West Archives - Keith E Rice's Integrated SocioPsychology Blog & Pages

Prejudice & Discrimination Theories #2

PART 2 Realistic Conflict Theory It is widely recognised that people tend to identify with their groups. They also tend to have negative views about some other groups – out-groups. But why do some outgroups attract hostility and discrimination but others are treated neutrally or sometimes even admired? This is what Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT) tries to explain. RCT states that, whenever there are 2 or more groups seeking the same limited resources, this will lead to conflict, negative stereotypes and beliefs about the out-group – prejudice – and discrimination between the groups. The negative beliefs about the out-group become shared memes, affecting the schematic set-up of the group members. The conflict generated can lead to increasing animosity and eventually to violence. Competition over resources can be played out as a ‘zero-sum game’, in which only one group is the winner (obtained the needed or wanted resources) and the other loses (unable to obtain the limited resource due to the winning group achieving the limited resource first). The likely length and severity of the conflict is based upon the perceived value and shortage of the given resource. It is tempting to think of ‘limited resources’ as BEIGE survival needs – eg:… Read More

29/09/2020

SocioPsychological Factors in Crime #3

PART 3 Cognitive Factors Do criminals and deviants think differently to non-criminals and non-deviants? Samuel Yochelson & Stanton Samenow (1976) certainly thought so. They studied 255 male participants from various backgrounds – eg: black and white, wealthy and poor, inner city and suburbs – over a 14-year period. With regard to the participants, the ‘studied offenders’ were criminals sent to secure mental hospitals because the court had accepted their pleas of ‘diminished responsibility’ which means their actions did not meet the culpability factor in mens rea. In all the researchers found 52 ‘errors’ in thinking. These were not necessarily unique to criminals but were considered to be displayed more by criminals, However, as there was no control group of non-criminals with whom to compare thinking patterns, this may not be an accurate assessment. The ‘errors’ included:- in childhood seeing requests from authority figures such as headteachers and parents as impositions wanting an exciting life at any cost being habitually angry as their way of life lacking empathy with others pursuing their own interests and feeling under no obligation to do anything for anyone pre-judging situations and being poor at responsible decision-making A number of the errors identified would fit with a… Read More

09/06/2016

Social Control

Updated: 4 July 2020 Social control is necessary to maintain social order – the functioning of society without chaos or continual disruption. It ensures that only a limited number of values and norms are acceptable . By so doing, it provides predictability, a key element that all societies need. Without having a considerable degree of prediction as to how others will act, peaceful and productive interaction between people becomes all but impossible. Social control, therefore, makes society possible by ‘policing the boundaries’ and dealing with deviant and criminal behaviours. Émile Durkheim (1893) argues that the limited number values and norms considered acceptable – the values consensus – gives a culture or sub-culture – a collective conscience. This values consensus is spread memetically to infect the minds of the members of the social groups. Functionalists tend to make the assumption that it is only when social control becomes ineffective that people turn to deviance and crime. There are 2 forms of social control, informal and formal, and most societies have a mixture of these 2 approaches. Smaller and more self-contained groups tend to use more informal mechanisms. The larger and more complex a society is, the more it will tend to use formal mechanisms.… Read More

03/11/2015
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Bibliography W

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Waddington, Conrad (1946): ‘How Animals develop’ (George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London) Wade, Jenny (1996): ‘Changes of Mind: a Holonomic Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness’ (State University of New York Press) Wadsworth, Michael (1979): ‘Roots of Delinquency: Infancy, Adolescence and Crime’ (Martin Robinson, Oxford) Wagner, George, Leonard Beuving & Ronald Hutchinson (1979): ‘Androgen-Dependency of Aggressive Target-Biting and Paired Fighting in Male Mice’ in Physiology & Behaviour 22/1 Wahba, A, & L Bridgewell (1976): ‘Maslow reconsidered: a Review of Research on the Need Hierarchy Theory’ in Organisational Behaviour & Human Performance #15 Walker, Lawrence (1984): ‘Sex Differences in the Development of Moral Reasoning: a Critical Review’ in Child Development #55 Walker, Lawrence (1989): ‘A Longitudinal Study of Moral Reasoning’ in Child Development #60 Walker, Lawrence (1996): ‘Is One Sex Morally Superior?’ in Matthew Merrens & Gary Brannigan (eds): ‘Developmental Psychologists: Research Adventures across the Lifespan’ (McGraw-Hill, New York NY) Walker, Lawrence, Brian De Vries & Shelley Trevethan (1987): ‘Moral Stages and Moral Orientations in Real-Life and Hypothetical Dilemmas’ in Child Development #58 Walker, Peter & Jessica… Read More

