Citation

Peng J, Zhang J, Yuan W, Zhou X, Tian J, Fang P. Front. Psychol. 2022; 13: e937876.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2022.937876

PMID

36300057

PMCID

PMC9589491

Abstract

A criminal act can be regarded as an irrational decision-making process. Therefore, understanding differences in the criminal decision-making process would shed light on criminal behavior. We utilized dual processing theory to propose that offenders' differences in decision-making may cause them to adopt non-adaptive behaviors, such as high reference point setting, abnormal reward-punishment sensitivity, delayed discounting rate, and decision-making style. Our study compares differences in these indicators between offenders (n = 518) and non-offenders (n = 636) in a diverse sample of Chinese adults. The results showed that compared with non-offenders, offenders had higher relative deprivation, reward sensitivity, and delayed discounting rates but lower punishment sensitivity and vigilance in decision-making. A logistic regression analysis also shows that the above factors were significant predictive indicators for the commission of crimes.

Language: en

Keywords

crime; criminal decision-making; decision-making differences; decision-making styles; relative deprivation