Chapter 2: Theories Part I: Positivist, Evolutionary, Strain, Differential Association, Social Control, and Women’s Emancipation Theories

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following statements best explains the historical neglect of women’s offending?

A. Women are deemed insignificant compared to men.

B. Prison authorities are less likely to oppose research on women than on men.

C. Women make up a large percentage of prisoners.

D. Men lawbreakers are viewed as abnormal and more interesting to observe.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. According to the author, the increase in research on women prisoners and girl delinquents can be credited to ______.

A. decreasing rates of incarceration for both women and girls

B. an increase in male scholars studying crime

C. the impact of the war on drugs

D. acknowledgment of the significance of gender in studying crime and proposing theories

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following theories is considered to be more sexist than the others?

A. emancipation

B. differential association

C. social control

D. strain

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Which type of studies was grounded in the belief that biological determinism accounts for female criminality?

A. biosocial and evolutionary psychological

B. strain

C. original and positivist

D. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Original and Positivist Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The assumption that men are rational and women are driven by their biological constitutions is held by which type of approach?

A. positivist

B. strain

C. power control

D. social bond

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Original and Positivist Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Positivist approaches were informed by the assumption that ______.

A. societal characteristics are responsible for criminal behavior

B. there is an identifiable biological nature inherent in all women

C. offending women are feminine, which makes them incompetent and prone to break the law

D. the differences between male and female criminality are due to gender, not sex differences

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Original and Positivist Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Classical studies focused on ______ as the “feminine” standard.

A. lower-class women

B. minority women

C. single women

D. straight women

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Original and Positivist Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Who is often referred to as the “father” of criminology?

A. Otto Pollak

B. Sigmund Freud

C. Cesare Lombroso

D. W. I. Thomas

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. In Criminal Man (1876), Cesare Lombroso identified people of color as ______.

A. savages

B. animals

C. brutes

D. uncivilized

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The concept that views some deviant behavior as a throwback to an earlier evolutionary stage in human development is referred to as ______.

A. determinism

B. adaptation

C. classism

D. atavism

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. According to the text, Cesare Lombroso used ______ methods in his studies.

A. positivist

B. evolutionary

C. strain

D. social

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. W. I. Thomas favored which type of explanation for female criminality?

A. educational

B. economic

C. religious

D. psychological

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which individuals centered his explanations of female behavior on the belief that women are anatomically inferior to men?

A. Otto Pollak

B. Sigmund Freud

C. Cesare Lombroso

D. W. I. Thomas

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Otto Pollak portrayed ______ as the fundamental influences on female criminality.

A. biology and physiology

B. physiology and psychology

C. psychology and sociology

D. sociology and biology

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Which concept is key to the evolutionary theory approach?

A. atavism

B. sexism

C. adaptation

D. determinism

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: BSET as an Explanation of Sexual Abuse

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. According to the authors of A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion (2000), which of the following approaches is better suited to understanding the causes of rape?

A. evolutionary

B. social learning

C. positivist

D. social control

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: BSET as an Explanation of Sexual Abuse

Difficulty Level: Hard

17. Which of the following theories is used to excuse rapists while blaming biology and women and girl victims?

A. social bond theory

B. traditional strain theory

C. biosocial and evolutionary psychological

D. power control theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: BSET as an Explanation of Sexual Abuse

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. Which theorist is credited with developing traditional strain theory (TST)?

A. Robert Merton

B. Emile Durkheim

C. Cesare Lombroso

D. Sigmund Freud

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Robert Merton premised that ______ occurs when individuals are taught the same cultural goals with unequal access to attain the shared goals.

A. learning

B. strain

C. power

D. bonding

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Which of the following theories is associated with the state of normlessness?

A. anomie

B. class

C. biosocial

D. power control

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. Traditional strain theory (TST) measures strains primarily in terms of ______.

A. sex differences

B. class inequalities

C. gender differences

D. political inequalities

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Which term is rarely, if ever, applied to boys and men?

A. masculinity

B. criminality

C. delinquency

D. promiscuity

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. Albert Cohen believed that girls’ only strain is ______.

A. to find a job and maintain it

B. to produce enough income

C. to date and marry well

D. to have as many children as possible

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Traditional Strain Theory (TST)

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Which version of strain theory assumed delinquent boys, but not delinquent girls, had unequal legal opportunities to attain the “American dream?”

