Impact of self esteem on undergraduates' attitude towards cybercrime.

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INFLUENCE OF SELF ESTEEM ON UNDER GRADUATES’
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CYBERCRIME IN TWO SELECTED
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN HALL OF RESIDENCE
BY
NUHU NAHEEM OLABOWALE
MATRIC NO 134872
BEING AN ORIGINAL ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE
OF MASTERS IN LEGAL CRIMINOLOGICAL AND SECURITY
PSYCHOLOGY.
MAY 2008.

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CERTIFICATION
I certify that this research was carried out by NUHU NAHEEM OLABOWALE (Matric
no. 134872) Of the department of psychology, faculty of the Social Sciences, University
of Ibadan.
…………………….. …………….. ……………
Supervisor Date
Dr Gbenga Sunmola
Bsc,Msc,Phd

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DEDICATION
The project is dedicated to the creator, Almighty ALLAH, in the true spirit of Islam,
without His guidance and mercy; this research work would not have been possible

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AKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is unavoidable on my part once again to give glory, honour and adoration to Almighty
ALLAH who has sailed me through the turbulent waves of challenges and difficulties
that engulfed me toward the end of this programme.
The indispensable role of my supervisor, Dr. G. Sunmola during this study will linger
on. All the lecturers are hereby acknowledged. Especially, Dr. Babalola S.S. who
supported me both spiritually and morally. May GOD continue to give them the wisdom
and guidance to excel in life
From the beginning of the programme many people had converged round me in spirit and
every other ways to ensure successful completion of the course. Such people include ,
my loving wife ,kuburat , A.S Nuhu, my parent s Alhaji Mukadam and Mrs Basirat Nuhu,
my brother and his wife,Mr and Mrs Kolawole Nuhu. My junior brother Basiru Nuhu and
his wife who became the project typist while in Lagos for official assignment. My junior
sisters ‘role Moriamo , especially Mrs Raimot Aderibigbe and her husband,Kazeem
Aderibibge cannot be quantified.
At my office, the immense cooperation of my co-workers cannot be forgotten. Mojeed
Shittu,Akeem Ibraheem , M. Irabor, N.Olanrewaju, Alh. M. Jimoh, E. Ezeugwu ,

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O. Falodi and Mrs. T. Amuneh and A. Mani.Then Folusho Adewole and his father’s
concern towards completion of the course are acknowledged.
My colleagues in the school, Capt. Oye (rtd), Corp. Fatai Bakare , Jude Agboli and
others too numerous to mention are worthy of note.
My little Daughter,Zainab and her junior brother, Abdul-rahman Nuhu are
acknowledged. May GOD Almighty make them grow in wisdom and good health
(Amen). Many people, too numerous to mention contributed to the success of this course.
A man is expected to encounter two major events on the way to success. These are
assistance and obstacle. Any role played by human beings in the course of this
programme is well acknowledged.
Thank you all.
N. O. NUHU
naheemnuhu@yahoo.com

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ABSTRACT
The study investigated the influence of Self esteem on University undergraduates’
attitude towards cyber crimes in two selected University of Ibadan Hall of residence. The
involvements of students in cyber crime have become a menace. Hence, the review of
related theories and current research findings on self-esteem and attitude towards cyber
crime.
One hundred and fifty participants were randomly selected. The participants were made
up of Eighty-nine (59.30%) males and sixty- one (40.70%) were females. The age range
of these undergraduate students ranges from16 – 21years and above, the mean age is
17.10.Twenty -nine (19.30%) in 100 level, thirty (20.00%) in 200 level, forty-four
(29.30%) in 300 level, while forty-seven (31.30%) in 400 level. All respondents were
computer literates. Frequency in browsing, ninety-four (62.77%) browse regularly, forty
(26.70%) were not regular, and sixteen (10.70%) browse all the time. While at home, one
hundred and twenty (80.01%) were with parents, fifteen (10.00%) were with guardians
and fifteen (10.00%) were under self-supervision. Statistical analysis included a 2x2 and
one way ANOVA.
The four hypotheses tested were significant. The first hypothesis result shows that there
was significant interaction between Self-esteem and gender on attitude towards cyber

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crimes. Males undergraduates with low self esteem significantly reported positive attitude
towards cyber crime compare to female undergraduates with low self esteem
(F=(1,136)=14.63, p>.01). Hypothesis two of the study indicated that there is significant
difference between 400 level undergraduates on attitude towards cyber crime and those of
other levels (F=(1,136) 8.63,p<. 01). The 400 level students (X=59.74, S.D= 22.31)
reported more positive attitude towards cyber crime compare to other levels of
undergraduate studies. The third hypothesis revealed that there is significant influence on
type of supervision on attitude towards cyber crimes. Undergraduates who are on self-
supervision are positively disposed towards cyber crimes than those under parental or
guardian supervision (F=(1,149) = 346.88, p<. 01). The fourth study showed that there is
significant difference between undergraduates who were 21years and above and 16years
and above on attitude towards cyber crime (F= (1,149)=6.07,p<. 01).
It is recommended that Parents should endeavour to have close ties with their children,
especially while on campus. The Governments and other stakeholders should come
together to collaborate on best ways to curb the menace.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page…………………………………………….i
Certification………………………………………….ii
Dedication…………………………………………….iii
Acknowledgement…………………………………...iv-v
Abstract……………………………………………….vi-vii
Table of contents……………………………………...viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction……………………………………………1-8
1.2 Statement of problem……………………….……8-9
1.3 Purpose of study…………………………………9-10
1.4 Relevance of study…………………...……….…10
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Theoretical framework and literature review… 11
2.2 Theoretical framework……………..…………...11-14
2.3 Review of related studies……………………….14-17

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2.4 Attitude formation……………………………….17-18
2.5 Components of attitudes…………..……………..19-20
2.6 The function of attitude…………………………..20-22
2.7 Models of attitude change………………………..22-23
2.8 Component of emotion appeals.…………………23-25
2.9 Factors affecting attitude change…………….…..25-27
2.10 Concept of self esteem……….…………….……27-28
2.11 Definition of self esteem………………… . ……28-29
2.12 Theory of self esteem…...………………….……29-30
2.13 Self Concept Theory…………………………….30
2.14 Genesis of computer crime in Nigeria……….….30-31
2.15 Definition of cyber crime………..……………..31
2.16 Type of cyber crimes………………………….31-37
2.17 Forms of cyber crime…………………………38-39
2.18 Cyber crimes and the law: Nigeria situation…. 40-41
2.19 Consequence of cyber crimes…………………..41-42

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2.20 Computer crime: deviant behaviour…..………..42
2.21 Component of an offence in cyber crime…….43-44
2.22 Hypotheses………………………………….…44
2.23 Operational definition of terms…………..……44-46
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Methodology …………………………………47
3.2 Design………………….…………………..…47
3.3 Participants……………………………………47-48
3.4 Instruments………..………………………….48-53
3.5 Test reliability…………………………………53
3.6 Procedure……………………………………..54
3.7 Data analysis………..………………..………54
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Analysis of data……………………………..55-63
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Discussion……………………………………64-65

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5.2 Conclusion……………………………………66
5.3 Recommendation…………………………….65-67
5.4 Limitations of study………………...………..67-68
5.5 Suggestion……………………………………69
REFERENCES……………………………..……70-77
APPENDIX………………………….……………78-85.

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Modern crimes bring about what is known as modern thief. A thief who can steal more
than you can imagine without using a gun. Very soon terrorists will do more damage-
using keyboard than a bomb. These are what development in Information and
Communication Technology brought to man. Hence, the global war against cyber crime.
A computer crime is referred to as cyber crime. It consists of specific crimes dealing with
computers and networks and the facilitation of traditional crime through the use of
computers e.g. child pornography, Internet fraud, cyber stalking, cyber terrorism,
Phishing and other cyber crimes.
These global problems not only threaten security but also compromise the stability,
transparency thus undermining economic prosperity of the affected countries. One of the
biggest attempted bank thefts in Britain was carried out online: “the plan was to steal two
hundred and twenty million pounds (£ 220 million) from the London offices of the
Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui. Computer experts are believed to have tried to transfer
the money electronically after hacking into the bank’s systems but British Police foiled
operation (The Philadelphia trumpet, 2005).

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It is widely acknowledged that the transmission system has vulnerabilities. And this fact
along with the fear that international terror organizations and even casual hackers are on
prowl has prompted regulators to require utilities to give the matter far more attention
than in the past. Certainly, the transition from proprietary networks to those that can be
accessed via the Internet has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for those with
ill intentions (Gerald 2005).
Nigeria, jostling to be among technologically developed countries before 2020 could not
be an exception. The information and communication technological is growing rapidly in
Nigeria. It creates unlimited opportunities for commercial, social and educational
activities but its advent as mentioned earlier bring cyber crime, which introduces own
peculiar risk. The convenience associated with Information Technology (IT) is being
exploited to serve criminal purposes like e-mail espionage, credit card fraud,
Spam(unwanted e-mail), software piracy and so on which invade our privacy and affect
us psychologically (D.S.S 2007).
The incidence of university undergraduates becoming scammers along with unemployed
or employed graduates is no longer news but is worrisome.
These scammers are known as “yahoo boys” and the method or act used in scamming is
“Yahoo yahoo”. While adult scammers are known as the 419ners(john, 2007).

