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How Criminal Behavior Is Acquired

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1. Describe the process of operant conditioning and give an example of how criminal behavior is acquired. In operant conditioning, learning occurs through rewards and punishments for certain kind of behaviors.. A person links desired or adverse outcomes with certain behaviors. Criminal behavior is learned from the environment and it is strengthened by the reinforcements it brings. For example, if a person commits a minor crime and society A doesn’t really has effective punishment for that behavior, the person would commit the same crime in the future. On the other hand society B has an affective punishment to decrease undesired behavior. If a person commits the same crime in society B, it will be more likely that the behavior will not take place again or be completely eliminated. 2. Explain the concept of deindividuation and illustrate by describing any one experiment in social psychology. Deindividuation is when people lose their individual identity and become part of a larger group: they gain social identity of the group. They start acting as a group than as an individual. Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment is great example of deindividuation. In this experiment Zimbardo divided students into two groups: prisoners and guards. The guards …show more content…

This blockage of goal increases arousal and individuals are motivated to reduce it. People going through frustration induced criminality, in order to reduce frustration, become violent to the point that they indulge in severe violent crimes, even murder. For example, if a person is feeling severe frustration because he works only part time and is not making enough money to get his needs fulfilled. With time this frustration will build up and he would end up indulging in criminal behavior that could include stealing behavior or even extreme hatred towards rich people resulting in violent actions towards

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Operant conditioning is a type of learning process where the strength of a client’s behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment. Dr. Foxx’s work with Harry is an example of operant conditioning because of the techniques he used with different levels of consequences, for example time out and physical reinforcements. With that being said Dr. Foxx used Harrys restraints as both positive and negative reinforcements. In addition, some of the examples Dr. Foxx used to work with Harrys problem behavior

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Throughout this book, we can see examples of operant conditioning. This type of conditioning includes reinforcing behavior with some sort of action. Operant conditioning usually occurs in early childhood -prior to middle childhood- but can also happen later in life (Belsky, 11). This is present in multiple areas of the text. One of the first examples of operant conditioning that can be seen is when Robert is learning to swim.

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Deindiviuation is defined as the loss of a person's sense of individuality and personal responsibility. An example of this term is the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot resulting in $5.36 million in property damage, 140 (1 critically injured, 3 seriously), and 0 deaths. The riot happened after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Boston Bruins in game seven of the Stanley Cup. Three factors why this happened and how it exemplifies individuation. 1.

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Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.

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In the textbook, deindividuation refers to "loss of self-awareness and of individual accountability in groups. " It can sometimes be a good thing to be anonymous but as Philip Zimbardo's TEDTalk describes it, it shows how it can bring out the evil in people that lose individual awareness and become a part of a corrupted group. Zimbardo discussed the situation in Abu Ghraib where guards were told to "to cross the line, give them permission to break the will of the enemy, to prepare them for interrogation, to soften them up, to take the gloves off," when trying to gather information from prisoners in Iraq. This was interpreted by the guards in truly horrific ways including sexual humiliation, sexual violence, physical violence, dog attacks, and

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The classical theory of crime says that people make rational choices when they commit crimes. “Individuals have the will and rationality to act according to their own will and desires. Individuals will calculate the rationality of the crime based on the benefits of the crime versus the consequences of the crime” (Robinson, 2014). This theory discuses that how people think about the negative and positive outcomes before they commit crime. Even though they realize it is not right, they still continue to commit illegal offence because they believe that what they are doing is for the greater

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This essay will begin by describing criminological psychology as a branch of applied psychology, which uses biological, psychological and sociological theories to study criminal behaviour (Howitt, 2017). In addition, a brief outline on the biological theories of offending will be discussed, specifically focusing on the genetic influences on crime. Subsequently, the examination of psychological theory will be presented with a detailed explanation on Eysenck’s theory and Psychosis. Finally, comparison and contrast will be provided with a clear conclusion drawn on the two theories, determining which theory explains offending behaviour more persuasively and why. Criminological psychology is the study of causes and motivations for crime, as well

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This process has nine components (Cullen, 2014). The first is criminal behavior is learned not inherited. Second, the Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. Third, the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. Fourth, When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a) techniques of committing the crime, which is sometimes very complicated, sometimes simple; (b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.

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One of the most debated topics throughout the world is nature versus nurture. When psychologists debate this topic, they are studying what influences a person’s personal development. Some say that a person’s nature influences personal development while others say a person’s nurture influences personal development. A lot of people spend time contemplating which one actually does the influencing but what some do not realize is that, perhaps, both nature and nurture help shape a person’s personal development. One topic that comes up quite often is whether or not a person is born a criminal.

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Criminal behaviour has always been an interest for psychologists, for they could never quite come to a conclusion between nature and nurture. Research concerning this topic has been organized for many years and due to the never ending debate, is still being conducted. I have decided to read and write about this myself, for I was genuinely curious about the matter and wanted to be a part of the research, as I felt responsible to do so. I believe that in order to stop something, it must be discussed and scrutinized. What effects do genes have on criminal behaviour, why do peer pressure and habitat influence a person to commit crimes and are men really more violent than women?

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The relationships shape a person’s behavior and seeks to identify those features of a person’s personality and of the environment that keeps a person from committing a crime (Schmalleger, 2012). Social control theory predicts that when social constrains on antisocial behavior are weakened or are absent, delinquent behavior will happen. Social control asks why people obey rules instead of breaking them. Social control does not stress causative factors in criminal behavior (Schmalleger, 2012). Social control theory tries to find and identify features of personality and the environment that keep people from committing crimes.

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1297 Words | 6 Pages

Furthermore, the psychology of criminal behavior, psychology, and criminology all have a primary objective of achieving an understanding of the variation in the criminal behavior of individuals (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Empirically, the study of variation in criminal behavior is done by the studying of covariates (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). The primary covariates that PCC studies are biological, social, and psychological (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Although, criminology tends to assess criminality at an aggregate level, in comparison to the psychology of criminal conduct’s focus on an individual level. Additionally, a psychology of criminal conduct involves applying what is learned by the studying of psychological information and methods to the predicting and influencing the propensity of criminal behavior on an individual

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1285 Words | 6 Pages

According to Siegel (2015), trait theory is the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits which can be subdivided into two major categories: those that stress biological makeup and those that stress psychological functioning (p. 109). Biological trait theories includes four different conditions: biochemical, neurophysiological, genetic, and evolutionary. Biochemical factors will include diet, hypoglycemia, hormonal influences, premenstrual syndrome, lead exposure, and environmental contaminants. Neurophysiological factors will include brain structure, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain chemistry, and arousal theory. Genetic causes could stem from parental deviance, adoption studies, and

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755 Words | 4 Pages

These individuals are likely to believe that the better way to reduce crime is to give criminals a harsh punishment. A positivist theory tries to explain that several biological and social factors may lead to criminal behavior. For example, there might be a lack of poverty and education in some places in which could result in a cause of higher crime rates but can be reduced if employment and educational opportunities are being suggested. Last theory is Individual trait, in which suggests that the most distinguishable differences between noncriminal and criminals are physiological and biological. Therefore a suggestion for this would be to limit the interaction between the ones who have the same

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Outline the key principles and educational applications of Operant Conditioning. Refer to relevant literature and applications to the post-primary classroom. Operant conditioning is a process of learning that occurs through the enforcement of rewards and punishments for behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour.

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