Deck 7: Psychosocial Theories: Individual Traits and Criminal Behavior

Question 1

Psychologists refer to the different components of one's personality as ____? .

A) Consciousness
B) Their performance quotient
C) Their verbal quotient
D) Traits

Answer 1

D

Question 2

_____ refers to people's varying tendencies to act on matters without giving much thought to the consequences.

A) Negative emotionality
B) Conscientiousness
C) Sensation seeking
D) Impulsiveness

Answer 2

D

Question 3

_____ can be thought of as the action component of empathy; if you feel empathy for someone,you will probably feel motivated to take some sort of action to alleviate that person's distress.

A) Conscientiousness
B) Altruism
C) Empathy
D) Moral reasoning

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following theorists suggested a link between inherited "feeblemindedness" and criminality,only to later withdraw this proposition?

A) Charles Goring
B) Ernest Hooton
C) Henry Goddard
D) Robert Dugsdale

Question 5

According to David Wechsler,the ability to deal effectively with one's environment was one component of _____.

A) Hedonism
B) Intelligence
C) Rationality
D) Temperament

Question 6

In a phenomenon referred to as the "intellectual imbalance," it has been found that offenders tend to score lower than the overall population on the _____ intelligence sub-scale,but not on the _____ intelligence sub-scale.

A) Performance; Verbal
B) Verbal; Performance
C) None of the above; this term is used to refer to the disparity between offenders and non-offenders on the full-scale IQ test.
D) None of the above; no IQ difference has been found between offenders and non-offenders.

Question 7

____? refers to an individual's set of relatively enduring and functionally integrated psychological characteristics.

A) Altruism
B) Intelligence
C) Personality
D) Temperament

Question 8

_____ is a personality trait that refers to the tendency to experience many situations as aversive,and react to them with irritation and anger.

A) Negative emotionality
B) Conscientiousness
C) Sensation seeking
D) Impulsiveness

Question 9

_____ is the emotional and cognitive ability to understand the feelings and distress of others as if they were your own.

A) Conscientiousness
B) Altruism
C) Empathy
D) Moral reasoning

Question 10

Which of the following is associated with increased risk of criminality?

A) A high level of empathy.
B) A high rate of serotonin.
C) A relatively unresponsive ANS.
D) A low level of performance intellect.

Question 11

"The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully [and] think rationally" is part of the person's ____? .

A) Altruism
B) Intelligence
C) Personality
D) Temperament

Question 12

_____ is a primary trait composed of several secondary traits such as well organized,disciplined,scrupulous,responsible,and reliable at one pole,and disorganized,careless,unreliable,irresponsible,and unscrupulous at the other.

A) Negative emotionality
B) Conscientiousness
C) Sensation seeking
D) Impulsiveness

Question 13

The theorist identified with "lifestyle theory" is:

A) David Wechsler
B) Glen Walters
C) Henry Goddard
D) Michael Gottfredson

Question 14

The individual who helped to define the concept of "intelligence," and who had created many of the IQ tests in use today,was:

A) David Wechsler
B) Glen Walters
C) Henry Goddard
D) Michael Gottfredson

Question 15

The ___effect refers to the phenomenon of genetics and environment tending to be matched,so that a person's genetic advantage or disadvantage intellectually will tend to be magnified over time due to environmental influences.

A) Classical
B) Multiplier
C) Reticulant
D) Wechsler

Question 16

____? refers to an individual characteristic that constitutes a person's habitual mode of emotionally responding to stimuli.

A) Altruism
B) Intelligence
C) Personality
D) Temperament

Question 17

_____ refers to the active desire for novel,varied,and extreme consciousness and experiences often to the point of taking physical and social risks to obtain them.

A) Negative emotionality
B) Conscientiousness
C) Sensation seeking
D) Impulsiveness

Question 18

The National Academy of Sciences and the American Psychological Association's Task Force have concluded that _____ are not biased against any group.