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There are different methods used in defrauding unsuspecting victims of their hard-earned
currency. These victims most times are domiciled abroad. The scammers often have a
network through which they operate. After successful “scams” the yahoo boys are seen
moving round the town with luxury cars along with females or women of easy virtues
going to club houses and other relaxation centers in the town. The extravagant way of
lives of the boys made it easy for people to identify them. A critical intelligence
gathering, with IT knowledge and monitoring of the boys may burst the group activities.
According to John (2007), many operations are professionally organized in Nigeria,
working fax numbers, and often had contact with government offices. The victim who
attempts to investigate the background of the offer will often find that all pieces fit
perfectly together. Such scammers can often lure wealthy investors, investment groups,
or other business entities into scams resulting in multi-million dollars losses. However,
many scammers access to the government offices have reduced and thus have little
success with wealthier investors or business entities attempting to research them, but are
still convincing to middle-class individuals and small business, and can bilk hundreds of
thousands of dollars from such victims.
If the victim agrees to the deal, the other side will first send several documents bearing
official government stamps, seals etc. (some of these documents will be more convincing
than others), and then introduce a delay or monetary hurdle that prevents the deal from

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occurring as planned, such as “in order to transmit the money, we need to bribe a bank
official. Could you help us with a loan?” of “in order for you to be allowed to be a party
to the transaction, you need to have holdings at a Nigerian bank of $100,000 or more” or
similar. More delays and more additional costs are added, always keeping the promise of
an imminent large transfer alive, convincing the victim that the money they are currently
paying will be covered several times over by the payoff. Sometimes psychological
pressure is added by claiming that the Nigerian side, in order to pay certain fees, had to
sell all belongings and borrow money on their house, or by pointing out the different
salary scale and living conditions in Africa compared to the west. Most or the time,
however, the needed psychological pressure is self-applied; once the victim has put
money in toward the payoff, they feel they have a vested interest in seeing the “deal”
through.
In any case, the promised money transfer never happens. The money or gold does not
exist, and by the time the victim realizes this (often only after being confronted by a third
party who has noticed the transactions or conversation and recognized the scam), they
may have sent thousands of dollars of their own money, and sometimes thousands or
millions more that has been borrowed or stolen, to the scammer.
The Spam e-mails perpetrating these scams are often sent from Internet cafes equipped
with satellite Internet. Recipient addresses and e-mail content are copied and posted into

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a web mail interface using a stand alone storage medium, such as memory card. Many
areas of Lagos, such as Festac, contain many shady cyber cafes that serve scammers;
many cyber cafes seal their doors after working hours, such as from 10:30 PM to 7:00
AM, so that scammers inside may work without fear of discovery.
It should be noted that Lagos is not the only place in the federation where the anti social
act is being perpetrated. Other places like Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Porthacourt, Benin just to
mention few, are places where scammers often connived with proprietors of cyber cafes
to operate.
Scammers often request that payments be made using a wire transfer service like western
union. The reason given by the scammer will usually relate to the speed at which the
payment can be received and processed, allowing quick release of supposed payoff. The
real reason is that wire transfers and similar methods of payment are irreversible,
untraceable and, because identification beyond knowledge of the details of the transaction
is often not required, completely anonymous. However, in order to have perfect
operations they sometimes connived with the bank officials especially if it involve large
sum of money running to millions of Naira.
Since the loss suffered by consumers and investors creates serious credibility and image
problems, many countries develop strategies for preventing detecting and containing the
threats associated with cyber crime. While it is acknowledged that greed is a major factor

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motivating most victims, what about the image created for many who never respond and
the image created for the country where the scammers are?
The immediate past president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo during his travel round the
world to get investors to Nigeria, was confronted by would be investors on the need to
curb the prominence of cyber criminals in Nigeria. This led to the establishment of
Nigeria cyber crime working group (NCWG) in 2004, with the purpose of aiding
Nigeria’s demystification of the hydra-headed monster. Inspite of this, the fraudsters in a
scam used the president signature in 2005, culminating in the raiding of a market in
Oluwole, suburbs of Lagos. The police seized thousands of Nigerian and non-Nigerian
passports, 10,000 blank British Airways boarding passes, 10,000 United States Money
Orders, Customs documents, false university certificates, 500 printing plates, and 500
computers (John, 2005). The bill drafted by NCWG, which was submitted to immediate
past National Assembly could not be attended to, before expiration of their tenure. Maybe
the present Federal Government vis-à-vis National Assembly will ensure it passages in
due course.
Presently, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the anti fraud unit
of Nigeria police uses advance fee fraud and other related offences act 2006, to prosecute
offenders.

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For effective combat of cyber crime there need to be cyber cops. In the absence of cyber
cops, the conventional security agencies need to be trained on information technology,
and how to detect, prevent and possibly track down cyber criminals because computer
crimes are committed daily but few of the crimes are reported. This was corroborated by
Goodman (2001): “unfortunately, the absence of a standard definition for computer
crime, a lack of reliable criminal statistic on the problem, and significant under reporting
of the threat pose vexing challenges for police agencies”.
According to Jide (2004) “fighting cyber crime requires not just IT knowledge but IT
intelligence on the part of security agencies. In this clime, there is an IT security divide –
a serious shortage of skills to deal with the threats associated with IT. Till date much has
not been achieved, as there is no known cyber cops in Nigeria, few security agencies are
computer literate most of them embarked on computer appreciation through self-
development. Such is the researcher who had IT knowledge through self-development.
To combat the crime there need to be collective effort of stakeholders, as the shouting
and mooning about cyber crime is not enough. All these are meaning less unless the gap
is closed, as one cannot fight today’s crime with yesterday’s technology. It will always be
a losing battle if security professionals are way behind the cyber criminals.
Attempt to find fixed causal patterns of cyber criminal behaviour may be difficult
because of the interplay of so many factors which may differ not only from individual to

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another but also from one society to another. As researchers have shown that the cause of
crime are multiple and could be traced to biogenetic, psychological and social factors
(Dambazau, 1999). This led to the need for ascertaining the relationship between self
esteem and cyber crime, because the involvement of people in cyber crime brings to mind
whether cyber criminals have respect for reality, which are core mental operations that
naturally have consequences in the external world. When we seek to align ourselves with
reality as best we understand it, we nurture and support our self-esteem. When, either out
of fear or desire, we seek to escape from reality, we undermine our self-esteem. No other
issue is more important or basic than our cognitive relationship to reality.
According to Nathan (1979), we need to be mindful that self-esteem is not a free gift of
nature. It has to be cultivated, has to be earned. It cannot be acquired by material
acquisition nor by allowing young people to believe they are better students than they
really are and know more than they really know; faking reality is not a path to authentic
self-assurance. However, as people dream of attaining effortless wealth, so they dream of
attaining effortless self-esteem—and unfortunately the marketplace is full of panderers to
this longing.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
As long as there is invention in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) their
will always be attendant problem. No amount of research work could totally eradicate

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incidence of cyber-crime. Nigeria, a developing country, inspite of its quest for ICT
development still find its self among countries of the world with highest incidence of
cyber criminals even outside the country such is the reported case in October, 2006 of
Amsterdam police launched Operation Apollo to fight internet fraud scams operated by
West Africans. Following this investigation, police arrested 80 suspects, most of them
from Nigeria (John, 2005). Also Incidence of university undergraduates involving in
cyber crime among other cyber criminals has become a nightmare for security agencies.
The multiple factors that contribute to crime make it difficult to determine. This brings to
mind series of question, Viz.: is the effort to combat cyber crime harmonized in Nigeria.
Does university undergraduate who involve in cyber crime have self esteem
- Is cyber crime learnt through peer groups?
- Does males’ undergraduates students with low self-esteem develop positive
attitude to cyber crime than female counterpart?
- Does new undergraduates students develop positive attitude to cyber crime than
old undergraduates?
- Are undergraduate students receiving adequate supervision from parents?
1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY

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The study investigates the influence of self-esteem on university undergraduates’
attitudes toward cyber crime. Also it investigates measures put in place by government to
curb incidence of cyber-crimes. Demographic variables such as age, sex, university
levels and under whose supervision the respondent is was investigated.
1.4 RELEVANCE OF STUDY
The research study has relevance, taking into consideration Nigeria quest to join
Technologically developed countries. It helps Tertiary institutions to have insight on
undergraduates’ involvement in cyber crime. It will also aid government and the security
agencies to have more insight on the menace of cyber crime. Through the study the
government, management of tertiary institutions and other stakeholders to have inkling
on the way forward. Finally, it serves as gap bridging if adequately explored by
stakeholders.

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CHAPTER TWO
2.1 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW:
This chapter attempt to review related theories and current research findings on self-
esteem and attitude toward cyber-crime.
2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: - Several theories representing
different theoretical orientation and emphasizing different factors in attitudes and attitude
change have been helpful for understanding where attitude come from and how they can
be changed. However, the theories below would be used to explain attitude toward cyber
crime. They are: consistency and learning theories (Fagboungbe and Longe 1998)
2.2.1 CONSISTENCY THEORY: - according to Babalola and Olapegba
(2005) this theory which is the second major frame work for understanding attitude
postulates that people generally have various beliefs or values. Whenever these beliefs
are inconsistent with one another every individual strives for coherence. Thus, restoring
cognitive consistency is the primary motive underlying this perspective. Among such
theory include balance theory.

