Summary for the elective course Forensic Psychology at the University of Groningen in block 2A. This collection contains both a detailed summary of the literature and notes of the lectures.
Chapter 1: Psychological Approaches to Understanding Crime
Moral reasoning refers to how individuals reason about and justify their behaviour with respect to
moral issues. The best-known approach to moral reasoning is the cognitive-developmental
approach. This theory by Kohlberg is composed of six stages of moral reasoning through which
individuals progress, with reasoning becoming more abstract and complex. This theory was later
revised by Gibbs into a theory of “sociomoral reasoning” in which the roles of social perspective-
taking and empathy are given a greater emphasis. Gibbs’ theory focuses only on the first four stages.
The first two represent immature moral reasoning, during which reasoning is superficial and
egocentric. Stages 3 and 4 are mature moral reasoning and show an understanding of interpersonal
relationships and other people’s needs, and at stage 4, societal needs.
- Stage 1 – offender is morally justified if punishment can be avoided.
- Stage 2 – offender is morally justified if the benefits to the individual outweigh the costs.
- Stage 3 – offending is morally justified if it maintains personal relationships.
- Stage 4 – offending is morally justified if it maintains society or is sanctioned by a social
institution.
Gibbs has considered what particular features characterise the moral development of offenders. He
suggests: (1) developmental delay in moral judgment; (2) self-serving cognitive distortions; and (3)
social skill deficiencies.
Social Information-Processing Theory
This model is a six-step model of social information-processing that describes how individuals
perceive their social world and process information about it, and the influence of previous
experience on these processes. The six steps in the model are:
1. Encoding of social cues.
2. Interpretation and mental representation of the situation.
3. Clarification of goals/outcomes for the situation.
4. Access or construction of responses for the situation.
5. Choice of response.
6. Performance of chosen response.
Aggressive and delinquent individuals show distinct patterns of social information-processing across
the six steps. At the first two, aggressive individuals experience a range of problems in encoding and
interpreting social cues, leading to an inaccurate representation of a situation. They perceive fewer
social cues, take more notice of aggressive cues, and pay more attention to cues at the end of
interaction. They rely more on internal, aggressive schemata. At the third step, aggressive individuals
tend to have dominance and revenge-based goals, rather than prosocial ones. When generating
responses at the fourth steps, aggressive individuals generate fewer responses than non-aggressive
people, suggesting their repertoire is limited. At the fifth step, aggressive individuals also evaluate
responses differently, rating aggressive responses more positively than prosocial ones. Finally, social
skills are important at step six, and there is some evidence that aggressive individuals have poor
social skills.
Theories, Evidence, and Crime
Violent offenders tend to commit a wide range of offences and have an early onset of offending
behaviour. They show considerable continuity of aggression and violence throughout their life. A
range of social factors have been shown to predict violent offending (family structure and parenting
,style). Research also shows a clear link between violence and severe abuse in childhood and
witnessing family violence.
Cognitive-behavioural approaches focus on the role of cognitive appraisal and other internal
processes in violence. One way of examining these processes is through the six-step model of social
information-processing. Aggressive individuals show a range of distinctive processing patterns across
these steps. The hostile attributional bias is one of the strongest findings. Empathy is another
important factor. Emotional arousal, especially anger, can also impact on cognitive processes.
EEG and neuroimaging studies have shown that there is an increased level of brain abnormality
among violent offenders. Damage and malfunctioning of the frontal and temporal lobes is most
associated with violence. Individuals with frontal lobe lesions are more irritable and likely to be
disinhibited, causing them to be more likely to respond aggressively when provoked. Blair (2009) has
suggested that there may be links between structures in the temporal lobe (amygdala and vmPFC)
and violence, especially psychopathy. He argues that dysfunction in these structures leads to deficits
in stimulus-reinforcement learning and the ability to respond to fearful and sad expressions in
others, and impaired-decision making.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence or intimate partner violence (IPV) is an increasingly recognised issue. Feminist
theories of IPV propose that society is patriarchal, with an implicit assumption that men control the
lives of women and children. It is argued that men seek to maintain women’s subordination through
physical violence, as well as psychological and economic coercion. Social learning theory views
domestic violence as a behaviour that is learnt through experiencing rewards from it and observing
and modelling similar behaviour, although research doesn’t support the idea that experiencing
domestic violence increases the risk of becoming a perpetrator.
