cognitive explanations of offending Flashcards
what is the cognitive approach to offending
they suggest that ways of thinking and out moral reasoning explains why we offend.
what kholberg suggest
we go throuhg 3 levels of moral reasoning, at each stage we gain greater moral maturity criminal behaviour is more liley in those that don’t progress further in the levels of moral reasoning.
pre-conventional-behaviours whihc they wont get in-trouble for
reward orientation- if the reward they receive outweighs the risk
conventional level- those who do not offend as they take factors into consideration such as peopl,e around them and what is fundamentally wrong/right.
what are cognitive distortion & what is hostile attribution bias and minimalisation
failure to understand out reality may lead to irrational thinking, also leads to misunderstanding what is true about yours and others behaviours
hostile retribution bias - is the misinterpreting of others behaviours of internal mental thoughts to be hostile and aggressive
minimalisation- interpreating our behaviurs as less serious then what they are
what are some evaluation poitns for cognitive distortions?
holin and palmer
holin and palmer- compared the repossess to moral reasoning of offenders and non offenders and found that offenders had poorer moral reasoning than non offenders showing support for cognitive distortions
what is an evaluation to the tasks used by kohlberg
kohlbergs theory is based hypothetical tasks which may lead to social desirability
gender bias as he mostly used men in is research- beta bias
what is differential association theory?
criminality is socialised as those who are surrounded by criminals are socialised into a pro-crime culture, these are reinforced through those around us who provide either approval or disapproval , these also occur through offending techniques being passed down and learnt.
reinforcement also comes through reward such as receiving material gain or high reward
what are some evaluations for this theory?
-it is able to explain both violent and non violent crimes such as white collar crime
-practical applications as it teaches society to not place first time offender with repeat offenders
-doesn’t explain why younger males commit crimes rather than older males as those who are older would have had more time to learn off those around them
