Psychologists have long been interested in the minds of criminals. Why a person commits a crime depends on different factors, which change depending on which approach you consult. Psychological theories of crime tend to see offending behaviour from a psychological perspective, focusing on aspects such as a person's personality, thinking patterns, and cognitive distortions. According to the psychological explanation of crime, crime is more of a result of thinking patterns and life experiences than biological reasons.
Other theories include the psychodynamic approach, learning theory, and differential association. Let's explore psychological theories of crime further.
- We are going to explore the psychological theories of crime. First, we will provide a psychological theory of crime definition.
- Then, we will explore the various psychological explanations of crime, including Eysenck's personality theory, thinking patterns, cognitive distortions, the psychodynamic approach, and differential association.
- We will briefly introduce all theories and discuss different psychological theories of crime examples to illustrate our points.
- We will then briefly highlight the differences between biological and psychological theories of crime and end with psychological theories of crime on causation.
Fig. 1 - Psychological theories of crime explore the individual's mind and life experiences.
Psychological Theory of Crime: Definition
Psychological theories of crime see offending behaviour as a result of the individual's mind and behaviours; specifically, psychological theories of crime focus on personality types (Eysenck), cognitive approaches (faulty thinking patterns, cognitive distortions, and moral reasoning), and psychodynamic (abnormal ego, superego and id) and learning approaches (conditioning and differential association theory).
Individual differences affect why a person may commit a crime, an aspect psychological theories consider.
A person's personality, for instance, can indicate their propensity for offending behaviours, according to Eysenck.
So, what are the various examples of psychological theories of crime?
Psychological Theory of Crime: Examples
Psychological theories of crime include many famous names and multiple approaches. For example, psychological theories on crime include:
- Eysenck's theory on personality types.
- The cognitive approach (thinking patterns, Kohlberg's moral reasoning, and cognitive distortions).
- Psychodynamic explanations (Freud).
- Learning explanations (conditioning, Sutherland'sdifferential association theory).
Let's briefly cover each approach's explanation of criminal behaviours.
Psychological Explanations of Crime: Eysenck's Personality Types
Hans Eysenck (1964, 1970) examined personality types that could lead to certain behaviours, including criminal behaviour, and initially identified two personality scales before adding a third dimension in his later work:
- Extraversion-introversion (E)
- Neuroticism-stability (N)
- Psychoticism (P, added later)
Eysenck Personality Inventory/Questionnaire (EPI/EPQ) determines where a person fits on the scale. How these types tie into criminal behaviour varies.
For example, people with a high level of extraversion need more stimulation from the environment because they are less naturally aroused, which means they are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour to get aroused.
Neuroticism indicates how stable a person’s personality is. A high neuroticism score would mean that someone is more reactive and volatile, i.e., more impulsive and aggressive and more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
Psychoticism is the degree to which someone is antisocial, aggressive, and uncaring. A person with a higher level of psychoticism is more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
Eysenck had particularly credible work in the eyes of the scientific community, as his theory on personality incorporated psychological, social, and biological aspects of human behaviour, although issues with his methodology still exist.
Fig. 2 - Eysenck suggested personality dimensions can explain criminal behaviours.
Psychological Explanations of Crime: Cognitive Approach
The cognitive approach focuses more so on thinking patterns, cognitive distortions and moral reasoning issues.
- Thinking patterns in criminals may be faulty in that criminals may be more inclined to focus on fear, the need for power, and a lack of trust in others.
- Cognitive distortions explore how criminals are self-centred, minimise their crimes, blame issues on others, and have issues with hostile-attribution bias.
- Kohlberg's moral reasoning highlights how people work through stages of moral development throughout their lives. There are six stages, and psychological theories suggest criminals do not advance through these stages as effectively as other people.
Faulty thinking patterns: Those with a predisposition to committing crimes may not trust others easily and seek to manipulate people to get what they want
Cognitive distortions: A criminal may blame their offending behaviours on their upbringing, or if they steal from a friend, they may minimise the impact this behaviour has on others.
Kohlberg's moral reasoning: A criminal does not progress to the upper stages (such as the fourth stage) of moral reasoning like other members of society. They may understand a crime can be punished but not understand the moral implications and the universal principles of right and wrong outside of blatant scenarios.
Psychological Explanations of Crime: Psychodynamic Approach
The psychodynamic theory focuses on the influence of early life experiences and their impact on adult development and criminal behaviour.
Freud’s theory explains criminality as the result of abnormal ego, superego, and id development.
