CRIM 1/INTRODCUTION TO CRIMINOLOGY

MODULE 5: Criminal Psychology Page 1 of 5

LESSON PROPER

Criminal Psychology – criminal psychology is a study that deals on known

criminal behavior. It is a must for police officers as knowledge to assess the difference
in abnormal behavior can enable them to make important judgment regarding the
seriousness of criminal behavior. To do this it is vital that police officers should
adequately know the answers to the following questions – how strong a response the
Policemen must take should they meet and take sufferer into custody for them and the
community’s protection?

Classification of Behavior
Normal Behavior
They are known as adaptive or adjusted behaviors; they are standard behaviors -
the totality accepted behavior because they follow the standard norms of society.
Atkinson (1993) presented that norms understanding criminal behavior includes the idea
of knowing what characterized a normal person from an abnormal one. A normal person
is characterized by having an efficient perception of reality, self-knowledge, and ability
to exercise voluntary control over his behavior, self-esteem and acceptance,
productivity, and the ability to form affectionate relationship with others.
Abnormal Behavior
A group of behaviors that are also known as maladaptive or maladjusted - they are
deviant from social expectations because they go against the norms or standard
behavior of society. A maladaptive abnormal) person may be understood by the
following definitions:
a. According to the deviation of statistical norms based on statistical
frequency – Many characteristics such as weight, height, when, measured over a
population. For and intelligence covers a range of values instance, a person who is
extremely intelligent or extremely happy wouldbe classified as abnormal.
b. According to deviation from social norms - A behavior that derives from
the accepted norms of society is considered abnormal. However, it is primarily
dependent on the existing norm of such society.
c. Behavior as maladaptive Maladaptive - behavior is the effect of a well-being
of the individual and or the social group. That some kind of deviant behavior interferes
with the welfare of the individual such as a man who fears crowd, cannot ride a bus, etc.
This means that a person cannot adapt himself to the situation wherein it is beneficial to
him.
d. Abnormal behavior due to personal distress - this is abnormally in terms of
the individual subjective feelings of distress rather than the individual behavior. This
includes mental illness, feeling of miserably, depression, and loss of appetite or interest,
suffering from insomnia and numerous
aches and pains.

Kinds of Behavior
a) Simple or Complex – classified based on number of neurons involved. If there
is less neurons in certain act, it is simple. If there is more than it is complex
behavior.
b) Overt or Covert – overt behavior is observable while covert is not visible to the
naked eye or hidden
c) Conscious of Unconscious – considered conscious when a person is aware of
his actions and if not then it is considered unconscious.
d) Rational or Irrational – rational when it is don with sanity while irrational is done
without knowing the nature and consequences of the actions
e) Voluntary of Involuntary – voluntary is an act done willingly while the
involuntary is the body activities and processes which we cannot stop.
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Aspects of Behavior
a. Attitude/Value – pertains to our likes and dislikes or our interest toward
something
b. Emotional – concerns with our feelings, moods, temper
c. Intellectual – mental processes such as decision making, reasoning and solving
problems
d. Moral – pertains to conscience whether the action done is good or bad.
e. Psychosexual – concerns to our state of being whether man or woman

Frustration, Conflict and Anxiety

Frustration refers to the unpleasant feelings that result from the blocking of
motive satisfaction. It is a form of stress, which results in tension. It is a feeling that is
experienced when something interferes withour hopes, wishes, plans and expectations.
Some common sources of frustration are:
a. Physical obstacles - are physical barriers or a circumstance that
prevents a person from doing his plan or fulfilling his wishes.
b. Social Circumstances - are restrictions or circumstances imposed by
other people and thee customs and laws of social living.
c. Personal Shortcoming - such as being handicapped by diseases,
deafness, paralysis, etc. which serves as a barrier to the things one ought
to do.
d. Conflicts between motives

