Deck 9: Psychosocial Theories: Individual Traits and Criminal Behavior

Question 1

A person's ______ is a complex mix of emotional and cognitive mechanisms acquired by internalizing the moral rules of our social group.

A)level of arousal
B)conscience
C)superego
D)temperament

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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

A)consciousness
B)their performance quotient
C)their verbal quotient
D)traits

Answer 2

D

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

______ 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 5

_____ 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

Question 6

Upon hearing of the murder of a child in the news, Johnny feels the pain and distress of the parents as though it were his own.In this case, Johnny would best be described as high in ______.

A)altruism
B)conscientiousness
C)empathy
D)moral reasoning

Question 7

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)Michael Gottfredson
D)Sigmund Freud

Question 8

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 9

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 10

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 subscale, but not on the ______ intelligence subscale.

A)performance; verbal
B)verbal; performance
C)none of these; this term is used to refer to the disparity between offenders and nonoffenders on the full-scale IQ test.
D)none of these; no IQ difference has been found between offenders and nonoffenders.

Question 11

______ 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 12

Johnny is friendly, considerate, courteous, helpful, and cooperative with others.He might best be described as high in ______.

A)agreeableness
B)empathy
C)impulsiveness
D)sensation seeking

Question 13

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 14

The theorist identified with lifestyle theory is

A)David Wechsler
B)Glen Walters
C)Michael Gottfredson
D)Sigmund Freud

Question 15

Classical conditioning is best described as

A)an approach to training the mind that places a strong emphasis on free will
B)building a conscious association between a behavior and its consequences
C)building a subconscious association between two paired stimuli
D)an effort to boost a person's IQ through intensive treatment

Question 16

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 17

Johnny has such a strong drive for novel, varied, and extreme experiences that he is willing to take physical and social risks.He might best be described as high in which trait?

A)conscientiousness
B)impulsiveness
C)negative emotionality
D)sensation seeking

Question 18

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 19

______ 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 20

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 21

According to Freud, the ego

A)is the biological raw material of our temperament and personality
B)obeys the pleasure principle
C)lacks the ability to engage in hedonistic calculus
D)obeys the reality principle

Question 22

Individuals with a readily aroused ______ are easily socialized.

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

Question 23

Which branch of the ANS is most associated with the flight/fight reaction?

A)parasympathetic system
B)sympathetic system
C)reticular activating system
D)classical conditioning system

Question 24

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

Question 25

The belief that psychopathic individuals are biologically different from the norm, in the sense that their brains are structurally different best reflects which of the following theories?

A)low-arousal theory
B)neurobiological theory
C)social learning theory
D)developmental pathway theory

Question 26

______ is an individual's set of relatively enduring and functionally integrated psychological characteristics that result from his or her temperament interacting with cultural and developmental experiences.

A)intelligence
B)personality
C)traits
D)ANS

Question 27

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) carries out the basic housekeeping functions of the body by funneling subconscious messages from the environment to the various internal organs so that they may keep us in a state of biological balance.

Question 28

The concept of poor avoidance learning in psychopaths is best aligned with which of the following theories?

A)low-arousal theory
B)neurobiological theory
C)social learning theory
D)developmental pathway theory

Question 29

In Freud's conception of the human personality, a person's conscience, including all of the moral and social rules the person internalized during his or her socialization, is represented by the person's:

A)ego
B)id
C)superego
D)temperament

Question 30

______ parental environment is characterized by hostility, punishment, derogation, and blaming of the subject.

A)perceived control
B)perceived overprotection
C)perceived emotional warmth
D)perceived rejection

Question 31

Research on moral-reasoning deficits suggests that psychopaths' deficient moral-reasoning abilities may stem from the inability to experience

A)guilt
B)happiness
C)sadness
D)embarrassment

Question 32

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

Question 33

The regulator of cognitive arousal is the ______.

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

Question 34

______ have a tendency to follow an impulsive and risky lifestyle and to have a number of antisocial personality traits, be more promiscuous, and to have a below-average IQ.

A)married fathers
B)unmarried mothers
C)unmarried fathers
D)married mothers

Question 35

Individuals with a highly sensitive reticular activating system are known as

A)activators
B)reactors
C)augmenters
D)reducers

Question 36

______ is defined as behavior that inflicts physical or mental harm or property loss or damage on others.

A)criminal behavior
B)chronic behavior
C)antisocial behavior
D)prosocial behavior

Question 37

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

Question 38

The most widely used measure of psychopathy is the______.

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

Question 39

______ theory argues that criminal behavior is a general pattern of life characterized by irresponsibility, impulsivity, self-indulgence, and negative interpersonal relationships.

A)differential association
B)lifestyle
C)net-advantage
D)rational choice

Question 40

Which of the following is the tendency to act without giving much thought to the consequences?

A)impulsiveness
B)sensation seeking
C)negative emotionality
D)conscientiousness

Question 41

Augmenters tend to have a hypoactive ANS while reducers tend to have a hyperactive ANS.

Question 42

People who have lower levels of empathy and altruism are at a higher risk for antisocial behavior.

Question 43

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

Question 44

Individuals with a readily aroused ANS are difficult to socialize.

Question 45

Psychosocial theories are more interested in individual differences in the propensity to commit a crime than in environmental conditions that may push a person into committing it.

Question 46

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

Question 47

Preadolescents are temperamentally more at risk when they have high effortful control and low frustration.

Question 48

According to Freud, the id obeys the reality principle and is able to engage in hedonistic calculus.

Question 49

Criminals typically differ from noncriminals on performance IQ, but not verbal IQ.

Question 50

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

Question 51

According to Freudian theory, the id is the component of a person's personality that is responsible for balancing the demands of the ego and superego.

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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

Question 55

Prefrontal cortex dysfunction is the underlying neural structure responsible for the development of psychopathic tendencies.

Question 56

Operant conditioning is active and depends on the actor's behavior while classical conditioning is mostly passive and depends more on the level of ANS arousal.

Question 57

Not all psychopaths are violent and incarcerated criminals.

Question 58

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

Question 59

The most important evidence of genetic effects on IQ is the so-called Flynn effect.

Question 60

All three parenting characteristics (overprotection, rejection, and emotional warmth) were significantly related to antisocial behavior (either positively or negatively).

Question 61

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

Question 62

Explain Freud's theory of personality.What are the id, ego, and superego/? How do they relate to each other?

Question 63

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 64

Identify the three key concepts of lifestyle theory.

Question 65

Briefly describe the contributions of lifestyle theory.

Question 66

What are the three key concepts of Freud's theory of personality?

Question 67

Briefly define sensation seeking.

Question 68

What are the two subsets of psychopaths?

Question 69

Briefly describe antisocial personality disorder (APD).

Question 70

Discuss the connection between neurological arousal and crime.What is the reticular activating system (RAS)? What are augmenters and reducers?

Question 71

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

Question 72

Briefly define the id according to Freud.

Question 73

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

Question 74

Define and discuss the traits associated with criminal behavior.Which traits are positively associated with offending? Which traits are negatively associated with offending?

Question 75

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

Question 76

Define empathy.

Question 77

What is the relationship between the ANS and socialization?

Question 78

What is intellectual imbalance?

Question 79

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

Question 80

List three examples of criminal thinking errors.