How do biological, individual and social factors explain criminal behaviour, and how is it tackled?
Criminal behaviours (Section A): biological, individual and social explanations of criminality, and one intervention used to reduce reoffending.
A focused answer to WJEC A-Level Psychology Unit 3 on criminal behaviours: biological, individual and social explanations of criminality, and one intervention used to reduce reoffending.
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What this dot point is asking
For criminal behaviours you must give a biological, an individual, and a social explanation of criminality, and describe one intervention used to reduce offending or reoffending. The biological level links neatly to Raine et al. (1997) from Unit 1, and the moral-reasoning angle links to Kohlberg from Unit 2.
Biological explanation
This explanation has twin, adoption and brain-imaging support, but it is deterministic and reductionist, the evidence is correlational, and it cannot explain why most people with these factors never offend.
Individual explanation
The individual explanation focuses on personality, cognition and learning. Some accounts link offending to personality traits (such as impulsivity or low empathy). Cognitive factors include faulty thinking and cognitive distortions, lower moral reasoning (linking to Kohlberg's pre-conventional stage) and poor self-control. By operant conditioning, crime is maintained when it brings rewards (money, status) without effective punishment. This explanation supports cognitive-behavioural treatment, but traits and thinking are shaped by the environment too, so it overlaps with the social level.
Social explanation
The social explanation argues offending is learned and shaped by the environment. Social learning theory says criminal behaviour is modelled and imitated from family, peers and gangs, especially when rewarded. Differential association (Sutherland) adds that we learn pro-criminal attitudes and techniques from those we associate with. Labelling can entrench offending (a "criminal" identity becomes self-fulfilling), and social conditions such as poverty and poor opportunity increase risk. This explanation fits the strong link between environment and offending, but it cannot explain why some people in criminogenic environments do not offend.
Therapy or intervention
Interventions include cognitive-behavioural offender programmes (such as anger management and structured offending-behaviour programmes) that target the faulty thinking, attitudes and poor self-control behind offending, and token economies in custody that reinforce pro-social behaviour. Restorative and reintegration approaches address the social causes.
Examples in context
Example 1. Differential association in a peer group. A young person who joins a delinquent peer group learns both the attitudes ("everyone does it") and the techniques of offending, and is rewarded with status, illustrating the social explanation.
Example 2. Raine's brain findings. Reduced prefrontal functioning in violent offenders (Raine et al. 1997) supports the biological explanation but, as Raine cautioned, does not prove biology alone causes crime, reinforcing an interactionist view.
Try this
Q1. Name one type of study that supports a genetic contribution to criminality. [1 mark]
- Cue. Twin studies (or adoption studies), which show some concordance for offending.
Q2. Outline the differential association explanation of criminal behaviour. [3 marks]
- Cue. We learn pro-criminal attitudes and techniques from the people we associate with, so offending is more likely when those associations are pro-crime.
Q3. Explain one strength and one weakness of a cognitive-behavioural offender programme. [4 marks]
- Cue. Strength: targets the thinking and skills behind offending, with evidence of reduced reoffending. Weakness: depends on engagement and skills may not transfer outside the institution.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC specimen8 marksDescribe one biological and one social explanation of criminal behaviour.Show worked answer →
WJEC rewards two clearly distinct, developed explanations.
Biological: criminality may have a genetic component (twin and adoption studies show some concordance), and may be linked to brain differences (such as reduced prefrontal functioning, as in Raine et al. 1997) and to neurochemical and hormonal factors. The claim is a biological predisposition to offending.
Social: social learning theory argues criminal behaviour is learned by observing and imitating models (family, peers, gangs) and is reinforced when it brings rewards. Differential association adds that we learn pro-criminal attitudes from those around us, and labelling and social conditions can entrench offending.
A strong answer keeps the explanations separate and uses terms such as concordance, prefrontal, modelling, reinforcement and differential association.
WJEC specimen12 marksDiscuss interventions used to reduce criminal behaviour or reoffending.Show worked answer →
WJEC rewards a discussion of at least one intervention with strengths and weaknesses and a conclusion.
Describe an intervention, for example a cognitive-behavioural offender programme (such as anger management or offending-behaviour programmes) that targets the faulty thinking, poor self-control and attitudes behind offending, or a token economy in custody that reinforces pro-social behaviour.
Evaluate: cognitive-behavioural programmes can reduce reoffending by changing thinking and skills, with supporting evidence, but require engagement and may not transfer outside the institution. Token economies improve behaviour inside but effects often fade on release.
Conclude that interventions work best when they address the multiple causes of offending and support reintegration. Markers reward developed evaluation and a judgement.
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Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCE Psychology specification (from 2015) — WJEC (2015)