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2.2.2 BALANCE THEORY: - this was propounded by Heider (1944), it
considers the consistency among the affects held by a person within a simple cognitive
system. Understanding people’s cognition or ideas’ about relationships would provide
the key to understanding social behaviour; and that there is a strong tendency for people
to prefer their attitudes to be consistent with one another. This person is bound to develop
positive attitude to cyber crime. If he derives pleasure in material wealth acquisition and
does not see anything wrong in defrauding others because he perceives it as been smart
than victim. Thus balancing it cognition.
Heider also argued, a state of cognitive imbalance will occur if attitudes are inconsistent
with one another, thus creating tension and certain level of stress. So we will strive to
balance them in some way. Such is a person who morally against fraud but derives
enjoyment in wealth acquisition. The cognition imbalance led to cognitive dissonance
theory.
2.2.3 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY: - this was propounded by Leo
Festinger (1957), it is concerned with how we change attitudes when we find that they are
unbalanced. The philosophy underlining this theory is that there is a drive in an
individual towards cognitive consistency. Two cognition, one inconsistent with one
another produce discomfort that motivates the person to remove the inconsistence and
bring cognitions into harmony, such is the person who believe that crime and delinquent

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behaviour are anti social but has friends who engages in cyber crime. He will either stop
associating with the friends or continue the friendship.
2.2.4 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: - According to Bandura (1963), in his social
learning theory when you watch some one else being reinforced for behaviour, you
receive vicarious reinforcement, because you identify with that person (the model) and
put yourself in that person’s place, when the model is reinforced. He added that people
acquire expectation for reinforcement as part of the learning process. Babalola explain
that according to the learning theory, message learning and transfer of affect are two
main methods through which attitudes may acquire and changed.
Akers, (1998) states that the likelihood of engaging in specific acts is a function of the
attitudes that the individual holds about the act. The more the individual holds a negative
attitude or disapproves of the act, the less likely they are to engage in the act. Since the
conventional or general beliefs of a society are negative toward criminal behavior, it is
theorized that specific definitions have a more significant effect on the commission of
specific criminal acts (Akers, 1998).
Fagboungbe and Longe, (1998) state that to principal theories here are classical
conditioning and operant conditioning that could be related to attitude. Both learning
theories stress the use of reinforcement in making organism learn desirable behaviour.
The only different is the application of reinforcement. They explain further that classical

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conditioning reinforces behaviour so that it can be learned while operant conditioning
reinforces the behaviour after learning has taken place. The assumption here is that a
reinforced response is repeated and when the response is repeated several times, it
becomes a patterned behaviour which is the attitude being referred to here. It was sum up
that a desire behaviour consistently rewarded changes to attitude. In this regard behaviour
become consistent, reliable, stable predictable and accurate pattern of behaviour and that
is an attitude. Such is a person who in a desire to get rich, and seeing fraudster(s) with
luxury cars, and extravagant life might decide to become a fraudster knowing fully well
that much will be gotten from the act. Also cyber crime can be learnt through the
behaviour with the family peer group and television.
2.3 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
As biological basis of behaviour is put in place, it affirms human being movement
through the socialization process within the group to which they find themselves. This
made it easy for individuals to acquire defined patterned of behaviour toward objects,
even situations, and other human beings. Without specific ways of behaving toward
things in our environment it will be difficult to live a well-organized life (Fagboungbe,
1998). Also it will be delicate if there is no unique way of reacting to dangerous events or
things, the entire society will be in total jeopardy. Thus, the need to study and review the
patterned behaviour, which is known as attitude.

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Morgan et al (1979) defined attitude as learned predisposition to behave in a consistent
evaluative manner toward a person, a group of people, an object or a group of object.
Wittig (1977) state that attitudes are learned evaluative reactions to objects, events and
other stimuli. In this regard, the former definition reviewed attitude as appraisal of
people, group or an object, it could be positive or negative. Similarly, the latter see
attitude as past experience which determines individuals’ action towards people, or
object.
Allport (1935) defined attitude as mental and neutral state of readiness organized through
experience, which exert a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response
to all objects and situations whereas, kretch and cruch-field (1945) stated that attitude can
be defined as an enduring organization of motivational emotional, perceptional and
cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the individual’s world. Attitude
towards objects or entities may be acquired or learned through exposure to the object of
the attitude; interactions with others holding the attitude; and deep-seated personality
dispositions including one’s value arising out of one’s upbringing and family structure.
According to Jung (1921) attitude is a readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain
way. However, he went further to state that attitude very often comes in pairs, one
conscious and the other unconscious. The presence of two attitudes is extremely frequent,
one conscious and the other unconscious. This means that consciousness has a

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constellation of contents different from that of the unconscious; a duality particularly
evident is neurosis.
Also extraversion and introversion pair is so elementary to Jung’s theory of types that he
labeled them “attitude-types”. He conceives reason as rational and irrational attitude. The
rational attitude subdivided into the thinking and feeling psychological function each
with its attitude. The irrational attitude subdivided into the sensing and intuition
psychological functions, each with its attitude. There is thus a typical thinking, feeling,
sensation and intuitive attitude. He states that social attitudes are isms.
In addition, Jung discussed Abstract and concrete attitude. He said concretion means a
peculiarity of thinking and feeling which is the anti thesis of abstractism.
However, Myers (1985) in his write up limit the use of “attitude” to the Extraversion-
Introversion (EI) and judging-perceiving (JP) indexes.
The write-ups, which are called “Myer-briggs types indicator” (MBTI), is restricted to
E.I. In MBTI terminology attitude can include EI and also JP. (Myers, 1985).
The above MBTI manual statement, is restricted to EI, “is directly contradicted by Jung’s
statement above that there is a typical thinking, feeling, sensation and intuitive attitude”
and by his other uses of term “attitude”. Regardless of whether the MBTI simplification
(or oversimplification) of Jung can be attributed to Myers, Gift Differing the JP index, in

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Gift Differing Myers does use the terms” the perceptive attitude and the rational attitudes
Jung describes, except that the MBTI focuses on the preferred orientation in the outer
world in order to identify the function hierarchy. To be consistent with Jung, it can be
noted that a rational extraverted preference is accompanied by an irrational introvert
preference. A “J” on the outside is a “P” on the inside and vice versa.
Considering other current attitude research, Breckler and Wiggins (1992) define attitudes
as mental and neural representations, organized through experience, exerting a directive
or dynamic influence on behaviour”. Attitudes are part of the brain’s associative
networks, the spider-like structures residing in long term memory (Higgins, 1986) that
consist of affective and cognitive nodes linked through associative pathways (Anderson,
1983; Fazio, 1986). These nodes contain affective, cognitive, and behavioural
components (Eaglt and Chaiken, 1995).
Attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual’s like or dislike for an
item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neural views of an “attitude object” i.e. a person,
behaviour or event. People can also be “ambivalent” towards a target, meaning that they
simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in question.
2.4 ATTITUDE FORMATION
Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience. Tesser
(1993) argued that hereditary variables may affect attitudes-but believes that they may do

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so indirectly. For example, if one inherits the disposition to become an extrovert, this
may affect one’s attitude to certain style of music.
Fagboungbe and Longe(1998) submit that attitudes develop through reinforcements and
influences. As children grow, they exhibit variety of behaviour. The influencers are there
to reinforce desirable behaviours and refuse to reinforce the undesirable ones. As a
child’s behaviour is reinforced, he inculcates such into his behavioural repertoire to form
patterns of behaviour and this is attitude. The unreinforced behaviours are discarded.
He state that various sources of influence exist to assist a child develop attitudes. They
include:
2.4.1 Parental influence: for young children, parents are the most important
source of attitude development. The parents are important in two ways. As a child trainer,
they consciously teach their children the appropriate way of behaving. As a model, the
children are able to observe the behaviour of their parents and copy them.
2.4.2 Peer influence: as the child grows older especially at the school age
period, his peers tend to replace parents as the source of attitude development.
2.4.3 Educational influence: through school curriculum, children are taught
appropriate behaviour. In general, the more years of formal education a person has, the
more liberal the persons attitudes seem to become (Wittig, 1977)

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2.4.4 Mass media influence: information received from radios, television and
newspapers go a long way to influence formation of attitude.
2.5 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
According to Babalola(2005) literature on attitude indicate that the following are
component of attitude:
Cognitive
Affective
Conative
2.5.1 COGNITIVE: - This has to do with what one thinks believes, or his
though about an object attitude. It help to understand the world and put it in coherent
view based on individual’s need to understand the world and to give structure and order
to the environment.
2.5.2 AFFECTIVE: - The affective component other wise known as emotional
component deals with how one feels, emotional dealings connected with the beliefs e.g.
like, dislike, favourably or unfavourably.
2.5.3 CONATIVE: - This consists of an individual’s policy orientation towards
an object, it is a behavioural component, it is the readiness to respond in a particular way
to attitude objects.

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It should be noted that the three components are not independent of one another; they are
rather interlinked in such a way that the three must be present for an object to be
considered an attitude object Babalola (2005). It operates thus; as soon as an object event
is perceived, that is cognition has taken place, this evokes certain emotional feelings in
the person. The feeling in turn depending on whether it is positive or negative makes us
behave in a particular way. Negative feeling is likely to evoke negative behaviour while
positive feeling is likely to evoke positive behaviour
2.6 THE FUNCTION OF ATTITUDE
There is no attitude one has that does not serve a unique function in one’s life. Babalola
state that the functions that attitude serve fall into several categories. This is because the
complexity of human motivation involves various kinds of social goals, which may be
served at one time, or another. According to Katz (1960) why people hold their attitude
as they do is because of the level of psychological motivations and not of the accidents of
external events and circumstances. To him unless we know the psychological need,
which is met by holding an attitude, we will be in a poor position to predict when and
how such attitude should be changed. Basically there are four functions that form
motivational basis for holding attitude. They are;
(a) Instrumental function
(b) Adjective function

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(c) Value expressive functions
(d) Knowledge function
2.6.1 INSTRUMENTAL FUNCTION: - this refers to the favourable
responses the individual achieves from his associate by manifesting acceptable attitude,
e.g. if individual receive favourable reinforcement from his colleague because he
engaged in illicit act like cyber crime. It is likely that such development would
encourage other people around him to engage in such act.
2.6.2 ADJECTIVE FUNCTION: - attitudes, which serve as adjective function,
maybe the means for reaching the desired goal. In general, attitudes may be rewarding
because they yield social rewards including approval from others or because are some
how related to the rewards.
2.6.3 VALUE EXPRESSION FUNCTION: - it allow the individual to defend
this deficiencies. The mechanism of denial, which is a form of avoidance, permits the
individual to defend his self concept. Through the value expressive function of attitude,
the individual achieves self expression in terms of those values which are most cherished
by him. While the ego defensive functions may mean the individual holds back self-
knowledge, the value expressive function, seek only to express and acknowledge his
commitments. In this instance, the reward to the person may not be so much a matter of
gaining social support as it is one confirming the more positive image of his self-concept.

