Antisocial and Violent Behaviours
Lecture 1: Introduction
Behavioural neuroscience
“If neuroscience is to shed light on psychopathology, it is imperative that we improve our
phenotyping instruments. As behavioural neuroscientists have known for many years, the
success in elucidating the neural underpinning of a given behaviour depends to a great degree
on how carefully and specifically the behaviour is described.”(Nelson and Jeste, 2008, p.
157)
Research must be accurate in identifying subgroups within those likely to offend
Many differences e.g. psychological profiles, neurological differences, environmental
differences +6
Must be clear on the phenotype – presentation/characteristics
Case studies
Looking out for – lack of remorse, animal cruelty, response to punishment may be
difficult to work with because of these features (CU traits)
Can they form relationships, regulating emotions, instrumental vs reactive etc? CD
without CU
CU = core features of adult psychopathy
Profiles quite different between cases
Context
Most violent crimes are committed by a small group of men who show an early onset
and life-long pattern of antisocial behaviour
Around 5% of men are responsible for over half of the crimes in the UK
Definitions
Antisocial behaviour behaviour by a person which causes or is likely to cause
harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the
person (generic/not necessarily aggressive)
Aggressive behaviour Aggressive behaviour is a multifaceted construct that may
be expressed behaviourally in many ways
200 different definitions of aggression have been proposed within literature (Parrott &
Giancola, 2007)
‘any form of behaviour directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living
being who is motivated to avoid such treatment’ (Baron & Richardson, 1994; p. 7).
Forms and functions of aggression
Subtypes that differ based on their form (i.e., the ‘whats’) or their specific ‘function
(i.e., the ‘whys’ or motives)
Little, Henrich, Jones, & Hawley (2003)
Form:
direct versus indirect (Buss, 1961)
, overt versus covert (Buss, 1995)
physical versus verbal (Buss, 1961)
overt versus relational (Crick, Casas, & Mosher, 1997)
Function/motive: reactive vs proactive (also referred to as instrumental, predatory,
premeditated, offensive)
Instrumental vs reactive
Instrumental aggression:
purposeful and goal-directed
unprovoked and typically involves planning, forethought and is undertaken to achieve
a particular desired goal
Roots in social learning theory (Bandura, 1973) operant conditioning
Likelihood will use again is increased if rewarded
ASPD and psychopathy only psychiatric disorders where instrumental aggression is a
core trait
associated with traits of callousness, coldness, and a lack of empathy towards victims,
and with a low level of autonomic arousal
Reactive aggression:
elicited in response to frustration or a threatening event
frequently associated with anger
roots in the frustration–aggression model (Berkowitz, 1993)
Emotionally charged
Seen in several internalising (e.g., depression, PTSD) and externalising disorders
(conduct disorder, ADHD)
Aggressive behaviour vs violence
Violence is:
According to Anderson and Bushman (2002) ‘aggression that has extreme harm as its
goal’ (p. 29)
For Balckburn (2003), ‘the forceful infliction of physical injury’ (p.53).
considered as a severe, life-threatening physically aggressive behaviour
intention to harm someone
Violent offending
Violent offending is a subcategory of violence and refers to acts of violence that lead
to convictions under criminal law
Many acts of violence not reported etc. – not ‘criminal’ because not in the stats
Some studies have defined a violent offence/offender status on the basis of:
the index offence alone (i.e., the offence for which the person was taken into custody)
the whole criminal history
self-report
idiosyncratic codes (own scheme/code) – can be problematic for
consistency/reliability
,Crime and crime data
Any form of human behaviour that is designated by the law as criminal and subject to
a penal sanction
The ‘looking glasses of crime’
Defining: - Actual crime
- Official crime
- Dark figure
Dark figure of crime: The amount of crime that is unreported or unknown. The total
amount of crime in a community consists of crimes that are known or recorded and
the dark figure of crime. E.g., partner violence.
Official Sources
‘reality is merely an appearance of something more real’ (Darrell Huff, 1954)
Crime funnel
It is useful to consider the criminal justice system as a large funnel
At the wide mouth of the funnel are all the crimes committed in society, including
every murder, rape, burglary, insurance fraud, shoplifting, and car theft.
high validity, low reliability
High reliability but low validity
Conviction
Persistent offenders
A small group of males is responsible for the majority of (violent) crimes that are
committed by men
Early-onset conduct disorder in psychiatry/psychology
Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM-5) in adulthood only psychiatric disorder
with childhood antecedent (CD by age 15)
Referred to as ‘Life-course’ persistent offenders in criminology (Moffitt, 1993) –
important paper
Well-replicated findings across Western countries different CJS, education and
healthcare systems
U.S. - Wolfgang and colleagues (1972)
Sweden - Kratzer and Hodgins (1999)
, England - Farrington and West (1993)
New Zealand - Moffitt (1993)
Risk factors for prevalence of persistent offending
Male
Living in an inner city
Low social class
Lone or step parents,
Criminal parents
Poor parental supervision
Delinquent friends
Bullying
Truancy
Excluded from school
Low achievement
Regular drinking
- Cumulative effects
- But around half of people
with these risk factors do not become offenders/antisocial behaviour
interesting to study these people too e.g. resilience
Diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD)
CD is characterized by "a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the
basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are
violated“, resulting in a clinically significant impairment in functioning
Includes:
Aggression to people and animals (overt)
Destruction of property (overt)
Deceitfulness and theft (covert)
Violation of rules (covert)
DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for CD
- Present for at last 6 months
- So many features – thousands of possibilities / could be more covert or overt
- More symptoms = more severity
Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidate others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim
has forced someone into sexual activity
Destruction of property
Lecture 1: Introduction
Behavioural neuroscience
“If neuroscience is to shed light on psychopathology, it is imperative that we improve our
phenotyping instruments. As behavioural neuroscientists have known for many years, the
success in elucidating the neural underpinning of a given behaviour depends to a great degree
on how carefully and specifically the behaviour is described.”(Nelson and Jeste, 2008, p.
