AUTHOR=Peng Jiaxi , Zhang Jiaxi , Yuan Weizhuo , Zhou Xuan , Tian Jianquan , Fang Peng 

TITLE=The commission of crime from the perspective of decision-making differences

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.937876

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.937876

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>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 (<italic>n</italic> = 518) and non-offenders (<italic>n</italic> = 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.</p>