Atavistic Form (AQA A Level Psychology)

Atavistic form & Lombroso's research

• Atavistic form refers to features (e.g. physical features such as facial configuration) which belong to a more primitive era e.g. neanderthal and which mark out the individual as being an ‘evolutionary throwback’

• Atavistic form as applied to criminality can be attributed to Lombroso a doctor working with Italian soldiers and criminals in the 1870s

• Lombroso - who treated a great deal of offenders as part of his job - had noticed that the criminals he treated appeared to share physical characteristics e.g. bloodshot eyes, lantern jaw, low brows, hawk-like nose

• Lombroso developed the first-ever theory of criminal profiling: he claimed that criminals were ‘born, not made’ as his theory rested on criminality being innate

• Lombroso’s theory was, essentially, that a criminal could be identified simply by analysing their facial features

• Lombroso concluded that people with the features he identified as ‘criminal’ were wild, savage and untameable i.e. unfit for sophisticated, evolved life ergo they would inevitably at some point in their life turn to crime

• Lombroso wrote a series of books titled ‘Criminal Man’ (1876), earning himself the title of ‘the father of modern crime’

Some of Lombroso’s criminal ‘types’.

• Lombroso further divided specific facial features to types of crime as follows:

  • A murderer has bloodshot eyes with a cold, glassy stare and a large hawk-like nose

  • A thief has an expressive face, is good with their hands and has small, wandering eyes

  • A sex offender has thick lips and ears which protrude (stick out)

  • Female criminals are short, have dark hair, small skulls and are wrinkled

  • Many criminals will be tattooed and will speak using a strange form of  slang 

Research which investigates atavistic form

• DeLisi (2012) reviewed Lombroso’s theory and concluded that while it has many - quite alarming - claims it still stands as a viable first attempt at a theory of criminality 

• Goring (1913) disagreed with Lombrosos’ claims that criminality is innate, using a sample of 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals as the basis for his conclusions

Evaluation of Atavistic form

Strengths 

• Lombroso was one of the first medical professionals to realise that criminals could be studied scientifically, making his theory highly influential well into the 20th century

• It could be argued that having facial features deemed ‘aggressive’ by society (e.g. a low brow and jutting chin) might lead others to assume that the individual is aggressive and therefore encourage them into confrontation which in turn could lead to that individual becoming criminally violent (i.e. a self-fulfilling prophecy)

Weaknesses

• Lombroso’s theory used no real methodology and was riven with bias e.g. sampling bias, confirmation bias; was statistically under-powered and has huge ethical concerns (labelling people as ‘bad’ based purely on their physical appearance)

• The criminals encountered by Lombroso were from poor, uneducated backgrounds with many health issues so it is little wonder that they suffered a range of physical and mental ailments hence his theory lacks validity

Link to Issues & Debates:

Lombroso’s theory is an example of biological determinism as Lombroso claimed that criminals should not be blamed for their criminality as it had been genetically inherited and therefore determined at birth (their physical features were evidence of this, according to his theory).

Lombroso’s theory is reductionist as it attempts to explain a complex phenomenon such as criminality using one, highly limited explanation rather than taking into account a range of factors which could be achieved using an holistic approach.