forensics - psychological - cognitive Flashcards
what is moral reasoning?
a process that refers to an individual drawing upon their own value system to determine what us right/wrong
who was the first to apply moral reasoning to crime?
Kohlberg
what is level one?
preconventional morality
what is level two?
conventional morality
what is level three?
postconventional morality
what is stage one?
punishment orientation
what is stage two?
personal gain
what is stage three?
‘good girl’ or ‘good boy’ morality -> do things for approval
what is stage four?
maintaince of social order
what is stage five?
morality of contract and individual rights
they will stay inline with law if they’re impartial but go against those that threaten human rights
what is stage six?
morality of conscience
they have their own set of ethical principles to abide by
the higher the stage ….
the more sophisticated moral reasoning
how does criminality link to the stages?
criminals are more likely to be pre-conventional because they have more childish moral reasoning. Since they want to avoid punishment and gain rewards
wehere are non criminals on the stages?
they are higher because they feel sympthay, honest and non-violent
what did kohlbergs find?
Using his moral dilemmas, found that a group of violent youth were significantly lower level of moral development than non-violent youths.
what did palmer and Hollin find?
compared moral reasoning in 332 non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using moral dilemma-related questions.
The offender group showed less mature moral reasoning than the non offender group.
Evaluate Kohlberg
+kohlberg
+ palmer and Hollin
- alternative explantions
what is a cognitive distortion?
Faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, other people of the world inaccurately and often negatively.
2 examples of cognitive distortions
Hostile Attribution bias
Minimalisation
2 examples of cognitive distortions
Hostile Attribution bias
Minimalisation
what is Hostile Attribution bias?
The tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others as aggressive or threatening when in reality they may not be.
what was Schonenberg and jusyte research findings?
Findings show that 55 violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry or hostile compared to the matched control group.
what is minimalisation?
A type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotions. It is used as a common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt.
what was barbarees research?
Found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offense at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim.
what was pollocks and hashmalls research?
Reported that 35% of child molesters argued they crime was non-sexual (they were just being ‘affectionate’), 36% stated that the victim had consented.
what is the practical applications for cognitive distortions?
CBT- help change the minset of criminals so they dont re-offend and have a less distorted view of their actions. Useful for society, less crime.
whats a lmitation of cognitive destortions?
they have a lack of predictive value since they describe the mind and we can predict who will re-pffend but unlike biological explanations that say genes cause criminality, the cognitive explanation doesnt pin point anything that causes cime and thus we cannot predict who will be ciminal
