INTRO:

The psychological branch of trait theories focuses on the psychological aspects of

crime, including the associations among intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal
behaviour. Some psychologists view antisocial behaviour from a psychoanalytic or
psychodynamic perspective: their focus is on early childhood experience and its effect on
personality. In contrast, behaviourism stresses social learning and behaviour modelling as
the keys to criminality. Cognitive theory analyzes human perception and how it affects
behaviour.

TERMS:

Defective intelligence

Traits such as feeble mindedness, sanity, and defective social instinct, which Charles
Goring relieve the head a significant relationship to criminal behaviour.

Psycho Analytical or psychodynamic perspective

Branch of psychology holding that the human personality is controlled by unconscious

mental processes childhood.

Behaviorism

The branch of psychology that deals with the study of observable behaviour rather than
unconscious motives. It focuses on the relationship between particular crime and people
reaction.

Psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) psychology was originated by Viennese

psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and has since remained a prominent segment
of psychological theory.

Freud believed that we all carry with us residue of the most significant emotional
attachments of our childhood, which then guide future interpersonal relationships.

Today the term psychodynamic refers to a broad range of theories that focus on the
influence of instinctive drives and forces and the importance of developmental processes
in shaping personality.

Contemporary psychodynamic theory places greater emphasis on conscious experience

and its interaction with the unconscious, in addition to the role that social factors play in
development.
According to Sigmund Freud, human personality is complex and has more than a single
component. In his famous psychoanalytic theory, Freud states that personality is
composed of three elements known as the id, the ego, and the superego. These
elements work together to create complex human behaviors.

“ID!!

The id is the primitive part of an individual's mental make-up present at birth. It

represents unconscious biological drives for food, sleep, sex, and other life-sustaining
necessities. The id follows the pleasure principle: it requires instant gratification without
concern for the rights of others. The pleasure principle is often paramount when
discussing criminal behaviour.

 According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary
component of personality.
 The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.
 This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes instinctive and
primitive behaviors.

For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat
or drink. The id is very important early in life because it ensures that an infant's needs
are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, they will cry until the demands of the id
are satisfied.

Imagine trying to convince a baby to wait until lunchtime to eat their meal. The id
requires immediate satisfaction.

Although people eventually learn to control the id, this part of personality remains the
same infantile, primal force throughout life. It is the development of the ego and the
superego that allows people to control the id's basic instincts and act in ways that are
both realistic and socially acceptable.

"Ego"

The ego develops early in life, when a child begins to learn that his or her wishes cannot
be instantly gratified. The ego is that part of the personality that compensates for the
demands of the id by helping the individual guide his or her actions to remain within
the boundaries of social convention. The ego is guided by the reality principle: it takes
into account what is practical and conventional by societal standards.

 According to Freud, The ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of
the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.
 The ego functions in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.
The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in
realistic and socially appropriate ways.

Freud compared the id to a horse and the ego to the horse's rider. The horse
provides the power and motion, while the rider provides direction and guidance. Without
its rider, the horse may simply wander wherever it wished and do whatever it pleased.
The rider gives the horse directions and commands to get it to go where the rider wants
it to go.

“SUPEREGO"

The superego develops as a result of incorporating within the personality the moral
standards and values of parents, community, and significant others. It is the moral aspect
of an individual's personality; it passes judgments on behaviour. The superego is divided
into two parts: conscience and ego ideal. The Conscience tells what is right and wrong. It
forces the ego to control the id and directs the individual into morally acceptable and
responsible behaviours, which may not be pleasurable.

The Superego
The last component of personality to develop is the superego.

 According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five.

 The superego holds the internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire
from our parents and society (our sense of right and wrong).
 The superego provides guidelines for making judgments.

The superego has two parts:

1. The conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by
parents and society.
2. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for behaviors that the ego aspires
to.

The superego tries to perfect and civilize our behavior. It works to suppress all
unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards
rather that upon realistic principles.

The Interaction of the Id, Ego, and Superego

These aspects are dynamic and always interacting to influence an individual's overall
personality and behavior.

A person who has good ego strength can effectively manage these pressures, while a
person with too much or too little ego strength can be unyielding or disruptive.
What Happens If There Is an Imbalance?
According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the
ego, and the superego. Freud believed that an imbalance between these elements would
lead to a maladaptive personality.