Blackburn (1993) suggests that a weak, deviant, or overly strong superego leads to criminal behaviour. An inability to distinguish between right and wrong, internalisation of deviant values, or a desire for punishment can all be the cause.
Freud also offered the defence mechanism theory in the sense that they all can explain deviant behaviour ( displacement, repression, and denial).
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis also supports this theory, stating that children deprived of maternal attachment in childhood suffer from mental abnormalities, delinquency, affectionless psychopathology, depression, and even dwarfism.
Fig. 2 - Freud explored how abnormal ego, superego and id developments could explain criminal behaviours.
Psychological Explanations of Crime: Learning Explanations
Learning approaches to crime include the role of conditioning and differential association theory.
- Sutherland proposed the differential association theory in 1939. The theory states that people learn to become criminals through interactions with other delinquents or criminals (friends, peers, family members).
- Motives for criminal behaviour are learned through the techniques, methods, values, and attitudes of others. Sutherland’s theory attempted to explain all types of crime, from burglaries to middle-class ‘white-collar’ crime.
Sutherland’s differential association theory proposes nine key factors that determine how a person becomes an offender.
| Key Factors | Description |
1 | Criminal behaviour is learned. |
2 | Criminal behaviour is learned through interactions with others (communication). |
3 | Communication occurs in intimate, personal groups, typically smaller ones, as these are the most influential. |
4 | The person learns motives, techniques and attitudes here. |
5 | The person's interpretation of the law influences the acceptance of learning criminal behaviour. They base it on whether the crime is favourable or unfavourable. |
6 | The person is repeatedly exposed to the crime. |
7 | The likelihood of becoming a criminal depends on the frequency, duration, priority, and intensity of the abovementioned interactions. When the number of interpretations favourable to breaking the law exceeds the number of interpretations unfavourable to it (through more contact with people favourable to crime), a person becomes a criminal. |
8 | Learning criminal behaviour through interactions with others is the same as any other behaviour. |
9 | Anyone can become a criminal, regardless of age, background, and ethnicity, to name a few factors. |
Two girls are talking to each other about trying a specific drug. One girl is considering criminal activity due to her interaction with the other girl. She is unfamiliar with the techniques and methods of attaining the drug and then taking it.
Her friend takes the drug a few times around her, and she sees how she has not been caught so far, and the experience appears to be a good time. Her friend offers to help her take the drug, and shows her how to get the drug.
The interaction above is an example of differential association theory. The first girl learns the techniques, methods, and favourable and unfavourable conditions of the criminal behaviour of ‘doing drugs’ and decides to engage in it due to repeated exposure and motivation to do so.
Biological and Psychological Theories of Crime
Biological and psychological theories of crime differ in their explanations for offending behaviour. Biological theories focus more so on genetic, neural, and physical characteristics as potential origins of criminal behaviours.
For example, Lombroso suggested criminals had identifiable, distinct physical features that differentiated them from innocent members of society.
These were innate and were examples of genetic throwbacks, demonstrating how criminals had not developed on the same evolutionary timeline and thus were criminally inclined.
As we have discussed at length above, psychological theories focus on individual differences and behaviours as the origin of crime, exploring the mind and life experiences and how these interact to create delinquent behaviours.
Psychological Theories of Crime: Causation
According to psychological theories, the causation of crime is centred around developmental abnormalities and individual differences. As we discussed above, psychological theories suggest criminal behaviour is caused by:
- Different personality types (N, E, and P).
- Cognitive issues (fault thinking, distortions, moral reasoning).
- Abnormal development of the ego, superego, and id, and defence mechanisms (psychodynamic approach).
- Maternal attachment issues.
- Learning explanations (differential association theory).
Issues exist, however, in that these theories struggle to provide a causal link.
Psychological Theories of Crime - Key takeaways
Psychological theories of crime see crime as a result of the individual's mind and behaviours. Specifically, psychological theories of crime focus on personality types and cognitive, psychodynamic and learning approaches.
According to Eysenck, people with high levels of neuroticism, psychoticism, and extraversion are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
The cognitive approach ascribes criminal behaviour to faulty thinking patterns, cognitive distortions, and issues with moral reasoning.
Differential association theory states that criminal behaviour is learned through interactions with others; namely, people learn the techniques, methods, and motives behind criminal behaviour.
Psychodynamic explanations of criminality suggest that early life experiences and abnormal ego, superego and id development shape criminals. Freud also described defence mechanisms.
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