Psychology Chapter on Freud and Crime

Theories of Crime Causation

• Biological theories propose that physical, physiological, and other natural factors cause criminal behavior in certain individuals. These theories suggest criminal traits are linked to physical defects or impairments.

Physiognomy

• Physiognomy is the study of facial features and their relationship to human behavior.
• Giambiatista della Porta, a founder of physiognomy, believed criminal behavior could be predicted from facial characteristics.
• Johann Kaspar Lavater supported this idea, claiming a person's character was revealed through their facial features.

Phrenology

• Phrenology, craniology, or cranioscopy studies the external skull formation in relation to personality and tendencies toward criminal behavior.
• Franz Joseph Gall developed cranioscopy, later renamed phrenology.
• Johann Kaspar Spurzheim, an assistant to Gall, helped popularize and spread phrenology.

Physiology/Somatotype

• Physiology, or somatotype, examines the body build of an individual in relation to their temperament, personality, and the types of crimes they are prone to commit.
• Ernst Kretschmer developed body types: asthenic, athletic, pyknic, and dysplastic.
• William Sheldon identified body types: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.
• Earnest Hooton studied the body types of criminals, suggesting links between certain body types and specific crimes. He believed criminals were inherently inferior and crime was environmentally influenced.

Heredity

• Heredity is the transmission of traits from parents to offspring.
• Karyotype studies examine and compare chromosomes to understand how traits are passed down.
• Some studies, like those focusing on XYY syndrome, suggest a correlation between certain genetic conditions and crime risk.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature theory argues that intelligence is a genetic trait.
• Nurture theory emphasizes environmental factors in shaping behavior, such as family, upbringing, social interactions, surroundings, and culture.

Psychological Theories

• Psychological theories attribute criminal behavior to psychological factors, such as mental illness, defective conscience, emotional immaturity, inadequate childhood socialization, or maternal deprivation.
• Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory suggests that imbalances among the id, ego, and superego can cause criminality. The id seeks pleasure, the ego seeks reality, and the superego is the conscience.
• A fixed person exhibits behavior tied to unresolved conflicts from childhood. Different psychosexual stages of development (oral, anal, phallic) play roles in adulthood.

Common Types of Insanity/Mental Disorders

• Dementia Praecox - A collective term for mental disorders beginning in or shortly after puberty, leading to impaired mental and physiological functions (Schizophrenia).
• Manic Depressive - characterized by mania, and mental depression.
• paralysis - condition of helpless inactivity or inability to act.
• Senile - mental deterioration accompanying old age (Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease).
• Alienist - specialist in the study of mental disorders.
• Hallucination - false perception without an external object, indicative of mental derangement, intoxication or fever.
• Delusion - false belief despite evidence.
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - developmental condition involving hyperactivity, impulsivity and lack of attention.

Classes of Mental Deficiency

• Idiots - individuals with mental defects impacting self-preservation against physical danger.
• Imbeciles - individuals with mental defects preventing self-management.
• Feeble-minded Persons - individuals with mental defects requiring care, supervision, and control.
• Moral Defectiveness - individuals with mental deficiency and strong vicious or criminal tendencies.

Intelligence as a Factor in Criminality

• Classic studies of families like the Juke and Kallikak families showed potential for inheritance of feeblemindedness or low intelligence.
• The development of IQ tests was influenced by these studies. IQ tests were originally used on convicted offenders to assess low mental capabilities and abilities.

Alfred Binet

• Alfred Binet developed the first IQ test. This test measured the capacity of children to perform and solve, in direct relation to other peers.

Sociological Theories

• Sociological theories emphasize environmental factors and social interactions in shaping criminal behavior.
• Emile Durkheim's anomie theory suggests that the absence of social norms can lead to social disorder and crime.
• Gabriel Tarde's theory of imitation proposes that people imitate the behavior of those around them, including criminals.
• Adolphe Quetelet was a founder of the cartographic school of criminology and moral statistics. He focused on gathering data and applying it to criminology.
• Andre Guerry advanced the study of crime mapping.

Social Structure Theories

• Social Structure theories not only focus on physical characteristics of a community but also on the social organization and levels of poverty and unemployment.
• This theory combines elements of economic and social conditions to understand their impact on crime.
• Social Disorganization Theory - a theory proposing crimes are prevalent in urban areas due to impersonal relationships.
• Strain Theory - crime is a conflict between the goals people have, and acceptable ways to obtain them.
• Cultural Deviance Theory - those in the lower classes feel isolated, due to poverty.

Social Process Theories

• Social process theories suggest that the individual's socialization process influences their behavior, especially their exposure to elements in the environment.
• Differential Association Theory - criminal behavior is learned through social interactions and communication.
• Differential Reinforcement Theory - suggests that an individual's behavior depends on interactions/reactions of those around them (conditioning theory), which reward or punish it.
• Neutralization Theory - people rationalize their criminal acts.

Social Reaction Theory (Labeling Theory)

• Social Reaction (Labeling) Theory suggests that people become criminals when labeled as such by significant members of society. This label shapes their sense of identity.

Social Control Theories

• Social control theories propose that everyone has the potential to be criminal, but social controls prevent most people from engaging in criminal behavior. Social control comes from family, school, religion, church, government, and laws.
• Containment Theory - explains how inner and outer factors prevent criminal behavior (Walter Reckless). Inner factors (values, self-concept) and outer factors (family and community).
• Social Bond Theory - (Travis Hirschi) suggests crime occurs when bonds to social institutions are weak. Four elements (attachment, commitment, involvement, belief) hold individuals back from crime.

Additional Points

• Copycat Crime - when a criminal act is inspired by a previous crime that received publicity.
• Thermic Law - crime-related propensity influenced by temperature and weather (e.g., hotter months more crimes against people, colder months more crimes against properties).
• Albert Adler - suggests that criminality is the result of inferiority complex and a drive for power and superiority over others.
• Erik Erikson - suggests that inadequacy in identity crisis or deficient sense of inferiority/inadequacy causes criminal behavior.
• Erich Fromm - criminality comes from the need for belongingness, security, and freedom.