Assess whether or not criminal behaviour can be explained by
social psychological factors (16)
Criminal behaviour may not be entirely explained by social psychological
factors, and may be better explained by biological factors such as XYY syndrome.
This is where a male is characterised by slightly lower levels of intelligence and high
levels of aggression. This may make them more prone to turning to crime as they
may not be able to control their aggression, therefore they may be more likely to be
recognised by legal authorities. This implies that the individual’s higher risk of
offending may be more greatly influenced by their genes (their biology) rather than
any social-psychological factors. This indicates that perhaps biological factors may
be better at explaining criminal behaviour. On the other hand, if the male with XYY is
labelled by his peers as a criminal as individuals with XYY are expected to offend,
then the male might live up to that label as they may be treated according to that
label. This means that social-psychological factors interacting with biological
factors, are a more valid explanation of criminal behaviour.
In fact, some social-psychological factors such as self-fulfilling prophecy may
contribute more to criminal behaviour than biological factors. This prophecy states
that a person is assumed to behave in an antisocial way due to previous criminal
behaviour from their family or stereotypes about their social class and race,
therefore the person is labelled and treated in accordance with this false belief. This
gives the individual little opportunity to disprove the assigned label, hence they
internalise it and live up to the expectation of that label. For example, Jahoda (1954)
found that boys born on Wednesday were called KWADKU, which gave an impression
of them being quite aggressive and short-tempered. Consequently, by looking at 5
years of records in a juvenile court, Jahoda found that 22% of violent offences were
committed by more boys born on Wednesday, compared to 6.9% of boys born on
Monday and called KWADWO which meant quiet and placid. This suggests that
cultural expectations about the boys’ natures and their explicit labels meant that they
were treated differently according to their day of birth, hence many conformed to the
label set by their own namesake. This is a strength as it provides ecologically valid
support for self-fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of criminal behaviour. However,
it could be argued that the boys might have been frustrated and hence acted
aggressively as this released more dopamine, which served as positive
reinforcement for the boys who were treated based on their label and not on who
they were. This suggests that biological and social factors interact to induce
criminality.
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