Psychology, Crime, and "Modeling"

Key points

Human beings, as a species, are highly imitative.

We tend especially to imitate those who appear to gain power, status, and reward for their actions.

Mass media provides us with many such examples, not all of them good for society or for ourselves.

In previous posts of the Forensic View and elsewhere (e.g., Sharps, 2024), we have seen that violence and criminal behavior can be promoted by certain forms of brain damage, as well as by the desire for gain, and that the “good” nature believed by many people to be inherent in the human species is no guarantee against criminal violence. But what other psychological factors, outside the prospect of gain, can promote violent or criminal behavior, especially when all the perpetrator is likely to gain from such behavior is a prison