33
2.6.4 KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION:- knowledge represent the cognitive component of
attitudes, this gives coherent components of attitudes, this gives coherence and direction
to experience. It provides ready-made structures into which incoming information can be
organized. A man who has a set of attitudes about objects in his world has in effect a
series of categories for processing information. He knows how to respond, how to think
and how to feel. He need not continually go through an entirely new reappraisal process
but rather can slot new information into existing modes.
2.7 MODELS OF ATTITUDE CHANGE
Some research on emotion and attitude change focuses on the way people process
messages. Many dual processes are used to explain the affective (emotion) and cognitive
processing and interpretations of messages. These include the elaboration likelihood
model, the heuristic-systematic model, and the extended parallel process model.
According to Petty and Cacioppo (1986), Elaboration Likelihood Model or ELM,
Cognitive processing is the central route and affective/emotion processing is often
associated with the peripheral route. The central route pertains to an elaborate cognitive
processing of information while the peripheral route relies on cues of feelings. The ELM
suggests that incorporates both cognitive and affective components as opposed to the
more heuristics – based peripheral route. This suggests that motivation through emotion
alone will not result in an attitude change.

34
(Chaiken, Liberman, and Eagly, 1989) in the Heuristic – systematic Model, or HSM,
information is either processed in a high –involvement and high-effort systematic way, or
information is processed through shortcuts known as heuristics. Emotions, feelings and
gut-feeling reactions are often used as shortcuts.
The extended parallel process model, or EPPM, includes both thinking and feeling in
conjunction with threat and fear appeals (Witte, 1992). EPPM suggests that persuasive
fear appeal work best when people have high involvement and high efficacy. In other
words, fear appeals are most effective when an individual cares about the issue or
situation, and that individual possesses and perceives that they possess the agency to deal
with that issue or situation.
2.8 COMPONENT OF EMOTION APPEALS
Any discrete emotion can be used in a persuasive appeal; this may include jealously,
disgust, indignation, fear, and anger. Fear is one of the most studied emotional appeals in
communication and social influence research. Dillard (1994) suggests that “fear appeals
have been though of as messages that attempt to achieve opinion change by establishing
the negative consequences of failing to agree with the advocated position”. The EPPM
(above) looks at the effectiveness of using fear and threat to change attitudes.

35
Important consequences of fear appeals and other emotion appeals include the possibility
of reaction (Brehm and Brehm, 1981) which may leads to either message rejections or
source rejection and the absence of attitude change. As the EPPM suggests, there is an
optimal emotion level in motivating attitude change. If there is not enough motivation, an
attitude will not change; if the emotional appeal is over done, the motivation can be
paralyzed thereby preventing attitude change. Emotions perceived positive emotions like
humor. Though the inner-workings of humor are not agreed upon, humor appeals may
work by creating incongruities in the mind (Maase, Fink and Kaplowitz, 1984). Recent
research has looked at the impact of humor on the processing of political messages (Nabi,
Moyer-Guse, and Byrne, 2007). While evidence is inconclusive, there appears to be
potential for targeted attitude change is receivers with low political message involvement.
Important factors that influence the impact emotion appeals include self-efficacy, attitude
accessibility, issue involvement, and message / source features. Self-efficacy is a
perception of one’s own human agency; in other words, it is an important variable in
emotion appeal messages because it dictates a person’s ability to deal with both the
emotion and the situation. For example, if a person is not self-efficacious about their
ability to impact global environment, they are not likely to change their attitude or
behaviour about global warming.
Dillard (1994) suggests that message features such as source non-verbal communication,
message content, and receiver difference can impact the emotion impact of fear appeals.

36
The characteristics of a message are important because one message can elicit different
levels of emotion for different people. Thus, in terms of emotion appeals messages, one
size does not fit all.
Attitude accessibility refers to the activation of an attitude from memory (Fazio, 1986); in
other words, how readily available is an attitude about an object, issue, or situation. Issue
involvement (Zaichkowsky, 1985) is the relevance and salience of an issue or situation to
individual. Issue involvement has been correlated with both attitude access and attitude
strength. Past studies conclude accessible attitudes are more resistant to change (Fazio
and Williams, 1986).
2.9 FACTORS AFFECTING ATTITUDE CHANGE
Attitude can be changed through persuasion. The celebrated work of Carl Hovland, at
Yale University in the 1950s and 1960s, helped to advance knowledge of persuasion. In
Hovland’s view, we should understand attitude change as a response to communication.
He and his colleagues did experimental research into the factors that can affect the
persuasiveness of a message. The following are the factors:
2.9.1 Target characteristics: these are characteristics that refer to the person
who receives and processes a message. One such trait is intelligence – it seems that more
intelligent people are less easily persuaded by one – sided messages. Another variable

37
that has been higher in self – esteem are less easily persuaded, there is some evidence that
the relationship between self esteem and persuasibility is actually curvilinear, with people
of moderate self esteem being more easily persuaded than both those of high and low self
esteem levels (Rhodes and Woods, 1992). The mind frame and mood of the target also
plays a role in this process.
2.9.2 Source characteristics: the major source characteristics are expertise,
trustworthiness and interpersonal attraction or attractiveness. The credibility of a
perceived message has been found to be a key variable here (Hovland and Weiss, 1951);
if one reads a report about health and believes it came from a professional medical
journal, one may be more easily persuaded than if one believes it is from a popular
newspaper. Some psychologists have debated whether this is a long lasting effect and
Hovland and Weiss (1951) found the effect of telling people that a message came from a
credible source disappeared after several weeks (the so-called “sleeper effect”). Whether
there is a sleeper effect is controversial. Received wisdom is that if people are informed
of the source of a message before hearing it, there is less likelihood of a sleeper effect
than if they are told a message and then told its source.
2.9.3 Message characteristics: the nature of the message plays a role in
persuasion. Sometimes presenting both sides of a story is useful to help change attitudes.

38
2.9.4 Cognitive routes: a message can appeal to an individual’s cognitive
evaluation to help change an attitude. In the central rout to persuasion the individual is
presented with the data and motivated to evaluate the data and arrive at an attitude-
changing conclusion. In the peripheral rout to attitude change, the individual is
encouraged not to look at the content but at the source. This is commonly seen in modern
advertisements that feature celebrities. In some cases, physician, doctors or experts are
used. In other cases film stars are used for their attractiveness.
2.10 CONCEPT OF SELF ESTEEM
According to Robert reasoner (1992), the concept of self-esteem is founded on the
premise that it is strongly connected to a sense of competence and worthiness and the
relationship between the two as one lives life. The worthiness component of self-esteem
is often misunderstood as simply feeling good about oneself, when it actually is tied to
whether or not a person lives up to certain fundamental human values, such as finding
meanings that foster human growth and making commitments to them in a way that leads
to a sense of integrity and satisfaction. A sense of competence is having the conviction
that one is generally capable of producing desired results, having confidence in the
efficacy of our mind and our ability to think, as well as to make appropriate choices and
decisions. Worthiness might be considered the psychological aspect of self-esteem,
while competence might be considered the behavioral or sociological aspect of self-

39
esteem. Self-esteem stems from the experience of living consciously and might be
viewed as a person’s overall judgment of himself or herself pertaining to self-competence
and self-worth based on reality.
The value of the above is that, it is useful in distinction between authentic or healthy self-
esteem and pseud or unhealthy self-esteem.
The value of this definition is that it is useful in making the distinction between authentic
or healthy self-esteem and pseudo or unhealthy self-esteem. A sense of personal worth
without competence is just as limiting as competence without worthiness. A strong sense
of worthiness prevents competence from becoming arrogance by keeping the individual
focused on basic values, and competence prevents worthiness from becoming narcissism
by requiring good feelings to be earned, not given. Thus, behaviors that might be
described as egotistic, egocentric, conceited, boasting or bragging, bullying, taking
advantage of, or harming others are defensive behaviors indicative of a lack of self-
esteem. Such behaviors, therefore, should not be confused with authentic, healthy self-
esteem.
2.11 DEFINITION OF SELF ESTEEM
According to Nancy and Judith (2004) Self-esteem is generally considered the evaluative
component of the self-concept. A broader representation of the self that includes

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cognitive and behavioral aspects as well as evaluative or affective ones (Blascovich and
Tomaka, 1991). In his definition Nathaniel (1997) state that Self esteem is the disposition
to experience one self as being competent to cope with basics challenge of life while
National Association for self esteem (NASE) define it as the experience of being capable
of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness. From the above it could be
noted that the definition was modified by NASE, be as it may, the whole definition has to
do with ability to face the reality not living feigns lives.
2.12 THEORY OF SELF ESTEEM
Morris Rosenberg’s (1965) theory of self esteem is based on the assumption that the self
is a social entity and that values developed about the self esteem form the interplay
among certain social factors such as culture, society and family. Rosenberg’s framework
presents self esteem as a function of the social environment (Mruk, 1999) and attempts to
show how self esteem impacts on attitudes and behaviours deemed to be of social
significance. Rosenberg describes self-esteem as a positive or negative attitude toward a
particular object, namely that self. He point out that people’s attitudes about their
worthiness as individuals make them prone to experiences and related behaviours that
may be positive or negative. His view is that self-esteem is the outcome of comparison
that includes discrepancies and certain core values. Rosenberg notes that high self-esteem
expresses the feeling that one is good enough. The individual simply feels that his is a

