Summary Forensic Psychology
Forensic Psychology: Crime, Justice, Law, Interventions
By The British Psychological Society, Third Edition
Part 1: The Causes of Crime
Chapter 1: Psychological Approaches to Understanding Crime
1.1. Introduction
Two contemporary psychological theories of crime:
1) Moral reasoning theory
2) The social information-processing approach to explaining crime
1.2. Psychological Theories
1.2.1. Moral Reasoning Theory
Moral reasoning= how individuals reason about and justify their behavior with respect to moral
issues.
Moral reasoning approach: cognitive-developmental approach by Piaget (1932) and Kohlberg (1969).
Six stages of moral reasoning through which individuals progress, with reasoning becoming more
abstract and complex.
Revised by Gibbs (2003, 20010, 2014): sociomoral reasoning: roles of social perspective-taking and
empathy given greater emphasis:
Stage 1 and 2: immature moral reasoning. Reasoning is superficial and egocentric.
Stage 3 and 4: mature morale reasoning. Show understanding of interpersonal relationships
and other people’s needs and at stage 4, societal needs. Need for acquisition of social
perspective-taking skills for reasoning at these two stages, in order to allow for emotions
such as empathy to play a part in motivating decisions about reasoning and behavior.
Relationship between moral reasoning and offending.
Immature moral reasoning Mature moral reasoning
Stage 1: Unilateral Stage 2: Exchanging Stage 3: Mutual and Stage 4: Systemic and
and physicalistic and instrumental prosocial standard
Reasoning refers to Reasoning Reasoning reflects an Reasoning reflects an
powerful authority incorporates a basic understanding of understanding of
figures (e.g. parents) understanding of interpersonal complex social
and the physical social interaction. relationship and the systems, with appeals
consequences of However, this is norms/expectations to societal
behavior. Individuals typically in terms of associated with these. requirements, basic
show little or no cost/benefit deals, Empathy and social rights and values, and
perspective taking. with the benefits to perspective-taking are character/integrity.
the individual being of apparent, along with
most importance. ideas appeals to one’s
own conscience.
Offender is morally justified if:
Punishment can be The benefits to the It maintains personal It maintains society or
avoided. individual outweigh relationships. is sanctioned by a
the costs. social institution.
The circumstances in which offending/recidivism usually occurs reflects moral reasoning at the less
mature stages. Gibbs considered what particular features characterize the moral development of
offenders:
1) Developmental delay in moral judgement.
, 2) Self-serving cognitive distortions.
3) Social skill deficiencies.
Main offence-supporting distortion= egocentric bias: characteristic of immature moral reasoning and
thinking styles of offenders.
Secondary cognitive distortions proposed to support egocentricity in contributing to offending:
1) Blaming others or external factors rather than oneself for behaviour that harms other
people.
2) Having a hostile attributional bias, by which ambiguous events/social interactions are
interpreted as hostile.
3) Minimizing consequences/mislabeling one’s own antisocial behaviour in order to reduce
feelings of guilt and regret.
Some evidence that offenders have social skill deficits that can impact on their behaviour in social
situations. Within the moral reasoning theory framework, offending behaviour is seen as a result of
sociomoral developmental delay beyond childhood, accompanied by an egocentric bias. The
secondary cognitive distortions then allow individuals to disengage from taking responsibility for
their behaviour on a moral level.
1.2.2. Social Information-Processing Theory
Model of social information progressing by Crick and Dodge (1994): Describes how individuals
perceive their social world and process information about it, and the influence of previous
experience on these processes. Six steps:
1. Encoding of social cues: social cues are perceived and encoded.
2. Interpretations and mental representation of the situation: above is used along with social
knowledge structures to interpret the situation and provide a mental representation of it.
When interpreting the situation, attributions are made about the intent of other people and
the causality of events. Processes are influenced by previous experiences in the form of
social schema and scripts, to provide cognitive shortcuts to help process information quickly.
3. Clarifications of goals/outcomes for the situation: individual chooses their preferred
goals/outcomes for the situation. Likely to be influenced by pre-existing goal orientations,
and the modification of these in line with the social cues associated with this situation.
4. Access or construction of response for the situation: requires individuals to generate a
range of possible responses to the situation. May be achieved with reference to past
experience in similar situations or by creating new response.
5. Choice of response: responses are evaluated in order to choose one to perform. RED model:
outlines a number of criteria used when evaluating responses, including the perceived
efficacy and value of the response, and the perceived efficacy and value of the outcome
behaviour.
6. Performance of chosen response: the chosen response is enacted, requiring the individuals
to have appropriate verbal and non-verbal social skills.
Steps occur in sequence for given situation/stimulus but individuals can simultaneously perform the
different steps, allowing for feedback between processes. Circular process. At all steps processing is
influenced by social knowledge structures bases on an individual’s past experiences, such as social
schema and scripts.
1.2.2.1. Social information-processing and criminal behaviour
At the first two steps: aggressive individuals experience a range of problems in encoding and
interpreting social cues, leading to an inaccurate representation of a situation. Perceive fewer social
cures, take more notice of aggressive cues and pay more attention to cues at the end of interactions.
Rely more on internal schema when interpreting situations, with these schema tending to be
aggressive in content. Have a hostile attributional style, and so often misinterpret situations as
hostile. This tendency is exacerbated when individuals feel threatened or react impulsively. Attribute
greater blame to external factors.
,At the third step: aggressive people tend to have dominance and revenge-based goals, rather than
prosocial goals.
At the fourth step: aggressive individuals generate fewer response than non-aggressive people,
suggesting they have a limited repertoire from which to draw. The content of these response is more
aggressive as compared to the prosocial responses generated by non-aggressive people.
