Forensic psychology

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What is a crime?
Any act that violates the law & results in punishment by the state. Its not just behaviour deemed wrong but behaviour which has been identified as wrong by the law
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How might culture influence crime?
Criminal behaviour varies from country-country depending on the laws e.g. in UK its a crime for a man to have more than one wife but not in all countries
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Why is it important to consider cultural relativism?
Because it highlights that laws differ in different countries
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How might age influence crime?
Age in which an individual is considered legally responsible is debated e.g. if 3-year-old took something of shelf in shop and left without parent noticing would the be considered a crime? It is stealing but wouldn't suggest criminally responsible
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In the UK what is age of criminal responsibility?
10 which means they can be tried in court as legal system regards them as having sufficient understanding to tell difference between right/wrong
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What are official statistics in relation to crime?
The Office for National Statistics is responsible for collecting wide range of quantitative data. It holds information on current crime surveys carried out on victims/police
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What are some areas covered in official statistics?
Criminal damage, property crime, drug crime as well as physical & sexual crime
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What are victim surveys in relation to crime?
One of largest carried out in UK is Crime Survey for England & Wales which was previously known as British Crime Survey & can be found online. Its a face-to-face survey which collects data from 50,000 households in UK who selected at random
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What are adult & children questioned on?
Their experiences of crime & questions followed up to obtain their attitudes on crime & police as well as help identify those groups at most risk. All ppts also have right to withdraw or refuse to be interviewed
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What are offender surveys in relation to crime?
Are designed to take information from offenders, often those in prison in order to develop an understanding of behaviour & attitudes of offenders
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When was the Offending crime & Justice survey carried out between?
2003 -2006
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What kind of data did it take?
Self-reported offending, indicators of reoffending & types of offences committed
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What did researchers find from interviewing a range of young offenders?
Specific trends in anti-social behaviour, namely a peak between ages 14-16 and relationship between offending behaviour & use of drugs and alcohol
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What does this kind of data help researchers by?
Identifying potential risk factors and develop ways to prevent a person from becoming an offender e.g. through treatment programmes targeted at certain age groups
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What is the bottom-up approach?
A data-driven approach where statistical techniques are used to produce predictions about likely characteristics of an offender.
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Who developed investigative psychology?
Canter, a psychologist who proposed that profiling can & should be based on psychological theory and research
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What is interpersonal choice in relation to investigative psychology?
People are consistent in their behaviour & there will be links with elements of crime & how they behave in everyday life. At same time peoples behaviour changes over-time & so looking at differences in crime over 4 year period may offer clues
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What is forensic awareness in relation to investigative psychology?
Certain behaviours may reveal an awareness of particular police techniques & past experiences e.g. Davies et al found rapists who conceal fingerprints often previous conviction for burglary
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What is smallest space analysis in relation to investigative psychology?
Data about crime scenes & offender characteristics are correlated so most common connection can be identified
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What were three underlying themes Canter et al identified?
Instrumental opportunistic, Instrumental cognitive & Expressive impulsive
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What are geographic profilers concerned with?
Where rather than who & it makes sense to assume offenders are most likely to commit a crime near where they live or where they habitually travel as involves least effort
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What does geographical profiling analyse?
The locations of a connected series of crime & considers where the crimes were committed, the spatial relationship between crime scenes & how they might be related to offenders' place of residence
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What is a spatial mind-set which Canter et al proposed?
They commit their crimes within a kind of imagined circle
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What were the two kinds of criminal Canter et al propose?
Marauder - offenders home is within geographic area in which crimes are committed & Commuter - Offender travels to another geographical area & commits crimes within a define space which a circle can be drawn
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What is the top-down approach?
Originates with FBI in America & first developed as a way of trying to solve some of most extreme cases & designed to produce a profile of most likely offender. 6 main stages
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Stage 1 - What is profiling inputs?
Data collected at this stage includes description of crime scene including photographs/sketchpads, background information about victim & details of crime itself. All information should be included other than possible suspects
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Stage 2 - What are decision process models?
Profiler starts to make decisions about data & organises it into meaningful patterns. Issues considered are: murder type e.g. mass, spree, serial murders & time factor & location factors
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Stage 3 - What is crime assessment?
Crime is classified as organised/disorganised. This distinction presumes there is a correspondence between offences & offenders.
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What is an organised type of offender?
Crime tends to be planned & victim is specifically targeted, body is often transported from scene, weapon is usually hidden. Such offenders are generally high in intelligence, socially & sexually competent, usually live with partner
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What is a disorganised type of offender?
Tends to be an unplanned crime, random selection of victim, offender likely to engage very little with victim & sexual acts are performed after death on the body. Crime scenes is likely to contain many clues such as blood/semen from offender