16/10/2015

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Haaretz Service (2010): ‘Shas Spiritual Leader: Abbas and Palestinians should perish’ (Haaretz) http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/shas-spiritual-leader-abbas-and-palestinians-should-perish-1.310800 (Accessed: 08/08/14) Habermas, Jürgen (1962; translated by Thomas Burger with Frederick Lawrence, 1989): ‘The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry Into a Category of Bourgeois Society’ (Polity, Cambridge) Hackett, Conrad (2015): ‘5 Facts about the Muslim Population in Europe’ (Pew Research Center) http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/17/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/ (Accessed: 24/11/15) Haggbloom, Steven, Renee Warnick, Jason Warnick, Vinessa Jones, Gary Yarbrough, Tinea Russell, Chris Borecky, Reagan McGahhey, John Powell, Jamie Beavers & Emmanuelle Monte (2002): ‘The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century’ in Review of General Psychology 6/2 Haggerty, Michael (1999): ‘Testing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life across Time’ in Journal of Social Indicators Research 46/3 Haidt, Jonathan (2001): ‘The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: a Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgement’ in Psychological Review 108/4 Haidt, Jonathan (2005): ‘The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom’ (Basic Books, New York NY) Haidt, Jonathan, Craig Joseph & Jesse Graham (2009): ‘Above and Below Left–Right: Ideological Narratives and Moral Foundations’ in… Read More

15/10/2015

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Fagin, Claire (1966): ‘The Effects of Maternal Attendance during Hospitalisation on the Behaviour of Young Children’ (FA Davis, Philadelphia PA) Falkai, Peter, Bernhard Bogerts & M Rozumek (1988): ‘Limbic Pathology in Schizophrenia’ in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA #2 Farage, Nigel (contributor, 2015): ‘Today’ (BBC Radio 4, 14 January) Farage, Nigel (contributor, 2018): ‘The Wright Stuff’ (Channel 5, 11 January) Farage, Nigel (2018): ‘I do not want a Second Vote on Brexit, but My Fellow Leavers must be ready to fight for It again’ in Daily Telegraph (12 January) Farina, Amerigo, Charles Holland & Klaus Ring (1966): ‘Role of Stigma and Set in Interpersonal Interaction’ in Journal of Abnormal Psychology 71/6 Farmer, Ben & Ruth Sherlock (2013): ‘Syria: nearly half Rebel Fighters are Jihadists or Hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane’s Report‘ in Daily Telegraph (15 September) Farrington, David (1995) ‘The Development of Offending and Anti-Social Behaviour from Childhood’ in Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 36/6 Farrington, David, Jeremy Coid, Louise Harnett, Darrick Jolliffe, Nadine Soteriou, Richard Turner & Donald West (2006): ‘Criminal Careers… Read More

