Kohlberg - Turning to Crime: Criminal Cognition

Question 1

General

Answer 1

Children are active agents in their own development.
Through social interaction they develop a sense of empathy for feelings of others.
Learn from comparison by learning to see things in other peoples perspectives.
Theory of cognitive development, face children with moral dilemmas (eg. Heinz dilemma), concerned with their reasoning.

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

2 hours interview, 10 short stories. Children, cross cultural.

Question 3

3 Levels

Answer 3

Sequential model, age correlated changes.

Question 4

6 Stages

Answer 4

Stage 1 = do things so they don’t get punished
2 = seeks maximum reward for themselves, punishment becomes a risk they want to avoid
3= peer pressure and social conformity
4= respect for authority and moral behaviour determined by this
5= general principles of right and wrong
6= act for the greater good not the law of the land

Question 5

Usefulness

Answer 5

Treatment programmes for raising level of moral development in young offenders. EQUIP - teach young people to see things from other peoples viewpoints.
Schemes for young offenders cognitive skills eg. considering consequences of their actions.
Moral understanding NOT moral action. as based on hypothetical moral situations.
Longitudinal so shows development over time.
Not specific to crime - crime not dependent on moral development but likelihood of being successful - Carroll. As the study is on on offenders there is no evidence they lack moral development. Most offenders stuck at pre-conventional level of moral development

Question 6

Reliability

Answer 6

High:
Controlled setting eg. same dilemmas
Standardised 2 hour interviews
Low: 
based on hypothetical moral dilemmas. 
Longitudinal, therefore low replicability. 
Not generalisable to adults

Question 7

Validity

Answer 7

Moral action vs. moral understanding.
Cannot like crime and morals: not all crime is immoral. eg. speeding - however this is still against the law. adultery - immoral btu not against the law. Being moral and law abiding do not always match up.

Question 8

Ecological Validity

Answer 8

• Dilemmas artificial.
• Children 7-16 unfamiliar and will not have experienced anything like this. Eg. Heinz dilemma not married, or understand circumstance, hence how would they know whether to steal the drug.
• There is no consequentiality as hypothetical dilemmas, the comfort of a research environment can produce very different answers.

Question 9

Reductionism

Answer 9

• Ignores effects of psychological and social influences on gender development eg. emotion. Ignores reward and punishment from parents that determine early gender role behaviour.
• Does not explain why stages occur

Question 10

Holism

Answer 10

Looks into many stages of development and why a criminal doesn’t pass through stages.

Question 11

Determinism

Answer 11

What stage eg. criminals stage two.

Question 12

Nature/Nurture

Answer 12

Morality is a natural feature however influences by nurture factors.

Question 13

Ethnocentrism

Answer 13

Cultural variations

Question 14

Andocentrism

Answer 14

Gilligan + Validity

Question 15

Behavioural

Answer 15

Require each stage to be gone through before the next stage begins - BEHAVIOURAL rate it moves through stages and each one it reaches.

Question 16

General EV

Answer 16

Stresses cognitive factors of moral understanding however effected by emotions
Moral actions vs. moral consequences
Cultural variations
Gender differences - Gilligan
- women typically scored less, andocentric - women behave differently, not generalisable