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Stage 4 - What is a criminal profile?
Profile is now constructed of offender which includes hypotheses about their likely background, habits, beliefs. This description is used to work out a strategy for investigation to help catch offender
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Who is a written report given to?
The investigating agency & persons matching the profile are evaluated. If new evidence is generated and/or no suspect is identified, then process goes back to step 2
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What happens if suspect is apprehended?
The entire profile-generating process is reviewed to check that at each stage all conclusions were legitimate i.e. valid & consider how process may be revised for future cases
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What does Atavistic mean in regards to biological/historical explanation of offending behaviour
Atavistic means a tendency to revert to an ancestral type
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What was Lombroso's view?
That offenders possessed similar characteristics to lower primates, this could explain their criminality. Based on Darwin's theory, Lombroso suggested that criminals are essentially throwbacks to an earlier species
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How many characteristics does Turvey identify that make up atavistic type?
18 but basic assumption is that the innate physiological make-up of the person causes them to become a criminal
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What did Lombroso base his theory on?
Post-mortem examinations of criminals & studying the faces of living criminals. He made precise measurements of skulls & other physiological characteristics called anthropometry
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Over the course of his career how many bodies did Lombroso and his colleagues examine and what was found in study of 383 convicted Italian criminals?
50,000 bodies and found 21% had just one atavist trait and 43% had at least five
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What did Lombroso later recognise?
That it was unlikely that only one factor would be the cause of criminality so he proposed that inherited atavistic form interacted with a person's physical & social environment
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What did his later findings lead Lombroso to do?
Distinguish between three types of criminals: Born criminals, Insane criminals & Criminaloids
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Outline genetic explanations in regards to biological explanations of offending behaviour
Propose that one or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour & evidence for a genetic component comes from twin studies where identical/non-identical twins are compared
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What did Raine find when reviewing research on the delinquent behaviour of twins?
Found 52% concordance for identical twins compared to 21% of non-identical twins
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What did Mobley claim about why he should escape the death penalty?
He was not personally responsible for his behaviour
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What was this claim based on?
Research by Brunner on 28 male members of a Dutch family who had histories of impulsive & violence criminal behaviours such as **** & attempted murder. Brunner analysed DNA of these men
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What did Brunner find?
That the family shared a particular one that led to abnormally low levels of MAOA
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What did a Finnish study by Tihonen et al with 900 offenders find?
Evidence of low MAOA activity & low activity from the CDH13 gene. They estimated that 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland is due to abnormalities in one of these two genes
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Outline Caspi et als study
Used data from longitudinal Dunedin study that has followed around 1,000 people from when they were babies in 1970s. Caspi et al assessed anti-social behaviour at 26 & found 12% of those men with low MAOA genes experienced maltreatment when babies
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What % of violence convictions were the men of Caspi et als study responsible for?
44%
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Outline neural explanations in regards to biological explanations of offending behaviour
Consider how structures of the brain may be different in criminals & neurotransmitter levels
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What is a common observation of criminals in regards to regions of the brain?
That criminals report having some head injury e.g. in general 8.5% of US population have had a brain injury compared with 60% in US prisons therefore brain differences may be due to nurture
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Explain Raines research on prefrontal cortex
Cited 71 brain imaging studies showing that murderers, psychopaths & violent individuals have reduced functioning in prefrontal cortex - area involved in regulating emotion & controlling moral behaviour. Lowered activity is associated with impulsiven
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What is the limbic system?
A set of subcortical structures such as thalamus & the amygdala, that are linked to emotion & motivation. Raine et al studied murders who were found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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What did Raine et al find in regards to limbic system?
Compare with matched control group they found abnormal asymmetric in limbic system of the murderers
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What do researchers suggest in regards to serotonin and criminals?
Low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin may predispose individuals to impulsive aggression & criminal behaviour, partly due to neurotransmitter normally inhibits prefrontal cortex
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What do researchers suggest in regards to noradrenaline and criminals?
Both high & low levels of this neurotransmitter have been associated with aggression, violence & criminality. High levels are associated with activation of sympathetic nervous system & fight or flight response & are linked to aggression
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What did Eysenck develop?
A theory of personality based on idea that character traits tend to cluster along three dimensions
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What is the first dimension?
Extraversion-introversion = extraverts are characterised as outgoing
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What is the second dimension?
Neuroticism-stability = neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotional states
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What is the third dimension?
Psychoticism-normality = Psychotics are egocentric, aggressive, impulsive, lacking in empathy & generally not concerned about welfare of other people
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What do each of these dimensions usually distribute to?
Would expect around 68& of any population to fall within one standard deviation from the mean. Personality test devised by Eysenck to assess an individual's personality is called the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
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What did Eysenck suggest about a biological basis and traits?