A) Mental tests
B) IQ tests
C) Learning tests
D) Age tests

Question 19

The _____ carries out the basic housekeeping functions of the body by funneling messages from the environment to the various internal organs so that they may keep the organism in a state of biological balance.

A) ANS
B) EEG
C) PCL-R
D) RAS

Question 20

The social push hypothesis refers to which of the following?

A) Antisocial behavior in the absence of psychosocial risk factors is most likely biologically based.
B) Those unable to tie social emotions with cognition are likely to be egocentric and deceitful.
C) Criminal behavior is part of a general pattern of life characterized by irresponsibility.
D) The relationship between IQ and crime works via poor school performance.

Question 21

Impulsiveness is a trait that has commonly been linked to criminal behavior.

Question 22

Early psychosocial theories of crime strongly emphasized the roles of intelligence and temperament.

Question 23

Individuals with a readily aroused ANS are difficult to socialize.

Question 24

_____ theory argues that criminal behavior is a general pattern of life characterized by irresponsibility.

A) Differential association
B) Lifestyle
C) Net-advantage
D) Rational choice

Question 25

Antisocial personality disorder is a disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.

Question 26

Criminals typically differ from non-criminals on performance IQ.

Question 27

The messages that channel through our autonomic nervous system never reach our conscious awareness.

Question 28

Altruism refers to the ability to understand the feelings and distress of others as if they were your own.

Question 29

People who are chronically under aroused have the lowest level of risk for criminal activity.

Question 30

It is possible that under the same environmental conditions,some people can be under aroused,while others will be over aroused.

Question 31

In Henry Goddard's famous book Feeblemindedness,he disputes the connection between heredity and crime.

Question 32

Mood (happy/sad),sociability (introverted/extraverted),and reactivity (calm/excitable)are components indicative of a person's:

A) Intelligence quotient
B) Intellectual imbalance
C) Negative emotionality
D) Temperament

Question 33

Many studies have indicated that the lower the level of empathy/altruism,the higher the likelihood of antisocial behavior.

Question 34

Low IQ can impact many areas of life which in turn can increase the probability of offending.

Question 35

The regulator of neurological arousal is the _____.

A) ANS
B) EEG
C) PCL-R
D) RAS

Question 36

Individuals with a readily aroused _____ are easily socialized.

A) ANS
B) EEG
C) PCL-R
D) RAS

Question 37

Present-day psychological theories of crime wholly reject the belief that sociological factors have any influence on human behavior.

Question 38

Which of the following theories was the source of the concept of thinking errors?

A) Antisocial Personality Theory
B) Feeblemind Theory
C) Lifestyle Theory
D) Psychopathy Theory

Question 39

The most widely used measure of psychopathy is the _____.

A) APA
B) DSM-IV
D) LSI-R
D) PCL-R

Question 40

Reducers are easily bored with levels of stimulation that are "just right" for most of us.

Question 41

Compare and contrast the concepts of "psychopathy" and "sociopathy." In our efforts to reduce/respond to crime,should our responses to these two types of antisocial personalities differ? Support your answer.

Question 42

What is the "intellectual imbalance"?

Question 43

Briefly identify the policy implication(s)of a psychosocial approach to crime.

Question 44

What is the relationship between the ANS and socialization?

Question 45

Briefly describe antisocial personality disorder (APD).

Question 46

The PCL-R is the most widely used measure of lifestyle influences on criminality.

Question 47

Criminologists agree that psychopathy is a learned behavior.

Question 48

What are the three key concepts of lifestyle theory?

Question 49

Briefly describe the contributions of "lifestyle theory."

Question 50

Describe the relationship between crime and IQ.What does the research show regarding this relationship? Why is this topic controversial?

Question 51

Identify two personality traits that have been found to have a strong relationship to criminality.

Question 52

Describe in detail the relationship that has been found between personality and crime.What are the policy implications of this perspective?

Question 53

Describe the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and crime.What are the policy implications?

Question 54

Define "empathy."