Psychology

of Crime
Lady Jelean Moring-Mata,RCrim
Table of contents..
01 Psychology and Criminology.
Etymology and Definition
02 Psychology of Crime, Terms to
Keep in Mind
03 Psychological Approach in Criminal Behavior

04 Theories Related to Psychology of Crime

05 Mental Disorders and Crime

PSYCHOLOGY
AND
CRIMINOLOGY

ETYMOLOGY, DEFINITION
 Etymology of Psychology

PSYCHE - SOUL
PSYCHOLOGY

LOGOS - TO STUDY
PSYCHOLOGY
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
THE STUDY OF HUMAN MIND AND
BEHAVIOR.
THE SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL
PROCESSES.
CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
WHAT IS CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY?
THE STUDY OF THE WILLS, THOUGHTS,
INTENTIONS AND REACTIONS OF CRIMINALS,
ALL THAT PARTAKES IN THE CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOR. IT IS RELATED TO THE FIELD OF
CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY.
PSYCHOLOGY
OF
CRIME

TERMS TO KEEP IN MIND

 TERMS TO PONDER
Psychologist - tends to use science as a
method to understand behavior.
Human Behavior - treatment shown by a
person to another or towards another
individual.
 TERMS TO PONDER

Criminal behavior- study that understand

offender better and answer questions like:
who criminals are, why do they commit an
offense, how do they think, what do they do.
 TERMS TO PONDER

Conscience - The sense or consciousness of

the moral goodness or blameworthiness of
one's own conduct, intentions, or character
together with a feeling of obligation to do
right or be good.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
APPROACH IN CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH IN
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

DEMONIC MENTAL
POSSESSION RETARDATION

PHYSICAL RATIONAL
SHAPE CHOICE
Rational Choice Theory
In criminology, states that
individuals partake in criminal
activity following a logical
thought process that consciously
analyzes and weighs the benefits
and costs of committing crimes.
https://www.slideshare.net/jenvogt/psychological-explanations-of-criminal-behavior-49
THEORIES
RELATED TO
PSYCHOLOGY
OF CRIME
 PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
BASED ON THE IDEA OF PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
❏ A conscience so overbearing that it
arouses feelings of guilt.
❏ A conscience so weak that it cannot
control the individual’s impulses.
❏ The need for immediate gratification.
 Basic components of
Human Psyche
ID - “satisfaction”
EGO - “personality”
SUPEREGO - “moral code”

Sigmund Freud, Founder of Psychoanalysis

 PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
BASED ON THE IDEA OF PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
❏ The actions and behavior of an adult are
understood in terms of childhood development
❏ Behavior and unconscious motives are
intertwined, and their reactions must be unraveled
if we are to understand criminality
❏ Criminality is essentially a representation of

psychological conflict.
BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY
ALSO KNOWN AS BEHAVIORISM
Focuses on the idea that people develop
their behavior based on the reaction their
behavior gets from those around them.
This is a form of conditioning, where
behavior is learned and reinforced by
rewards or punishment.
EDWARD THORNDIKE JAMES B. WATSON IVAN PAVLOV
COGNITIVE THEORY
Cognitive theory focuses on how people
perceive the world and how this
perception governs their actions,
thoughts and emotions. Most cognitive
theorists break down the process into
three levels of what is called “moral
development.”
KOHLBERG’S MORAL STAGES
PRECONVENTIONAL PUNISHMENT AND OBEDIENCE
(UP TO AGE OF 9) INSTRUMENTAL - RELATIVIST

CONVENTIONAL INTERPERSONAL
(MOST ADOLESCENTS/ CONCORDANCE
ADULTS)
LAW AND ORDER

POSTCONVENTIONAL SOCIAL CONTRACT

(0 TO 15% OF THE OVER 20’s) UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLE
ATTACHMENT THEORY
Determines the materially affect a child’s
ability to form attachments in the future. In
order to form a successful attachment, a
child needs warm, loving, and interactive
caretaker.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Specificity-
Attachments are selective,usually
directed to one or more individuals in
some order of preference.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Duration-
Attachments endure and persist,sometimes
throughout the life cycle. Engagement of emotion.
Some of the most intense emotions are
associated with attachment relationships.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Ontogeny
Children form an attachment to one primary
figure in the first nine months of life. That principal
attachment figure is the person who supplies the
most social interaction ofa satisfying kind.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Learning
Though learning plays a role inthe
development of attachment, Bowlby finds that
attachments are the products notof rewards or
reinforcements, but of basic social interaction.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Organization
Attachment behavior follows cognitive
development and interpersonal maturation from
birth onward.
ATTACHMENT THEORY
● Biological Function
Attachment behavior has a biological
function-survival. It is found in almost all species
of mammals and in birds
AGGRESSION AND
VIOLENCE
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Social learning theory states that

delinquent behavior is learned through the
same psychological processes as any other
behavior.
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
BEHAVIOR IN VARIOUS WAYS:

1. Observation
2. Direct Experience
3. Differential Reinforcement
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING-

Individuals learn violence and aggression through

behavioral modelling. Behavior is socially
transmitted through examples which comes
primarily from the family, the subculture, and the
mass media.
DIRECT EXPERIENCE-

Determined by what we do to ourselves and what

happens to us. We remember the past and use its
lessons to avoid future mistakes. Thus, we learn
through trial and error.
 INSTIGATORS OF AGGRESSION
AVERSIVE INSTIGATORS- Physical assaults, verbal threats, and insults; adverse
reductions in conditions of life and the thwarting of goal-directed behavior.

INCENTIVE INSTIGATORS- Rewards, such as money and praise.

MODELING INSTIGATORS- Violent or aggressive behaviors observed in others

INSTRUCTIONAL INSTIGATORS- Observations of people carrying out instructions to

engage in violence or aggression.

DELUSIONAL INSTIGATORS- Unfounded or bizarre beliefs that violence is necessary or

justified
DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT-

Determined by what we do to ourselves and what

happens to us. We remember the past and use its
lessons to avoid future mistakes. Thus, we learn
through trial and error.
DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT-

1. The persistence of criminal behavior depends on

whether or not it is rewarded or punished.
2. The most meaningful rewards and punishments
are those given by groups that are important in
an individual’s life.
 PERSONALITY
EYSENCK’S CONDITIONING THEORY

1. All human personality may be seen in three

dimensions- psychoticism, extroversion, and
neuroticism.
PSYCHOTICISM are aggressive, egocentric, and
impulsive.
EXTRAVERSION are sensation-seeking, dominant,
and assertive
NEUROTICISM low self-esteem, excessive anxiety,
and wide mood swings.
 EYSENCK’S CONDITIONING THEORY

2. Humans develop a conscience through

conditioning
 EYSENCK’S CONDITIONING THEORY

Criminals become conditioned slowly and appear

to care little whether or not their asocial actions
bring disapproval.
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 –
November 28, 1994), also known as the
Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee
Monster, was an American serial killer and
sex offender who committed the murder
and dismemberment of seventeen men
and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Although he was diagnosed with borderline
personality disorder, schizotypal traits,and
a psychotic disorder, Dahmer was found to
be legally sane at his trial.
 REFERENCES

https://www.slideshare.net/jenvogt/psychological-explanations-of-crimina
l-behavior-4984545

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer

Criminology (Fifth Edition) - Freda Adler, Gerhard Mueller, William Laufer