All the studies and theories for G543 (the ones I'm using)

Some people have been asking how many studies I've learnt, so I've put them all down here. It's also a bit of a reference point to see whether you're familiar with them or if you need to revise some sections more than others.

Forensic Psychology

Turning to crime

Upbringing - disrupted families [Juby and Farrington], differential association theory (learning from others) [Akers], poverty and disadvantaged neighbourhoods [Wikstrom and Tafel]

Cognition – criminal thinking patterns, [Yochelson and Samenow] moral development, social cognition (attribution) [both use Palmer and Hollin]

Biology – brain dysfunction [Raine], genes and serotonin [Brunner], gender [Daly and Wilson]

Making a case

Interviewing witnesses – recognising faces [Bruce], influencing factors (weapon focus)[Loftus] , cognitive interview [Fisher]

Interviewing suspects – detecting lies [Mann], interrogation techniques [Inbau], false confessions [Gudjonsson]

Creating a profile – top down [Mokros and Alison], bottom up [Copson], case study of John Duffy [Canter]

After a Guilty Verdict

Imprisonment – Planned behaviours [Gillis and Nafekh], depression/suicide risk [Dooley], prison situation and roles [Haney and Zimbardo]

Alternatives to imprisonment – probation [Mair and May], restorative justice [Sherman and Strang], looking death worthy [Eberhardt]

Treatment programmes – cognitive skills [Friendship], anger management [Ireland] and ear acupuncture [Wheatley]

Health and Clinical Psychology

Stress

Causes of stress – work [Johansson], hassles [Kanner], lack of control [Geer and Maisel]

Measures of stress – self report [Kanner], physiological [Geer and Maisel], combined approach [Johansson]

Managing stress – stress inoculation therapy [Meichenbaum], biofeedback [Budzynski], social support [Waxler-Morrison]

Dysfunctional behaviour/Disorders

Diagnosing dysfunctional behaviour – definitions [Rosenhan and Seligman], DSM, gender bias [Ford and Widiger]

Explanations of dysfunctional behaviour/disorders – faulty thinking (cognitive) [Beck], learned/positive reinforcements (behavioural) [Lewinson], serotonin and genes (biological) [Wender]

Treatments of dysfunctional behaviour/disorders – rational emotive therapy (cognitive) [Beck], CBT/behavioural activation (behavioural) [Lewinson], drug therapy (biological) [Karp and Frank]

Note that the two Beck studies and two Lewinson studies are different studies. The explanations one refers to studies where Beck interviewed patients with depression to see what cognitive distortions they shared, and Lewinson looked at positive reinforcements in the lives of depressed participants. In the treatments studies, Beck compares drug therapy and cognitive therapies, whilst Lewinson sees whether a "coping with depression" course coupled with parents being taught how to reinforce good behaviour is studied. 

IMPRISONMENT: Depression and suicide

Prison is not an environment which promotes positive mental states. The lack of freedom and repetitiveness takes its toll on inmates, and it's not uncommon for prisoners to experience delusions or hallucinations as a result.

More common effects in terms of mental health however are increased risk of anxiety and depression. Of course, a decent proportion of offenders had pre-existing psychological disorders before their incarceration, but it's likely that the conditions within prison have both increased depression and triggered it in a significant number of cases. 

Dooley found that suicide rates are 4x higher in prisons than the general population, which is an alarming statistic. Those awaiting trial and those in their first year are the most likely to commit suicide.

A study by the same researcher looked into unnatural deaths in English and Welsh prisons across a 15 year period. A checklist was used to analyse data, and deaths were split into two categories of suicides and non-suicides. 

Out of 442 unnatural deaths occurring in the prisons, 300 were suicides, 52 were the result of self-inflicted injuries and the rest had a variety of explanations, but mainly were attributed to "misadventure".

Dooley also found that most deaths occurred at night, and appeared to be the result of both pre-existing disorders and situationally-induced. 

Poverty and Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

Government records have shown that the most disadvantaged 5% of society are 100 times more likely to have multiple problems, including police contact and substance abuse, than the most advantaged 50% in society.

Thus, one explanation of why some people turn to crime is that it's due to upbringing in poverty or a disadvantaged neighbourhood.

This theory is most often associated with crimes such as theft, violence and anti-social behaviour. Theft is probably best explained with this theory, because those who are in poverty may need to steal to have money to buy necessities. 

Study: Wikstrom and Tafel conducted a cross-sectional study of 2000 Year 10 students (aged 14-15) from Peterborough. It was a self-report study using questionnaires and criminal records to see why people might offend. The research found that 45% of males and 30.6% of females in the study had committed at least one of the following crimes: vandalism, shoplifting, violence, car theft and burglary. Other findings included that victims of crime were also more likely to be offenders, especially where violence was concerned, and that there are considered to be 3 types of offenders:

1. Propensity-induced (commit because they want to)
2. Lifestyle-dependent (commit because they feel they have to)
3. Situationally-limited (commit very rarely)