In this paper, I will discuss positivist, biological, as well as psychological theories providing a comparison as well as contrast for each.
Discussion
The use of positivist theories emerged with the American, French, as well as the Industrial Revolutions prompting tremendous social changes throughout the world (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). In 1820, the term positivism was attributed to Auguste Comte during his works with Saint-Simon while developing their works of physical sciences in the study of society. The belief they argued stated, human beings evolve from the theocratic stage to the metaphysical stage then finally reaching the perfect stage of positive in their thoughts. The positivist thinkers rejected the ideas of the Enlightenment …show more content…
This theory linked criminal actions to the internal identification, ego, as well as superego of an individual. This theory is virtually untestable, the unconscious thoughts of an individual cannot be accurately measured. The theory of Freudian assumes humans are inherently motivated to be bad, consequently, the humanistic psychological theory suggests humans are inherently good. The humanistic psychological theory was developed by Abraham Maslow, Seymour Halleck, as well as Philip Zimbardo. The theory suggested humans were motivated by basic needs, meaning when a basic need it deprived the behavior of the individual will change. Francis T. Cullen introduced the idea of social support in an effort to assist individuals with achieving basic needs in an effort to reduce criminality. The theorist Philip Zimbardo, describes the crime in relation to situations as they relate to human behavior. The theory links most everything together creating an environment for failure for most all people. This theory places little importance on biological traits equating human behavior is adaptive to situational