That each trait has biological basis which is mainly innate; he claimed 67% of variance for traits is due to genetic factors
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What is extraversion determined by?
The over-all level of arousal in a persons nervous system. A person who is under-aroused requires more stimulation, whereas an over-aroused person doesn't require this
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What is neuroticism determined by?
The level of stability in the sympathetic nervous system. A neurotic person is someone who is slightly unstable & reacts/gets easily upset. Whereas a stable personality has a more unreactive nervous system & calm under pressure
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What has psychoticism been related to?
Higher levels of testosterone, which means that men are more likely to be found at this end of spectrum
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What are cognitive distortions in relation to psychological explanations of offending behaviour?
A form of irrational thinking - distortions are ways that reality has become twisted what is perceived no longer represents what is actually true. Result is that a persons perception of events is wrong but they think its accurate
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What do distortions allow?
An offender to deny or rationalise their behaviour
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What is hostile attribution bias in relation to psychological explanations of offending behaviour?
When someone has a learning towards always thinking the worst e.g. someone smiles at you, you think person is actually thinking bad thoughts about you. Such negative interpretations lead to more aggressive behaviour
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What is minimisation in relation to psychological explanations of offending behaviour?
Can explain how an offender may reduce any negative interpretation of their behaviour before/after a crime has been committed. This helps individual accept the consequences of their own behaviour & means negative emotions can be reduced
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How did Kohlberg investigate level of moral reasoning?
By interviewing boys about reasons for moral decisions & constructed a stage theory of moral development. Each stage represents a more advanced form of moral understanding, resulting in more logically consistent & morally mature form of understanding
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How do people progress through the three levels & two stages of moral reasoning?
As a consequence of biological maturity & consequence of having opportunities to discuss & develop their thinking such as learning to take perspective of another person
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In a longitudinal study what did Kohlberg find?
That about 10% of adults reach the post-conventions level, so its most common. Adults at this level who break the law would feel that their behaviour was justified as it helps to maintain relationships/society
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Why might an offender accept breaking the law?
To protect a member of their family/others
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What level are criminals likely to be at?
Pre-conventional as believe that breaking the law is justified if rewards outweigh the costs or if punishment can be avoided - most people reach this by age 10
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Sutherland proposed differential association theory suggesting what about offenders?
That their behaviour can be explained entirely in terms of social learning
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What did Sutherland propose might be possible?
To develop a mathematical formula which would predict whether or not someone would turn to crime based on the frequency, duration & intensity of their social contacts
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What is learned?
Child learns attitudes towards crime i.e. whether it is desirable or undesirable. So potential criminal is someone who has learned pro-criminal attitudes from those around them
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Who is it learned from?
Intimate personal groups such as family/peer group/wider neighbourhood. The degree to which the local community supports/oppresses criminal involvement determines differences in crime rates from one area to another
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How is it learned?
The frequency, length & personal meaning of such social associations will determine the degree of influence. Sutherland did not specify the actual mode of learning but likely to be both direct & indirect operant conditioning
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How may a child be directly reinforced?
Through praise or may be punished for such behaviour by family & peers
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What did Bowlby propose in regards to his maternal deprivation theory?
That prolonged separations between mother & child would have long-term emotional consequences but separation will only have this effect if happens before age of 2.5 & no substitute mother-person available
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What is one potential long-term consequence of separation?
Affectionless psychopathy, a lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility. This is related to general notion of psychopath as someone who lacks understanding of feelings of others
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What did Bowlby observe when he worked as a psychiatrist in a Child Guidance Clinic in London?
That a number of these delinquent thieves had experienced early and frequent separations & displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy
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What did such characteristics enable them to do?
Be thieves as they could steal from others since it didn't matter to them
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How did Bowlby test this hypothesis?
Compared 44 thieves attending the clinic with 44 control patients
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What did Bowlby find?
That none of control ppts experienced early separations, whereas 39% of thieves had. Also found thieves with affectionless characteristics had almost all experienced frequent separations
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In Freud's theory of psychoanalysis what are the three components that the personality develops from?
The id, The ego & superego each of which demands gratification
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What does the id represent?
Our primitive wants & operates according to pleasure principle
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What does the superego determine?
Which behaviours are permissible & causes feelings of guilt when rules are broken. It functions as a moral compass
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What does the ego do?
Mediates between impulsive demands of id & moralistic demands of superego. Its anchored in the reality of external world
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How may a weak/underdeveloped superego be related to offending behaviour?
According to Freud, superego develops around age 4 as outcome of Oedipus/Electra complex. A child who doesn't identify with their same-sex parent develops weak superego. Consequence = person has little control over anti-social behaviour
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How may a harsh/overdeveloped superego be related to offending behaviour?
