In the past few years, there have been several studies on psychopathic personalities. Psychopathology has always been considered a psychological theory of crime. With these new studies (where they have tested the firing neurons in the brain), there is now a controversy over whether a psychopath would fall under the category of a psychological or biological theory.

For example, one study showed incarcerated psychopaths a series of slides that showed not only photos of happy families and pleasant landscapes but also photos of gruesome crime scenes. It was noted that in what was deemed the normal population, the neurons fired in several sections of the brain when the pleasant photos were shown and in a different section when the gruesome photos were shown. In the psychopathic population, all neurons fired in the same area of the brain.

Primary Task Response: Write 400600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

    Do you think psychopaths are more likely to exhibit violent criminal behavior? Why or why not?
        What factors could increase the likelihood that a psychopathic individual will engage in criminal behavior? Explain.
        What factors do you think could reduce the likelihood that a psychopathic individual will engage in criminal behavior? Explain.
    Do you believe that the person who is deemed a psychopath would fall under a psychological theory or a biological theory? Why or why not? Explain your rationale.
    Should this make a difference in the incarceration of this person? Why or why not? Explain.

A general strain theory was proposed by Robert Agnew. In this theory, he proposed that strain did not arise when people had a failure to meet the American Dream, but that everyone, in every social class, had frustrations in his or her daily life.

Most strain theorists listed failure to achieve goals as a major strain precipitator. Agnew had identified two additional sources of strain: presentation of noxious stimuli and removal of positively valued stimuli. Examples of presentation of noxious stimuli would be an abusive parent, an overly critical instructor, and an overly demanding employer. Examples of the removal of positively valued stimuli would be losing a job, getting a divorce, and filing for bankruptcy.

Primary Task Response: Write 400600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

    Create a scenario that would fall under the strain theory.
    In the scenario, provide an explanation of each of the following:
        The loss of the major goal
        The presentation of the noxious stimuli
        The removal of the positively valued stimuli
    When you have these 3 inputs of strain in your scenario, address the following:
        How would the person in the scenario react with criminal behavior or behavior that would not be acceptable to society? Explain.
        How could cognitive restructuring be used to prevent the person from partaking in criminal behavior? Explain.