• The field of criminal psychology seeks to understand the motivations and purposes behind any criminal act. The seven orientations of psychology are seven different ways of analyzing criminal behavior. They offer different lenses into why a criminal might behave abnormally in society today.
  
  

Psychoanalytic

• The psychoanalytic approach originated with Dr. Sigmund Freud, who posited that all abnormal behavior came from a conflict of the superego, ego, and id (conscience, normal being and wish indulgence, respectively).
  
  

Social Learning

• This model of analysis holds that a criminal learns his abnormal behavior from his surroundings: his family, culture, and environment. If a child grows up in a family where the parents are criminals or hold abnormal moral values, his behavior can be shaped from a young age.
  
  

Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning is the idea that a criminal will continue to partake in criminal activity if she is rewarded for the acts. If a criminal is not caught, for instance, and gets away with initial acts, she is more likely to continue in this vein.
  
  

Control Theory

• This orientation seeks to understand why everyone in society does not commit criminal acts, i.e., that society writ large is the "control group." Control theory explores the normal mindset, and how criminals differ from that mindset.
  
  

Strain

• This orientation explores the external conditions around a criminal at the time of his act. A person who has lost his job and needs to feed his family, for instance, is more likely to commit a criminal act out of the strain in his life.
  
  

Psychopathology

• Psychopathology is an analysis of various personality disorders (for example, antisocial or narcissistic) causing a smaller contingent of people to commit crimes. This model relies heavily on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
  
  

Differential Association

• This model argues that society offers conflicting stances on crime through film, popular culture or more locally in peer groups such as high school. The criminal's mind associates itself with a positive attitude toward crime and thus is more likely to engage in criminal behavior.