If child develops very strong identification with a strict parent consequence = excessive feelings of guilt & anxiety much of time as any time they did act on id impulses they would feel bad. Would commit a crime with wish to be caught
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How may a deviant superego be related to offending behaviour?
Normal identification with same-sex parent means child takes on same moral attitudes as that parent. In case of children with criminal parent, child would then adopt same deviant attitudes
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How is to protect the public an aim of custodial sentencing?
Putting criminals in prison is necessary in case of violent offenders/psychopaths who may not be capable of controlling their behaviours & public needs to be protected
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How is to punish an offender & prevent recidivism an aim of custodial sentencing?
Essentially behaviourist approach to dealing with offending behaviour. Principle is that punishment decreases likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.
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How is to deter others an aim of custodial sentencing?
If punishment was seen as less seriously, people may be willing to take the risk & break the law. This is a social learning approach that we learn indirectly from the consequences of others behaviour
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How is to rehabilitate offenders an aim of custodial sentencing?
Many people take view that only way to prevent criminal behaviour is through some form of education/therapy, especially in case of offenders with mental health issues. Having person in prison may offer opportunity for therapy as fewer distractions
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How is de-individuation a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
Stanford Prison study illustrates how prison & guard uniforms may lead to a loss of individual identity which is associated with increased aggression
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How is overcrowding & lack of privacy a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
Growing population in UK has not been matched by increase in number of prisons. Recent data suggests 25% of prisoners are in overcrowded accommodation e.g. 2 people occupying cell for one
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What is token economy?
Is a system of exchange of goods based on tokens - something that has no intrinsic value. Such a token economy works well in a closed society e.g. prison as rewards can be precisely manipulated
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How is reinforcement linked to token economy?
Prisoners ar give tokens when they perform desirable behaviour such as making their bed
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What can the tokens be used for?
Obtain desirable goods such as tobacco, food or watching TV.Items purchased act as reinforcers as increase the likelihood the behaviour will be repeated
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What kind of items act as primary/secondary reinforcers?
P= food S=the tokens as reinforces through being repeatedly presented alongside reinforcing stimulus
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What did Hobbs & Holt do?
Observed a token economy in use at Alabama Boys Industrial Schoo,a state training school for adolescent delinquents
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Outline procedure of study
Staff at centre were given extensive training: 3x4 fours & twice weekly over 3 months to identify target behaviours, discuss methods of observing & recording data & work out logistical problems
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What happened after the training?
Weekly sessions to assess the operation of the programme. 125 deliquent males were observed in 4 cottages. Baseline data before tokens was collected for all groups
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What were the boys told?
The target criteria & how many tokes the had earned & given a piece of paper with this information. They were taken to token economy store once a week where could buy drinks etc or save their tokens for something bigger
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What did Hobbs &Holt find?
Baseline mean % for social behaviours before tokens = 66%, 47% & 73&. After tokens = 91%, 81% & 94%. The control group showed no increase in same period of time
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Anger management has two aims with prisoners what is it?
Short-term aim of reducing anger & aggression in prisoners where its a serious issue & long-term aim of rehabilitation and reducing of recidivism especially in violent prisoners
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What does cognitive therapy think on anger management?
Accepts the situation itself may not be changeable but a person can change the way they thinking about it & change their behaviour
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What is the first aim that Novaco identified for any anger management programme?
Cognitive restructuring – greater self-awareness and control over cognitive dimensions of anger
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What is second aim that Novaco identified for any anger management programme?
Regulation of arousal – learning to control the physiological state
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What is third aim that Novaco identified for any anger management programme?
Behaviour strategies – such as problem solving skills, strategic withdrawal and assertiveness
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What did Novaco's model draw on?
Stress inoculation therapy which tends to be conduced with a group of offenders either inside/outside of prison
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What is the first step of stress inoculation model?
Cognitive preparation – clients learn about anger generally, how it can be both adaptive and non-adaptive. They analyse their own patterns of anger and identify situations which provoke anger in them
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What is the second step of stress inoculation model?
Skill acquisition – clients are taught various skills to help manage their anger, such as self-regulation. Also taught better communication skills so they can resolve conflicts assertively
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What is the third step of stress inoculation model?
Application training – clients apply the skills initially in controlled and non-threatening situations such as role play. They receive extensive feedback from the therapist & later try out skills in real world setting
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Card 2

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How might culture influence crime?

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Criminal behaviour varies from country-country depending on the laws e.g. in UK its a crime for a man to have more than one wife but not in all countries

Card 3

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Why is it important to consider cultural relativism?

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Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

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How might age influence crime?

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Card 5

Front

In the UK what is age of criminal responsibility?

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