Cognition

Question 1

Which cognitive abilities need to be considered in context?

Answer 1

1. orienting responses
2. problem-solving skills and executive functioning
3. basic cognitive abilities: perception, attention, information processing and memory

Question 2

Explain how cognition is related to crime.

Answer 2

1. temperament and neurobiology
2. social problems solving skills x social context
3. criminal behaviour

Question 3

What are the three models of impulsivity?

Answer 3

1. inability to withhold a response
2. preference for immediate rewards over delayed gratification
3. immature responses before complete information processing

Question 4

Explain the lifestyle theory of crime [Walters]

Answer 4

bidirectional relationship content and processing

1. beliefs
2. subnetworks
3. schemes

Question 5

Explain the steps from cognition to action.

Answer 5

1. direction of causality
2. maintenance of criminal cognition after a criminal offence
3. before action: removing inhibition

Question 6

Explain moral disengagement.

Answer 6

1. reconstructing immoral behaviour
2. obscuring personal responsibility
3. misrepresenting injurious consequences
4. blaming the victim

Question 7

Explain criminal cognitions.

Answer 7

criminal cognitions have a bad reputation.

• “excuse making”
• criminal always loses
• situational and not dispositional
• “self-deception” is not always a bad thing

Question 8

Explain primary and secondary distortions.

Answer 8

primary distortions: egoistic viewpoint, self-centred, superiority

secondary distortions: self-debasing distortions to neutralize immoral conduct; circumventing moral emotions

Question 9

What are the four self-serving cognitive distortions?

Answer 9

1. self-centred thoughts
2. blaming others
3. minimizing/mislabeling
4. assuming the worst

Question 10

What are the four self-debasing cognitive distortions

Answer 10

1. catastrophizing
2. personalizing
3. overgeneralizing
4. selective abstraction