PSYC 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Term Paper, Victimology, Motor Vehicle Theft

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 102
• Professor: Barry Cartwright

Document Summary

According to gottfredson and hirschi (1990), low self-control is the cause of all crime, all the time. They argue further that low-self control is caused by ineffective childrearing, typically carried out by parents or caregivers who themselves lack self-control. Low self-control, once instilled at an early age, tends to be stable over the life course (gottfredson & hirschi, Researching crime: direct observation in natural settings (ethnographic research, experimental observations, police reports, victimization surveys, self-report surveys. Direct observation: not necessarily the most efficient way to study crime, criminal events occur with relative infrequency, criminals spend a lot of their time doing the same things as non- criminals. Experimental observations: issues of informed consent (if you tell the subjects what you"re going to do, they may refuse, or alter their behavior, if you encourage subjects to break the law, you may be breaking the law yourself.