For example, an individual with an overly dominant id might become impulsive,

uncontrollable, or even criminal. Such an individual acts upon their most basic urges with
no concern for whether their behavior is appropriate, acceptable, or legal.

On the other hand, an overly dominant superego might lead to a personality that is
extremely moralistic and judgmental. A person ruled by the superego might not be able
to accept anything or anyone that they perceive to be "bad" or "immoral."

UNDERDEVELOPED SUPEREGO MAY LEAD TO CRIME

The focus of the superego is morality. The superego serves to pass judgment on the
behaviour and actions of individuals. The ego mediates between the id's desire for
instant gratification and the strict morality of the superego. One can assume people
understand right from wrong. However, when a crime is committed, advocates of
psychodynamic theory would suggest that an individual committed a crime because he
or she has an underdeveloped superego.

WEAK EGOS RESULT IN CRIME

The psychodynamic model of the criminal offender depicts an aggressive, frustrated

person dominated by events that occurred early in childhood. Perhaps because they may
have suffered unhappy experiences in childhood or had families that could not provide
proper love and care, criminals suffer from weak or damaged egos that make them
unable to cope with conventional society. Weak egos are associated with immaturity,
poor social skills, and excessive dependence on others. People with weak egos may be
easily led into crime by antisocial peers and drug abuse. Some offenders have
underdeveloped superegos and consequently lack internalized representations of those
behaviours that are punished in conventional society. They commit crimes because
they have difficulty understanding the consequences of their actions.

PARTS OF BRAIN ACCORDING TO FREUD

Sigmund Freud said that human brain consists of three parts: conscious, subconscious and
the unconscious. He said the conscious is what we know about us and the world. He
compared the conscious with the tip of an iceberg. The subconscious is that part of brain
which is under our partial control. And humans have no control over their unconscious.
The inner conflicts of an individual are stored in the unconscious. And according to Freud, it
is the unconscious which determines overall human behaviour in general and criminal
behaviour in particular.

In sum, Freud's psychodynamic theory suggests that criminal offenders are frustrated
and aggravated. They are constantly drawn to past events that occurred in their early
childhood. Because of a negligent, unhappy, or miserable childhood, which is most often
characterized by a lack of love and/or nurturing, a criminal offender has a weak (or
absent) ego. Most important, research suggests that having a weak ego is linked with poor
or absence of social etiquette, immaturity, and dependence on others. Research further
suggests that individuals with weak egos may be more likely to engage in drug abuse.

I. BEHAVIOURAL THEORY

The Behavioural Theory maintains that human behaviour is developed through

learning experiences. The hallmark of behavioural theory is the notion that people
alter or change their behaviour according to the reactions this behaviour elicits in
other people.

Gabriel Tarde is the forerunner of modern-day learning theorists. Tarde believed

people learn from one another through a process of imitation. Tarde's ideas are similar
to modem social learning theorists who believe that both interpersonal and observed
behaviour, such as a movie or television, can influence criminality.

It is concerned with the actual Behaviour of people engaged in during their daily lives.
People alter their behaviour according to the reactions they receive from others.

Behavioural Theory of B. F. Skinner

According to B. F. Skinner, in an ideal situation, behaviour is supported by rewards

and extinguished by negative reactions or punishments. Behaviourists view crimes as
learned responses to life's situations. Rewarded behaviour has chances of repetition and
punished behaviour has chances of reduction. If a thief commits crime and steals something
and utilizes the stolen things and does not get caught, his chances of repeating that
criminal behaviour will increase. If a thief gets caught and gets punished for his criminal
act, it may decrease his chances of repeating that criminal behaviour.

Social Learning and Violence

Social learning theorists view violence as something learned through a process called
behaviour modelling. In modem society, aggressive acts are usually modelled after three
principal sources:
Violent media/ violent crime

Does the media influence behaviour? Does violence depicted in TV shows, movie, games,
music lyrics, and graphical novels cause aggressive behaviour in viewers? This is
become a hot topic because of Persistent theme of violent in these media.

There have been numerous anecdotal cases of violence linked to media. In one famous
historical incident, John Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan due to his obsession with
actress Jodie Foster, which developed after he watched her play a prostitute in the
violent film Taxi Driver. Hinckley viewed the film at least 15 times.

How are the media and violence connected?

