Words and deeds in the study of stealing

Farrington, David P.; Knapp, William S.; Erickson, Bonnie E.; Knight, Barry J.

doi:10.1016/s0140-1971(80)80011-x

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Future research should include more observational and experimental work, as it may be that verbal reports of thieving do not correspond with actual behavior (Farrington, Knapp, Erickson, & Knight, 1980). It would be interesting to investigate the Dark Triad in relation to actual opportunistic thieving in a laboratory experiment, varying the probability of detection as well as opportunities for social interaction (Falk & Fischbacher, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dark Triad, Tramps, and Thieves

Lyons

Jonason

2015

Journal of Individual Differences

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Abstract. Although previous research has demonstrated a link between personality and thieving, research has not yet considered individual differences in impulsivity and the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and commonplace, low-level thefts. In this on-line questionnaire study (N = 254) we examined how the Dark Triad traits and dysfunctional and functional impulsivity provide insights into individual differences in petty theft. Those who admitted having stolen something in their lifetime were higher on primary and secondary psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and dysfunctional impulsivity than those who had not stolen anything. In addition, secondary psychopathy predicted stealing from a wider range of targets than primary psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. We discussed the results in relation to how psychopathy may be part of an adaptive suite of traits that enable a “cheater” strategy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dark Triad, Tramps, and Thieves

Lyons

Jonason

2015

Journal of Individual Differences

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“…Is it even fair to give the label &dquo;stealing&dquo; to the nonreturn of money found in a letter? It seems to be stealing, according to the relevant English legislation, the Theft Act 1968, which defines stealing as &dquo;dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.&dquo; Furthermore, in research in which the lost letter experiments of Farrington and Knight (1979) were described to sub-jects as hypothetical situations, every subject thought that keeping a letter containing money was stealing (Farrington et al, 1980). The external validity of stealing from a lost letter in relation to other kinds of stealing is an empirical question which has not yet been answered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stealing From a "Lost" Letter

Farrington

Knight

1980

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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A nonreactive field experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of the victim on stealing. The subjects were 160 people in the streets of London, England, who picked up a stamped, addressed, unsealed, apparently lost letter containing a handwritten note and (except in control conditions) also £1 in cash. The content of the note made it appear that the possible victim of stealing was male or female, old or young, rich or poor, an individual or an association. It was found that subjects were more likely to steal from males than from females, but stealing was not significantly influenced by the other independent variables. Subjects who were younger or more casually dressed were more likely to steal than others. Stealing did not vary with the subject's sex. It was concluded that stealing depended partly on the individual and partly on situational factors.

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“…However, it is unclear whether individuals possess the ability to predict stages of their mental processing for scenarios that they are instructed to imagine. Some studies suggest that there is no close correspondence between behavioural intentions formed based on hypothetical text scenarios and real-world behaviour, indicating that even people's ability to predict their behaviour may be poor (Alem et al, 2018;Farrington et al, 1980; but see also Wikström et al, 2012). Therefore, it would not be surprising to find people's predictions about how they make decisions in hypothetical, imagined situations not to reliably map onto real-world decision-making processes.…”

Section: Experimental Text Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework for Testing Theories of Criminal Decision Making Using VR Scenarios and Process Tracing and its Application to Situational Action Theory

Herrmann

2024

Preprint

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Advanced theories of criminal decision making go beyond the identification of person and setting characteristics presumed to cause criminal behaviour. They do so by reference to decision processes, captured in a process model, that explain how putative causes at the person and setting level (and their interactions) move the individual to acts of rule breaking and compliance. Whereas researchers have been able to test predictions about which person and setting characteristics produce acts of crime, criminology currently lacks an accepted methodological framework to acquire data pertaining to the decision process. This article argues that process models require not only data capturing the inputs (person and setting characteristics and their interactions) and outputs of a decision process (intention/action), but also data that characterises the decision process itself. It further proposes a rigorous methodological framework referred to as the virtual reality process tracing approach (VRPTA). It brings together the process tracing methodology used in the cognitive, social and behavioural sciences and combines it with experimental VR scenarios used in criminology. The result is a versatile methodological framework that utilises real-time decision making on behalf of study participants who are immersed in experimentally manipulated VR environments and process tracing techniques that allow researchers to open the black box of decision making. To make the contribution as tangible as possible, this article discusses the novel methodological approach by reference to its application in the context of Situational Action Theory’s (SAT) perception choice process (PCP). With some modification it may also be used for a range of other process-oriented theories in criminology and beyond.

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Words and deeds in the study of stealing

Cited by 8 publications

References 36 publications

Dark Triad, Tramps, and Thieves

Dark Triad, Tramps, and Thieves

Stealing From a "Lost" Letter

A Framework for Testing Theories of Criminal Decision Making Using VR Scenarios and Process Tracing and its Application to Situational Action Theory

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