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person of worth; he respects himself for what he is, but does not stand in awe of him. He
does not necessarily consider himself rejection, self-dissatisfaction, and self-concept. The
individual lacks the respect for the self he observes.
According to Rosenberg’s theory, the smaller the gap between the so-called ideal self and
the current, actual, or real self, the higher the self esteem; on the other hand, the greater
the gap, the lower the self esteem, even if other people have a positive view of the
individual (Mruk, 1999).
2.13.1 SELF CONCEPT THEORY
According to Reckless and Dinmtz (1967) self-concept plays a vital role in the
development of criminal behaviour. Offender populations tend to be lower in self Esteem
than non-offender population (Nuga; 1993), although evidence is mixed (Gendreau,
et.al.1973).
2.14 GENESIS OF COMPUTER CRIME IN NIGERIA
John (2007) traced the genesis of computer crime to the 419 scam originated in the early
1980s as the oil-based economy of Nigeria went downhill. Several unemployed
university students first used this scam as a means of manipulating business visitors
interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector before targeting businessmen in the
west, and later the wider population. Early variants were often sent via letter, fax, or even

42
Telex. The spread of email and easy access to email-harvesting software made the cost of
sending scam letters through the Internet extremely cheap. In the 2000s, the 419 scam has
spurred imitations from other locations in Africa and Eastern Europe.
The advance fee fraud is a derivation of a much older scam dating back to 1588 in the
form of a Spanish Prisoner scam. The fictitious prisoner would promise to share non-
existent treasure with the person who would send them money to bribe their guards.
2.15 DEFINITION OF CYBERCRIME
According to Hamish et al (2001) cyber crime is various types of offending behaviour
directed against computers systems, networks or data. Bamodu (2004) state that cyber
crime is often an extension of existing criminal activities through the involvement of
computers. It should be noted that the act is restricted to any crime committed with the
involvement of computers. Some novel types of crime exist, however that feature the
computer as an essential aspect of the crime. Though it is not mentioned but it should be
noted that any crime committed through Global system of mobile telecommunication
(GSM) is under cyber crime because the handset is a mini computer.
2.16 TYPE OF CYBERCRIMES
Many writers agree on various types of cyber crimes, though modus operandi may vary
depending on the cyber criminal

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According to Bamodu, D.S.S and Harmish et al (2004,2007 and 2001) the following are
types of cyber crime.
* Child pornography
* Computer viruses and other malware
* Denial of service attacks
* File sharing
* Hacking
* Identity theft
* Internet fraud
* Spam
* Salami attacks
* Information brokers
* Virus/Worm attacks
* Cyber stalking
* Typo squatters

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2.16.1 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The issue of child pornography has become more important due to its widespread
distribution and availability on the Internet. Child pornography is widely seen as a form
of child abuse and its production, distribution, and possession is outlawed in most
countries. Prohibition may include images or videos of children engaged in sexual acts or
of nude children. Many American states have made efforts to pass legislation outlawing
its transmission via the Internet.
2.16.2 COMPUTER VIRUSES AND OTHER MALWARE
Is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s
informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words “malicious” and “software.” The
expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of
hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The more specific term “
computer virus” is however used in common parlance, and often in the media, to describe
all kinds of malware.
2.16.3 DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS
A denial of service attacks (DOS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource
unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to, motives for, and targets of a
DoS attack may vary, it generally comprises the concerted, malevolent efforts of a person

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or persons to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all,
temporarily or indefinitely. Perpetrators of DoS attack typically – but not exclusively-
target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers. Denials of service attacks are
one form of computer sabotage whereby people can effectively ruin their target’s
operations for what could be a lengthy period of time.
2.16.4 FILE SHARING
File sharing is the practice of making files available for other users to download over the
Internet and smaller networks. The duplication of copyrighted material, such as music
and movies, is well understood as illegal. However, the status of sharing computer files
containing such data has been less clear. The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) was able to force Napster to close its music file sharing operation based on the
fact that the shared files were stored on a central Napster computer. Subsequently,
Napster and others have set up subscription based legal file sharing for music files.
2.16.5 HACKING
A hacker is someone who gains illegal access to computers. This action can be done
maliciously or with the intent of pointing out possible security risks. Microsoft
Corporation, the American multi-national computer technology corporation, and the
department of defense are among those large organizations that have been the target of

46
hackers. This has always been a threat to National security because of espionage activity
taking place through this method.
2.16.6 IDENTITY THEFT
The term identity theft encompasses a broad range of identification-based crimes. It can
be sub-divided into four categories: financial identity theft (using another’s name and
social security number to obtain goods and services) criminal identity theft (posing as
another when apprehended for a crime), identity cloning (using another’s information to
assume his or her identity in daily life), and business/commercial identity theft (using
another’s business name to obtain credit).
2.16.7 INTERNET FRAUD
The term internet fraud generally refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more
online services such as chart rooms, e-mail, message boards, or websites to present
fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to
transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the
scheme.
2.16.8 SPAM
Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk
messages, which are generally undesirable. While the most widely recognized form of

47
Spam is e-mail Spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant
messaging Spam, Usenet newsgroup Spam, Web search engine Spam, Spam in blogs,
mobile phone messaging Spam, internet forum Spam, and junk fax transmissions.
2.16.9 SALAMI ATTACKS
These attacks are used for the commission of financial amount of money every month.
An employee of a bank in USA was dismissed from his job. Disgruntled at having at
having been supposedly mistreated by his employers, the man first introduced a logic
bomb into the bank’s systems. The logic bomb was programmed to take 10 cents from all
the accounts in the bank and put them into the account of the person whose name was
alphabetically the last in the bank’s rosters.
2.16.10 INFORMATION BROKERS
Information brokers sell personal information to anyone requesting it electronically via
the Internet. In one case in the United States, the parents of young woman slain by an
Internet stalker sued an online information broker. It was alleged that for a nominal fee
the broker sold personal information that led the killer to the victim’s place of
employment. He then ambushed her as she got into her car after leaving work and
murdered her.

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2.16.11 VIRUS/WORM ATTACKS
Viruses are programs that attach themselves to a computer or file and then circulate
themselves to other files and to other files and to other computers on a network. This
could also be used to attack the defense technology of a Country via the Internet.
2.16.12 CYBER STALKING
This is an online harassment. The potential stalkers always take advantage of the ease in
communication, ease of use, as well as increased access to personal information and non-
confrontational and sometimes anonymous nature of Internet communications to threaten
a victim. The stalker may be unable to confront a victim in person or on the telephone, he
or she may have little hesitation sending harassing or threatening electronic
communications to a victim. However, this may be a prelude to more serious behaviours,
including physical violence.
2.16.13 TYPOSQUATTERS
Typo squatters register hundreds or thousands of domain names with variations of
popular domains hoping to attract a larger number of users and obtain a larger profit of
misspelled domain names. While in most cases there is no damage to the user (who only
has to make an extra click to go to the desired site,) a typo squatter can easily deliver a
page that looks like the intended domain and then possibly phish the users to submit

49
personal or financial information. The individual companies and domain name owners
have little recourse other than buy the domain names themselves (if they thought about
this early enough) or fight the typo squatter under the domain registrar agreements
(usually arbitration) for each domain name - a costly and time-consuming endeavor,
considering the amount of typo squatted domain names that an organization might have.
2.17 FORMS OF CYBER CRIME
Findings have revealed that all types of cyber crimes could come through three forms,
these are;
(a) Crime against persons
(b) Crime against property
(c) Crime against government.
2.17.1 CRIME AGAINST PERSONS: These are crimes committed against
individuals. It include distribution / posting of obscene materials, threatening or
harassment of a person.
2.17.2 CRIME AGAINST PROPERTY: Some cyber criminal involves in piracy,
copying and distributing of legally or illegally obtained software and or intellectual

50
property that also include dissemination of harmful computer programs, using
programming of others for malicious purpose.
2.17.3 CRIME AGAINST GOVERNMENT
Cyber crime committed against the government is the same as cyber crime committed
against the state and it is a threat to National security. The traditional threats to National
security could now be committed using computer system.
These crimes can take variety of forms, including acts specifically directed at destroying
the viability of the state e.g treason and sabotage, acts undertaken to weaken the
effectiveness of the state, such as dissemination of misinformation, propaganda, rioting
and espionage (Hacking), acts targeting various state infrastructures e.g., terrorism
directed at transportation systems, economic system, public utilities, medical system.
Each of these scenarios represent merely the application of new technology to achieve
ends that have traditionally been prohibited by penal law, since nations have long
recognized that they can not tolerate actions taken to undermine their existence.
Country’s may want to reassess these laws to ensure that they explicitly encompass the
use of computer technology but it is not an area to develop entirely new offenses as must
of the cyber crimes are traditional crimes the only changes is the modus operandi.

