Cognitive Explantions

Question 1

2 types of cognitive explanations

Answer 1

• level of moral reasoning
• cognitive distortions

Question 2

Psychologist behind moral reasoning

Answer 2

Kohlberg

Question 3

Main assumptions of moral reasoning

Answer 3

• human progress through different stages of moral development with age however some individual do not progress past a certain stage
• stuck in lower moral stage = likely to commit crime

Question 4

Why are ppl stuck pre conventional more likley to commit a crime

Answer 4

• Believe breaking law is justified if reward outweigh costs
• judge right and wrong in terms of consequences rather than morals

Question 5

Why might someone at conventional level commit a crime

Answer 5

• break law as they believe criminal behaviour is justified as it helps maintain a relationship

Question 6

Stages of moral reasoning

Answer 6

1.Pre conventional
2.Conventional morality
3. Post conventional morality

Question 7

Stages and reason behind crime at ore conventional stage

Answer 7

Reward stage
- individual expects reward for behaviour more likely to commit crime

Punishment stage - if punishment not definite more likely to commit a crime

Question 8

Stage and resonating behind conventional morality

Answer 8

Good boy/good girl stage - considering what other people might think if closest ppl around them commit crime more likely to commit crime

Law and order stage - considering obedience to law less likely to commit crime

Question 9

Stage and reading for post conventional morality

Answer 9

Social contact stage - obeys law but may commit crime where they feel claw should not apply

Ethical principle stage - indivula has there own moral code and may commit crime if law is unjust

Question 10

Weaknesses of moral reasoning

Answer 10

Ashkar and kenny - level moral reasoning into juvenile sex and non sex offenders, both showed pre conventional moral reasoning however there levels of pre conventional higher in other area not related to there offence showing moral reasoning varies by context and specific to offender type

Androcentric = all male sample in initial development of theory does not take into gender differences into account
- research’s guest women undergo different moral reasoning development to men, tend to focus on how their actions affect other more may explain gender differences in crime rates

Question 11

Strength of moral reasoning

Answer 11

Explain individual differences why some people may commit crime and others don’t because they display different levels of moral reasoning

Question 12

2 types of cognitive distortions

Answer 12

Hostile attribution bias and minimisation

Question 13

What is attribution theory

Answer 13

Why people display certian behaviours
2 attribution
- internal attribution = my choice
- external attribution = someone else’s faults

Question 14

What is hostile attribution bias

Answer 14

Form of external attribution
- makes individuals believe that other behaviour is a negative reaction of self
- leads to misperception/misinterpretation of reality makes individual more likely to commit crime

Question 15

Evaluation of hostile attribution bias

Answer 15

Strengths
- Research showed men scenarios of with difficult martial situations and asked to rate women behaviour, men who displayed violence towards wives were more likely to internet women behaviour as negative towards husband = link between HAB and domestic violence
- real world application understanding how may lead to researcher developing effective treatments in order to prevent offending behaviour in first place

Weakness
- research uses scenarios of hypothetical scenarios measure of HAB lacks predictive validity answer offender provide may not match with the actual behaviours they might display if scenario was real

Question 16

What is minimalisation

Answer 16

• Offender downplays affect of their criminal behaviour
• doesn’t accept full consequences of behaviour and blames victim
• compensate for guilty feeling

Question 17

Evaluation of minimalisation

Answer 17

Strengths
Reserch - investigation into minimisation of sex offenders found majority of offender blame victim, 1/3 denied offences, 1/4 victim benefitted from abuse shows link

Weaknesses
- fails to explain why offender committed the crime in first place. More a copying mechanism with guilt after crime committed, questionable how useful minimisation is of an explanation

• relationship between minimalisation and crime not the same for each crime, strong in sex offenders but
  May be less throng in other types eg theft