Human Behavior:01/09/2013Introduction – 2What are some typical explanations to criminal behavior?- Class based, dissociation of society, string theory, biological, social disorganization, peers, neighborhoods, parents, poverty and culture.Dominant criminological theories- Social disorganization theory- Social bonding theory- Social learning theoryWhat do they all have in common? The social component.They employ social factors as explanation for human behaviors, but why is this the case? Sociology influenced criminology a lot although earlier criminologist used to focus on biological factors. There is also the idea that behavior and people and the situation they find themselves are malleable and can be shaped by society. The idea is that how a person will turn out can be influenced by social factors. There was also an idea that the individual is not at fault and that society and to a certain degree the parents as well are at fault. Finally, the last factor is biology/genetics is considered “dangerous”.Phrenology is what became a reference for biology. What we see is that the current study of crime and criminals is guided by ideology and disciplinary allegiances. It’s driving how you see the world and the types of topic you will research and how you research. Criminology mainly is considered a social aspect andnot a biological one because of the ideology of criminology. At its essence, criminology is suppose to be an interdisciplinary subject but in practice (the things we are exposed to) this is not necessarily true.Social explanations to crime continue to dominate the discipline of criminology.The social bonding theory – Hirschi’s theory in 1969- is a favorite theory. Why? It’s not supported by research, a lot of people show that there is no relationship between social bonding and criminal outcomes. Low self control theory- A favorite whipping post for bio-social criminologist. It has not held up very well.Sociological theories are not necessarily wrong, but rather incomplete. A good example isdiabetes: Type 2 diabetes - when we think about those we also think about social factors, the diet you take in (external factor), exercise, and lifestyle, all social factors that influence a biological thing. But what’s missing when we talk about diabetes? A genetic susceptibility to the disease.In order to understand the causes in a significant way, we need to look away from monolithic explanation and examines a multitude of factors:- Biology- Genetics- EnvironmentThe Equation of Understanding:Genes/ Biology+ = PhenotypeEnvironmentPhenotype is the trait, the outcomes (i.e. height, weight, behavior, number of fingers). How could you have a complete understanding of the phenotype without all the outcomes?You might think biogenic factors do not relate to criminality or human behavior in general, however:- ADHD/Depression: Most effective treatment with drugs (biochemistry)- Brain injuries: Can change behavior/personality drastically -Phineas GageWord of caution: there is no such thing as a crime gene. Very rarely is there one gene thatdetermines an outcome and if there is, they are usually bad mutations.Probabilistic approach:There is not such thing as a determinate factor, just risk factors. It is very rare to have a 1 to 1 relationship between variables.1/11/2013The human behavior can fall under a very wide range, a range we usually categorize as good, bad, or ugly.We see a lot of variance in terms of individual behavior. It is the case that certain individuals will lean towards one end of the spectrum.Crime is only a label that is spatially and temporally relevant. There is nothing inherently wrong with the human behavior that we label as crime. The same behavior will get different labels in different places in different times in history.Take sexuality: it was not too long ago that being gay was a crime and it is not anymore, which shows that crime is not an absolute thing.How can crime be related to something such as biology and genetics if it varies from timeand place?Aggression:- Consistently criminalized across the board of criminal code- A tendency to exploit or bring harm to others (often) in a way that counters common social rules -football players who uses aggression in football games are exceptionTwo types:- Direct Aggression: -Overt and typically physical-Example: punching, hitting, and inflicting pain- Indirect: -Covert and typically verbal.Aggression does not equal crime. Aggressive tendencies can increase the likelihood of engaging in antisocial behavior The Nature of Behavior (N.o.B.) over the life course- Stability of aggression/behavior -Is aggression stable, or does it change over the life course? It can be, but what does stability mean?- Stability is a general pattern of behavior that persists over time- If aggression is stable, we would have to see a strong link over time of aggression.Stability of aggression- Strong linkage among childhood behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, and adult criminal behavior.- HOWEVER, consistency over time is not the entire story. If consistency in aggression was just a matter in being the same in an individual, we would see a different crime curve graph.- We need to understand that things change and stability does not mean consistencyover time. That requires recognizing that there are two types of stability.- Absolute Stability: No difference over time.- Relative stability: The rank ordering of individuals on some trait behavior. You need a reference point to assess relative stability. (Commits a crime at 18, spikes at 25, decreases at 50 for 3 different people).- Each individual changes over time, which makes them not consistent over time, but they are stable. Relative to others is how you determine relative stability.- Despite a change in an individuals behavior, their tendencies as they relate to low self control and aggression still keeps them in a position where they are more likely than the rest to commit in a criminal offense. Those tendencies (individual difference) illustrate that people have relative stability in their traits.- Behavior is stable because of the idea of relative stability because the probability of certain outcome is stable due to the certaincy of traits people have over time.- Meta-analyses (a studies of studies) illustrates that behavior has a high degree of stability.- Creatures of habit is
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