CONFLICT refers to the simultaneous arousal to of two or more incompatible

motives resulting to unpleasant emotions. It is a source of frustration because it is a
threat to normal behavior.
Types of Conflicts
1. Double Approach Conflict- a person is motivated to engage in two desirable
activities that cannot be pursued simultaneously,
2. Double Avoidance Conflict - a person faces two undesirable situations in which
the avoidance of one is the exposure to the other resulting to an intense emotion.
3. Approach-Avoidance Conflict - a person faces situation having both a
desirable and undesirable feature. It is sometimes called dilemma", because
some negative and some positive features must be accepted regardless which
course of action is chosen.
4. Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflict – a situation in which a choice must be
made between two or more alternatives each has both positive and negative
features. It is the each has most difficult to resolve because the features of each
portion are often difficult to compare.
Anxiety is an intangible feeling that seems to evade any effort to resolve it. It is
also called neurotic fear, It could be intense, it could be low and can be a motivating
force.
Stress is the process of adjusting to or dealing with circumstances that disrupts,
or threatens to disrupt a person's physical or psychological functioning.

CAUSES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

The commission of a crime may be the result of complicated factors and causes.
The following are some of the perspectives about the causes of criminal behavior.
1. Anxiety (Psychological Perspective) – stressful situations that when become
extreme may result in maladaptive behavior.
2. Faulty Learning (Behavior Perspective) – the failure to learn the necessary
adaptive behavior due to wrongful development. This usually result of delinquent
behavior based on the failure to learn the necessary social values and norms.
3. Blocked of Distorted Personal Growth (Humanistic Perspective - presumably,
human nature tends towards cooperation and constructive activities, however, if
we show aggression, cruelty or other violent behavior, the result will be an
unfavorable environment.
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4. Unsatisfactory Interpersonal relationship- self-concept in early childhood by over

critical parents or by rigid socialization measures usually causes deviant
behaviors among individuals because they are not contented and even unhappy
among individuals because they are not contented and even unhappy with the
kind of social dealings they are facing.
5. Pathological social conditions poverty - social discrimination and destructive
violence always results to deviant behavior.
DIAGNOSTIC CATEGORIES OF MENTALLY-DISTURBED PERSONS
 Anti-Social Personality is a mentally disturbed person who is opposed to the
principles upon which society is based.
 Characteristics of an Anti-Social Personality a person with an anti-social
personality is also known as a sociopath or psychopath.
 Sociopath is a person who lacks any sense of social or moral responsibility due
to mental illness.
 Psychopath is a person having personality disorders characterized by anti-social
behavior, indifference to immorality and abnormal changes in mood or activity.

Types of phobias
These refer to the persistent fear on some objects or situation that present no
actual danger to the person.

Examples of Phobia

Criminal Formula
According to Abrahamsen in his book entitled, “Crime and Human Mind” in 1945,
he explained the causes of crime by this formula:

C=T+S
R
Where:
C – Crime/ Criminal Behavior (Act)
T – Tendency (Desire/Intent)
S – Situation (Opportunity)
R – Resistance to Temptation (Control)

Sexual Behavior Leading to Sex Crimes

Choice of Partner
 Auto Sexual – masturbation / self-gratification
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 Bestiality – sex intercourse with animals
 Gerontophilia –erotic desire with elder person
 Incest – sexual relationship between people with blood relationship
 Pedophilia – sexual desire with a child
 Necrophilia – sexual perversion with a corpse or dead body

Mode of Expression
1. Algolagnia (Sado-Masochism) – sexual gratification is attained through pain or
cruelty. Two classifications:

