Psychology of Behaviour: Analysis of Criminal Behaviour and Theories

This report delves into the psychology of behaviour, focusing on the analysis of criminal behaviour through various psychological perspectives and theories. It begins by examining the biological and cognitive approaches to understanding behaviour, with a specific case study involving two children who committed a crime. The report explores the impact of conformity, obedience, prejudice, and discrimination on human behaviour, providing insights into the factors that contribute to criminal actions. Furthermore, it outlines different theories of criminal behaviour, including rational choice, sociological positivism, biological positivism, and psychological positivism, offering a comprehensive understanding of the underlying causes of criminal acts. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding the background of criminals, the influence of family, and the need for balanced emotional and psychological development to prevent negative societal impacts. The report provides a detailed analysis of the psychological aspects and theories related to criminal behaviour, offering valuable insights into this complex subject.

PSYCHOLOGY OF
BEHAVIOUR
1

All individuals have different behaviours which are why all of them have a unique identity
of nature which can make the people have a better functioning for them. There are different
theories which can explain the reason behind people have a certain kind of behaviour and before
understanding that there has to be a clear observation of the people. The parents have to give
attention to the children so that they can have a better growing experience which will not reflect
in their future. The report consists of the behavioural pattern of children so that there is a better
understanding of the crime they have committed so that the there is a better result from giving a
verdict. The parents of the kids can be improved and helped for the kind of help they need so that
the children can have a better life. Therefore understanding the behavioural pattern is very
essential so that the right decisions can be taken.
1. PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES & IDENTIFICATION
Two approaches
There are a lot of theories which can be used to understand the behaviour of a human
being and in this case the behaviour of two kids who are 10 years old who have committed a
crime will be discussed. There is a learnt behaviour which all the individuals have which is
reflected in their actions. The two behavioural approaches which will be discussed in this report
are biological approach and cognitive approach.
Biological Approach
There is a lot of learning which a child gets from the parents and in this case, it is quite
possible that the children, Thompson and Venables got their learning from the parents because of
the health situation they are in. Mental disorders is the kind of illness which the parents of the
two kids had which is why the kids got that too and the kids could not recover from that (Kocsis,
2018). It is very important that the children up left from the mistakes they make but the parents
only beat them so that did not make them find and they must be beaten up even if they were not
wrong and beaten up because the parents were depressed or alcoholic which is not the kids fault.
It is very important that the kids get the right mind set and the right parents who can make the
minds of the kids function and be controlled so that they do not make criminal decisions or
mistakes which they do not want to. The children learn from what they see around them which is
2

what the learning theory also explains which is why it is very important for the parents to show
the children the right path and positive behaviour around them.
Cognitive Approach
Cognitive theory is what we think and it is very difficult to understand the minds of others
but one can control the thoughts in their own mind. In this case it was not so because the kids
had grown up in such an environment that it is not possible for them to think any think positive
about anything which is why they had such a negative plan to execute. The kids did not have a
good background and the parents could not handle their own lives therefore they would not have
been able to handle anyone else’s life and the kids had to grow up according to themselves (de
Motte and et.al., 2017).
Conformity and obedience and impact of them on human behaviour
There are different kind of people the once who have to a tendency to listen to others and
follow what they ask us to which is called conformity and the other people are who question and
have an authority over people and life and they are known as obedience. It is very important that
the people have both these kind of mind set so that they can have a balance of life but in this case
this was not possible. Thompson and Venables had to listen to their parents and get beaten up
even after listening to them therefore they took out their anger in other ways by torturing the
siblings in the house and kids outside the house. They murdered James Bulger brutally because
they had no idea what they were doing and they could have made worst decisions if the court
would not have sent them to jail because they had learnt nothing positive and other kids would
have gotten tortured as well. B.F. Skinner has also discussed that there is a repetition of actions
then the person learns them. Both the children show the broken family which was under drug or
alcohol intake therefore they spoilt their children and nothing was taught to them. The parents
did not teach the right when the child saw the wrong so that had to reflect somehow in some
way.
Consequences of prejudice and discrimination
There is no reason for anyone to judge people without first understanding the situation or
the reason behind the kinds which happened. Therefore in this case also it is very important that
3

