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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

Module 5: Criminal Psychology

Welcome Notes:

WELCOME CRIMINOLOGY STUDENTS

I. INTRODUCTION:

This module introduces Criminal Psychology as part of studying crimes, criminals and the treatment to their
criminal behavior. Criminal Psychology is a study that deals with known criminal behaviour. In this module, we
will cover the different abnormal behaviours manifested by some people that make them commit certain crimes.

II. OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Determine the aspects of criminal behaviours
2. Identify the different types of Phobias
3. Define important terms in criminal psychology

III. PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES:

Before you proceed to the main lesson, let’s complete the activity.

Directions: Read the short summary from the video Game theory challenge: Can you predict human
behavior?
Solve this classic game theory challenge: given integers from 0 to 100,
what would the whole number closest to ⅔ of the average of all numbers
guessed be? -- Given a range of integers from 0 to 100, what would
the whole number closest to 2/3 of the average of all numbers guessed
be? For example, if the average of all guesses is 60, the correct guess
will be 40. The game is played under conditions known to game
theorists as “common knowledge:” every player has the same
Figure 1. Criminal Psychology information— they also know that everyone else does too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MknV3t5QbUc
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

GREAT!!!
You may now proceed to the main lesson.

IV. LESSON PROPER

LET’S BEGIN!

Based on the preliminary activities, what did you notice about

it?

CONGRATULATIONS!

LESSON PROPER:
Criminal Psychology – criminal psychology is a study that deals on known criminal behavior. It is a must
for police officers as knowledge to assess the difference in abnormal behavior can enable them to make important
judgment regarding the seriousness of criminal behavior. To do this it is vital that police officers should
adequately know the answers to the following questions – how strong a response the policemen must take
should they meet and take sufferer into custody for them and the community’s protection?

Classification of Behavior
Normal Behavior They are known as adaptive or adjusted behaviors; they are standard behaviors
- the totality accepted behavior because they follow the standard norms of society. Atkinson (1993) presented that norms
understanding criminal behavior includes the idea of knowing what characterized a normal person from an
abnormal one. A normal person is characterized by having an efficient perception of reality, self- knowledge,
and ability to exercise voluntary control over his behavior, self-esteem and acceptance, productivity, and the
ability to form affectionate relationship with others.
Abnormal Behavior
A group of behaviors that are also known as maladaptive or maladjusted - they are deviant from social
expectations because they go against the norms or standard behavior of society. A maladaptive abnormal) person
may be understood by the following definitions:
a. According to the deviation of statistical norms based on statistical frequency - Many
characteristics such as weight, height, when, measured over a population. For and intelligence covers a
range of values instance, a person who is extremely intelligent or extremely happy would be classified as
abnormal.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology
b.According to deviation from social norms. A behavior that derives from the accepted norms of
society is considered abnormal. However, it is primarily dependent on the existing norm of such society.
c. Behavior as maladaptive Maladaptive - behavior is the effect of a well-being of the individual and
or the social group. That some kind of deviant behavior interferes with the welfare of the individual
such as a man who fears crowd, cannot ride a bus, etc. This means that a person cannot adapt himself to the
situation wherein it is beneficial to him.
d. Abnormal behavior due to personal distress - this is abnormally in terms of the individual
subjective feelings of distress rather than the individual behavior. This includes mental illness, feeling of
miserably, depression, and loss of appetite or interest, suffering from insomnia and numerous aches and
pains.

Kinds of Behavior
a. Simple or Complex – classified based on number of neurons involved. If there is less neurons in
certain act, it is simple. If there is more than it is complex behavior.
b. Overt or Covert – overt behavior is observable while covert is not visible to the naked eye or
hidden
c. Conscious of Unconscious – considered conscious when a person is aware of his actions and if not
then it is considered unconscious.
d. Rational or Irrational – rational when it is don with sanity while irrational is done without knowing the
nature and consequences of the actions
e. Voluntary of Involuntary – voluntary is an act done willingly while the involuntary is the body
activities and processes which we cannot stop.

