Psychological theories of criminal behavior

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The psychological theories focus on the psychological aspects of crime, including the association
among intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior. Psychological theories of crime
have a long history. Charles Goring (1870 –1919) studied the mental characteristics of 3,000
English convicts. He found little difference in the physical characteristics of criminals and
noncriminal, but he uncovered a significant relationship between crime and a condition he
referred to as: “Defective intelligence.”

1. Psychodynamic theory
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 the residue of the most significant emotional
attachments of our childhood, which then guides our future interpersonal relationship. The mind
is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water. Freud believed that there
were unconscious forces that drive behavior. He developed three techniques are still used by
psychoanalysts today, namely:
1. Free association (freely talking to the therapist about whatever comes up without censoring
and redirecting feelings),
2. Dream analysis (examining dreams for important information about the unconscious), and
3. Hypnosis ( Creating a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced
peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion).

Some mental conflicts, of which the criminal may be unaware, give rise to delinquent behavior.
An inner conflict between conscience and instinct always continues in every human being, the
triumph of instinctual traits lead to activities which are not accepted by the society. Most of the
people learn to control the instinct. For some the conflict is not resolved in a socially acceptable
way, it may be expressed through ways not approved by the society and penal laws. Freud did
not write much about criminality, rather he put forward a theory to explain all the behavior of
humans, later on his theories were used to explain criminal behavior. The human personality is
controlled by unconscious mental processes that develop early in childhood and the human
personality contains a three-part structure:
(1) Id
(2) Ego and
(3) Superego
Id

Id is the basic and most primitive portion of personality. It is analogous to animal instinct and
represents unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other life sustaining necessities. The
id seeks instant gratification without concern for the rights of others and morality. It Id is
illogical and seeks only pleasure, it does not bother morality. The id is the only component of
personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and
includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. Desire is its driving force and its ultimate
destiny is bodily pleasure. Every human gets the id with his/her birth. It remains functional
throughout the whole life, but due to the operation of the ego and the super-ego, it remains
repressed and expresses through various ways.

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, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met.

However, immediately satisfying these needs is not always realistic or even possible. If we were
ruled entirely by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves grabbing things we want out of
other people's hands to satisfy our own cravings. 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.

Ego

The part of the personality developed in early childhood that helps control the id and keep
people’s actions within the boundaries of social convention. The ego develops early in life, when
a child begins to learn that his or her wishes cannot be instantly gratified. The ego operates based
on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially
appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding
to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a
process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the
appropriate time and place.

The ego does not present at the time of birth, rather it develops with the learning of outward
reality. The pleasure seeking biological drivers of id are controlled by the ego. Unreasonable id
always tries to fulfill the demands of biological drives, but ego makes id conscious about the
surrounding social reality and society does not approve fulfillment of all the desires of the id,
hence provides social sanction or punishment. The ego is the conscious portion of personality,
which controls the animal instincts (id) of humans.
Super ego

Most part of peoples mind remains unconscious and the super ego is largely part of the
unconscious personality. It is mainly unconscious in its operation, but it contains conscious
element like morality. Human “conscience” is “super ego” in the Freudian literature. Conscience
represents ideality and keeps balance between the id and the ego.

The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and
ideals that we acquire from both parents and society - our sense of right and wrong. The
superego provides guidelines for making judgments. According to Freud, the superego begins to
emerge at around age five. The superego acts 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.

Interaction between Id, Ego and Super ego

The ego keeps balance between– the desire of the id and the repression sought by the super ego.
The id cannot satisfy its desires due to the continuous controlling of ego and surveillance of the
super ego.
A person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these pressures, while those with
too much or too little ego strength can become too disrupting. According to Freud, the key to a
healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego. With the ego placed in
the middle, and if all demands are met, the system maintains its balance of psychic power and
the outcome is an adjusted personality. If there is imbalance, the outcome is a maladaptive
personality. For example, with a dominant id, the outcome could be an impulsive and
uncontrollable individual (e.g., a criminal). With an overactive superego, the outcome might be
an extremely moralistic individual. An overpowering ego could create an individual who is
caught up in reality (e.g., extremely rigid and unable to stray from rules or structure) or lacks a
personal sense of what is right and wrong (e.g., somebody who goes by the book).

Conclusion
It is possible to explain many human behaviors and some criminal behaviors by Freud’s theory.
But if any crime is committed due to biological root, or psychological abnormality, or economic
cause, or because of faulty social or state organization, then psychoanalysis will hardly have any
utility to explain that criminal behavior.

2. Behavioral theory
Behavior theory maintains that human actions are developed through learning experiences. The
major premise of behavior theory is that people alter their behavior in accordance with the
response it elicits from others. The behaviorist views crimes—especially violent acts—as learned
responses to life situations, which do not necessarily represent abnormality or moral immaturity.
Theorists argue that people are not born with the ability to act violently; rather, they learn to be
aggressive through their life experiences. These experiences include personally observing others
acting aggressively to achieve some goal or watching people being rewarded for violent acts on
television or in movies. People learn to act aggressively when, as children, they model their
behavior after the violent acts of adults. Later in life, these violent behavior patterns persist in
social relationships. For example, the boy who sees his father repeatedly strike his mother is
likely to become a battering parent and husband.

