Lesson 4.3.9.1

4.3.9.1 Offender profiling Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.9.1, Offender profiling: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is the typology approach to offender profiling?

    • Offenders are profiled by asking the public to vote on the most likely suspect
    • Offenders are profiled using only the time and location of their crimes on a map
    • Offenders are classified into types, such as organised or disorganised, based on crime scene evidence
    • Offenders are profiled only from their genetic test results before any crime is committed

  2. Which characteristics are typical of an organised offender according to the typology approach?

    • Impulsive crime with an unplanned approach and no attempt to hide any evidence
    • Planning, a controlled crime scene, and the use of a weapon brought to the scene
    • No planning, a messy crime scene, and a weapon found at the scene by chance
    • Crime committed in the same location each time with no contact with the victim

  3. Which characteristics are typical of a disorganised offender according to the typology approach?

    • Impulsive behaviour, a messy or random crime scene, and little attempt to conceal evidence
    • Careful concealment, a controlled scene, and a victim who is chosen in advance
    • Careful planning, a clean crime scene, and the use of a weapon brought from home
    • Careful planning, a controlled scene, and a weapon taken away from the scene

  4. What is the data-driven approach to offender profiling?

    • Using astrology to match the time of a crime with the offender's birth date, which is thought to reveal the likely character of the person
    • Using intuition and personal experience of a single detective to name the offender, relying on hunches built from many years of police work
    • Using a single psychological test to diagnose an offender's mental health condition, which is then used to predict where the crime occurred
    • Using statistical analysis of large sets of crime data to identify patterns linking offences and offender characteristics

  5. Which approach is most associated with investigative psychology?

    • The typology approach
    • The data-driven approach
    • The deprivation approach
    • The priming approach

  6. What is geographical profiling?

    • Using the genetic code of the offender to identify where they were born, which is then linked to the crime scenes through family records
    • Using the offender's social media posts to predict the victim's home address, which is then checked against public electoral registers
    • Using the weather on the day of each crime to predict where the next offence will take place, based on patterns of movement in the city
    • Using the locations of a series of crimes to estimate where an offender is likely to live or base themselves

  7. Which evaluation point applies to the typology approach?

    • Offenders are never classified by crime scene evidence in any published study
    • Offenders may not fit neatly into categories, and many show features of more than one type
    • Offenders always fit exactly one category, so the approach has perfect predictive accuracy
    • The typology approach has been shown to predict offenders with 100% accuracy in every case

  8. Which evaluation point applies to the data-driven approach?

    • It depends on large and reliable data sets, and it may not capture the unique circumstances of individual crimes
    • It removes the need for any data, since it relies on guessing offender types from appearance, which is then matched to a list of suspects
    • It has been shown to work only for crimes that happen in one specific city, so it cannot be applied to any other place in the country
    • It depends on intuition alone and cannot use any statistical data at all, so its conclusions rely on the personal judgement of the analyst

  9. A detective notices that a series of burglaries are all within a two-mile radius of a single neighbourhood. Which approach is most relevant?

    • Typology profiling, which classifies offenders by genetic markers in their blood
    • Geographical profiling, which uses spatial patterns to estimate the offender's base
    • Cognitive profiling, which uses the offender's moral reasoning to locate them
    • Biological profiling, which uses neural imaging to locate the offender's home

  10. A crime scene is carefully staged, with no evidence left and the weapon removed. Which typology is most likely suggested?

    • Disorganised offender
    • Impulsive offender with no planning
    • Organised offender
    • Opportunistic offender with no interest in concealment

  11. Which statement about offender profiling accuracy is most appropriate?

    • Profiling is only possible when a suspect has already been arrested and confessed
    • Profiling always identifies the exact offender with complete certainty in every case
    • Profiling can narrow the field of suspects, but it cannot identify a single offender with certainty
    • Profiling is never useful, since it cannot narrow the field of suspects at any stage

  12. Which combination best describes the three main approaches to offender profiling discussed in psychology?

    • The geographical approach, the social learning approach and the hormonal approach
    • The data-driven approach, the dopamine approach and the taste aversion approach
    • The typology approach, the frustration approach and the ethological approach
    • The typology approach, the data-driven approach and geographical profiling

  13. A researcher uses statistical analysis of hundreds of crimes to identify links between offence behaviour and offender background. Which approach is this?

    • The typology approach
    • The biological approach using brain scans
    • The data-driven approach
    • The geographical approach using maps

  14. Which weakness is most relevant when using a typology to classify offenders?

    • Categories depend on the victim's genetic code, which is never available to investigators, so they can only be used in a few cases
    • Categories may oversimplify complex behaviour and lead to inaccurate conclusions about individuals
    • Categories are never used by police forces in any investigation at all, because they are considered unreliable by every senior officer
    • Categories always give the exact identity of every offender without error, so they can be used as final proof in a court of law

  15. Why might geographical profiling be useful to police?

    • It can confirm a suspect's identity based on the colour of the crime scene
    • It can suggest areas to focus the search on, based on where offences cluster
    • It can predict the exact time of the next crime with complete accuracy
    • It can replace all other forms of evidence in a court of law

  16. A police team uses a profile that suggests the offender is organised, and later finds a suspect whose behaviour matches this. Which evaluation point applies?

    • A match shows that organised offenders always confess after arrest without fail
    • A match means the profile was wrong, since profiles never identify a suspect correctly
    • A match proves guilt with certainty, so no other evidence is needed in any case
    • A match does not prove guilt, so profiling evidence must be considered alongside other evidence

  17. Which statement best describes the link between the data-driven approach and investigative psychology?

    • Investigative psychology applies statistical analysis of crime data to understand offender behaviour and link crimes
    • Investigative psychology focuses only on the psychological effects of prison on offenders, looking at how custody changes their mood
    • Investigative psychology relies on genetic testing of offenders to identify criminal types, using samples taken from each suspect at arrest
    • Investigative psychology has no connection to statistical methods of any kind, and relies only on the reports of experienced detectives

  18. Which criticism of offender profiling is most important for its use in court?

    • Profiles are probabilistic and their use as evidence in court can be prejudicial or unreliable
    • Profiles are always correct and so can be used in court without any further checks
    • Profiles have no basis in any data, so they are never mentioned in police work
    • Profiles are only used to decide the sentence after a guilty verdict has been reached

  19. Which feature distinguishes an organised offender from a disorganised one?

    • Organised offenders plan and control their crimes, while disorganised offenders act more impulsively
    • Organised offenders always use violence, while disorganised offenders never do
    • Organised offenders are always found living close to their victims, while disorganised offenders never are
    • Organised offenders are always female, while disorganised offenders are always male

  20. A profile predicts that an offender will live near the centre of a set of crimes. Which approach is this prediction based on?

    • Biological profiling, which uses genetic markers to estimate the offender's address
    • Typology profiling, which classifies offenders by their level of organisation
    • Cognitive profiling, which uses moral reasoning to estimate the offender's address
    • Geographical profiling, which uses the spatial pattern of offences to estimate the offender's base

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