WJEC Level 3 Applied Certificate & Diploma Criminology sample

AC2.2 DESCRIBE INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIMINALITY A healthy personality needs a balance between all three parts. When these parts have an unresolved conflict the result is a disturbed personality. If the id dominates, the mind may be uncontrollable and this is when criminality takes place. However, if the superego is dominant someone would very moralistic, expecting perfection and being rather judgemental if this was not achieved. A dominant ego can result in someone incapable of accepting change and desiring a very fixed and rigid lifestyle. Children need to progress from the pleasure principle, being id dominated and therefore needing instant gratification, to the reality principle, where the ego is dominant. Criminals are those children who do not make this transition. According to Freud, the child needs a stable home environment in order to successfully make this transition. Research has supported the fact that most criminals come from unstable homes. John Bowlby (1944) study looked at maternal deprivation by studying 44 juvenile delinquents and comparing them with non-criminal disturbed juveniles. Of the delinquents, 39% had experienced complete separation from their mothers for six months or more during the first five years of their lives compared with 5% of the control group . Psychological theories Hans Eysenck Eysenck believed that certain personality types are more likely to commit crime because they crave excitement, but are slow to learn that crime has bad consequences. He based his results on analysis of responses to a personality questionnaire. He carried out the questionnaire on 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital where he worked. He believed that the answers suggested that there were a number of different personality traits that were being revealed by the soldiers’ answers. He then identified, initially, two ‘dimensions’ of personality, namely extraversion / introversion (E, I) and neuroticism / stability (N, S). These had personality traits or characteristics. • Extraversion/introversion: concerns the amount of stimulation a person needs. An extrovert is sociable but can become bored very quickly, if there is a lack of stimulation. Whereas introverts are reliable and in control of their emotions. • Neuroticism/stability: concerns the level of emotional stability of a person. Neurotics are very anxious and often irrational. Whereas a stable personality is calm and emotionally in control. Eysenck later added a third dimension of psychoticism (P), a cold, uncaring and aggressive personality, and this further indicated a tendency towards criminality. Juvenile delinquent: Someone under the age of 18 years who has broken the law. Control group: A group in an experiment or study that does not receive treatment by the researchers and is then used as a benchmark to measure how the others subjects tested did. Key terms Extraversion: Being mainly concerned with and gaining pleasure from things outside of the self. Introversion: Directing your interests inwards or to things within the self. Neuroticism: To have feelings of anxiety, worry, anger or fear. Stability: Unlikely to move or change. Psychoticism: A personality pattern that is typified by aggression and hostility towards other people. Key terms Research the Oedipus and Electra complexes to discover some of Freud’s theories about the impact of our upbringing. Take it further Hans Eysenck (1916–1997) 101