Sexual Offending
There are six major theories of sexual offending, three of which over child sexual abuse, one that
relates to rape, and two that attempt to explain all types of sexual offending. The four preconditions
model proposes that there are four preconditions that a child molester must pass through prior to
an offence: (1) motivation to sexually abuse; (2) internal inhibitions must be overcome; (3) external
factors must be overcome to allow the abuse to occur; and (4) the child’s resistance must be
overcome. A second theory is the quadripartite model. This model also proposes there are four
components necessary for an offence to take place: (1) sexual arousal to children; (2) cognitions that
justify child abuse; (3) poor self-regulation; and (4) personality problems. This theory suggests that
vulnerability to committing child sexual abuse is caused by personality problems. Situational factors
determine when this vulnerability is triggered, leading to deviant arousal, emotional disturbance,
and offence-permitting thinking. Subtypes of child molesters are also proposed based on the relative
level of each of these factors. The third theory is the pathways model, which proposes four separate
but interacting psychological mechanisms are involved in child sexual abuse. These are: (1) intimacy/
social deficits; (2) distorted sexual scripts; (3) cognitive distortions; and (4) emotional dysregulation.
The four components are involved in all sexual offences, but one component dominates each
pathway into offending.
The interaction model of sexual aggression proposes that sexual aggression is the result of the
interaction of two paths: the hostile masculinity path and the sexual promiscuity path. The first
emphasises the role of aggressive intimate relationships and sexual conquest in the concept of
masculinity, along with valuing power, risk-taking, dominance, and competitiveness. The sexual
,promiscuity path focuses on the role of sexual behaviours in maintaining self-esteem and peer
states, and the appeal of impersonal sex. Sexual promiscuity is more likely to lead to sexual
aggression among men possessing a high level of the characteristics within the hostile masculinity
pathway.
The integrated theory of Marshall and Barbaree covers all types of sexual offending. This approach
takes account of biological, developmental, sociocultural, and situational variables that lead to
psychological vulnerabilities. Negative childhood experiences are proposed to lead children to
experience problems in forming social, emotional, and sexual attachments. During adolescence,
aggression and sex can become linked due to both drives originating from the same neural
substrates. Poor social skills can lead to rejection of attempts to be sexually intimate, leading to
anger and increased likelihood of aggressive responding. If the individual experiences support for
aggressive behaviour from sociocultural sources, this will increase the likelihood of aggression. A
weakness of this theory is its breadth, not providing explanations for why different types of sexual
offending occur. The integrated theory of sexual offending proposes that sexual offending results
from vulnerabilities that predispose an individual to sexual offending. These vulnerabilities arise
from the influence of genetics, evolutionary processes, and neurobiological processes. The
interaction between these systems and social learning is proposed to lead to the characteristics of
sex offenders: deviant sexual arousal, cognitive distortions, and emotional dysregulation.
Arson
Arson refers to deliberate setting of fire to property. Four categories of arson are proposed: arson
associated with mental disorders; arson associated with medical disorders; juvenile firesetting; and
arson not associated with any psychobiological factors. This last category includes arson committed
for profit, to conceal a crime, for revenge, recognition, vandalism, or political arson. Arson may be
associated with a number of mental illnesses. Functional analysis of arson behaviours has
highlighted the importance of social and environmental stimuli in reinforcing arson, and the
interaction of these stimuli with predispositions to committing antisocial behaviours. There are two
facets to categorize arson: person-oriented vs. object-oriented arson; and expressive vs. instrumental
arson. Many of the characteristics of young firesetters overlap with those of general juvenile
delinquent populations (male, aggressive/antisocial behaviour, poor interpersonal skills, poor child
rearing practices).