A. traditional strain theory

B. opportunity theory

C. general strain theory

D. anomie theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Opportunity Theory (OT)

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. ______ theory broadened the sources and types of adaptations to strains and acknowledged that goals may vary depending on an individual’s gender, race, and class.

A. General strain

B. Anomie

C. Opportunity

C. Traditional strain

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: General Strain Theory (GST)

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Which theorist attempted to move the major explanation of criminal behavior from poverty to association?

A. Otto Pollak

B. Edwin Sutherland

C. Sigmund Freud

D. Robert Merton

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Differential Association Theory (DAT)

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Which of the following was identified as a criticism of differential association theory?

A. The theory rarely addressed boys.

B. Girls were viewed as uniform and homogenous.

C. There is no differentiation of boy and girl offending.

D. Girls’ perceived tendency toward abiding the law is portrayed as positive and moral.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Differential Association Theory (DAT)

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. The feminist criticism of differential association theory centered mainly on ______.

A. the view of girls as belonging in the family

B. the treatment of girls as peripheral and insignificant to the mainstream culture

C. the decision to avoid discussing girls/women in any meaningful way

D. the lack of a gender–neutral approach

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Differential Association Theory (DAT)

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Which of the following theories is more concerned with explaining what compels most of society to abide by the law?

A. strain

B. evolutionary psychological

C. social control

D. positivist

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Social Control Theories (SCTs)

Difficulty Level: Hard

30. Which type of theories focuses on what makes people break the law?

A. biosocial theory

B. social bond theory

C. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

D. power control theory

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Control Theories (SCTs)

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Which of the following theories is associated with the examination of attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief?

A. power control theory

B. social bond theory

C. biosocial theory

C. differential association theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Social Control Theories (SCTs)

Difficulty Level: Hard

32. In his study, Travis Hirschi only analyzed data from ______.

A. White girls

B. White boys

C. African American girls

D. African American boys

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Control Theories (SCTs)

Difficulty Level: Easy

33. In his study, Travis Hirschi stratified his samples by ______.

A. school

B. religious affiliation

C. age

D. socioeconomic status

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Control Theories (SCTs)

Difficulty Level: Easy

34. Which of the following types of theories attempts to bridge classical and positivist traditions?

A. power control theory

B. biosocial theory

C. evolutionary psychological

D. general theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: A General Theory of Crime (GTC): Self-Control

Difficulty Level: Hard

35. Which of the following theories purports that self-control interacts with criminal opportunity to explain criminal/delinquent behavior?

A. social learning theory

B. power control theory

C. general theory

D. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: A General Theory of Crime (GTC): Self-Control

Difficulty Level: Hard

36. General control theory has been criticized for ______.

A. ignoring race

B. overrepresenting gender-based abuse

C. ignoring the role of power in crime

D. overrepresenting feminist research on gender divisions within families

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Theory of Crime (GTC): Self-Control

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. Which theory posits that gender power positions in the workplace impact gender power relations in the home, such that the control of youth is gender-determined, and then, so is delinquency?

A. social control theory

B. power control theory

C. social learning theory

D. biosocial theory

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power-Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Medium

38. Which of the following theories was identified as one of the first to explicitly include gender?

A. positivist theory

B. evolutionary psychological theory

C. biosocial theory

D. power control theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Hard

39. Power control theory focuses on which two loci?

A. home; workplace

B. workplace; school

C. school; church

D. church; home

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Power control theory joins which theory on research related to gender and family relationships?

A. biosocial theory

B. class theory

C. social learning theory

D. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Medium

41. Which of the following theories asserts that the gender-power makeup in the parents’ relationship influences their children’s delinquent behavior in gendered ways?

A. power control theory

B. social control theory

C. biosocial theory

D. differential association theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Hard

42. In studies associated with power control theory, researchers have found a greater gender difference in delinquency rates in ______ homes.

A. single-parent

B. egalitarian

C. patriarchal

D. unrestricted

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Medium

43. Which of the following words is often used by scholars who assess power control theories?

A. consistent

B. mixed

C. generalizable

D. accurate

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Medium

44. Which approach suggests that the feminist movement increased the female crime rate?

A. emancipation hypothesis

B. power control theory

C. general theory of crime

D. biosocial theory

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Medium

45. Which of the following is considered to be troubling assumption of women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis?

