Cognitive Explanations Flashcards
Who proposed the idea of moral reasoning?
Kohlberg
What did Kohlberg propose about moral development?
He said that people’s decisions can be summarised in a stage theory of moral reasoning. He said the higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning. He also found that a group of violent youth were at a significantly lower level of moral development than non violent youths.
What were the stages of morality?
Preconventional morality-Rules are obeyed to avoid punishment or to gain rewards. This is usually found in young children.
Conventional morality-Rules are obeyed for approval and to remain social order.
Postconventional morality-Rules are obeyed if they are important and are ethical with a personal set of principles.
What level of morality does Kohlberg propose that criminals act at?
The preconventional level as they commit crimes if they can get away with it and gain rewards.
What are the two types of cognitive distortions?
Hostile attribution bias and minimalisation
What is hostile attribution bias?
Evidence suggests that criminals may misread non-agressive cues and therefore misinterpret the actions of others. This may trigger a response.
What research was conducted looking at hostile attribution bias?
Schonenburg and Justye presented 55 violent offenders with images of expressions and found that violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive images as angry compared to a control group.
Dodge and Frame showed children a video and found that children who were identified as aggressive and rejected interpreted the situation as more hostile than those classified as non-aggressive, therefore suggesting this behaviour lies in childhood.
What is minimalisation?
When a criminal downplays the seriousness of an offence. For example, burglars may say that they are doing a job to support their families in order to justify the behaviour.
What research was conducted on minimalisation?
Barbaree found that among 26 rapists, 54% denied committing a crime and 40% minimised the harm caused.
Pollock and Hashmall reported 35% of child molesters argued the crime was non-sexual and 36% said the child had consented.
What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
There is application for cognitive distortions as it can help with CBT
There is supporting evidence for moral reasoning as criminals showed less mature reasoning than a control group.
What are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
Gibbs proposed an alternative theory of moral reasoning as postconventional morality is culturally biased
The level of moral reasoning may depend on the offence as some people show no moral reasoning levels
It is descriptive but cannot explain why the offender committed a crime in the first place.
