Biological
and Psychological Theories of Deviance
(these
ideas drawn from Goode, 1994-2008 chapter 2; and Pfohl, Images of Deviance
and Social Control, 1985. See the disclaimer)
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Biological
Positivism
(Pathological
Theories)
(these
ideas are drawn from Pfohl, Images of Deviance and Social Control,
1985)
(Essentialism)
(Deterministic)
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- Shift from badness==>Sickness
- Common sense today
- Deterministic causation
vs Chosen
- Deviance produced
by disease/defect (very attractive to historical and modern audiences)
- Control==>Cure,
treatment
- Shifts focus away
from act and back to Actor
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- Search for the variables
that cause deviance
- Deviance as an Objective
Reality
- Forces of nature
(Evolutionary Theory-1859)
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Phrenology
(from: the Skeptic's Dictionary)
- Evolutionary development
of Brain: 3 areas that related to/determined behavior
- openness-secretiveness
- acquisitiveness-generosity
- eroticism
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Benjamin
Rush (1812: First American Text on psychiatry)
- Mental Disorder==>arterial
disease of brain==>caused:
- Lying
- Crime
- "Revolutiona"
(opposition to the American Revolution)
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1939: Earnest
Hooton: "The American Criminal"
- "Organic weakness"
(low foreheads, compressed faces, etc)
- Question: the (social)
meaning of physical inferiority?????
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1949: William
Sheldon: "Varieties of Delinquent Youth"
- Endoderm: digestive
system
- Ectoderm: skin and
nervous system
- Mesoderm: bones,
muscles
- Normal==>balanced
development, normal personality
- Imbalance: problems==>personality
"defects"
Somatotypes:
- Endomorph: fat,
round--Psych: luxury, sloth, consumption.
- Ectomorph: frail,
skinny, gangly--Psych: introverts, cunning, stealth.
- Mesomorph: large,
strong, hard--Psych: active, dynamic, assertive, forceful.
picture
from: http://learningat.ke7.org.uk/peweb/5thlesson/sports&pe/somatotyping.htm
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- Study-200 boys,
Hayden Goodwill Institute. 7 point somotyping scale, 650 psychological attributes.
Disproportionately mesomorphic--more prone to delinquency.
- Sheldon and Eleanor
Glueck (1950's): 800 adjudicated delinquents/matched sample of non-delinquents==>
delinquents more likely to be mesomorphs.
- Questions/Problems:
- Maybe need a tough
body to gain acceptance/survive on the streets.
- Body type and social
meaning--the boys were already judged to be delinquent.
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Heredity
- "The
Jukes" by Dugdale (1877): 180 of 700 family members--welfare, 140--criminals
- "The
Kallikaks" by Goddard (1912): Martin and "feebleminded barmaid
vs Martin and "good, normal" girl. (See, Plucker, J. A. (Ed.).
(2003). Human intelligence: Historical influences, current controversies,
teaching resources. Retrieved July 6, 2015, from http://www.intelltheory.com/goddard.shtml)(see
also: The Kallikak Family:
A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness, Henry Herbert
Goddard (1913) put online by: Classics in the History of Psychology,
Christopher D. Green, York University, Toronto, Ontario)
- Wikipedia article
on the Jukes
and the Kallikaks
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IQ
- Low IQ as a cause
of criminality. Feebleminded unable to cope with complex social conditions.
Compared WWI recruits with prisoners: 47% of recruits vs 20% of prisoners!!!?
- IQ and deviance--relevance
of tests, social class and opportunity, schooling and expectations.
- IQ and studies of
Delinquency: School performance
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- Twins/Adoptees:
1/3 correlation with birth father, but adopted father explains even more.
- Concordance between
identical twins high, but far from perfect.
- Little attention
to mother's behavior.
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XYY Chromosomes:
- Only 1/1,800-3,000
possess
- No firm link except
to tallness.
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Bio-Social
Theory
- Variety of causes:
Allergies, Hormones, Organic Brain Syndrome, ADD, etc.
- Environmental factors
trigger response
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Psychological
Theories
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Psychodynamic
- Id-Ego-Superego--problem
of imbalance.
- Oral-Anal and Phallic
Stages--Fixation
- Repression
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- Identity versus
Role Confusion--adolescence
- Identity diffusion:
excessively self-conscious, overly concerned with sexuality
- Identity foreclosure:
problem of unfulfilled expectations
- Negative identity:
(objected to by others)- rebel to be noticed
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Behavioralism
- Environmental reinforcement
- Stimulus/response
- Eysenck: Problem
of permissive child rearing
- Skinner: Operant
conditioning: Reward structures
- Strong link to Classical
Theory and Modern day Deterrence Theories
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Learning
Theories
- "Social
Learning Theory" (psychological social learning)
- Anticipation of
positive responses
- Gear behavior in
order to be accepted
- Modeling
- Television and violence
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Moral Development
- Stages of Development:
Kohlberg
and Piaget
- Problem solving
- Situation specificity
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Predictability
and Problems:
- MMPI: view deviance
as positive, reject authority--causes or responses?
- Defining the "Psychopath"
- ADD and social meanings
- General Sociological
Concerns with psycho-dynamic Theories
- Circularity--if
behavior, then "impulse." Proof? Accounts for everything.
- Sample size
typically limited and skewed
- Replaces one
unseeable force (supernatural) with another ("impulses," "predispositions,"
genes)
- General Difficulties
with biological and psychological theories:
- ? Of neutrality--acts
accepted as deviant.
- Straight normative,
wrong by nature
- ? of street
vs. elite deviance
- Individualizes
complex social issues
- Assumptions
about normalcy--who and what is normal, exactly?
- Expert careers?
- Politics of
Good and Evil
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Issues:
- Eugenics
- Psycho-surgery
- Mental Hospitals
- Psychopharmacology
- Medicalization
of Deviance