Psychological Explanations of Crime

Personality Theories and Disorders

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Sigmund Freud

Human Nature:

Role of basic instincts in the development of personality

Eros

Thanatos

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Structure of Personality

1. The id • Pleasure Principle

2. The ego • Reality Principle

3. The superego• Conscience• Ego Ideal

Id

Superego

Ego Conscious mind

Unconscious mind

Id

Superego

Ego Conscious mind

Unconscious mind

Psychoanalytic Perspective

EGOThe ID SUPEREGO

Id and superego both press the ego to satisfy their demands.

These conflicting demands produce anxiety.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Humans are naturally “id” driven and antisocial, “criminal”.

Natural tendency toward crime is controlled by society as represented in the “superego”.

Overdeveloped “superego” may contribute to criminal activity (i.e., may commit crimes because of unconscious desire to be punished).

Repressed instincts can “break through” resulting in crime.

Crime is a product of an “imbalanced conflict” between

id-ego-superego.

The BIG FIVE Personality Features

• Defining Personality types

• OCEAN • Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness,

Neuroticism and Openness to Experience

• Lots of scientific support for this model and similar models (see McCrae)

5 Factor Model of Personality

• Neuroticism (worrying, insecure, self-conscious, temperamental) - negative affect, negative emotionality

• Extraversion (sociable, fun-loving, affectionate, friendly, talkative) – lively sociability

• Openness to experience (original, imaginative, broad interests, daring) – intelligence?

5 Factor Model of Personality

• Agreeableness vs antagonism (set themselves up against others, manipulative, aggressive, perfectionism, arrogant, vindictive, narcissistic)

• Conscientiousness (hardworking, ambitious, energetic, persevering) - governed by conscience or careful

Risky Sport Participation

• Research suggests that participants who are higher in N become more aroused when faced with an emotion-inducing stimulus and prefer lower levels of arousal

• Risky sports participants:• Lower N levels• Higher openness to experience levels• Less Consciousness (less thinking before they act)• Higher Extraversion• Tok, (2011) The Big Five Personality Traits and Risky Sport Participation, Social Behavior and

Personality 29 (8) 1105-1112

Criminal Personality

The Criminal Personality (Yochelson & Samenow, 1976, 1977).

Criminality is a attribute of a person’s personality.

Study of 255 Offenders: 52 “errors of criminal thinking” that form the criminal personality

Criticisms:

No Control Group (are they really different from normal people?)

Questionable validity of method to identify personality traits

Yochelson and Samenow (1976)

Criminal thinking patternsRecognition of the possibility for change “our work has shown

that it is possible to reach the criminal and change him” (1976:484).

52 thinking styles “ It is the direction of this pattern toward specific ends and in combination with other thought patterns that constitutes the very essence of the criminal mind (1976:252).

The violator does not consider his belief system flawed and in dire need of revision.

Something distinctive about their thinking patterns which causes them to suspend the social controls most people have to limit their behaviour.

These ideas continued with Albert Ellis and Rational Thinking Approaches

Styles and errors of thinking

Concrete thinking: Closed thinking not receptive to feedback from others, not self critical;

Failure to empathize with othersLack of perspective of time – does not learn from the past, inability to delay

gratification; Does not consider consequences – positive filtersFocusing on the negative – negative filtersLack of interest in responsible performance – responds only if there is an

immediate payoff; Victim stance views self as a victim and blames others; Views self as a good person fails to acknowledge own destructive behavior,

builds self up at others' expense; Lack of effort unwilling to do anything perceived as boring, has an "I can't"

attitude; The fear of fear denies fear in self and attacks fear in others; The power thrust: uses intimidation to control others; Uniqueness: different from and better than others, rules do not apply to them;

and Ownership: perceiving all things and people as objects to possess.

Thinking errors

This concept continues today as a main part of how treatment functions for offenders

Thinking errors, stinking thinking, drunk thinking….

Personality Disorders (PD)

What is a personality disorder?

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from normal expectations.

General characteristicsPervasive and inflexible.

Onset in adolescence or early adulthood.

Stable over time.

Leads to distress or impairment.

Personality Disorder (PD)

Behavior impacts • Cognition• Affectivity (emotional response)• Interpersonal functioning• Impulse control

• It is inflexible!• Stable over time• Leads to distress OR impairment

Personality Disorders (PD)

Cluster A

Odd/Eccentric

Paranoid Personality

Disorder

Cluster B

Dramatic/Emotional

Antisocial Personality

Disorder

Cluster C

Anxious/Fearful

Obsessive-compulsive

Disorder

What personality disorders mean to you…

What happens when you interact with someone who has a personality disorder?Difference between someone that is great at their job and just good… ability to detect personality disordersYour strategy NEEDS to changeYou must interact differently or you lose themYou must interact differently or YOU get REALLY annoyedYou want to change the way you approach them, (e.g. expectations for change)

18

Cluster A: Odd/Eccentric

Type Characteristics

Paranoid Suspicious and mistrust

Schizoid Hermitlike lifestyle, aloneness

Schizotypal Similar to but less severe than those features of schizophrenia

Personality Disorders (PD)