Mentally Disordered Offenders
When considering why schizophrenia may be associated with offending, three explanations have
been proposed: (1) schizophrenia causes offending, (2) schizophrenia is a consequence of offending,
and (3) schizophrenia is correlated with offending and they both result from other factors. There are
a number of ways in which depression and offending may be linked: (1) an individual may offend
because they are depressed, (2) depression may be triggered by guilt after an offence, and (3) an
individual may be depressed when they committed an offence, but the depression did not cause the
offence. It is also possible that imprisonment may trigger depression. Psychopaths exhibit a cognitive
pattern that includes a hostile attributional bias, attentional deficits, and beliefs that support the
reinforcing nature of violence. They show affective deficits in guilt, empathy, and fear that can
increase the likelihood of offending regardless of the consequences for the safety of themselves of
other people. Psychopaths also exhibit behavioural impulsiveness.
, Chapter 2: Developmental and Psychological Theories of Offending
Developmental and life-course criminology (DLC) is concerned mainly with three topics: (a) the
development of offending and antisocial behaviour across the lifespan, (b) the influence of risk and
protective factors at different ages, and (c) the effects of life events on the course of development.
In conducting research on development, it is essential to carry out prospective longitudinal surveys.
Adolescence-Limited versus Life-Course-Persistent Offending
Moffitt proposed that there are two qualitatively different categories of antisocial people, namely
life-course persistent offenders (LCP) and adolescence-limited offenders (AL). The main factor
encouraging offending by the LCPs are cognitive deficits, an under-controlled temperament,
hyperactivity, poor parenting, disrupted families, teenage parents, poverty, and low socio-economic
status (SES). The neuropsychological risk of LCPs interacts multiplicatively with a disadvantaged
environment. The theory does NOT propose that neuropsychological deficits and a disadvantaged
environment influence an underlying construct such as antisocial propensity; rather, it suggests that
neuropsychological and environmental factors are the key constructs underlying antisocial
behaviour. The main factors that encourage offending by the ALs are the maturity gap and peer
influence. The ALs cease offending when they enter legitimate adult roles and can achieve their
desires legally. The ALs can easily stop because they have fewer neuropsychological deficits. The
theory assumes that there can be stigmatising and deviance-amplifying effects of “snares” (criminal
record, incarceration, addiction, unwanted pregnancy). The theory focuses mainly on the
development of offenders and does not attempt to explain why offences are committed. However, it
suggests that the presence of delinquent peers is an important situational influence on ALs, and that
LCPs seek out opportunities and victims. Decision-making in criminal opportunities is supposed to be
rational for the ALs but not for the LCPs. The LCPs are mainly influenced by utilitarian motives,
whereas the ALs are influenced by teenage boredom.
Developmental Propensity Theory
Lahey and Waldman aimed to explain the development of conduct disorder and juvenile
delinquency. They propose a continuum of developmental trajectories, rather than only two
categories of adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders. Their key construct is
antisocial propensity, which tends to persist over time and has a wide variety of behavioural
manifestations. The most important components of this antisocial propensity are low cognitive
ability, and three dispositional dimensions: prosociality, daring, and negative emotionality. These
four factors have a genetic basis and Lahey and Waldman discuss gene-environment interactions.
The three dispositional dimensions were shown to predict self-reported delinquency between ages
11 and 17.
Interactional Theory
The theory of Thornberry and Krohn particularly focuses on factors encouraging antisocial behaviour
at different ages. At the earliest ages, birth to six, the three most important influencing factors are
neuropsychological deficits and difficult temperament, parenting deficits, and structural adversity
(which might cause poor parenting). Neuropsychological deficits are less important for children who
start antisocial behaviour at older ages. At ages six to twelve, neighbourhood and family factors are
particularly salient, while at ages twelve through eighteen, school and peer factors dominate. Late
starters (age 18 – 25) have cognitive deficits such as low intelligence and poor school performance,
but were protected from antisocial behaviour at earlier ages by supportive family and school
environment. At this age, people find it hard to successfully transition to adult roles. The most
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