PSYC39H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Differential Psychology, Social Learning Theory, Confidence Interval
Document Summary
Intra-individual differences: variations in criminal conduct w/in an individual across time and situations. Inter-individual differences: variations in criminal conduct between individuals (greatest interest in sociologists psychology: individual, sociology: groups) Preferred term for study of criminal behaviour is correctional psychology (canada & us), other terms: Forensic psychology: any application of psychology to legal system. Practice of clinical psychology w/in legal system (more reflects issues of risk assessment and expert testimony, psychologists activities in court, guiding legal decision making sociological explanations provide insight into groups of individuals. Younger males more likely involved in criminal behaviour. Offenders comprise particularly heterogeneous group crime desistance: phenomenon of decreased criminal activity about 70% of offenders follow some approximation of age-crime curve (small % maintain it well into adulthood) Prominent psychological depiction of interplay among factors influencing criminality personal, interpersonal and community-reinforcement model: criminal behaviour reflects immediate situation in that factors combine to influence a decision to engage in criminal behaviour.
