G543 - Social Cognition - Gudjonsson And Bownes Flashcards
What did they used to measure the type of offence and attribution of blame?
The Gudjonsson and Singh 42 item blame attribution inventory (BAI)
How many participants were there? Where were they serving sentences? What’s the breakdown of offences?
80 criminals serving sentences in Northern Ireland.
20 violent offenders
40 sex offenders
20 property offenders
What did all participants complete?
The BAI (blame attribution inventory)
What three types of attribution did the BAI measure?
External attribution (15 items), mental element attribution (9 items) and guilt (18 items).
What could participants do with the statements?
Agree or disagree
Give an example of an external attribution statement
“Society is to blame for the crimes I committed”
Who showed the most and least guilt? Scores?
Sex offenders showed most guilt - 12.7
Property offenders showed lowest guilt - 5.5
What was little difference found in for all types of offender?
Mental element scores
Who showed the highest and lowest external attribution scores?
Violent offenders - 5.8
Sex offenders - 2.4
What did northern Irish prisoners show when comparing the English findings?
Less guilt, lower mental element scores and higher external attribution scores
What reason did Gudjonsson and Bownes give for the difference between English and Northern Irish prisoners’ attribution scores?
May be a result of the violence prevalent in Northern Ireland during the troubles of the 80’s and 90’s
What did they conclude about offender attribution?
Offenders attribute blame for their crimes differently according to their type of crime
What did the aim to examine the relationship between?
The type of offence and the attributions the offender makes about the criminal act
