Forensic Psychology - 7. Psychological Explanations: 2. Cognitive Explanations Flashcards
3 things that the cognitive approach focuses on
The way we think
How we process information
Our brains are like computers
Babies concept of right and wrong
Babies have no concept of right and wrong
What happens to our morals as we age?
They develop and become more sophisticated
Who investigated morality for this topic?
Kohlberg
Who was Kohlberg most influenced by?
Piaget, who saw development as going through stages
What is the levels of moral reasoning?
A series of stages than an individual uses to think about whether an action is right or wrong
How many levels make up Kohlberg’s levels of moral reasoning? What are they?
3 levels:
1. Pre-conventional
2. Conventional
3. Post-conventional
How many stages are in each level of moral reasoning?
2 stages are in each level (6 in total)
What 2 stages make up the pre-conventional level?
- Doing something because of fear of punishment
- Doing it for personal gain
What 2 stages make up the conventional level?
- Doing something according to the majority
- Doing it because it’s your duty/helps society
What 2 stages make up the post-conventional level?
- Doing something even if it’s against the law because the law is too restrictive (E.g. illegal protesting)
- Doing it because of your inner conscience
What level of moral reasoning are most criminals classified at according to Kohlberg? Why is this?
Most criminals classified at pre-conventional level (level 1). This is because criminals are most likely to carry out crime if they think they aren’t going to get caught (stage 1) or because they are gaining some type of reward (stage 2)
Other than criminals, who is at the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning?
Children
When do people at the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning think crime is justified?
If the rewards outweigh the costs or if punishment can be avoided
When do people at the conventional level of moral reasoning think crime is justified?
If it helps maintain relationships (E.g. stealing to provide for their family)
When do people at the post-conventional level of moral reasoning think crime is justified?
If the law violates an individual’s rights, committing a crime will be justified
Difference of levels of moral reasoning between criminals and non-criminals according to Kohlberg
Criminals have a lower level of moral reasoning than non-criminals
What did Kohlberg aim to discover in his research?
Aimed to discover how moral reasoning changes as people grew older
Sample of Kohlberg’s research
Sample made up of 72 Chicago boys aged 10-16
How was Kohlberg’s study a longitudinal study?
58 boys were followed up at three-yearly intervals for 20 years
Method of Kohlberg’s study
Each boy given a 2 hour interview where they were talked through 10 dilemmas
Results of Kohlberg’s study
The reasons that the children gave for their decisions in the dilemmas changed as they got older
Positive evaluation of the cognitive explanation: cultural universality
Kohlberg demonstrated that his moral stages were universal as he later studied children in Britain, Mexico, Turkey and USA
Positive evaluation of the cognitive explanation: research between delinquents and non-delinquents
Palmer and Hollin compared moral reasoning between female non-offenders, male non-offenders and convicted offenders. Found that offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offenders
Positive evaluation of the cognitive explanation: association of crime to level of moral reasoning
Thornton and Ried found pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes such as robbery
Positive evaluation of the cognitive explanation: real-life application
Understanding the importance of the levels of moral reasoning can be useful in shaping intervention programmes to prevent crime
Negative evaluation of the cognitive explanation: alternative theory
Gibbs proposed an alternative thoery, stating that there are only two levels of moral reasoning
Negative evaluation of the cognitive explanation: what may the level of moral reasoning actually depend on?
It may depend on the kind of offence committed
Negative evaluation of the cognitive explanation: does moral reasoning necessarily lead to moral behaviour?
This theory is based on thinking instead of actual actions. Thinking in a certain way doesn’t mean you are behaving in that way (E.g. those who have high levels of moral reasoning may still commit petty crimes)
Negative evaluation of the cognitive explanation: gender bias
Much of Kohlberg’s research focuses on males. This also leads to beta bias as it eliminates the potential differences between men and women