Aspects of Behavior
a. Attitude/Value – pertains to our likes and dislikes or our interest toward something
b. Emotional – concerns with our feelings, moods, temper
c. Intellectual – mental processes such as decision making, reasoning and solving problems
d. Moral – pertains to conscience whether the action done is good or bad.
e. Psychosexual – concerns to our state of being whether man or woman

Frustration, Conflict and Anxiety

Frustration refers to the unpleasant feelings that result from the blocking of motive satisfaction. It is a form
of stress, which results in tension. It is a feeling that is experienced when something interferes with our hopes, wishes,
plans and expectations.
Some common sources of frustration are:
a. Physical obstacles - are physical barriers or a circumstance that prevents a person from doing his plan or
fulfilling his wishes.
b. Social Circumstances - are restrictions or circumstances imposed by other people and thee customs and laws of
social living.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology
c. Personal Shortcoming - such as being handicapped by diseases, deafness, paralysis, etc. which serves as a
barrier to the things one ought to do.
d. Conflicts between motives

CONFLICT refers to the simultaneous arousal to of two or more incompatible motives resulting to
unpleasant emotions. It is a source of frustration because it is a threat to normal behavior.
Types of Conflicts
1. Double Approach Conflict- a person is motivated to engage in two desirable activities that cannot
be pursued simultaneously,
2. Double Avoidance Conflict - a person faces two undesirable situations in which the avoidance of one
is the exposure to the other resulting to an intense emotion.
3. Approach-Avoidance Conflict - a person faces situation having both a desirable and undesirable feature.
It is sometimes called dilemma", because some negative and some positive features must be accepted
regardless which course of action is chosen.
4. Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflict – a situation in which a choice must be made between two or
more alternatives each has both positive and negative features. It is the each has most difficult to resolve
because the features of each portion are often difficult to compare.
Anxiety is an intangible feeling that seems to evade any effort to resolve it. It is also called neurotic fear, It could be
intense, it could be low and can be a motivating force.
Stress is the process of adjusting to or dealing with circumstances that disrupts, or threatens to disrupt a person's
physical or psychological functioning.

CAUSES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

The commission of a crime may be the result of complicated factors and causes. The following are some of
the perspectives about the causes of criminal behavior.
1. Anxiety (Psychological Perspective) – stressful situations that when become extreme may result in
maladaptive behavior.
2. Faulty Learning (Behavior Perspective) – the failure to learn the necessary adaptive behavior due to wrongful
development. This usually result of delinquent behavior based on the failure to learn the necessary social values and
norms.
3. Blocked of Distorted Personal Growth (Humanistic Perspective - presumably, human nature tends
towards cooperation and constructive activities, however, if we show aggression, cruelty or other violent behavior,
the result will be an unfavorable environment.
4. Unsatisfactory Interpersonal relationship- self-concept in early childhood by over critical parents or by rigid
socialization measures usually causes deviant behaviors among individuals because they are not contented and
even unhappy among individuals because they are not contented and even unhappy with the kind of social dealings they
are facing.
5. Pathological social conditions poverty - social discrimination and destructive violence always results to
deviant behavior.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology
DIAGNOSTIC CATEGORIES OF MENTALLY-DISTURBED PERSONS
 Anti-Social Personality is a mentally disturbed person who is opposed to the principles upon which society
is based.
 Characteristics of an Anti-Social Personality a person with an anti-social personality is also known as a
sociopath or psychopath.
 Sociopath is a person who lacks any sense of social or moral responsibility due to mental illness.
 Psychopath is a person having personality disorders characterized by anti-social behavior,
indifference to immorality and abnormal changes in mood or activity.

