cognitive explanation Flashcards
What does Kohlberg suggest about levels of moral reasoning? (2)
How does he link this to criminality?
Through development we pass through these levels
Each level we demonstrate greater moral maturity
Criminal behaviour is more likely in people who dont reach the higher levels of moral reasoning
What are the 3 levels of moral reasoning?
What level of moral reasoning are criminals stuck in?
Why is criminality less likely in the other 2 stages?
Pre-conventional, conventional, postconventional
Pre-convential level (level 1)
Morality is only considered in how it affects them
Conventional, they consider what is best for society
Post-conventional, consider moral principles
What are the 2 stages of the pre-convential level?
Explain
Punishment orientation- to avoid punishment, criminal behaviour will happen if they feel they will get away with the crime
Reward orientation- whatever will be most rewarding, criminal behaviour will happen if they feel reward outweighs the risk
What are cognitive distortions?
What are 2 examples of cognitive distortions?
Failures of the find in accurately representing reality
Irrational thinking>misunderstanding about behaviour of yourself/others>behavioural response may be criminal in nature
Hostile attribution bias
Minimalisation
Explain hostile attribution bias
Biassed inferenes about other peoples mental states, to assume they have negative intentions
Assumptions are made from misreading something as aggressive such as body language
E.g. someone accidentally bumping into you, you think its a personal attack>aggression
Explain minimalisation
Interpreting our own behaviour, seeing it as less serious than it is
They may deny that their actions actually caused harm to the victim, or blame the victim
This justifies their offending behaviour, reduces personal feelings of guilt
One strength of the cognitive explanation is that there’s research support Kohlberg
PET
E: Psychologists assessed levels of moral reasoning in offenders and non offenders, offenders showed poorer moral reasoning on 10/11 questions
T: Supports the view that offenders do have developmental moral defecits
One strength of the cognitive explanation is that there’s real world application
PETF
E: Now there’s an understanding of the link between offending behaviour and cognitive processing>CBT is used to change offenders irrational thinking
T: Improves QoL
F: Boosts economy, less people in prisons
One limitation of the cognitive explanation is that it has a limited explanatory power
PET
E: Focusses on describing the criminal mind, rather than explaining it
Does not give us much insight into why they committed the crime
T: Not useful
One limitation of the cognitive explanation is that its prone to social desirability
PET
E: Kohlberg’s theory is based on hypothetical dilema tasks (e.g. would u steal medicine to save ur dying wife)
People may not respond honestly, or not even know how they really would respond
T: Limits validity