the judges understand the kid’s background and then give them the punishment that they deserve
so that they can have a better result and the kids do not have to suffer. Prejudice is that there is
no judgment on the people before and only after finding out them and even after that there
should be no discrimination done in any form. It is very easy for the humans to kill themselves if
they are facing discrimination and prejudice in any form which is going to be very helpful for the
people to understand them so that they can have a better functioning for themselves. There is a
frightened, worthless, feeling vulnerable which people face and this can be a great disadvantage
for the people and this can make the functioning of the people worst. Individuals have to get the
right feeling of the environment because it does not take time for people to become negative and
it is very important that the behaviour of the people should remain positive which can make them
achieve their goals and objectives in life (Palmer and Humphries, 2016). Though there is no
racial discrimination which has taken place in this case but just the disturbance of the mind
which the ids had because of the parents that resulted in such a tragedy consequence. Thompson
and Venables found comfort with each other because they shared the same story and those both
were not comfortable in their own houses and they wanted to torture and others so that they
could show what they were going through but there could be other reasons as well in this case
(McGauran, Brooks and Khan, 2019). This gave the two kids pleasure and satisfaction till they
did not get caught by the police or could be because they wanted to get out of the house and they
could not do so because they will not be allowed to work and they will not get food so that they
took this big measure. The measure made the two regret but they did not have parent’s issues
after that.
Theories of criminal behaviour
Criminal theories are very essential as it helps to legal justice framework to make effective
decisions and provide justice. Criminal behaviour theories provide effective understanding about
the entire criminal to avoid illegal activities and also solve the issue in the society by many
effective laws which also helps to protect citizens from illegal activities (Stark and Meschik,
2018).
Rational Cause
This is also called the choice theory which helps to understand the early thoughts of
children right from the school about all the criminal thoughts which they had. This theory
4

determines the roots of the motivation any person emerges with criminal thoughts. Rational
cause theory determines all the factor of a criminal which motivates them to make choice to
commit crime. For example, money, powers are the common factors which can motivate any
person to opt crime.
Sociological Positivism
Sociological theory provides an effective platform to identify interrelations between the
criminal and the convict to ensure the motive of the criminal activity. This theory helps to
determine all the factors which increase the anger and rage of a person in any social relation to
improve the quality of investigation and develops higher justification decision.
Biological Positivism
This anthropological based theory which examines the crime by study of science to
understand all the factors which increased the encouragement of a person and motivate them to
common in any crime (Marono and et.al., 2018). This theory explains those criminals are also
having traits and personality of doing crime from their birth which also helps them to think
negative. In the case of James Bulger murder both 10 year old murders had been exposed with
their family issues which impact their mental stability and forced them to attempt a very cruel
crime.
Psychological Positivism theory states that criminal conduct their activites due to any
mental instability and diseases which impact their decision-making power and also force them to
commit unforeseeable crime. Disorders, personality psychopath, severe stress are factors which
can also support biological and social factors to increase their criminal activity and motivate
them continue with any insight. These also include cases like sexual abuse, crime activity with
parents. This theory helps to develop effective reasoning to derive all the linkages to investigate
the case effectively (Keulen‐de Vos and et.al., 2016).
There are a lot of factors which can lead to a criminal activity of the people because there
are a lot of people who get angry easily, jealous, greedy, full of pride, etc. There are a lot of
emotions which can also lead to this activity but it is very important for the humans to have a
balance in life so that they can have a better understanding of the situation and control their
emotions so that there is no negative impact of the society. There are three criminal behavioural
theories which can be categorized under psychological, biological and social which have to be
5