Types of phobias
These refer to the persistent fear on some objects or situation that present no actual danger to the person. Examples of
Phobia
Acrophobia High Places

Agoraphobia Open Places

Algophobia Pain
Astrophobia Storms/Lightning
Claustrophobia Closed Places
Hematophobia Blood
Hydrophobia/Aquaphobia Water
Monophobia Being Alone
Nyctophobia Darkness
Ocholophobia Crowds
Pathophobia Disease
Pyrophobia Fire
Mysophobia Contamination/germs

 Criminal Formula
According to Abrahamsen in his book entitled, “Crime and Human Mind” in 1945, he explained
the causes of crime by this formula:
C=T+S
R
Where:
C – Crime/ Criminal Behavior (Act) T
– Tendency (Desire/Intent)
S – Situation (Opportunity)
R – Resistance to Temptation (Control)

Sexual Behavior Leading to Sex Crimes

 Choice of Partner
 Auto Sexual – masturbation / self-gratification
 Bestiality – sex intercourse with animals
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 Gerontophilia –erotic desire with elder person
 Incest – sexual relationship between people with blood relationship
 Pedophilia – sexual desire with a child
 Necrophilia – sexual perversion with a corpse or dead body
 Mode of Expression
1. Algolagnia (Sado-Masochism) – sexual gratification is attained through pain or cruelty. Two classifications:
 Sadism – sexual pleasure is achieved through infliction of pain on the partner
 Masochism – sexual pleasure is obtained thru the infliction of pain to oneself
2. Oralism - the satisfaction is attained by the use of mouth or tongue.
 Anillingus – licking of the anus of the sexual partner
 Cunnillingus – this is attained by licking the female genitalia
 Fellatio – licking and sucking the male sex organ
 Number of Participants
 Triolism – three participants in one sexual activity
 Pluralism – also called “sexual festival” where there are several participants
 Part of the Body
 Frottage – rubbing or sex organ to the body parts of the partner to achieve gratification
 Partialism – sexual libido on any part of the body of a sexual partner
 Uranism – sexual happiness is attained thru the licking of partner’sbody(holding the
breast/fingering of genital)
 Sodomy – insertion or penetration of the penis or object to the anus of the partner
 Sexual Reversal
 Fetishism – sexual enjoyment is achieved by looking at some body parts, underwear or any objects
associated with the partner
 Homosexuality – sexual behavior is towards the same sex
 Transvetism – sexual satisfaction is achieved by wearing the apparel or underwear of the opposite
sex
 Sexual Urge
 Nymphomania – sexual desire of a woman to have sex
 Satyriasis – sexual urge of a woman to have sex
 Visual Stimulus
 Scoptophilia – sexual behavior characterized by watching undress or nude people especially during
sexual activity
 Voyeurism – sexual gratification is obtained thru watching person doing something which might
undress herself in a private area. The maniac is called Peeping Tom who usually masturbates
while doing his sexual behavior.
 Other Sexual Abnormalities
 Coprolalia – sexual happiness is attained by using obscene language while having sexual
intercourse.
 Don Juanism – act of seducing women without permanency of sexual partner
 Exhibitionism – indecent exposure of sex organ ot other people
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