157)
Research must be accurate in identifying subgroups within those likely to offend
Many differences e.g. psychological profiles, neurological differences, environmental
differences +6
Must be clear on the phenotype – presentation/characteristics
Case studies
Looking out for – lack of remorse, animal cruelty, response to punishment may be
difficult to work with because of these features (CU traits)
Can they form relationships, regulating emotions, instrumental vs reactive etc? CD
without CU
CU = core features of adult psychopathy
Profiles quite different between cases
Context
Most violent crimes are committed by a small group of men who show an early onset
and life-long pattern of antisocial behaviour
Around 5% of men are responsible for over half of the crimes in the UK
Definitions
Antisocial behaviour behaviour by a person which causes or is likely to cause
harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the
person (generic/not necessarily aggressive)
Aggressive behaviour Aggressive behaviour is a multifaceted construct that may
be expressed behaviourally in many ways
200 different definitions of aggression have been proposed within literature (Parrott &
Giancola, 2007)
‘any form of behaviour directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living
being who is motivated to avoid such treatment’ (Baron & Richardson, 1994; p. 7).
Forms and functions of aggression
Subtypes that differ based on their form (i.e., the ‘whats’) or their specific ‘function
(i.e., the ‘whys’ or motives)
Little, Henrich, Jones, & Hawley (2003)
Form:
direct versus indirect (Buss, 1961)
, overt versus covert (Buss, 1995)
physical versus verbal (Buss, 1961)
overt versus relational (Crick, Casas, & Mosher, 1997)
Function/motive: reactive vs proactive (also referred to as instrumental, predatory,
premeditated, offensive)
Instrumental vs reactive
Instrumental aggression:
purposeful and goal-directed
unprovoked and typically involves planning, forethought and is undertaken to achieve
a particular desired goal
Roots in social learning theory (Bandura, 1973) operant conditioning
Likelihood will use again is increased if rewarded
ASPD and psychopathy only psychiatric disorders where instrumental aggression is a
core trait
associated with traits of callousness, coldness, and a lack of empathy towards victims,
and with a low level of autonomic arousal
Reactive aggression:
elicited in response to frustration or a threatening event
frequently associated with anger
roots in the frustration–aggression model (Berkowitz, 1993)
Emotionally charged
Seen in several internalising (e.g., depression, PTSD) and externalising disorders
(conduct disorder, ADHD)
Aggressive behaviour vs violence
Violence is:
According to Anderson and Bushman (2002) ‘aggression that has extreme harm as its
goal’ (p. 29)
For Balckburn (2003), ‘the forceful infliction of physical injury’ (p.53).
considered as a severe, life-threatening physically aggressive behaviour
intention to harm someone
Violent offending
Violent offending is a subcategory of violence and refers to acts of violence that lead
to convictions under criminal law
Many acts of violence not reported etc. – not ‘criminal’ because not in the stats
Some studies have defined a violent offence/offender status on the basis of:
the index offence alone (i.e., the offence for which the person was taken into custody)
the whole criminal history
self-report
idiosyncratic codes (own scheme/code) – can be problematic for
consistency/reliability
,Crime and crime data
Any form of human behaviour that is designated by the law as criminal and subject to
a penal sanction
The ‘looking glasses of crime’
Defining: - Actual crime
- Official crime
- Dark figure
Dark figure of crime: The amount of crime that is unreported or unknown. The total
amount of crime in a community consists of crimes that are known or recorded and
the dark figure of crime. E.g., partner violence.
Official Sources
‘reality is merely an appearance of something more real’ (Darrell Huff, 1954)
Crime funnel
It is useful to consider the criminal justice system as a large funnel
At the wide mouth of the funnel are all the crimes committed in society, including
every murder, rape, burglary, insurance fraud, shoplifting, and car theft.
high validity, low reliability
High reliability but low validity
Conviction
Persistent offenders
A small group of males is responsible for the majority of (violent) crimes that are
committed by men
Early-onset conduct disorder in psychiatry/psychology
Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM-5) in adulthood only psychiatric disorder
with childhood antecedent (CD by age 15)
Referred to as ‘Life-course’ persistent offenders in criminology (Moffitt, 1993) –
important paper
Well-replicated findings across Western countries different CJS, education and
healthcare systems
U.S. - Wolfgang and colleagues (1972)
Sweden - Kratzer and Hodgins (1999)
, England - Farrington and West (1993)
New Zealand - Moffitt (1993)
Risk factors for prevalence of persistent offending
Male
Living in an inner city
Low social class
Lone or step parents,
Criminal parents
Poor parental supervision
Delinquent friends
Bullying
Truancy
Excluded from school
Low achievement
Regular drinking
- Cumulative effects
- But around half of people
with these risk factors do not become offenders/antisocial behaviour
interesting to study these people too e.g. resilience
Diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD)
CD is characterized by "a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the
basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are
violated“, resulting in a clinically significant impairment in functioning
Includes:
Aggression to people and animals (overt)
Destruction of property (overt)
Deceitfulness and theft (covert)
Violation of rules (covert)
DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for CD
- Present for at last 6 months
- So many features – thousands of possibilities / could be more covert or overt
- More symptoms = more severity
Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidate others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim
has forced someone into sexual activity
Destruction of property