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2.18 CYBERCRIMES AND THE LAW: NIGERIA SITUATION
Femi (2004), state that in order to reduce incidence of cyber crime and demystify the
hydra-headed monster, the Federal Government of Nigeria established, Nigeria Cyber
crime Working Group (NCWG) in 2004. The NCWG is an inter-agency body made up of
all key law enforcement, security, intelligence and ICT agencies of government, plus
major private organizations in the ICT sector. Some of these agencies include the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Police Force (NPC), the
National security advise (NSA), the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), State
Security Service (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Nigeria Computer Society
(NCS), Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Internet Service providers’ Association of Nigeria
(ISPAN), National Information Technology Development Agency, Justice minister,
Minister of Science and Technology and Chairmen of the senate and House of
Representatives committee on science and Technology.
The presidential committee after many weeks of deliberations presented a Nigerian cyber
crime Act”. It was presented to the National Assembly for passage, however, the draft act
has not bee passed into law by the National Assembly due to inability of the working
group to monitor/lobby the National Assembly. This was as a result of inter-agency turf,
which emerged among the working group. Rather than focusing on the creation of an

52
effective inter-agency driven cyber crime agency, the quest for control of the proposed
agency become issue of controversy.
Certain agencies within the committee wanted the creation of new and independent cyber
crime commission. NITDA argued in favour of creating the new agency under its
umbrella, which EFCC maintained the need to retain national anti-cyber crime efforts
under its control and agencies such as NCS, argued in favour of creation of a private
independent body. This development led to the committee losing focus hence the draft
was submitted but unattended to till date.
2.19 CONSEQUENCE OF CYBER CRIMES
John (2007) state that the consequence of cyber crime depend on the forms of the cyber
crime; if it is crime against individual there is always emotional and psychological
traumal, which could lead to physical harm or death of the victim or the criminal, his/her
relatives or associate if eventually he is identified such include; a scam victim from
Czech republic shot and killed Micheal Lekara Wayid, an official at the Nigeria embassy
in Prague in February 2003. Leslie fountain, a senior technician at Anglia Polytechnic
University in /England, set him self on fire after falling victim to a scan; fountain died of
his injuries.

53
As result of Cyber crime, victims, in addition to having lost tens of thousand of naira,
often also lost their ability to trust. Although many victims of con – men speak of the
betrayal as the psychological equivalent of rape! Victims may blame themselves for what
has happened (internal attribution), resulting in over whelming guilt and shame. If per
adventure the victim borrowed money to pay the scammer, these feelings magnified.
The consequence of cyber crime against property depends on the nature of the property.
If virus is transferred into a data, it may completely damage. Many government and
private organization have lost so much money to cyber criminals depending on the nature
of the crime. Such include stealing of trade secret and illegal transfer of money from
organizations account, which may eventually lead to liquidation. Attempts were made to
disrupt the computer systems of the sri lankan Government and bombing of Belgrade.
Such development makes the citizens to have the impression that they were not save in
the event of cyber terrorism/war.
2.20 COMPUTER CRIME: DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR
Computer crime could be seen as a deviant behaviour because it depart significantly
from the norms set for people in their social statuses (merton, 1957). Also cyber crime
violate institutionalized expectations and any act that goes contrary to the expectations
shared and recognized as legitimate within a social system is term as deviant behaviour
(Cohen, 1955).

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2.21 COMPONENT OF AN OFFENCE IN CYBER CRIME
According to Osinowo (2005) “committing and offence has three important component:
the IDEA, the OPPORTUNITY, and the ABILITY.
In the case of computer crime, the three components must be established before it could
be committed. Taken the components as follows: -
2.21.1 IDEA: - Criminogenic notion could come as a result of poor attention from parent
which led to peer pressure coupled with other factor such as self concept theories
(Reckless and Dintz 1967), and environmental consequences (learning theories, skinners;
cognitive development theory (Kohlber 1958)
2.21.2 OPPORTUNITY: - Nigeria quest for information and communication
technology (ICT) enhance the country Globalizations drive, there by given the people the
opportunity to access the internet through computer networks. However, the opportunity
to use the Internets for anti-social act comes due to various factors which include; child
abandonment, ineptitude security agencies; unemployment which led to idleness e.t.c.
Those with criminogentic intent see the information technology as a new means of
committing the old crimes. Using modern method.
2.21.3 ABILITY: - Before a computer crime could be committed the perpetrator must
have the ability to browse the Internet and transact. It is not necessary that the

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perpetrators must have in-depth knowledge about information technology but it enhances
the chance of defrauding the would- be victim.
2.22 HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses will be tested:
* Undergraduate male students with low self-esteem will significantly report positive
attitude towards cyber crimes than undergraduate female students with low self esteem.
* Undergraduate students in 400 level will significantly report more positive attitude
towards cyber crimes compare to other levels of undergraduates’ students.
* Undergraduates’ students who are under parental supervision will significantly report
low positive attitude towards cyber crime than those with guardian and self-supervision.
* Undergraduate students who are 21 years and above will significantly report high
attitude towards cyber crime than those lower in age.
2.23 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Age: This refers to the number of years the respondent has live in life. This was
captured by asking for the respondents’ age as at the last birthday. Respondents were
later separated into four age groups; 16 years old and below, 17-18 years old, 19-20 years
and 21 years old and above during analysis.

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Attitude towards cyber crime: refers to respondents like or dislike for the various
types of crime committed using any type of Computers systems either connected to
Internet or .not. This was captured using items to measure interest of the participants on
cyber crime. It can also be called attitude towards computer crime.
Browse: searching for information on Internet using computer System. It was captured
by asking the respondent how often he or she search for information on computer system
. Computer literate: Any person who is good in the use of computer system. This was
captured by asking for respondent knowledge or ability to use computer system.
Custody: this refers to the parental figure which is responsible for taking care, supervise
or exercise the right and responsibility to make decisions regarding the control of the
ward when the respondents is at home. This was captured in the study by asking whether
the respondent is staying with the parents, guardian or alone when at home.
Sex: It is the gender of individual respondents this was captured by asking whether the
respondent is a male or female.
Level: It is the academic class of individual respondents at the University this
was measured in terms of 100 – 400 level.
Self-esteem: Is the experience of being capable of meeting life’s Challenges and being
worthy of happiness. This was measured using Rosenberg self-esteem scale (1965). The

57
mean of 15.34 was used to dichotomise the respondents into high or low self esteem
groups. Respondents who scored below the mean are regarded as respondents with low
self-esteem, while those that score above are regarded as respondents with high self-
esteem.
Undergraduate students:These are students that are currently in the University,
Studying to get the first degree.

58
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 METHODOLOGY
This chapter is a summary of methods used for the study. It highlights the
research design, the participants, the measuring instruments, the procedures of
administration and the statistical analysis use for the hypotheses
3.2 DESIGN
The research design for this study was ex-post facto. The design was adopted because
the independent variable was not manipulated in the study. The depended variable (D.V)
is attitude towards cyber crime, while independent variable (I.V) is Self-esteem. The
mean score was used to dichotomise the I.V into high and low self-esteem. The mean is
15.34. Those who score below the mean has low self-esteem while those who score
above the mean has high self esteem.
3.3 PARTICIPANTS
The sample for this study was drawn from undergraduates’ students of University of
Ibadan, Nigeria. Their demographic characteristics show that Eighty-nine (59.30%) were
males and sixty-one (40.70%) were females. The age range of these undergraduate
students ranges fom16 – 21years and above, the mean age is 17.10.Twenty -nine
(19.30%) in 100 level, thirty (20.00%) in 200 level, forty-four (29.30%) in 300 level,

59
while forty-seven (31.30%) in 400 level. All the respondents were computer literates.
Frequency in browsing, Ninety-four (62.77%) browse regularly, forty (26.70%) were not
regular, and sixteen (10.70%) browse all the time . While at home, one hundred and
twenty (80.01%) were with parents, fifteen (10.00%) were with guardians and fifteen
(10.00%) were under self-supervision.
3.4 INSTRUMENTS
Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. This comprises sections A, B and
C.
Section A: consist items in socio-demographic variables of the participants, such as age,
university level, computer- literacy, frequency in browsing, and custody.
Section B: consist of items used to measrure self-esteem status of the participants.
Rosenberg self-esteem scale was used to measure the students self esteem status. This
scale was developed by Rosenberg, (1965). The scale is a ten-item Likert scale with
items answered on a four point scale - from strongly agrees to strongly disagree. The
ratings assigned to all the items is Summed after reverse scoring the positively worded
items. Scores range from 10 to 40, with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. A
higher score indicates greater self-esteem. The scale is unidimensional. The original
sample for which the scale was developed consisted of 5,024 High School Juniors and

60
Seniors from 10 randomly selected schools in New York State. The scale was reported to
have exhibited an alpha level of 0.72 to 0.97 based on past studies (Rosenberg self
esteem scale, 2001). Rosenberg designed the RSE as a unidimensional measure of global
self- worth with high face validity. The cronbach alpha for the section is 0.73.
Section C:
This consists of 50 items in six subsections which measure attitudes towards computer
crime. The scale was adapted from computer crime index and social learning
questionnaire (C.C.I.S.L.Q) by Marcus Rogers (2001) in partial fulfillment of his Degree
of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of psychology, University of Manitoba Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Based on the fact that the study of computer criminals has received very little
focus from the field of psychology, there were no well-validated psychological measures
that combined social learning theory, moral disengagement, and illegal computer activity.
This necessitated the development of the new instrument by Marcus Rogers, the
Computer Crime Index and Social Learning Questionnaire (CCISLQ). It has two
versions; one of the versions consisted of 114 items and was a paper document provided
to general criminals participants in prisons. Version two consisted of 118 items and was
placed on Internet. The two versions were similar except for the last four items included
in version two. The additional items were used in Internet version to identify the
characteristics and social- demographic of the Internet respondents.