Important Terms
 Criminogenic Process – Explain human behavior and the experiences, which help determine the nature of a
person’s personality as a reacting mechanism; that factors of experiences in connection thereto infringe
differentially upon different personalities, producing conflict, which is the aspect of crime.
 Criminal Psychodynamic – the study of mental processes of criminals in action; the study genesis,
development, and motivation of human behavior that conflicts with accepted norms and standard of society; this
study concentrates on individuals as opposed to general studies of mass populations with respect to their
criminal behavior.
 Cultural Conflicts – A clash between societies because of contrary beliefs or substantial variance in their
respective customs, language, institutions, habits, learning, tradition, etc.
 Dementia Praecox – A collective term of mental disorders that begin at, or shortly after puberty and usually
lead to general failure of the mental faculties, with the corresponding physiological impairment.
 Delusion – In medical jurisprudence, a false belief about self, caused by morbidity, present in paranoia
and dementia praecox.
 Episodic Criminal – A non-criminal person who commits a crime when under extreme emotional stress; a
person who breaks down and commits a crime as a single incident during the regular course of natural and
normal events.
 Erotomania – A morbid propensity to love or make love; uncontrollable sexual desire, or excessive sexual
craving by members of either sex.
 Inheritance – The transmission of physical characteristics, mental traits, tendency to disease, etc., from
parents to offspring. In genetics, the tendency manifested by an organism to develop in the likeness of a
progenitor due to the transmission of genes in the productive process.
 Hereditary – Have been believed to share about equally in determining disposition that is, whether cheerful or
gloomy, his temperament, and his nervous stability.
 Hallucination – is the act of seeing of hearing something which does not actually exist
 Kleptomaniac – an uncontrollable morbid propensity to steal or pathological stealing. The symptoms of this
disease usually consist of peculiar motives for stealing and hoarding.
 Masochism – A condition of sexual perversion in which a person derives pleasure from being
dominated or cruelly treated.
 Melancholia – A mental disorder characterized by excessive brooding and depression of spirits; typical
of manic depressive psychosis.
 Megalomania – A mental disorder in which the subject thinks himself great or exalted.
 Necrophilism – Morbid craving, usually of an erotic nature for dead bodies. It is also a form of
perversion where sexual gratifications are achieved either through sexual intercourse with, or mutilation
of the dead body.
 Anthropology – It is the science devoted to the study of mankind and its development in relation to its
physical, mental and cultural history.
 Auto Phobia – It is a morbid fear of one’s self, or of being alone.
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 Biometry – In criminology, a measuring or calculating of the probable duration of human life; the
attempt to correlate the frequency of crime between parents and children or brothers and sisters
(siblings).
 Biosocial Behavior – A person’s biological heritage, plus his environment and social heritage,
Influence his social activity. It is through the reciprocal actions of his biological and social heritages that a
person’s personality is developed.
 Logomacy – A statement that we would have no crime if we had no criminal law, and that we could eliminate
all crime merely by abolishing all criminal laws.
 Cretinism – A disease associated with prenatal thyroid deficiency and subsequent thyroid inactivity, marked
by physical deformities, arrested development, goiter, and various forms of mental retardation,
including imbecility.
 Crime Statistics – A reported instance of a crime recorded in a systematic classification.
 Euthanasia – It signifies the release from life given sufferer from an incurable and painful disease.
 Alienist – This is a term applied to a specialist in the study of mental disorders sometimes
interchangeably used with psychiatrist.

Visit this site: https://youtu.be/OdAi-rWu0CI for additional information.

We had just finished the discussion on Theories of crime in 20 th century Let’s

move on to the next higher level of activities or exercise/s that demonstrate
your potential skills/knowledge of what you have learned.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

V. ANALYSIS, APPLICATION AND EXPLORATION

ACTIVITY 1

Directions: Determine the aspects of behaviors with the words from the box. Write on the space before the number.
Psychosexual emotional Intellectual
Attitude/Value Voluntary of Involuntary Moral

1. It concerns to our state of being whether man or woman.

2. It pertains to conscience whether the action done is good or bad.
3. It pertains to mental processes such as decision making, reasoning and solving problems,
4. It concerns with our feelings, moods, temper.
5. It pertains to our likes and dislikes or our interest toward something

ACTIVITY 2

Directions: Match the type Phobia in Column A with the object it fears in Column B.

COLUMN A COLUMN B
1. Mysophobia a. Storms/Lightning
2. Pyrophobia b. Closed Places
3. Monophobia c. Blood
4. Pathophobia d. Water
5. Hematophobia e. Being Alone
6. Ocholophobia f. Darkness
7. Claustrophobia g. Crowds
8. Hydrophobia h. Disease
9. Astrophobia i. Fire
10. Nyctophobia j. Contamination/germs
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

Finally, let us summarize the lesson of what we had discussed today.

VI. GENERALIZATION

Essay: As a review, explain: The importance of criminal psychology in the area of law enforcement
based on your understanding. Discuss in 3-5 sentences.

