Behaviorism Case Study
Case Study 1
Child delinquency is a result both internal and external psychological factors that form a personality. The case of Mary Bell, 11-year old convicted murderer reveals strong attribution to the known theories of crime. The research suggests the origin of Mrs. Bell’s behavior a result of disorganized attachment and moral disengagement observed in her early childhood. The operant conditioning and adoption by the different family might have prevented the deviant development of Mary along with numerous other children experiencing adverse influence.
The three basic concepts observed from the case are behaviorism, social cognition and morality of cooperation (“Chapter 4. Psychological Theories,” 2017, p. 11). Mary Bell acquired her behavioristic patterns from her father, Billy Bell, who was arrested numerously for robberies (Calin, 2011). Her lack of social cognition and troubled childhood prevented her from forming the negative attitudes to crime as a deviance. She skipped the stage of “cooperation” due to her mother’s lifestyle and perceived no wrongfulness of her actions.
Thus, the three factors influencing her killings were disorganized attachment, self-efficacy lacking and moral disengagement. According to Jean Piaget, age 8 to 11 are responsible for “logical thought” that caused
cognitive aberrations in Mrs. Bell (“Chapter 4. Psychological Theories,” 2017, p. 11). As her mother was a prostitute, Mrs. Bell apparently fell victim to moral disengagement as she could not possibly obtain the proper
moral code and rules of conduct (Calin, 2011). The additional information obtained from Mrs. Bell revealed that her mother exploited her sexually during her childhood. Finally, the long-standing absence of Mrs. Bell’s
father caused her attachment to her mother that fully complies with adverse experiences of children overly devoted to their caregivers. This resulted in the unappropriated role-modelling that Mrs. Bell fulfilled during the
crucial age between 8 and 11.
Consequently, two theories fully apply to the evaluation of Mrs. Bell's behavior, i.e. psychodynamic and attachments ones (“Chapter 4. Psychological Theories,” 2017, p. 5). We cannot take into account the
current life of Mrs. Bell, while we definitely make a conclusion that her actions were the aftermath of her childhood. Thus, Mrs. Bell subconsciously acquired behavioral and mental patterns that caused her crime commission. Moreover, the attachment to her mother worked as a protective factor against her victims who were male and their genitals were disfigured (Calin, 2011). Perceived aggression from sexual molestation and victimizing by men logically resulted in her desire to secure her mother and protect herself.
Concerning strategies, operant conditioning could have assisted the rehabilitation of Mrs. Bell (“Chapter 4. Psychological Theories,” 2017, p. 28). This method is rather frequent in regular upbringing as the …
