Kolhbergs Level Of Moral Reasoning (Forensics) Flashcards
What are the three stages of moral reasoning?
Pre conventional
Conventional
Post conventional
Why will someone commit crime at the pre conventional stage?
Individuals at this stage often have childlike reasoning and will commit crime in order to gain from it - if punishment is also not definite, then this makes it more likely that the individual will offend
Why will someone commit crime at the conventional stage?
An individual is more likely to commit crime if the people around them also are offenders, often to gain respect from them as these individuals wonder about what others around them would think of them
Why will someone commit at the post conventional stage?
An individual at this stage relies on their own moral code and they may commit crime if they feel that the law shouldn’t apply or is unjust
What stage are offenders more likely to be according to Kohlberg?
Pre conventional, due to their childlike reasoning - these individuals aim to avoid punishment and gain rewards
What are cognitive distortions?
Faulty or irrational ways of thinking, which may cause for an individual to perceive themselves, others or the world inaccurately.
Two examples of Cognitive Distortions?
Hostile attribution bias
Minimalisation
What is Hostile Attribution Bias?
When the individual perceives another persons acts as aggressive
E.g ‘he was looking at me funny’
When in reality this aggressive act is non existent
What is minimalisation?
When the person attempts to downplay their actions
E.g a peadephible suggesting that he ‘was just being friendly’
Euphemistic labelling - when personal responsibility is reduced
Research to support Hostile Attribution Bias?
Schonenberg and Justye - 55 violent offenders were exposed to images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. They had compared this group to a control group to make comparisons.
Findings- The violent offenders when compared to the control group were more likely to perceive the facial expressions as aggressive or hostile
Research to support Minimalisation?
Barbaree - out of 26 convicted rapists they had found that around 54% of them denied that they committed the offence and 40% had minimised the harm that they caused
Strengths of Cognitive explanations (moral reasoning) for offending
+ Crick and Dodge found a relationship between Hostile Attribution Bias and aggression within children/adolescence - precursor of aggressive behaviour in children/adolescence lead to criminal behaviour
+ Practical Application, e.g for the rehabilitation of sexual offenders - CBT is used to challenge irrational ways of thinking. Studies found that reduced incidence of denial and Minimalisation lead to reduced rates of reoffending. Therefore, suggesting a practical value
Limitations of Cognitive explanations (moral reasoning) for offending
