The Rational Choice Theory Essay Example

exception of a mentally ill individual who may commit a crime, people way out there pros and cons before committing the act of breaking the law. They may engaged in a cost benefit analysis of the crime, weighing out what they expect to gain against the risk they must undergo and the costs they may incur, such as prison time (criminology the core, Larry Siegel).

Rational Choice Theory generally began with consideration of the choice behavior of one or more individual decision making units; choice can be controlled through the perception and nderstanding of the potential pain or punishment that will follow an act judged to be in violation of the social good and the social contract. Control theory is referred to a person’s decision making based on their rewards and or punishment. Travis Hirschi who is a control theorist highlights that the cost of deviant behavior depends in essential ways on what you have to lose, or what he calls “stake in conformity,” and the most important part of the stake in conformity is what Hirschi called the social bond (d. umn. edu).

The social bond consists of four dimensions which include attachments, commitments, involvement, and belief. Hirschi states that out of the four dimensions belief is the least important because he argues that we all share the same moral beliefs and we are all familiar with guilt, which happens when we act against our beliefs. Deterrence, as it has become known by the criminal justice system, is not a new concept, and has been used throughout the history of man in various facts. The earliest know example of Deterrence as it relates to crime and

punishment is the Code of Hammurabi.

This ancient text was the first of its kinds, a document set forth by a ruling party which categorized crimes and their corresponding punishments. This code, carved upon a large stone slab and placed in public view, was intended to educate members of society on what is expected of their conduct and what would happen should they violate those expectations (King, 1998). The code of Hammurabi also made it clear that ignorance of the law is no excuse for its breaking, another step along the path of crime deterrence.

The concept of general deterrence is the most proactive of all as it seeks to target potential crimes before they happen. This branch of theory is a starting point in the deterrence continuum and often targets the crime in general, not the offender. One may ask how a rule deters a crime instead of a person. I believe that general deterrence does so by issuing blanket knowledge that if one commits a crime then there will be punishment. General deterrence is the going about of issuing a law and making it known that it is not permitted, and that there will be consequences should one commit such an act.

Early researcher used historic curiosity that was not based on scientific realities to come to the conclusion that criminal traits are inherited genetically. Their assumptions was premised on record of family history that was devoid of looking at other factors that may have consistently been affecting previous and subsequent generations such as environment and diet etc. The quest to identify factors affecting individual social behavior led sociobiologists to come to the conclusion that biology,

learning and environmental factors are all interrelated in forming an individual character trait.

The idea that an individual will turn to crime while another will not under the same circumstance even though they posses same physical nature or make up, raises the question and discredits the earlier assumption on the subject. Scientific research on the subject took into consideration different provable factors that create a direct correlation between individual social behavior and other denominative influences such as environment, learning and dieting.

Criminologist and sociobiologists came to the conclusion that what differentiates every individual social behavior is a factor called trait. Hence discarding the original concept on this subject in this paper, I will describe the different evolutions in two of the theories namely psychodynamics and cognitive theories. Psychodynamics can be said to be the study of the interrelationship of different parts of the personality and mind in relationship to motivational, emotional forces particularly at the stage of unconsciousness.

Previously theories have been proposed by early behavioral scientists and criminologists on this subject. It is generally acceptable to say that psychodynamics can be subdivided into two parts namely: the interaction of the motivational and emotional forces that influences behavior and mental state and emotional and motivational forces that affects behavior and the state of mind. Research on psychodynamics was initially done by individuals like Ernst von Bruke, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Aldler, Carl Jung and Melanie Klein.

Sigmund Freud’s theory on the subject has remained provable and acceptable by all criminologist and behavioral scientist. In his theory, he identified three major components of an individual character trait, namely id, ego and superego. According to Fraud, the Id comprises the unorganized part

of the personality structure that contains the basic drives. The id acts as a pleasure principle: if not compelled by reality it seeks immediate enjoyment. It is focused on selfishness and instant self-gratification.

Personality, as Freud saw it, was produced by the conflict between biological impulses and social restraints that were internalized. The Id is unconscious by definition. The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, water, sex, and basic impulses. The Ego comprises that organized part of the personality structure which includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. Conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all of the operations of the ego are conscious.

The ego differentiates what is real. It helps us to organize our thoughts and make sense of them and the world around us Then Super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt. For example: having extra-marital affairs. At the heart of psychological processes, according to Freud, is the ego, which he sees battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world. Hence, the basic psychodynamic model focuses on the interactions between the id, ego, and superego.

Psychodynamics, subsequently, attempts to explain or interpret behavior or mental states in terms of hidden processes that controls behavior. Psychodynamics identifies how the deficiencies of any of these factors can influence negative changes in social behavior of an individual. Cognitive trait theory deals with individual perception of concepts or events. It is the picture of the world in the eyes of every individual. Cognitive theorists use this concept to explain the morality or perhaps what action is morally justifiable in the

eyes of every individual.

This is one theory that explains actions like suicide or other mass murder crimes and how the perpetrators find justifications for their actions. Error in cognitive tendencies has been used to explain the rationalities of individual that abuses children or their spouse. Today, cognitive theory involves other subdivisions. The humanistic psychology talks about individual self weakness, and individual response to feelings. Information-process theory deals with how individuals receive information, store, encode, retrieve, and process the information to take a decision.

In conclusion Rational Choice and Deterrence are similar because it is based on an individual thought process and choices. Why psychodynamics deals with motivations and emotional forces that drive individuals subconsciously, Cognitive theory deals with perceptions. One can draw similarities here and say that what drives emotions is perception and motivations are fueled by individual values and thought process. Though how each of these concepts affect individual character trait differs, they are as well interdependent.