Criminal Behaviour (Cognitive Factors) Flashcards
What is the cognitive approach to criminal behaviour?
It likens the mind to a computer, suggesting crime results from cognitive processes going wrong, like a “glitch.”
What are cognitive distortions?
Patterns of thinking that don’t reflect reality and may explain some criminal behaviour.
What is an attribution?
The process of constructing causal explanations for one’s own or others’ behaviour.
What are the two types of attributions?
Internal (due to personality traits) and External (due to environmental factors).
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?
A bias where people tend to attribute others’ behaviour to internal causes rather than external ones.
What is Hostile Attribution Bias?
A tendency to interpret others’ actions as hostile, often linked to aggression and criminality.
What is the Blame Attribution Inventory (BAI)?
A tool developed by Gudjonsson (1984) to measure how offenders attribute blame for their crimes.
What is External Attribution in the BAI?
Blaming society or victims for one’s criminal actions.
What is Mental-Element Attribution in the BAI?
Blaming mental illness or lack of control for one’s crimes.
What is Guilt-Feeling Attribution in the BAI?
Attributing one’s actions to feelings of guilt or remorse.
What kind of attribution is common among sex offenders?
Guilt-Feeling Attribution.
What kind of attribution is common among violent offenders?
Mental-Element Attribution.
What kind of attribution is linked with high psychoticism?
External Attribution.
What is minimisation?
A cognitive distortion where the consequences of an action are downplayed to reduce guilt.
What is the difference between magnification and minimisation?
Magnification exaggerates significance; minimisation downplays it.
What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?
Understanding that others have different thoughts, beliefs, and feelings.
What did Spenser et al. (2015) find about young offenders and ToM?
They had lower levels of ToM, empathy, and moral reasoning compared to a control group.
What are Kohlberg’s three levels of moral development?
Preconventional, Conventional, Postconventional.
What is Preconventional reasoning?
Crime is justified if punishment is avoided or rewards outweigh costs.
What is Conventional reasoning?
Crime is justified if it maintains relationships or social order.
What is Postconventional reasoning?
Crime is justified if it supports human rights or social justice.
How is moral reasoning linked to criminality?
Criminals often operate at lower levels of moral reasoning.
What did Schonenberg & Aiste (2014) find?
Violent offenders interpreted ambiguous facial expressions as angry—evidence of Hostile Attribution Bias.
What did Kennedy & Grubin (1992) find?
Sex offenders often downplayed their actions and blamed the victims.