10 POINT RUBRIC*
*What is a rubric? It is a scoring guide. It provides well-defined criteria from which learners can improve their
performance.

Level Description Score

 Well written and very organized.
 Excellent grammar mechanics.
OUTSTANDING  Clear and concise statements. 9-10
 Excellent effort and presentation with detail.
 Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic.
 Writes fairly clear.
 Good grammar mechanics.
GOOD
 Good presentation and organization. 7-8
 Sufficient effort and detail
 Minimal effort.
 Good grammar mechanics.
FAIR
 Fair presentation. 6
 Few supporting details.
 Somewhat unclear.
 Shows little effort.
POOR  Poor grammar mechanics. 5
 Confusing and choppy, incomplete sentences.
 No organization of thoughts.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

KUDOS!

You have come to an end of Module 5. OOPS! Don’t

forget that you have still an assignment to do.

VII. ASSIGNMENT

Name: Year & Section:

Direction: Complete the definition of the given words by filling in the blanks with the correct words. Choices
are at the bottom of the page.

1. Masochism – A condition of perversion in which a person derives pleasure from being

dominated or cruelly treated.
2. Delusion – In medical jurisprudence, a false belief about self, caused by morbidity, present in paranoia
and praecox.
3. Cultural Conflicts – A clash between societies because of contrary or substantial
variance in their respective customs, language, institutions, habits, learning, tradition, etc.
4. Inheritance – The of physical characteristics, mental traits, tendency to disease, etc., from
parents to offspring. In genetics, the tendency manifested by an organism to develop in the likeness of a
progenitor due to the transmission of genes in the productive process.
5. Kleptomaniac – an uncontrollable morbid propensity to steal or pathological . The
symptoms of this disease usually consist of peculiar motives for stealing and hoarding.

Dementia
Transmission
uncontrollable
beliefs
stealing
sexual
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology

After your long journey of reading and accomplishing the module, let us
now challenge your mind by answering the evaluation part of this
module.

VIII. EVALUATION

Name: Year & Section:

Direction: Read the sentences below and choose the letter of the word asked/ described in each.
1. What aspect of behavior pertains to our likes and dislikes or our interest toward something?
A. Moral
B. Intellectual
C. Emotional
D. Attitude/Value
2. What aspect of behavior pertains to the concerns with our feelings, moods, temper?
A. Moral
B. Intellectual
C. Emotional
D. Attitude/Value
3. What aspect of behavior pertains to mental processes such as decision making, reasoning and solving problems?
A. Moral
B. Intellectual
C. Emotional
D. Attitude/Value
4. What aspect of behavior pertains to conscience whether the action done is good or bad?
A. Moral
B. Intellectual
C. Emotional
D. Attitude/Value
5. It is a type of phobia with an extreme irrational fear of blood.
A. Pyrophobia
B. Hydrophobia
C. Astrophobia
D. Hematophobia
6. It is a type of phobia with an extreme irrational fear of fire.
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Module 5: Criminal Psychology
A. Pyrophobia
B. Hydrophobia
C. Astrophobia
D. Hematophobia
7. It is an extreme irrational fear of storms/lighting.
A. Pyrophobia
B. Hydrophobia
C. Astrophobia
D. Hematophobia
8. It signifies the release from life given sufferer from an incurable and painful disease.
A. Euthanasia
B. Alienist
C. Cretinism
D. Crime statistics
9. This is a term applied to a specialist in the study of mental disorders sometimes interchangeably used with
psychiatrist?
A. Euthanasia
B. Alienist
C. Cretinism
D. Crime statistics
10. It is a disease associated with prenatal thyroid deficiency and subsequent thyroid inactivity, marked by physical
deformities, arrested development, goiter, and various forms of mental retardation, including imbecility?
A. Euthanasia
B. Alienist
C. Cretinism
D. Crime statistics
(This evaluation will be submitted on .)

CONGRATULATIONS on reaching the end of this module!

You may now proceed to the next module.

Don’t forget to submit all the exercises, activities and portfolio on .

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Well Done!!!