61
The CCISLQ was a modification of a questionnaire that had been used by Skinner and
Fream (1997). The Skinner and Fream (1997) questionnaire was based on the work of
Akers et al. (1979). The questionnaire operationalized the core concepts of social learning
theory (i.e., differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, imitation, and
moral disengagement).
The CCISLQ modified the Skinner & Fream (1997) questionnaire to measure Canadian
Criminal Code activities, to better measure the core social learning concepts as described
by Akers (1977), and to include more precise measures of Bandura’s concept of moral
disengagement. The CCISLQ also updated the description of activities to reflect modern
terms (e.g., changing references to BBS to references to Internet).
The CCISLQ consisted of general questions to make the participant more comfortable in
answering more specific questions that followed. It also included a computer crime index
and expanded the number of items measuring each of the social learning constructs.
Items in each of the scales were summed in order to arrive at a composite score on each
scale (i.e., moral disengagement, differential association, etc.). The composite scores
were used for data analyses.
Items 1-8 measured the most recent time that each Participant had engaged in any of the
eight types of illegal computer activities listed. The activities were Software piracy,
password cracking, unauthorized access to a system or account, unauthorized alteration

62
or disclosure of data, virus or malicious computer code creation, Unauthorized possession
or trafficking of passwords, unauthorized possession or trafficking of credit card
numbers, possession or use of a device to obtain unauthorized telecommunications
service. The possible responses ranged from: never, within the past month, within the
past year, one to four years ago, and five or more years ago.
Items 9-16 measured how often in the past three years the participant had engaged in any
of the illegal computer activities previously indicated. The possible responses were: A)
never, B) 1-2 times, C) 3-5 times, D) 6-9 times, and E) 10 times or more. Summing the
responses on these items created the crime index. For scoring purposes, the lower end of
the range was used as this indicated the minimum number of times the respondents had
participated in the activity (i.e., 1, 3, 6, 10). The responses to questions 10-16 were
summed to determine the crime index.
A participant with a score of zero was classified as having no self-reported criminal
activity. Participants scoring higher than zero were classified as self-reporting criminal
computer activity. Skinner and Fream (1997) indicated that the crime index in their study
had a Cronbach’s alpha = 0.60.
Items 17-23 and 24-26 measured imitation. Items 17-23 measured the influence that
family, peers, teachers, bosses, and the media had on participants’ learning about the
eight listed criminal computer activities. The possible responses included: A) learned

63
nothing, B) learned a little, C) learned some, D) learned a lot, and E) learned nothing.
Items 24-26 specifically measured how many times the participants had witnessed their
teachers or their boss’s overt attitudes toward illegal computer activities. The possible
answers were: A) never, B) 1-2 times, C) 3-5 times, D) 6-9 times, and E) 10 times or
more. Items 27-33 measured positive and negative definitions and required the participant
to indicate their attitudes toward the listed activities. The possible responses rangedfrom:
A) strongly disapprove, B) sometimes disapprove, C) sometimes approve, to D) strongly
approve.
Items 34-50 measured moral disengagement. The moral disengagement scale combined
the concepts of neutralizing definitions from Akers (1998) (questions 34, 36, 37, 44 –47,
and 50) and mechanisms of moral disengagement from Bandura et al. (1996) (questions
35, 38-43, 48,and 49).The items measured in the scale covered the four major points of
the self-regulatory system. Questions 38, 40,42, 44-47, and 50, measured reconstruing the
conduct. Question 49 measured obscuring personal causal agency.
Questions 35-37, and 43, measured disregarding the injurious consequences. Questions
34, 39,41, and 48, measured vilifying, blaming or devaluing the victim. The possible
answers for the items were: A) strongly disagree, B) disagree, C) agree, D) strongly
agree.

64
The scales (moral disengagement, imitation and definitions) were tested for reliability
using Cronbach's alpha. For the moral disengagement, a = .87, for imitation, a = .77 and
for definitions, a = .88.
The social learning construct scales had face validity and were reviewed by Akers who
indicated that they were a good translation of his constructs (R. Akers, personal
communication, February 2000). The scales also had content validity as they are based
directly on the scales used by Akers (1998), Bandura et al. (1996), and Skinner and
Fream (1997). Due to the fact that this is a new research area with little or no other
research findings or scales available, convergent and discriminant validity could not be
examined.
3.5 TEST RELIABILITY
For this study, the initial 50 item analysis showed that the scale has an alpha of .889,
after, 21 items were removed for weak reliability the co-efficient alpha increased to
0.946, internal consistence is 0.575, The Gutman split-half reliability recorded for the
scale was 0.863, while the spearman-brown split half co-efficient was 0.874, in the
present study.

65
3.6 PROCEDURE
For this study, the researcher distributed the questionnaires randomly to the respondents
at University of Ibadan, Nigeria; in two-selected Hall of residence, Independent and Idia
hall respectively. Males resides in Independent while Female students resides in Idia hall.
The questionnaires were applied to the respondents in the hall. In some exceptional cases
the researcher returned after 2 days to retrieve the questionnaires. The researcher
distributed 150 questionnaires to the respondents, 14 were discarded because they were
not useable. A total of 136 questionnaires were valid for analysis. The results of the
analysis are presented in next chapter.
3.7 DATA ANALYSIS
Descriptive statistics is used to analyze the socio demographic information of each
participant. 2x2 analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypothesis 1,one-way
ANOVA and Post hoc test was used to test hypothesis 2,3 and 4. The results were stated
accordingly.

66
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 ANALYSIS OF DATA
This presents the result of the hypotheses tested. The first hypothesis which states that
undergraduate male students with low self esteem will significantly report positive
attitude to cyber crime than female undergraduate with low self esteem. This hypothesis
is tested using 2x2 ANOVA, the result is presented in table 4.1. and 4.2.
TABLE 4.1: SUMMARY OF 2X2 ANOVA SHOWING THE INFLUENCE OF
GENDER AND SELF ESTEEM ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS CYBERCRIME.
Dependent Variable: ATTITUDE_T0WARDS_CYBERCRIME
Source
Type III
Sum of
Squares df
Mean
Square F Sig.
SEX 7889.688 1 7889.688 36.278 .000
SELF_ESTEEM 3155.607 1 3155.607 14.510 .000
SEX *
SELF_ESTEEM
3183.536 1 3183.536 14.638 .000
Error 28489.964 131 217.481
Corrected Total 44955.215 134

67
TABLE 4.2: SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCES ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS
CYBER CRIME BASED ON GENDER AND LEVELS OF SELF ESTEEM
Sex SELF_ESTEEEM Mean Std. Deviation N
MALE LOW 68.1750 23.13161 40
HIGH 48.0000 7.45513 39
Total 58.2152 19.94137 79
FEMALE LOW 42.1360 15.38377 20
HIGH 42.1944 5.38155 36
Total 42.1786 10.00928 56
Total LOW 59.5000 24.14469 60
HIGH 45.2133 7.12493 75
Total 51.5630 18.31630 135
The result in table 4.1 and 4.2, revealed a main effect of gender on attitude towards cyber
crime (F=(1,136)= 36.27,p>.001) .This indicates there was significant difference among
males (X=58.21,S.D = 19.94) and females (X=42.17, S.D = 10.00) on attitude towards
cyber crime. There was the main effect of self-esteem on attitude towards cyber crime (F
(1,136)=14.51, p<.01). Students with low self esteem (X=59.50, S.D = 24.14)
significantly reported positive attitude towards cyber crime than students with high self
esteem (X=45.21, S.D = 7.12). There was significant interaction of self esteem and
gender on attitude towards cyber crime (F= (1,135) 14.63, p<.001). Males with low self
esteem (X=68.17, S.D= 23.16) significantly reported more positive attitude towards

68
cyber crime compare to males with high self esteem (X=48.00, S.D= 7.45) and females
with low (X= 42.15, S.D= 5.38) or high self esteem (X= 42.19,S.D = 5.38) . Thus the
hypothesis is supported.
Fig 1; showing the interaction of self esteem and gender on attitude towards
Cybercrime..
sex
FEMALEMALE
EstimatedMarginalMeans
70.00
65.00
60.00
55.00
50.00
45.00
40.00
HIGH
LOW
SELFE_ESTEEEM
Estimated Marginal Means of ATTITUDE_T0WARDS_CYBERCRIME

69
The second hypothesis which states that 400 level students will significantly report more
positive attitude towards cyber crime compare to students of other levels of study was
tested using ANOVA for independence.
TABLE 4.3 SUMMARY OF ANOVA FOR INDEPENDENCE SHOWING THE
INFLUENCE OF LEVEL OF EDUCATION ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS CYBER
CRIME.
Sum of
Squares Df
Mean
Square F Sig.
Between
Groups
6959.935 3 2319.978 8.634 .000
Within Groups 39229.859 146 268.698
Total 46189.793 149
TABLE 4.4:DISCRIPTIVES STATISTICS SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCE
BASED EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AT THE UNIVERSITY
LEVEL N Mean Std. Deviation
100.00 29 51.5517 19.81087
200.00 30 42.5000 3.55983
300.00 44 45.7500 10.75764
400.00 47 59.7447 22.31052
Total 136 50.6067 17.60678

70
The result is presented in table 4.3 and 4.4. Showed that there is significant difference
between 400 level students on attitude towards cyber crime and those of other levels
(F=(1,136) 8.63,p<.001) . The 400 level students (X=59.74, S.D= 22.31) reported a more
positive attitude towards cyber crime compare to others in 100 level (X=51.55, S.D=
19.81), 200 level (X=42.50, S.D= 3.55), 300 level (X= 45.75, S.D= 10.75). This shows
that level at the university significantly influence attitude towards cyber crime.
TABLE 4.5 : LSD MULTIPLE COMPARISONS SHOWING THE LEVEL OF
DIFFERENCES AMONG THE STUDENT BASED ON ATTITUDE TO
CYBERCRIME.
LEVEL 1 2 3
1 100 LEVEL -
2 200 LEVEL -9.05* -
3 300 LEVEL -5.80 3.25 -
4 400 LEVEL 8.19* 17.2* 13.99*
*The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
Further analysis indicates that the 400 level students have significant highest positive
attitude towards cyber crime compare to those in 100, 200 and 300 level students. While
100 level students reported higher level of attitude to cyber crime compared to 200 and
300 level student. This hypothesis is also supported.

