Key Terms:
Attachment: The bond between parent and child or between individuals and their family, friends, and school.
Behavioral Modeling: Learning how to behave by fashioning one’s behavior after that of others.
Biocriminology: The sub-discipline of criminology that investigates biological and genetic factors and their relation to criminal behavior.
Chromosomes: Basic cellular structures containing genes, i.e., biological material that creates individuality.
Conditioning: The process of developing a behavior pattern through a series of repeated experiences.
Cortical Arousal: Activation of the cerebral cortex, a structure of the brain that is responsible for higher intellectual functioning, information processing, and decision making.
Differential Association- Reinforcement: A theory of criminality based on the incorporation of psychological learning theory and differential association with social learning theory. Criminal behavior, the theory claims, is learned through associations and is contained or discontinued as a result of positive or negative reinforcements.
Dizygotic (DZ) Twins: Fraternal twins, who develop from 2 separate eggs fertilized at the same time.
Ego: The part of the psyche that, according to psychoanalytic theory, governs rational behavior; the moderator between the id and the superego.
Extroversion: According to Hans Eysenck, a dimension of the human personality; describes individuals who are sensation-seeking, dominant, and assertive.
Fundamental Psycholegal Error: An error in thinking or mistaken belief that that occurs when we identify a cause for criminal behavior and then assume that it naturally follows that any behavior resulting from that “cause” must be excused by law.
Hypoglycemia: A condition that may occur in susceptible individuals when the level of blood sugar falls below an acceptable range, causing anxiety, headaches, confusion, fatigue, and aggressive behavior.