Chapter 5- IQ and Crime - Dr. Brie Diamond PDF

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Dr. Brie Diamond...

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Chapter 5- Intelligence and Crime Link  Crime and intelligence have assumed to have been linked in some way for a long time  Early tests and measures were flawed Henry Goddard  First theorist to look at this connection  Claimed there was a gene that was linked with a lack of intelligence o He called it “feeble mindedness” o Described as an IQ below 75 o Passed down from parents to child  Studied Martin Kallikak o Married, had a great family that was well behaved o Had an illegitimate family who had a lot of trouble o Claimed that he and his wife did not contain this gene, but that his mistress did, which explained the differences in their behavior  Proposed solutions o Should sterilize unintelligent people o Or colonize them and quarantine them from the rest of society so they cannot procreate with intelligent people Ways we measure intelligence – in the past  Analogies o Requires multiple backgrounds of knowledge to answer o Culturally, racially, and class biased Ways we measure intelligence – now  Picking out patterns  These are not cultural that can measure intelligence  Not biased by history, class, etc. Correlation between intelligence and criminal behavior  First have to look at the general population  Intelligence isn’t very malleable o It’s strongly heritable Hirschi and Hindelang  IQ score predicts academic performance which predicts crime proneness  IQ and crime is correlated and is mediated by academic performance  Doesn’t completely explain this link o IQ still has a correlation with crime even when controlled for academic performance  IQ has nothing to do with crime, it’s all about academic performance General facts and thoughts about crime and intelligence  General population average IQ is 90  Inmates average IQ is 90  Some say “oh well you catch the dumb ones”

o This is not true o Research shows that people with criminal records and people who offend but are not caught have similar, lower IQs Current research  New research is looking at macro level IQ (a country’s, state’s or county’s average IQ) and crime rates in the area o Countries with lower IQs have more crime  Research in prisons o Inmates with lower IQs were more likely to engage in violent acts o What is the likelihood of someone committing a crime in prison given the IQ of others around them  The chance of someone committing violent crimes in prison is significantly increased if the unit he’s surrounded by is lower  A broader definition of intelligence is reacting to a situation by evaluating possible outcomes and choosing the best one o Intelligence is NOT just book smarts, its social smarts  People who have a harder time engaging in group settings are more likely to commit crime Labeling perspective  IQ as a social label  SES  crime proneness Spurious relationship  SES can explain IQ score and crime proneness Social Determinism  SES  IQ scores  crime proneness So, does intelligence matter?  Yes, because the average IQ is lower in inmates than the general population  Intelligence is a predictor for crime  The lower your IQ is, the more likely you are to engage in crime  It’s not the CAUSE of crime, but it plays a role...