This mini-lesson covers the OCR Criminal Psychology topic: what makes someone a criminal, the social learning theory of criminality, a biological explanation, the Cooper and Mackie core study on video games and aggression, and ways to reduce criminal behaviour.
Work through each screen, answer the questions as you go and collect ⭐ stars. Every fact here is anchored to a named study or theory on the OCR GCSE Psychology (J203) Criminal Psychology topic. Press Start when you're ready.
Criminal psychology · what is crime
What makes a criminal?
OCR asks what makes someone commit crime. Explanations fall into two broad camps:
Nature (biological) — genes, brain differences or personality may make crime more likely.
Nurture (social) — crime is learned from the environment, family, peers or media.
What counts as a crime also varies across cultures and time.
Quick check
Nature or nurture?
?Explaining crime by saying it is learned from watching others and the environment is which type of explanation?
Criminal psychology · SLT
Social learning theory of criminality
The social learning theory (SLT), developed from Bandura's work, says criminal behaviour is learned by observation:
We observe role models and imitate their behaviour, especially high-status or similar models.
Behaviour that is rewarded is more likely to be copied (vicarious reinforcement).
So children can learn aggressive or criminal behaviour from family, peers or media.
Quick check
Vicarious reinforcement
?In social learning theory, seeing a model rewarded for a behaviour makes you more likely to copy it. This is called:
Criminal psychology · Cooper & Mackie
Cooper and Mackie's core study
The OCR core study here is Cooper and Mackie (1986), on video games and aggression in children:
Children either played or watched an aggressive video game, a non-aggressive video game, or a non-video control game.
They were then observed in free play.
Children showed more aggressive play after the aggressive game than after the other conditions — an effect that was clearest for girls.
This supported the idea that aggression can be learned from aggressive media, backing social learning theory.
Sort it
Sort the criminal-psychology ideas
Tap a term, then tap the group it belongs to.
🔁 General idea
🌍 Social/nurture explanation
🧬 Biological/nature explanation
Quick check
Cooper and Mackie's finding
?Cooper and Mackie's video-game study supports the idea that aggressive behaviour can be:
Criminal psychology · biology & treatment
Biological explanation & reducing crime
OCR also considers a biological explanation and ways to reduce crime:
Biological explanation: genes, brain differences or an over-aroused nervous system may raise the risk of criminal behaviour.
Reducing crime: a token economy rewards good behaviour with tokens exchangeable for privileges.
Other approaches include anger management and restorative programmes that change how offenders think and behave.
Match it
Match the criminal-psychology idea
Tap a description on the left, then its matching term on the right.
Statement
Answer
Quick check
Reducing crime
?A prison rewards cooperative behaviour with tokens that can be swapped for privileges. This is a:
Criminal psychology · evaluating SLT
Evaluating social learning theory
SLT has clear strengths and limits:
Strength: Cooper and Mackie's controlled study supports aggression being learned from media.
Weakness: it may ignore biological factors in crime.
Weakness: controlled lab studies like this can lack real-world validity.
Criminal psychology · applying it
Applying criminal psychology
These ideas have real uses:
Understanding SLT suggests limiting exposure to aggressive role models.
Token economies and anger management aim to change behaviour.
Recognising crime is partly learned shapes how we try to prevent it.
Recap
The big ideas to know
What makes a criminal: nature (biology) vs nurture (learning)
Social learning theory: crime learned by observation and imitation; vicarious reinforcement
Core study — Cooper & Mackie (1986): children showed more aggressive play after an aggressive video game (effect clearest in girls)
Biological: genes, brain differences, over-aroused nervous system
Reducing crime: token economy, anger management
You've covered the OCR Criminal Psychology topic — SLT, Cooper and Mackie and treatments. Press Finish to see your score.
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