15/10/2015

Bibliography B

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Bachen, Elizabeth, Sheldon Cohen & Anna Marsland (1997): ‘Psychoimmunology’ in Andrew Baum, Stanton Newman, John Weinman, Robert West & Chris McManus(eds): ‘Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine’ (Cambridge University Press) Badawy, Abdulla (2006): ‘Alcohol and Violence and the Possible Role of Serotonin’ in Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 13/1 Baechler, Jean (1979): ‘Suicides’ (Blackwell, Oxford) Bagdikian, Ben (2004): ‘The New Media Monopoly’ (7th Edition, Beacon Press, Boston MA) Bailey, Heidi, Greg Moran, David Pederson & Sandi Bento (2007): ‘Understanding the Transmission of Attachment using Variable- and Relationship-Centred Approaches’ in Development and Psychopathology 19/2 Bailey, Rodger (1991): ‘The Language and Behaviour Profile’ (self-study manual and audio-tape set, Language and Behaviour Institute, Poughkeepsie NY) Bain, Jerald, Ronald Langevin, Ronald Dickey & Mark Ben-Aron (1987): ‘Sex Hormones in Murderers and Assaulters’ in Behavioural Science & the Law #5 Baize, Harold & Jonathan Schroeder (1995): ‘Personality and Mate Selection in Personal Ads: Evolutionary Preferences in a Public Mate Selection Process’ in Journal of Social Behaviour & Personality 10/3 Bakan, Joel (2004): ‘The Corporation: the Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power’ (Constable, London) Baker, Robin &… Read More

15/10/2015

SocioPsychological Factors in Crime

Relaunched: 8 July 2020 While, clearly there a number of biological factors which can substantially increase the likelihood of someone committing crime and deviance, most crimes take place in a social setting and result from an interaction between the offender’s state of mind and the social pressures of the situation – including victims of the crime(s). So what are the social and psychological factors that may precipitate deviant and/or criminal actions…? Social Inequalities The world is plagued with huge gaps in social equality, with inequality having increased substantially in the West over the past 40 years. particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett (2010) identified that happiness and well-being are generally much greater in countries where the gaps in the ranges of social equality are relatively small – eg: Sweden – compared to countries with large gaps such as the US. In Western societies the more consumerism there is, the more people are either ‘seduced’ or ‘repressed, to use Zygmunt Bauman’s (1988) concepts. The ‘seduced’ are those who are sucked into consumerism and are seduced into buying many things they don’t need but are persuaded will be life enhancing if acquired. In many ways,… Read More

15/10/2015

Biological Factors in Crime

Updated: 7 December 2016 Are criminals born or ‘made’? This is a question which has vexed philosophers for millennia and psychologists and sociologists since the dawn of the behavioural sciences early in the 19th Century. The deterministic view offered by biological explanations for criminality – ie: you have no real choice, it’s in your biological make-up – have major implications for how society treats criminals – especially violent ones. Biological theories assert criminal behaviour has a physiological origin, with the implication that the ‘criminal’, therefore, has difficulty not committing crime because it is ‘natural’ – ie: the ‘born criminal’ concept. Biological determinism can be used to undermine the legal concept of criminal responsibility: criminals are held to be personally and morally accountable for their actions. Only when the Law of Diminished Responsibility is applied in cases of self-defence and mental illness – and in some countries (eg: France) ‘crimes of passion’ (temporary insanity) – is the defendant assumed not to have acted from their own free will. 3 cases illustrate how biological arguments have been used as mitigating factors to reduce the level of criminal responsibility:- In 1994 Stephen Mobley was sentenced to death for shooting dead the manager of an American branch of Domino’s Pizza. He was also found… Read More

15/10/2015

Muslims, take back Your Religion from the Psychopaths of UnIslamic State!

It’s time the world turned on ‘UnIslamic State’ (ISIS) and destroyed it. It’s time every Muslim who upholds the 5 Pillars of Islam not only said “not in our name” and “not for our faith” but took action, directly or indirectly, to stop these psychopathic arseholes. Thursday on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, there was a debate about which was the more serious challenge: the Russian-backed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine and the effect that is having on relations between Russia and the West or UnIslamic State. (Much of the media still insist on referring to them as ‘Islamic State’ in spite of multiple requests from leading Islamic thinkers to use alternative terms such as ‘UnIslamic State’ which do not confer on them a sheen of validity.) Personally, for all that Eastern Ukraine looks like an era-defining crisis in West-Russia relations, I have no doubt that UnIslamic State is by far the greater threat. It’s not just the gut-wrenching video of a young man being burned alive…it’s not even the trail of beheadings, crucifixions, mass executions and other atrocities which came before it (and undoubtedly are still being carried out as I write)…it’s the potential for catastrophe that UnIslamic State seem determined to pursue. The self-styled ‘caliph’ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi doesn’t do… Read More

08/02/2015
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