Behavior modeling
Theorists view violence as something learned through a process called behavior modeling. In
modern society, aggressive acts are usually modeled after three principal sources:

1. Family interaction:
Studies of family life show that aggressive children have parents who use similar tactics when
dealing with others.

2. Environmental experiences:
People who reside in areas in which violence is a daily occurrence are more likely to act
violently than those who dwell in low-crime areas whose norms stress conventional behavior.

3. Mass media:
Films and television shows commonly depict violence graphically. Moreover, violence is often
portrayed as an acceptable behavior, especially for heroes who never have to face legal
consequences for their actions. For example, David Phillips found the homicide rate increases
significantly immediately after a heavyweight championship prize fight. (David Phillips, “The
Impact of Mass Media Violence on U.S. Homicides,” American Sociological Review 48)

3. Cognitive theory
Cognitive theories try to explain human activity in terms of internal feelings such as—
Anger; Frustration; Desire etc. Their view holds that all external activities are taking
place due to internal mental processes. Certain social factors can affect or alter the
internal mental processes, which can reinforce or discourage behavior. Today the
cognitive area includes several sub disciplines:

(1) The moral development branch is concerned with how people morally represent and
reason about the world.
(2) Humanistic psychology stresses self-awareness and getting in touch with feelings.
(3) Information-processing theory focuses on how people process, store, encode,
retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems.
When cognitive theorists who study information processing try to explain antisocial behavior,
they do so in terms of mental perception and how people use information to understand their
environment. When people make decisions, they engage in a sequence of cognitive thought
processes. First, they encode information so that it can be interpreted; next, they search for a
proper response and decide on the most appropriate action; and finally, they act on their decision.
According to this cognitive approach, people who use information properly, who are better
conditioned to make reasoned judgments, and who can make quick and reasoned decisions are
best able to avoid antisocial behavior choices. In contrast, crime-prone people use information
incorrectly when they make decisions. They view crime as an appropriate means to satisfy their
immediate personal needs, which take precedence over more distant social needs such as
obedience to the law.

They are not deterred by the threat of legal punishments because when they try to calculate the
costs and consequences of an action—that is, when they are deciding whether to commit a
crime—they make mistakes because they are imperfect processors of information. As a result of
their faulty calculations, they pursue behaviors that they perceive as beneficial and satisfying but
that turn out to be harmful and detrimental.

Intelligence and crime

Early criminologists maintained that many delinquents and criminals have below average
intelligence and that low IQ causes their criminality.
Mental Age/Chronological Age X 100= Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
The 6-year old with the mental age of 5 has an IQ of 5/6 X 100 = 84

Low IQ scores seem to be associated with crime and other vices. Some researchers argue that
low IQ children do poorly in school, which causes anger, which then gives rise to delinquency.
Gottfredson and Hirshi suggest that youths with low IQ tend to seek immediate gratification
resulting delinquencies. Criminals were believed to have inherently substandard intelligence and
thus seemed naturally inclined to commit more crimes than more intelligent persons.
Furthermore, it was thought that if authorities could determine which individuals had low IQs,
they might identify potential criminals before they committed socially harmful acts. These ideas
led to the “Nature versus Nurture” controversy that continues to rage today.

Nature Theory
Proponents of the theory argue that intelligence is largely determined genetically, that ancestry
determines IQ, and that low IQ is linked to criminal behavior. When newly developed IQ tests
were administered to inmates of prisons and juvenile training schools in the early decades of the
twentieth century, the nature position gained support because most of the inmates scored low on
the tests.
Nurture Theory
Proponents of the theory argue that intelligence is not inherited and that low-IQ parents do not
necessarily produce low-IQ children. Intelligence must be viewed as partly biological but
primarily sociological. They postulate that environmental stimulation from parents, relatives,
social contacts, schools, peer groups etc. impacted the IQ-level. Thus, if low IQ scores are
recorded among criminals, these scores may reflect the criminals’ cultural background, not their
mental ability.

Personality and Crime:

Personality can be defined as the reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and
emotions that distinguish one person from another. One’s personality reflects a characteristic
way of adapting to life’s demands and problems.

Surveys show that traits such as impulsivity, hostility, narcissism, hedonism, and aggression are
highly correlated with criminal and antisocial behaviors. Personality defects have been linked not
only to aggressive antisocial behaviors such as assault and rape, but also to white-collar and
business crimes.

Hans Eysenck’s associate two personality traits, extroversion and introversion, with antisocial
behavior:
▶ Extroverts are energetic, enthusiastic, action-oriented, chatty, glib, and self-confident.
▶ Introverts tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and detached from others.

