Forensics: Cognitive explanations

Question 1

What was Kohlberg’s original study on moral reasoning (3 levels of moral reasoning)

Answer 1

Method: 72 boys -> 10, 13 and 16 years of age.
- established 3 levels of moral reasoning:
- Level 1: pre conventional reasoning
- Level 2: conventional reasoning
- Level 3: postconventional reasoning

Question 2

What is pre conventional reasoning (Level 1)

Answer 2

• An action is morally wrong only if the person who commits it is punished as a result.
• The right behaviour is the one that is in your best interest.

Question 3

What is conventional reasoning (level 2)

Answer 3

• The right behaviour is the one that makes other people think positively about you.
• It is important to obey laws and follow social conventions because they help society to function properly.

Question 4

What is post conventional reasoning

Answer 4

• The right course of action is the one that promotes the greatest good for all greatest number of people.
• Actions are driven by abstract, universal principles of right and wrong, which do not depend on the situation.

Question 5

What were Kohlberg’s findings

Answer 5

• criminals have a lower level of moral reasoning:
• don’t progress from pre-conventional level of moral reasoning – they seek to avoid punishment and
  gain rewards and have child-like reasoning.
• Non-criminals tend to reason at higher levels and
  sympathise with the rights of others (post-conventional moral reasoning).
• serious offenders have moral outlook that differs from law-abiding majority.

Question 6

What are Chandler’s findings on Cognitive explanations of offending

Answer 6

• offenders are more egocentric and display poorer social perspective-taking skills (evaluating and considering others)
• Observed differences in group of 45 delinquent 11-13 year old males from a group of 45 non delinquents.

Question 7

What are cognitive distortions and what are the 2 types (Gibbs)

Answer 7

• Distortions: what we perceive is real no longer represents what is actually true.
• distortions lead to offenders denying or rationalising their behaviour:
• Hostile attribution bias
• Minimalisation

Question 8

What is hostile attribution bias (Gibbs)

Answer 8

• Attribution bias – when someone has a leaning towards always thinking the worst.
  -> In the case of criminals, such negative interpretations can be linked to their aggressive or violent behaviour.
  -> the need to defend themself.

Question 9

Give 2 studies that support the concept of bias of hostile attribution bias

Answer 9

• Hostile faces: Wegrzyn
• Schonberg and Justye

Question 10

(+) Explain Wegrzyn’s study on Hostile faces and how it supports hostile attribution bias

Answer 10

• 62 males compared to 30 Violent criminals.
• Shown 20 ambiguous faces: 10 male and 10 female and asked rate fear and anger.
• Shown to have a hostile attribution bias as they rated the faces as angry more often than controls.

Question 11

(+) Explain Schoenberg and Justye study on hostile attribution bias

Answer 11

• Method - Presented 55 violent offenders with images of facial expressions and compared these results with a control group of non-offenders.
• The faces showed angry, happy or fearful emotions in varying levels of intensity.
• Findings - the violent offenders were more likely to perceive images as angry and hostile compared to the control group.
• This supports hostile attribution bias.

Question 12

What is minimisation (cognitive distortion) (Bandura)

Answer 12

• consequences of a situation are under-exaggerated.
• ‘euphemistic label’ of behaviour (Bandura, 1973).
• offenders may use minimalisation to reduce the negative interpretation of their behaviour after a crime has been committed.

Question 13

Explain how Minimalisation is common among sexual offenders (Pollock and Hashmall)

Answer 13

• Pollock and Hashmall – 35% of child molesters in their sample argued the crime they had committed was non-sexual and 36% claimed the victim had consented (86 offenders).
• found 21 distinct excuses for their behaviour.

Question 14

(+) Explain how Kohlberg’s theory is supported by Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 14

• Piaget’s theory suggests that child-like (criminal) moral reasoning is self-centred and ego-centric which gives way to empathy and a concern for the needs of others as children mature.
  -> Criminals may not have gone past this stage

Question 15

(+) explain how cognitive distortions have real life applicability

Answer 15

• Cognitive behaviour therapy – used to treat sex offenders, encourages offenders to establish a less distorted view of their actions and ‘face up’ to what they have done.
• Reduced risk of reoffending - linked to reduced incidence of denial and minimalisation.

Question 16

(-) Explain how moral reasoning does not account for individual differences (Thornton and Reid)

Answer 16

• Thornton and Reid (1982):
• pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associate with crimes such as robbery, whereas impulsive crimes such as assault did not pertain to any type of reasoning.
  -> Therefore, the level of moral reasoning may depend on the kind of offence committed.
• People with very low levels of intelligence as less likely to commit crimes but have lower levels of moral reasoning.
• this explanation cannot apply to everyone.

Question 17

List the evaluations for cognitive explanations

Answer 17

Positive:
- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
- Cognitive distortions are applicable

Negative:
- Alternative theory of moral reasoning by Gibbs
- Individual differences

Question 18

(-) explain Gibbs alternative theory of moral reasoning

Answer 18

• 2 levels: mature and immature.
  -> lvl 1: avoiding punishment, personal gain
  -> lvl 2: empathy, social justice
• states Kohlberg’s post-conventional stage should be abandoned as it contains Western cultural bias -> does not represent ‘natural’ maturation stage.