 Media violence can provide aggressive scripts that children store in memory.
Repeated exposure to these scripts can increase their retention and lead to
changes in attitude.
 Children learn from what they observe. In the same way they learn cognitive and
social skills from parents and friends, children violent from TV.
 Television violence increased arousal level of yours and make them more prone to
aggressively studied has shown that viewing thailand television shows late
increased arousal level in young children.
 Television violence hello address used to justify their behaviour. It is possible that,
street off causing violence, television helps violent youth rationalized their
behaviour is a socially acceptable and common activity.
II. COGNITIVE THEORY

One area of psychology that has received increasing recognition in recent years has
been the cognitive school. Psychologists with a cognitive perspective focus on mental
processes and how people perceive and mentally represent the world around them and
solve problems. The pioneers of this school were Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener, and
William James.

The study of perception of reality and of the mental processes required to understand
the world in which we live. According to this view, crime is manifestation of feelings of
operation and peoples in ability to develop the proper psychological defenses and
rationales to keep these feelings under control.

Crime also provides them with promise of positive gain. It gives them a chance of
rationalised their sense of failure.

INTELLIGENCE THEORY

Criminologists have suggested for centuries that there exists a link between
intelligence and crime. Some common beliefs are those criminals and delinquents
possess low intelligence and that this? low intelligence causes criminality. The ideology
or concept of IQ and crime has crystallized into the nature-versus-nurture debate. The
nature-versus-nurture debate is a psychological argument that is related to whether the
environment or heredity impacts the psychological development of individuals.

Science recognizes that we share our parents' DNA. To illustrate, some people
have short fingers like their mother and brown eyes like their father. However, the
question remains: Where do individuals get their love of sports, literature, and humour?
The nature-versus-nurture debate addresses this issue. With respect to the nature side,
research on the prison population has consistently shown that inmates typically score low
on IQ tests. In the early decades of the 20th century, researchers administered IQ tests
to delinquent male children. The results indicated that close to 40% had below average
intelligence. On the basis of these data and other studies, some scholars argue that the
role of nature is prevalent. However, can researchers assume a priori that heredity
determines IQ, which in turn influences an individual's criminal behaviour?

The argument is that a child with a low IQ will perform poorly in school. In turn, this
school failure is followed by dropping out. Given the poor school performance, a child is
left with very few options. This ultimately leads to delinquency and adult criminality.
Support of this position has been widespread. Furthermore, it is important to note that US
prisons and jails are highly populated with inmates who only have an average of eighth-
grade education. At the same time, these same inmates at the time of their offence were
unemployed.

It's possible that criminals with high IQ are better able to avoid detection and
punishment than low IQ people. Research using data from arrestees may omit the
more intelligent members of the criminal subclass. And even if they are caught, high IQ
offenders are less likely to be convicted and punished. Because their favourable
treatment helps higher IQ offenders avoid the pains of criminal punishment, it lessens
their chances of recidivism or re-offending.

Even if it can be shown that known offenders have lower IQs than the general
population, it is difficult to explain many patterns in the crime rate. \Vhy are there more
male than female criminals? (Are females smarter than males?) Why do crime rates vary by
region, time of year, and even weather patterns? Why does aging out occur? IQs do not
increase with age, so why should crime rates fall?

One criticism of this perspective is the failure to account for free will. Many
individuals in our society believe in the ability to make choices. Last, there are many
individuals who have a low IQ but refrain from committing crime.

To demonstrate, parents are a major influence on their children's behaviour. At an

early age, parents read books; play music; and engage their children in art, museum, and
sporting events. Some parents spend no quality time with their children, and these children
are believed to perform poorly on intelligence test. Other groups important in a child's
nurturing are friends, relatives, and teachers. Ultimately, the child who has no friends or
relatives and drops out of school is destined for difficult times. Research has
demonstrated that the more education a person has, the higher his or her IQ.

IV. PSYCHOPATHY

Some violent offenders may have a disturbed character structure commonly referred
to as psychopathy, sociopathy, or antisocial personality. Although they may exhibit
superficial charm and above-average intelligence, this often masks a disturbed personality
that makes them incapable of forming enduring relationships with others and continually
involves them in such deviant behaviours as violence, risk taking, substance abuse, and
impulsivity.

From an early age, many psychopaths have had home lives that were filled with
frustration, bitterness, and quarrelling. Antisocial youths exhibit low levels of guilt and anxiety
and persistently violate the rights of others. Their intelligence may alter their criminal career
development and render it quite different from that of non-psychopathic criminals; high
intelligence appears to enhance the destructive Potential of a psychopath, while intelligence
may mediate the criminality of the non-psychopath.