considered so that there is a better understanding and the criminals can be punished according to
that so that there is a better functioning of those people so that there is a better society for the
future. There is rational choice theory which is when the people do what they want to even if
they know they can get caught and punished for the actions they are taking which is not good
legally but can satisfy the person and these kind of people need help from the psychologists to
get treated so that they can remain in the society.
Psychological theory
There are a lot of psychological theories which can be put so that there is a better
understanding of the situation so that the decisions can be made accordingly which is a very
essential factor. There are a lot of criminals which have committed crime but there is a reason
behind their misbehaviour for the criminal action they have taken. It is very important for the
psychologists to understand the criminals so that they can be understood and changed
accordingly so that they do not repeat the same mistake in the future (Merdian and et.al., 2017).
There is a learning which the people have and the emotions which they have faced in the past
will result or reflect in the future therefore it is very important to change that so that there is no
negative thinking. It is the tendency of the humans to get attracted to things which is positive but
if there is no reward for the positive then the humans do not repeat that and to get attention they
do the wrong so that they can get the attention which can go to bad extends and can be criminal
by legal factors. It is very essential to have a balance in life so that there is a good functioning of
the human and the behaviour of the people is positive which is going to lead to a positive
situation and better environment for the people to live in fearless. In this case there was no fault
of the 2 year old boy but the 20 years boys did not have a good past which is why they did the
worst of physical abuse to the child who had no idea what could happen with him. The parents
were so involved in their own lives and sadness that they did not pay attention to the children
which made the kids react in such a way.
3 PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE APPLIE IN PUBLIC SERVICES
Psychological perspectives can be applied by individuals and to teams in the public services
6

Psychology refers as a scientific study of human thought, feeling and their behaviours
while perspective is the way of thinking which helps to understand that why human do and what
human do. There are five major perspectives which is related to psychology such as
physiological, biological, humanistic and behavioural change. Psychological perspective is
applied by individual public services. Police force who gives protection service to public from
crime range. When child case occurs in that state police keeps strictness in their custody but
doesn't treat him as criminal (Steg, and et.al., 2017). The reason behind is that most of the cases
criminal doesn't know why did they do. In children's crime takes in child care centre where
police force takes care of children and make them realise that they committed a crime. Judicial
system understands psychology of child which provokes them to commit wrong deed. It can
understand by an example of Thompson crime scenario analyses that a 10-year child killed a 2
year infant brutally which was shocking news for world's public because ten year old children is
too small who have mind to play games and have fun with friends. When police get to know
about the case. They came over the place and asked them why they killed a small child. The
child was unanswered then police force took them in child care centre. There was psychologist
who took children in their centre to know about their psychology. Where psychologist made feel
comfortable to children and asked them how crime occurred. Thus, type treatment is giving by
individual police services. On the other hand team in the public services i.e. military force, police
force, NHS, Judicial system and Psychologist etc. Provides public services to public as per the
situation. Whenever children crime issue occurs then team give their different psychologist
perspective to deal with situation. For example, team in the public services organizes a meeting
where each force shares their views to understand psychology of criminal that how crime takes
place and why crime happened. UK's behavioural insight team (BIT) is a team of public services
and it brings together psychologist, policymaker and economists to gain behavioural economies
and social psychology for enhancing public policy. This team gives powers and rights to perform
duties without any restriction.
Psychology is practically applied by the public services to reduce criminal behaviour
Psychology plays essential role treat a criminal in right way because most of the time
happen that criminal doesn't know why they commit crime. To understand their psychology
requires psychologist and understanding public service who realises criminal that they did wrong
7

deed. Most of the cases where criminal is aggressive nature, in that situation when police treat
them in aggressive nature defiantly doesn't get good output because criminal got angry and won't
tell anything. Such kind cases require emotional treatment by public services because it may
possible that their aggressive nature is the reason of crime. Police can treat criminal calmly
which makes them feel comfortable. As same case applied for the Thompson who disturb due to
some issues. To treat criminal requires psychologist who can understand their mental situation
and treat them according to their behaviour. Physiological behaviour plays an important role in
reducing crime among child and adult as it changes mentality and behaviour of individual. Police
service are using physiological factors in order to manipulate behaviour of children and adult so
that they do not perform crime. It helps in changing mindset and motivate individual to perform
various function in right manner so that crime can be maximised within society. As mind is the
main factors that influenced individual to perform various crime so police services are planning
to use physiological behavioural in order to remove crime in the society. They by understanding
emotion, feeling and behaviour of person try to build strong relationship with it so that person
might share its feeling and view why various crime are performed by individual. Thus, police
service by identifying behaviour, nature and emotion of person is able to form such strategies
that can helps to influenced individual to reduce crime and follow the right path. Reduction of
crime is necessary for safety and security of other people living in the society as if individual
mindset is changed the whole society can grow and develop. Crime reduction and changes in
behaviour of individual helps government to focus on crucial issue that can promote economic
development and growth. It is also essential in order to enhances living standard of people and
better lifestyle with appropriate ethics and values so that all people can live in harmony and take
active part in growth of country.
Psychological perspective is applied to the work of a range of public services
Public services i.e. police force, NHS, military force, offender management,
psychologist, judicial system are worked in a team which gives different psychological
perspective and applied in their work. Psychological perspective helps public services to
understand human behaviour, feeling and their thoughts which causes they commit crime. For
example a criminal who is emotionally weak due to their family background or financial
situation then public service can easy to access reason of the crime and can apply strategy to
8