Cluster A Personality Disorder

Paranoid Personality DisorderPattern of distrust & suspiciousness

View self as blameless

Hypervigilant to perceived attacks by others

“King of the Hill” neighbour

Not clearly psychotic

Paranoid Personality Disorder

• 1. Suspects that others are harming them• 2. Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about other

people’s loyalty to them• 3. Is reluctant to confide in others in case the

information is used against them• 4. Reads hidden meanings into benign remarks or

events• 5. Persistently bears grudges• 6. Perceives attacks to their character that are not

apparent to others, quick to react angrily• 7. Has recurrent suspicions about fidelity of spouse

Schizoid Personality Disorder

• 1. Does not desire or enjoy close relationships• 2. Almost always chooses solitary activities• 3. Has little interest in sexual experiences with

others• 4. Takes pleasure in few activities• 5. Lacks close friends other than 1st degree relatives• 6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of

others• 7. Show emotional coldness, detachment or

flattened affect

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

• 1. Ideas of reference (not delusions)• 2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking• 3. Unusual perceptual experiences (bodily illusions)• 4. Odd thinking or speech• 5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation• 6. Inappropriate affect• 7. Behavior that is odd, eccentric or peculiar• 8. Lack of close friends outside of 1st degree relatives• 9. Excessive social anxiety that does not decrease with

familiarity = paranoid fears

23

Cluster B: Dramatic/Erratic

Type Characteristics

Antisocial Disregard of others without guilt

Borderline Problems with self-identity, interpersonal relationships, mood shifts, and self-destructiveness

Narcissistic Over-evaluation of self, arrogance and indifference to the criticism of others

Histrionic Dramatic behaviors, attention seeking, and superficiality

Cluster B Personality Disorder

Antisocial Personality Disorder A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of

others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

1. Failure to conform to social norms2. Deceitfulness3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead4. Irritability and aggressiveness5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.6. Consistent irresponsibility7. Lack of remorse.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Relationship with criminal behaviourA study of 451 randomly selected federal inmates of

federal inmates in Quebec.Inmates diagnosed with APD were more likely to:

1.Have a juvenile arrest record2.Be younger the first time they were sentenced.3.Have more total convictions.

Hodgins and Cote (1993)

Conduct Disorder

• Reminder: • Aggression to people and animals• Destruction of property• Deceitfulness or theft• Serious rule violations

• Beware the Borderline client …– Self harm– Love or hate– Emotional jumps– More common in women but you can see it in

men also

Borderline Personality Disorder

• 1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment

• 2. Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships (alternating idealization and devaluation)

• 3. Identify disturbance• 4. Impulsivity in areas that are self-damaging• 5. Recurrent suicidal behavior or self-mutilation• 6. Affective instability (mood changes)• 7. Chronic feelings of emptiness• 8. Inappropriate anger, intense anger• 9. Stress-related paranoid ideation

Histrionic Personality Disorder

• 1. Needs to be the center of attention• 2. Inappropriate sexually seductive behaviors• 3. Rapidly shifting and shallow expressions of

emotions• 4. Uses physical appearance to draw attention to self• 5. Impressionistic style of speech• 6. Self-dramatization, theatrical, exaggerated

expression of emotions• 7. Suggestible• 8. Considers relationships to be more intimate than

they actually are

Narcissistic Personality Disorder• 1. Grandiose self-importance• 2. Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power,

brilliance, beauty, ideal love• 3. Believes he is special and can only be understood or

associate with other special people• 4. Requires excessive admiration• 5. Sense of entitlement• 6. Interpersonally exploitative• 7. Lacks empathy• 8. Envious of others and believes that others are envious of

him• 9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

31

Cluster C: Anxious-Fearful

Type Characteristics

Dependent Submissiveness, helplessness, fear of responsibility, and reliance on others for decision making

Avoidant Timidity, social withdrawal behavior, and hypersensitivity to criticism

Obsessive-compulsive

Indecisiveness, perfectionism, inflexibility, and difficulty expressing feelings

Personality Disorders (PD)

Cluster C Personality DisorderDependent Personality Disorder

Pervasive and excessive need to be taken care.

Submissive and clinging behaviour.

Fears of separation.

Dependent Personality Disorder• 1. Difficulty making everyday decisions• 2. Needs others to assume responsibility for most major areas of

his life• 3. Has difficulty expressing disagreement for fear of loss of support• 4. Has difficulty initiating projects or doing things on their own• 5. Goes to excessive lengths to obtain nuturance or support from

others• 6. Feels uncomfortable when alone, exaggerated fears that they

cannot take care of themselves• 7. Urgently seeks another relationship when one ends• 8. Preoccupied with fears of being left to take care of himself

Avoidant Personality Disorder• 1. Avoids occupational activities that involve significant

interpersonal contact for fear of criticism or rejection• 2. Unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being

liked• 3. Shows restraint in intimate relationships for fear of being

shamed or ridiculed• 4. Preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social

situations• 5. Inhibited in new social situations due to feelings of inadequacy• 6. Views self as socially inept, unappealing or inferior• 7. Unusually reluctant to take personal risks

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

• 1. Preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, scheduling

• 2. Shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion• 3. Excessively devoted to work and productivity• 4. Overconscientious, scrupulous and inflexible• 5. Unable to discard worn out or worthless objects• 6. Reluctant to delegate tasks unless they submit exactly to

their way of doing things• 7. Adopts a miserly spending style (keep for future

catastrophes)• 8. Shows rigidity and stubbornness

• Can people with personality disorders change?• How can you see personality disorders

affecting your work?