As a result of this instability and frustration, these individuals developed

personalities that became unreliable, unstable, demanding, and egocentric. Most
psychopaths are risk taking sensation seekers who are constantly involved in a garden-
variety of antisocial behaviours. Some may often almost addicted to thrill seeking, resulting
in repeated and dangerous risky behaviours. They are often described as grandiose,
egocentric, manipulative, forceful, and cold-hearted, with shallow emotion and the
inability to feel remorse, empathy with others, or anxiety over their misdeeds, when they
commit antisocial acts, they are less likely to feel shame or empathize with their victims.

Hervey Cleckley, a leading authority on psychopathy, described them as follows:

Psychopaths are chronically antisocial individuals who are always in trouble, profiting
neither from experience nor punishment, and maintaining no real loyalties to any person,
group, or code. They are frequently callous and hedonistic, showing marked emotional
immaturity, with lack of responsibility, lack of judgment and an ability to rationalize their
behavior so that it appears warranted. reasonable and justified.

Considering these personality traits, it is not surprising that research studies show that
people evaluated as psychopaths are significantly more prone to criminal and violent
behavior when compared to non-psychopathic control groups. Psychopaths tend to
continue their criminal career long after other offenders burn out or age out of crime.
They are continually in trouble with the law and, therefore, are likely to wind up in penal
institutions.

THE CAUSES OF PSYCHOPATHY

Though psychologists are still not certain of the cause of psychopathy, a number of
factors are believed to contribute to its development.

Traumatic Socialization: Some explanations focus on family experiences,

suggesting that the influence of an unstable parent, parental rejection, lack of love
during childhood, and inconsistent discipline may be related to psychopathy. Children
who lack the opportunity to form an attachment to a mother figure in the first three years
of life, who suffer sudden separation from the mother figure, or who see changes in the
mother figure are most likely to develop psychopathic personalities. According to this view,
the path runs from antisocial parenting to psychopathy to criminality. Psychologist David
Lykken suggests that psychopaths have an inherited "low fear quotient," which inhibits their
fear of punishment. All people have a natural or innate fear of certain stimuli, such as
spiders, snakes, fires or strangers. Psychopaths, as a rule, have few fears. Normal
socialization processes depends on punishing antisocial, behaviour to inhibit future
transgressions. Someone who does fear punishment is simply harder to socialize.

Neurological Disorder: Psychopaths may suffer from lower-than-normal levels of

arousal. Research studies show that psychopaths have lower skin conductance levels and
fewer spontaneous responses than normal subjects. There may be a link between
psychopathy and autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction. The ANS mediates
physiological activities associated with emotions and is manifested in such
measurements as heartbeat rate, blood pressure, respiration, muscle tension, capillary
size, and electrical activity of the skin (called galvanic skin resistance). psychopaths may
be less capable of regulating their activities than other people. While some people may
become anxious and afraid when facing the prospect of committing a criminal act,
psychopaths in the same circumstances feel no such fear. James Ogloff and Stephen
Wong conclude that their reduced anxiety levels result in behaviours that are more
impulsive and inappropriate and in deviant apprehension and incarceration.

Brain Structure: Another view is that psychopathy is related to abnormal brain

structures. Consequently, psychopaths may need greater than average stimulation
to bring them up to comfortable levels (similar to arousal theory, discussed earlier).

The terms psychopath and sociopath are commonly used to describe people who have
an antisocial personality. People with these traits have been involved in some of the most
notorious and violent crimes.

CONCLUSION

The relationship between psychology and criminal behaviour is significant. For

centuries, scholars have been attempting to explain why someone commits a crime.
The psychological perspective first examined the role of psychodynamic theory as
developed by Sigmund Freud. Included here are the roles of the id, ego, and superego in
criminal behaviour. Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are two of the most serious
disorders. Research suggests that there is a correlation between individuals with bipolar
disorder and schizophrenia and delinquency and/or criminal behaviour. The second
major psychological theory is behaviourism. As previously mentioned, behavioural
theory suggests human behaviour is fostered through learning experiences. At the
forefront of this theory is the premise that individuals change their behaviour according to
reactions from m others. In the real world, there exists the assumption that behaviour is
reinforced via rewards and: eliminated by a negative reaction or punishment. Social
learning theory, which is a branch of behaviour theory, is the most relevant to
criminology.