 Sadism – sexual pleasure is achieved through infliction of pain on the partner

 Masochism – sexual pleasure is obtained thru the infliction of pain to oneself
 Oralism - the satisfaction is attained by the use of mouth or tongue.
 Anillingus – licking of the anus of the sexual partner
 Cunnillingus – this is attained by licking the female genitalia
 Fellatio – licking and sucking the male sex organ
Number of Participants
 Triolism – three participants in one sexual activity
 Pluralism – also called “sexual festival” where there are several participants
Part of the Body
 Frottage – rubbing or sex organ to the body parts of the partner to achieve
gratification
 Partialism – sexual libido on any part of the body of a sexual partner
 Uranism – sexual happiness is attained thru the licking of partner’sbody(holding
the breast/fingering of genital)
 Sodomy – insertion or penetration of the penis or object to the anus of the
partner
Sexual Reversal
 Fetishism – sexual enjoyment is achieved by looking at some body parts,
underwear or any objects associated with the partner
 Homosexuality – sexual behavior is towards the same sex
 Transvetism – sexual satisfaction is achieved by wearing the apparel or
underwear of the opposite sex
Sexual Urge
 Nymphomania – sexual desire of a woman to have sex
 Satyriasis – sexual urge of a woman to have sex
Visual Stimulus
 Scoptophilia – sexual behavior characterized by watching undress or nude
people especially during sexual activity
 Voyeurism – sexual gratification is obtained thru watching person doing
something which might undress herself in a private area. The maniac is called
Peeping Tom who usually masturbates while doing his sexual behavior.
Other Sexual Abnormalities
 Coprolalia – sexual happiness is attained by using obscene language while
having sexual intercourse.
 Don Juanism – act of seducing women without permanency of sexual partner
 Exhibitionism – indecent exposure of sex organ ot other people
important Terms
 Criminogenic Process – Explain human behavior and the experiences, which
help determine the nature of a person’s personality as a reacting mechanism;
that factors of experiences in connection thereto infringe differentially upon
different personalities, producing conflict, which is the aspect of crime.
 Criminal Psychodynamic – the study of mental processes of criminals in action;
the study genesis, development, and motivation of human behavior that conflicts
with accepted norms and standard of society; this study concentrates on
individuals as opposed to general studies of mass populations with respect to
their criminal behavior.
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 Cultural Conflicts – A clash between societies because of contrary beliefs or
substantial variance in their respective customs, language, institutions, habits,
learning, tradition, etc.
 Dementia Praecox – A collective term of mental disorders that begin at, or
shortly after puberty and usually lead to general failure of the mental faculties,
with the corresponding physiological impairment.
 Delusion – In medical jurisprudence, a false belief about self, caused by
morbidity, present in paranoia and dementia praecox.
 Episodic Criminal – A non-criminal person who commits a crime when under
extreme emotional stress; a person who breaks down and commits a crime as a
single incident during the regular course of natural and normal events.
 Erotomania – A morbid propensity to love or make love; uncontrollable sexual
desire, or excessive sexual craving by members of either sex.
 Inheritance – The transmission of physical characteristics, mental traits,
tendency to disease, etc., from parents to offspring. In genetics, the tendency
manifested by an organism to develop in the likeness of a progenitor due to the
transmission of genes in the productive process.
 Hereditary – Have been believed to share about equally in determining
disposition that is, whether cheerful or gloomy, his temperament, and his nervous
stability.
 Hallucination – is the act of seeing of hearing something which does not actually
exist
 Kleptomaniac – an uncontrollable morbid propensity to steal or pathological
stealing. The symptoms of this disease usually consist of peculiar motives for
stealing and hoarding.
 Masochism – A condition of sexual perversion in which a person derives
pleasure from being dominated or cruelly treated.
 Melancholia – A mental disorder characterized by excessive brooding and
depression of spirits; typical of manic depressive psychosis.
 Megalomania – A mental disorder in which the subject thinks himself great or
exalted.
 Necrophilism – Morbid craving, usually of an erotic nature for dead bodies. It is
also a form of perversion where sexual gratifications are achieved either through
sexual intercourse with, or mutilation of the dead body.
 Anthropology – It is the science devoted to the study of mankind and its
development in relation to its physical, mental and cultural history.
 Auto Phobia – It is a morbid fear of one’s self, or of being alone.
 Biometry – In criminology, a measuring or calculating of the probable duration of
human life; the attempt to correlate the frequency of crime between parents and
children or brothers and sisters
siblings).
 Biosocial Behavior – A person’s biological heritage, plus his environment and
social heritage, Influence his social activity. It is through the reciprocal actions of
his biological and social heritages that a person’s personality is developed.
 Logomacy – A statement that we would have no crime if we had no criminal law,
and that we could eliminate all crime merely by abolishing all criminal laws.
 Cretinism – A disease associated with prenatal thyroid deficiency and
subsequent thyroid inactivity, marked by physical deformities, arrested
development, goiter, and various forms of mental retardation, including imbecility.
 Crime Statistics – A reported instance of a crime recorded in a systematic
classification.
 Euthanasia – It signifies the release from life given sufferer from an incurable
and painful disease.
 Alienist – This is a term applied to a specialist in the study of mental disorders
sometimes interchangeably used with psychiatrist.