People who fall at the far ends of either trait, either extremely extroverted or extremely
introverted, are at risk for antisocial behaviors. For example, extroverts who are also unstable, a
condition that Eysenck calls “Neuroticism”, are anxious, tense, and emotionally unstable. They
may act self-destructively—for example, by abusing drugs and repeating their criminal activity
over and over. Some violent offenders may have a disturbed character structure commonly and
interchangeably referred to as psychopathy, sociopath, or antisocial personality. Psychopaths
exhibit a low level of guilt and anxiety and persistently violate the rights of others.

Research studies show that people evaluated as psychopaths are significantly more prone to
criminal and violent behavior when compared to no psychopathic control groups. Criminologists
estimate that 10% or more of all prison inmates display psychopathic tendencies.

The Cause of Psychopathy

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

(1) 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.

2. Neurological Disorder

Psychopaths may suffer from lower than normal levels of arousal. 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, etc. 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.

3. Brain Abnormality
Some research has linked psychopathy to a dysfunction of the limbic inhibitory system
manifested through damage to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.
Adrian Raine finds that abnormalities in the corpus callosum may be at the heart of the problem:
Psychopaths showed an increase in callosal white matter volume, an increase in callosal length, a
reduction in callosal thickness.

Inside the Criminal mind

Ted Bundy

(November 24, 1946 to January 24, 1989)

American serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy was one of the most notorious criminals of the late
20th century. Ted Bundy was a 1970s serial murderer, rapist and necrophiliac. Ted Bundy
admitted to 36 killings of young women across several states in the 1970s, but experts believe
that the final tally may be closer to 100 or more. The exact number of women Bundy killed will
never been known. On January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was put to death around 7 a.m. at the
Florida State Prison in an electric chair. Outside the prison, crowds cheered and even set off
fireworks after Bundy's execution.

Family and Childhood

Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont on November, starting life as his mother's secret
shame. Eleanor Cowell was 22 years old and unmarried when she had her son Ted, which
humiliated her deeply religious parents. She delivered the child at a home for unwed mothers in
Vermont and later brought her son to her parents in Philadelphia. To hide the fact he was an
illegitimate child, Bundy was raised as the adopted son of his grandparents and was told that his
mother was his sister.

Interests and Education

Bundy showed an unusual interest in the macabre at an early age. Around the age of three, he
became fascinated by knives. Bundy was a shy but bright child who did well in school, but not
with his peers. As a teenager, a darker side of his character started to emerge. Bundy liked to
peer in other people's windows.

While a student at the University of Washington, Bundy fell in love with a wealthy, pretty young
woman from California. He was devastated by their breakup. Many of his later victims
resembled his college girlfriend—attractive students with long, dark hair. His killings also
usually followed a gruesome pattern. He often raped his victims before beating them to death.

Career

He graduated from University of Washington with a degree in psychology in 1972 and had been
accepted to law school in Utah. By the mid 1970s, Bundy had transformed himself, becoming
more outwardly confident and active in social and political matters. Bundy even got a letter of
recommendation from the Republican governor of Washington after working on his campaign.

Psychological Profile

Bundy was a sexual psychopath suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or
violent social behavior. A sexual psychopath is a condition of a psychopathic personality that
manifests itself through sexually sadistic behavior – i.e. hurting victims sexually.

Bundy was a highly intelligent man who was also very insecure – partly because of a feeling of
inferiority because of his lack of wealth while being surrounded by wealthy classmates. He was
acutely shy and a psychological evaluation done later showed that he had a strong dependency
on women; that he had a fear of being humiliated in his relationships with women.

Noida Serial Murders

The Noida serial murders (also Nithari serial murders) occurred in the house of businessman
Moninder Singh in Nithari, India in 2005 and 2006. His servant Surinder Koli was convicted of
the five murders and was sentenced to death. Eleven murders remain officially unsolved pending
further legal proceedings. Surinder Koli's death sentence was changed to a life sentence by the
Supreme Court on 7 September 2014.
The motive behind the killings appears to be sexual urge of Moninder Singh and necrophiliac
tendency of his servant Surinder Koli. The children were apparently lured into the house by Koli;
he offered them sweets or promised jobs. Once the child went inside they would overpower the
child. Pandher then abused them after which Koli would kill them and have sex with their
corpses. Pandher Personality: He had a disturbed childhood. He himself mostly lived in the
house he owned in Noida and was an alcohol addict. Surender’s Personality: Surender Koli is a
cannibal, who killed young children and their body organs to treat himself, as he is stated to be
impotent.

References

1. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior (Ninth Edition) By

Frank E. Hagan.

2. The English Convict, Charles Goring.

3. Criminal Psychology: A Beginner's Guide, Ray Bull.

4. Inside the criminal mind, Stanton Samenow.

5. The Cases That Haunt Us, John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker.