Personality - Reasonably stable patterns of behavior that distinguish one person from another - Various personality traits have been empirically linked to a variety of aggressive antisocial behaviors, drug addiction, and white collar/business crimes - Impulsivity, hostility, narcissism, hedonism, and aggression highly correlated with criminal and antisocial behavior - Hans Eysenck’s PEN Model: Three major elements of personality - Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism (PEN) - Extroverts: energetic, enthusiastic, action-oriented, chatty, glib, and self-confident - Introverts: quiet, low-key, deliberate, detached from others - Extreme extroverts or introverts at risk for antisocial behavior Personality and Crime - Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) and Psychopathy - Often the term APD is used interchangeably with the term psychopathy, however there are clinical differences - DSM does not list psychopathy as a personality disorder - Psychopathy is primarily defined by a lack of emotional empathy, or “callous/unemotional” traits - APD is defined by combination of traits such as impulsivity, hedonism, habitually and pervasively disregard /violate the rights of others without remorse, pattern of irresponsibility, lying and manipulation, failure to obey laws/norms which warrant criminal arrest. - Causes - Family experiences - Genetics - Abnormal brain structures Intelligence and Criminality - Nature Theory - - Intelligence is largely determined genetically and low-intelligence is linked to criminality Nurture Theory - Intelligence is not inherited but is largely a product of the Environment - - Low IQ does not cause crime but may result from the same environmental factors IQ-Crime Link Controversy - Travis Hirschi and Michael Hindelang suggested a link exists between intelligence and crime - Low IQ in youths cause poor performance in school, and school failure is highly related to delinquency and adult criminality Mental Disorder and Crime - Complex link between mental illness and crime - Incarcerated offenders are significantly more likely to suffer from a severe mental illness compared to gen pop. - Certain types of mental illness are more closely linked to certain types of offenses - Only a small minority of seriously mentally ill individuals commit violent crimes. - More of crime risk when other factors are present - Drug/Alcohol Addiction - Stressors like Family Dysfunction and Unemployment - Lack of access to appropriate treatment - - - Link between mental illness and crime may also be spurious - Risk of violent victimization - Police more likely to arrest mentally ill - Commonality in root cause: e.g., child abuse Possible origins of mental illness - Genetic predisposition - Traumatic family and upbringing Genetic predisposition Traumatic family and upbringing Brain trauma - Substance abuse - Learning, such as in an abusive home Possible relationships between crime and mental disorders/illness Mood disorder, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder Evaluation of Trait Theory - Trait Theories should not be confused with historical determinist theories (Lombroso, etc) - Some people carry the potential to be violent and/or antisocial, and such behavior occurs when these pre-existing tendencies are triggered by environmental/social conditions - How are trait theories used to create programs that address crime? - Primary Prevention Programs - Secondary Prevention Programs - Treatment Programs - These programs incorporate various therapeutic techniques and rationales to address different behavioral issues - CBT - Multisystemic Therapy - Medical and physiological components 