A. Feminism brings out women’s cooperativeness.

B. Crime is inherently feminine.

C. Women have lost the battle of equality.

D. Feminism makes women want to behave like men.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Hard

46. Which assumption of women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis loses credibility when faced with statistics showing that women have not achieved equality in high-paying and managerial professions?

A. Feminism brings out women’s competitiveness.

B. Women’s movement has opened up structural opportunities.

C. Women have fought and won the battle of equality.

D. Crime itself is inherently masculine.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Medium

47. The growing number of women living in poverty (with or without dependents) is referred to as the ______.

A. poverty level

B. feminization of poverty

C. rate of poverty

D. threshold of poverty

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Easy

48. Which of the following theories was considered to be very biological in nature and fraught with sexism, racism, and classism?

A. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

B. power control

C. social control

D. positivist

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Medium

49. Which type of theory, developed in the mid-1980s, has mixed support and makes sexist assumptions?

A. positivist

B. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

C. power control

D. differential association

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Hard

50. The ______ approach was based on erroneous and sexist and class assumptions about the feminist movement and statistics, and the interpretations of data were often misleading.

A. positivist

B. women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis

C. power control

D. differential association

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Most criminological theories were constructed by men and about why (some) men and boys break the law.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Atavism is a concept that views some deviant behavior as a “throwback” to an earlier evolutionary stage in human development.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Otto Pollak is often referred to as the “father” of criminology.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Sigmund Freud, in his theorizing, firmly maintained that deviants are less highly evolved than “normal” law-abiding citizens.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Madonna's were considered to be subservient, loyal, and submissive to their husbands who protected them.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909)

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. W. I. Thomas favored psychological over economic motivations to explain female criminality.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Sigmund Freud centered his explanations of female behavior on the belief that women are anatomically inferior to men.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The infamous “penis envy” approach is credited to Sigmund Freud.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: W. I. Thomas (1863–1947), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Otto Pollak (1908–1998)

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Positivists failed to see sexism in access to power, nor how this could intersect with race, class, and other characteristics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Legacies of the Positivist Theorists From the 1960s and 1970s

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Some argue that the primary legacy of the positivists in the 1990s and since is the researchers promoting the women’s liberation/emancipation hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Biosocial and Evolutionary (Psychological) Theories (BSETs)

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The concept of adaptation is key to the evolutionary theory approach.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: BSET as an Explanation of Sexual Abuse

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The biosocial and evolutionary psychological explanation of gender-based abuse does not simply fly in the face of science but of feminist.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Feminist and Other Responses to the Application of BSET to Gender-Based Abuses

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Biosocial and evolutionary psychological theories are considered to be insulting to girls and women as well as boys and men.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Feminist and Other Responses to the Application of BSET to Gender-Based Abuses

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Operant conditioning refers to how behaviors are reinforced or modified via punishment and rewards.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Learning Theory (SLT)

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Travis Hirschi’s social bonds include attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Bond Theory (SBT): Conventional Ties

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Social bond or control theory (SCT) focuses on what motivates people to obey laws.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Bond Theory (SBT): Conventional Ties

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Strain theory suggests that gender, race, age, and class differences in delinquency are due to how these characteristics are related to self-control and social control.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Theory of Crime (GTC): Self-Control

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. According to the general theory of crime, individuals with low self-control and access to opportunities to commit offenses are more prone to offend.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Theory of Crime (GTC): Self-Control

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Social bond theory was one of the first theories to explicitly include gender.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Power Control Theory (PCT): Gendered Practices of Parents and Parenting

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The emancipation hypothesis suggests that the feminist movement decreased the female crime rate.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Discuss the three explanations for the historical neglect of women’s offending.

2. What is the most important criticism of traditional strain theory (TST) applicable to gender and race?

3. How does general strain theory (GST) advance and expand earlier strain theories?

4. What are some of the criticisms of differential association theory?

5. What are some of the troubling assumptions of the women’s liberation/emancipation hypothesis (WLEH)?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Women’s Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH)

Difficulty Level: Medium