Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2025
07:36
An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
8.6K
Preferences predict who commits crime among young men
Thomas Epper1,2,3,4, Ernst Fehr5,6, Kristoffer Balle Hvidberg4
1CNRS, UMR 9221-Lille Economie Management (LEM), 59000 Lille, France.
Summary
Personality preferences like risk tolerance and patience significantly predict criminal behavior in young men. Impatience and risk tolerance are key factors, even when controlling for other traits, influencing property offenses.
Area of Science:
- Criminology
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Science
Background:
- Understanding crime causation is crucial for effective policy design.
- Individual preferences and decision-making processes are theoretically linked to criminal activity.
- Empirical evidence on the role of preferences in criminal behavior is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically investigate the association between individual preferences and criminal behavior.
- To test whether risk tolerance, impatience, and self-interest predict crime.
- To differentiate the predictive power of preferences across various crime types.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a unique dataset combining incentivized experimental preference elicitation with official criminal records of young men.
- Controlled for a comprehensive set of covariates, including cognitive skills, socioeconomic background, and self-control problems.
- Analyzed the relationship between experimentally measured preferences and actual criminal behavior.
Main Results:
- Individual preferences, particularly impatience and risk tolerance, are strong predictors of criminal behavior.
- Crime propensities increase by 8-10 percentage points for the most risk-tolerant compared to the most risk-averse individuals.
- Preferences significantly predict property offenses, while self-control problems predict violent, drug, and sexual offenses.
Conclusions:
- Personality preferences play a significant role in explaining criminal behavior, independent of cognitive skills and socioeconomic factors.
- Risk tolerance and impatience are key preference-based determinants of criminal propensity.
- Tailoring crime prevention strategies to address specific personality traits and offense types may enhance effectiveness.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:23Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
174
In a study where individuals posing as strangers offered compliments and proposed casual sex to students, the responses differed significantly based on gender. Not a single woman accepted the proposal, while 70% of the men agreed. This outcome provides a useful scenario to explore through the lens of evolutionary psychology and social learning theory, highlighting the diverse perspectives on human sexual behaviors.
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
174
01:28Conduct Disorder
168
Conduct disorder is a complex mental health diagnosis characterized by a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior that violates societal norms, the rights of others, or age-appropriate rules. The diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder require the presence of at least three problematic behaviors within the past 12 months, with at least one occurring in the past six months. These behaviors are grouped into four categories: aggression toward people and animals; destruction of property;...
168
01:20Evolutionary Psychology
501
Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
501
03:20The Stanford Prison Experiment
23.8K
The famous and controversial Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts.
23.8K
01:29Dark Triad and Person Perception
17
Person perception is influenced by both external behaviors and the observer’s internal characteristics, including personality traits. Individuals with dark personality traits, comprising psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism — collectively known as the dark triad – exhibit manipulative and exploitative tendencies in social contexts. These traits affect how they perceive others and how they are perceived.The Role of Dark Personality Traits in Person PerceptionBlack et...
17
01:06Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
195
The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
195