Why The US Has Higher Crime Rates Than Other Nations Case Study

Why The US Has Higher Crime Rates Than Other Nations - Case Study Example As an aspect of an individual’s personality, self-control reflects the ability to control and set up boundaries on oneself internally in response to a certain stimulus in the environment. Myers (1995) believed that behavior and actions are affected by whether people perceive the control as internal or external in which the individual is at the mercy of the outside world. Studies have made evaluative comparisons between internal and external control which showed to a great extent that internal control subjects achieve better in a social structure and act more independently in Bennassi, et al (1998). Human behavior has shown control that is often perceived as an external force that triggers feelings of depression giving out an opportunity for avoidance. However, individuals who have learned and experience self-control can easily avoid the emergence of disruptive behavior. Self-control helps a person to resist the momentary temptations of socially unacceptable behavior. Basically, through social learning man learns to exercise personal restraints through positive and negative reinforcements through normal cognitive processing. A greater degree of self-control helps a person to resist the momentary temptations of antisocial behavior in Gottfredson and Hirschi(1990:97). Further, they showed in the General Theory of Crime, that the development of criminal behavior in individuals points out that both the elements of ‘prudent and criminal behavior’ can be predicted through the evaluation and assessment of the lack of self-control alone. They argued that self-control does not necessarily require the presence of a crime but the trait itself can be changed according to the opportunities afforded and constraints affected. Although a relatively new theory in relation to criminology their theory adapts to the idea that criminal activity is gratifying and the key to understanding crime is discovering what prevents people from the errant behavior. In effect, the authors grandstand on the idea that levels of self-control may predispose criminality.