prevent them to recommit crime. Psychological perspective helps public services to study about
behaviours like they are aggressive nature and rude behaviour then can apply strategy to make
them understand that they commit crime. Apart from this, it also helps public services to
understand mind set of criminals. It can understand by the Thompson’s crime case such as a
child and his age is 10 year who killed a 2 year infant brutal way ((Riccucci and Van Ryzin
2017). Team keeps different psychological perspective and analyse that children commit this
crime due to their family background. According to police force they give scenario about
children that his family economical condition is not good. Mother of the children works in
butcher's shop and alcoholism. Criminal mother suffers from severe depression so she used to
beat him. Therefore, he afraid from his mother and police force also informs other team member
that toys which is found in pathetic condition on his bad for in order to protection. Police force
doesn't treat strictly with child they send them child rehab centre. Where psychologist supports'
child to give education and tell him that he did wrong. Overall psychological perspective gives a
way to public services how to deal different criminal cases and decline crime rage by modifying
them into good citizen.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded two approaches which is used in psychology. Access the similarities
and differences among psychology theories in explaining human behaviour has been
summarized in the report. Research into group influences and human behaviour which is affected
has been summarized in report. The consequence of prejudice and discrimination and their
understanding and knowledge of psychological theories and social influences which is relevant
to public services has been summarized in report. Theories of criminal behaviours and casual
factor has been evaluated in report. The brief study of the report has been analysed several
factors which contributes to criminal activity. Analyse a real world crime, applying
psychological theory and determining casual factors can be summarized in report. Psychological
perspective which is applied by individual ad team in the public services has been concluded in
report. The brief study of the report has been evaluated psychological perspective which is
applied to the work of range of public services.
9

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
de Motte, C and et.al., 2017. What is the pattern of self-harm and prison rule-breaking behavior
in personality disordered offenders in a high secure prison?. Journal of criminal
psychology.
Keulen‐de Vos, M.E and et.al., 2016. Schema modes in criminal and violent behaviour of
forensic cluster B PD patients: A retrospective and prospective study. Legal and
Criminological Psychology. 21(1).pp.56-76.
Kocsis, R.N. ed., 2018. Applied criminal psychology: a guide to forensic behavioral sciences.
Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Marono, A and et.al., 2018. A sequence analysis of nonverbal behaviour and deception. Journal
of Police and Criminal Psychology. 33(2). pp.109-117.
McGauran, A., Brooks, M. and Khan, R., 2019. The role of emotional resilience, childhood
parentification, and attachment style on antisocial behaviour in adulthood: a
comparison of an offender and normative population. Journal of Criminal Psychology.
Merdian, H and et.al., 2017. Strength-based approaches to online child sexual abuse: Using self-
management strategies to enhance desistance behaviour in users of child
sexualexploitation material. Journal of Criminal Psychology.
Palmer, E.J. and Humphries, L.M., 2016. Differences between completers and non‐completers of
offending behaviour programmes: Impulsivity, social problem‐solving, and criminal
thinking. Legal and Criminological Psychology. 21(2). pp.407-416.
Riccucci, N.M. and Van Ryzin, G.G., 2017. Representative bureaucracy: A lever to enhance
social equity, coproduction, and democracy. Public Administration Review. 77(1).
pp.21-3.
Stark, J. and Meschik, M., 2018. Women’s everyday mobility: Frightening situations and their
impacts on travel behaviour. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and
behavior. 54. pp.311-323.
Steg, and et.al., 2017. Applied social psychology. Cambridge University Press.
Viljoen, J.L., Cochrane, D.M. and Jonnson, M.R., 2018. Do risk assessment tools help manage
and reduce risk of violence and reoffending? a systematic review. Law and human
behavior. 42(3). p.181.
10