71
The third hypothesis this states that students who are under their parental custody will
significantly report lower attitude towards cyber crime compare to those under a guardian
or on self supervision (alone). This hypothesis is tested using one-way ANOVA for
independence and the result presented in table 4.7 and 4.8
TABLE 4.6: SUMMARY OF ANOVA FOR INDEPENDENCE SHOWING THE
INFLUENCE OF CUSTODY ON ATTITUDE TO CYBERCRIME.
Sum of
Squares df
Mean
Square F Sig.
Between
Groups
38113.927 2 19056.963 346.882 .000
Within Groups 8075.867 147 54.938
Total 46189.793 149
Table 4.7: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCE ON
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CYBERCRIME BASED ON CUSTODY.
N Mean Std. Deviation
PARENT 120 46.1333 8.23799
GUARDIAN 15 39.0000 .00000
ALONE 15 98.0000 .00000
Total 136 50.6067 17.60678
The result in table 4.6 and 4.7, revealed that there is significant difference between
students under the care of parents and those under guardian or staying alone on attitude

72
towards cyber crime (F(1,149) = 346.88, p<.001). Students staying alone (X= 98.00)
significantly reported more positive attitude towards cyber crime than those students
under parental custody (X= 46.8.2,S.D= 8.23) and those under custody of guardian (X=
39.00). The post hoc analysis using LSD post hoc test is presented in table 4.8.
Table 4.8 LSD Multiple comparison showing the level of difference on influence of
custody towards cyber crime
CUSTODY 1 2
GUARDIAN
ALONE 59.00*
PARENT 51.86* -7.13*
* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
The post hoc analysis revealed that students on self supervisions (alone) have the most
significant positive attitude towards cyber crime when compared with students with
guardian and those with parents. Also, students staying with parents also showed a
remarkable difference from students staying with guardian on attitude towards cyber
crime.
The fourth hypothesis which states that undergraduate students of 21 years and above
will have more positive attitude towards cyber crime compare to undergraduates students
with lesser age. This hypothesis was also tested using one-way ANOVA and the result is
presented in table 4.9 and 4.10.

73
Table 4.9 : summary of one-way ANOVA showing the influence of age on attitude
towards cyber crime.
Sum of
Squares df
Mean
Square F Sig.
Between
Groups
5126.397 3 1708.799 6.076 .001
Within Groups 41063.397 146 281.256
Total 46189.793 149
Table 4.10: Descriptive statistics showing the mean difference based on attitude towards
cybercrime.
N Mean Std. Deviation
16 YEARS AND LESS 20 46.0000 14.86430
17 -18 YEARS OLD 39 47.8205 16.11451
19-20 YEARS OLD 38 45.0263 7.96440
21 –OLDER 53 58.3962 21.77272
Total 136 50.6067 17.60678
The result from table 4.9 and 4.10, shows that there is significant difference between
older students and younger students in attitude towards cyber crime. Students, 21 years
and above (X=58.39, S.D= 21.77) significantly report positive attitude towards cyber
crime compare to 16 years old (X=46.00, S.D= 14.86), 17-18 years old (X= 47.80, S.D=
16.11), and 19-20 years old (X=45.02, S.D= 7.96) students. This shows that an increase

74
in age leads to increase in tendency for cybercrime. Further, analysis using LSD post hoc
analysis showed that students 21 yea and above have more positive attitude towards
cyber crime compare to those that are younger in age.
Table 4.11 summary of post hoc analysis showing the mean difference on attitude
towards cyber crime based on age.
1 2 3
16 YEARS AND
LESS
17 -18 YEARS
OLD
-1.82
19-20 YEARS
OLD
-.97 -2.7
21 AND ABOVE 12.39* 10.57* 13.36*
Based on these findings, the hypothesis is thus accepted.

75
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 DISCUSSION
The study investigated the influence of self-esteem on attitude towards cyber crime.
University undergraduates were used as the participants. The discussion of the findings of
the results in chapter four is discussed in this chapter. The four hypotheses tested the
results showed that all were fully supported.
The first hypothesis indicated that there was significant interaction on self-esteem and
gender on attitude towards cyber crime. It could also be seen that students with low self-
esteem reported significantly to attitude towards cyber crime compare with those with
high self-esteem. This is in support of the finding of Nuga (1993) which state that
offenders population tend to be lower in self-esteem than non-offender population.
International Association of Chiefs of Police( 1979). Concluded that a significant loss of
self-esteem is an immediate cause of deviant behavior.
The second hypothesis revealed that there is significant difference between 400 level
undergraduate students and other levels of undergraduate studies on attitude towards
cyber crime. This could be as a result of social influence (Pennebaker,1980).Groups
formed a considerable impact on lifestyle, taste and interest of other youngsters in their

76
groups(Osinowo;2005).And this could be termed to be a behaviour drive as speculated
by (Thrasher;1972).
The third hypothesis indicated that there is significant influence on type of custody on
attitude towards cyber crime. Undergraduate students who are under self-supervision are
positively disposed towards cyber crime than those under Parental or Guardian
supervision. This finding support (Udegbe & Osinowo; 1996) study, which suggest that
parents should find more time to establish rapport with their children. Leaving them on
their own most time would further predispose them to deviancy.
The fourth hypothesis indicated that undergraduate students who are older in age with
low self esteem significantly has positive attitude towards cyber crime compare with
those with lesser age. This is supported by Fagbungbe and Longe (1998), which state that
as the child grows older especially at the school age period, his peers tend to replace
parents as the source of attitude development. It is as a result of neutralizing definition of
cyber crime and reinforcement, which influence continuation of the criminal activity
(Akers, 1977,1998;Akers et al., 1979.) It could also be attributed to moral disengagement
(Bandura, 1990,Bandura et al., 1996).

77
5.2 CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the study that those undergraduate students with low self
esteem, significantly have positive attitude towards cyber crime than those with high self
esteem. Proper custody of undergraduates’ students by their Parents could serve as
preventive measure to positive attitudes towards cyber crimes. Neutralising definitions
and reinforcements influences continuation of this criminal activity.
It was also discovered that some demographic factors such as age, computer literacy and
academic level are implicated in undergraduates’ involvement in cyber crime.
The challenges of cyber crime are enormous and immediate, and no agency or nation can
realistically expect to deal with the problem alone. Thus, the failure in combating the
menace in Nigeria. The country has found its self-growing together with the citizens in a
"global society" in which new challenges can only be coped with by means of
international cooperation. The challenges posed by electronic crime are its global reach,
speed, volatility of evidence, anonymity, and potential for deliberate exploitation of
sovereignty and jurisdictional issues. Crime prevention is central to successful law
enforcement and needs to be equally invested in along with reactive capabilities. This
study provided support for the belief that social learning theory was an appropriate
conceptual framework for understanding computer crime.

78
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
The study has been able to provide a brief insight into undergraduate’s attitude towards
cyber crimes, taking cognizance of influence of self-esteem on the delinquent behaviour.
The results are encouraging as it’s shows that low self-esteem significantly influences
undergraduates to positively developed attitude towards cycbercrime. Consequently, it is
recommended that Parents should endeavour to have close ties with their children.
Especially those in tertiary institutions. Counsel and monitor him or her as study has
shown that they are prone to be involved in social vices with friends while on campus.
Guardians should monitor their wards, condemn any suspicious extravagant live styles,
peer groups influence and should not encourage Internet night browsing.
The Management of Tertiary institutions should put in place control measures, to
discourage the students from engaging in the illicit act within the campus, as most of
them who engage in the act see the campus as haven for the illicit act.
The students should be enlightened on the implications of cyber crimes to them and the
society in general. Such programmes could include orientation on anti cyber crimes,
during orientation week. More so, students should be educated and developed on self-
esteem.

79
The Governments on the other hand need to ensure empowerment of unemployed
graduates and youths. The need for training of cyber cops and provision of necessary
technological equipments to combat the menace is very essential. Information and
intelligence exchanges (both tactical and strategic) between law enforcement, partner
agencies, and the wider community should not be ignored, because the fight against cyber
crime is a joint effort hence, the need for all stake holders to collaborate as it is known
that prevention is better than cure and governments has to work with others to prevent,
detect, and reduce electronic crime. Government’s recognition that electronic crime is
global and requires effective and mutually beneficial partnerships that foster international
cooperation, interoperability, and coordination; make it mandatory to ensure a viable
regulatory and legislative reform at the jurisdictional, national, and international levels,
including treaties and conventions.
5.4 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
The sample population of the study is the main limitation. One hundred and fifty
undergraduates from one of the Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions is not a true representation
of the entire undergraduates in the country’s Tertiary institutions. Thus, the study may
therefore suffer from external validity, as there are likely to be problem of generalization.

80
More so, the measures used were basically self-report by respondents, as it was
developed purposely to study computer crime and social learning. In view of this, the
information given by some of the respondents may not be accurate.
5.5 SUGGESTION
In view of the limitation of this study, it is suggested that similar studies be conducted in
other Tertiary Institutions in the Country. Further research should ensure control
measures that could be adopted by both the government and the institutions’
management.

81
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355.

Impact of self esteem on undergraduates' attitude towards cybercrime.

Impact of self esteem on undergraduates' attitude towards cybercrime.

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Impact of self esteem on undergraduates' attitude towards cybercrime.