At the fifth step: aggressive individuals also evaluate responses by different criteria, rating aggressive
response more positively than prosocial response and having more positive outcome expectancies
and perceptions of self-efficacy for aggression. Aggression is viewed as being more effective to
achieve their goals.
At the sixth step: aggressive individuals have poor social skills. If the chosen response is successful, it
will be evaluated positively and reinforced.
Social information-processing is influential in the development of juvenile delinquency and adult
offending. The more steps at which individuals exhibit problems, the greater the level of aggressive
and antisocial behaviour. There appears to be an interaction between the hostile attributional style
at step two and the response evaluation and decision process at step four. Early childhood
experiences are important in the development of such behaviours.
1.3. Theories, Evidence, and Crime
1.3.1. Interpersonal Violence
December 2014: violent crime comprised about 23% of offences reported to the police and 19% of
offences in the Crime Survey for England and Wales and level of violent crime has remained generally
stable for a number of years.
Violence: murder, manslaughter, robbery, etc.
Violent offenders tend not to be specialists, but commit a wide range of offences. Specialist violent
offenders are quite rare. Violent offenders have an early onset of offending behaviour, and show
considerable continuity of aggression and violence throughout their life.
1.3.1.1. Social factors and violence
Important role played by family structure and parenting style in development of violent offending.
Clear link between violence and severe abuse in childhood and witnessing family violence, which
appears to be mediated through the impact of abuse on children’s psychological functioning, such as
problem-solving and coping abilities.
1.3.1.2. Cognitive-behavioural theory and violence
Cognitive-behavioural approaches focus on the role of cognitive appraisal and other internal
processes in violence. Hostile attributional bias has strong relationship with aggressive behaviour
among children and adolescents and holds into adulthood. Significant association between low
empathy and violent offending. Emotional arousal can impact on cognitive processes, with anger
playing a significant role in understanding violence. Violence as result from being angry. Reciprocal
relationships between angry emotional arousal and cognitive processes (Novaco). Angry thoughts
can be triggered by situational events; these angry thoughts then increase emotional arousal; and
this arousal heightens the intensity of the angry thoughts. As this cycle continues, the level of
cognition and affect increase in turn, with an increased risk of violence.
1.3.1.3. Neuropsychological factors and violence
Evidence that violence is associated with brain damage or dysfunction. Damage and malfunctioning
of the frontal and temporal lobes most associated with violence. Frontal lobe lesions associated with
personality changes, such as: apathy, a lack of foresight or taking account of the consequences of
behavior, a tendency to continue with behaviors that are unsuccessful, irritability and grandiose and
unrealistic ideas: disinhibition. Blair (2009): links between structures in the temporal lobe – the
amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex – and violence, specifically psychopathy. Dysfunction in
these two brain structures leads to deficits in stimulus-reinforcement learning and the ability to
responds to fearful and sad expressions in others, and impaired decision-making. Possible that the
relationship between brain injury and violence is bidirectional: brain injury may be consequence of
, violence, rather than antecedent. Neuropsychological factors in violence: development of violence
results from interaction of social, environmental, genetic and neurobiological factors.
1.3.1.4. Domestic violence
Feminist theories: society is patriarchal with implicit assumption that men control the lives of
women and children, both within the family and through social institutions. Men seek to maintain
women’s subordination through physical violence, as well as psychological and economic coercion.
Social learning theory: domestic violence is behavior that is learnt through experiencing rewards
from it and observing and modelling similar behavior: vicarious learning. Other approaches:
domestic violence caused by psychopathology among abusers.
1.3.2. Sexual Offending
Sexual offences: rape, unlawful sexual intercourse, indecent assault, indecent exposure, and gross
indecency with a child.
Six major theories of sexual offending:
Four Preconditions model by Finkelhor (1984): four preconditions that a child molester must
pass through prior to an offence:
1. A motivation to sexually abuse
2. Internal inhibitions against offending must be overcome
3. External factors must be overcome to allow the abuse to occur
4. Child’s resistance must be overcome, through using force or grooming techniques
Quadripartite model by Hall and Hirschmann (1992): four components necessary for an
offence to take place:
1. Sexual arousal to children
2. Attitudes and beliefs that justify child abuse
3. Poor self-regulation
4. Personality problems
Vulnerability to committing child sexual abuse is caused by personality problems. Situational
factors, including opportunity, determine when this vulnerability is triggered. Subtypes of
child molesters proposed based on relative level of factors.
Pathways model by Ward and Siegert (2002): four separate but interacting psychological
mechanisms involved in child sexual abuse:
1. Intimacy/social deficits
2. Distorted sexual scripts
3. Cognitive distortions
4. Emotional dysregulation
One component dominates each pathway into offending but all are involved. Pure
paedophiles: offenders with multiple dysfunctional mechanisms.
Interaction model of sexual aggression by Malamuth, Heavey, and Linz (1993): sexual
aggression is the result of the interaction of two ‘paths’:
1. The hostile masculinity path: emphasizes the role of aggressive intimate relationships
and sexual conquest in the concept of masculinity, along with valuing power, risk-taking,
dominance and competitiveness.
2. The sexual promiscuity path: focuses on the role of sexual behaviours in maintaining self-
esteem and peer status, and the appeal of impersonal sex. More likely to lead to sexual
aggression among men possessing a high level of the characteristics within the hostile
masculinity pathway.
Integrated theory by Marshall and Barbaree (1990): takes account of biological,
developmental, socio-cultural and situational variables. Negative childhood experiences lead
children to experience problems in forming social, emotional and sexual attachments with
other people. During adolescence when hormonal changes occur, aggression and sex can
become linked due to both drives originating from the same neural substrates. Poor social
skills can lead to rejection of prosocial attempts to be sexually intimate, which results in
anger and an increased likelihood of an aggressive response. If individual experiences
