Lesson 6: Cognitive Explanations Flashcards
Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg (1973) proposed that the quality of people’s judgments of right and wrong can be summarised by a stage theory of moral development.
Offenders are more likely to have their moral reasoning classified at the pre conventional level. This means that a person is punishment orientated (reasoning based on whether or not the act will lead to punishment) and reward orientated (reasoning based on what can be gained).
This is immature reasoning which typically lasts from ages 3-7. Teenagers and adults who still reason in this way may commit crime if they can get away with it and/or gain rewards (money, respect etc.).
Levels of moral reasoning
Level 1 - Pre-conventional: Individual shows concern for self-interest and external rewards and punishments
Level 2 - Conventional - Individual does what is expected of them by others
Level 3 - Post-conventional: Individual develops more autonomous decision making based on principles of right and justice
Advantages of Moral Reasoning
+ Palmer and Hollin (1998) compared moral reasoning between 210 female non-offenders, 122 male non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using 11 moral dilemmas, such as not taking things that belong to others. The offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than the non offenders.
Disadvantages of Moral Reasoning
- The level of moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence. Thornton and Reid (1982) found that individuals who committed crimes for financial gain, such as robbery, were more likely to show pre conventional reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (such as assault), where no reasoning was evident.
Cognitive distortions
An offender’s biased/dysfunctional thinking about their offence serves to help them legitimise their behaviour and maintain a positive self-image.
Two types of Cognitive Distortions
Hostile attribution bias and Minimalization
Hostile attribution bias
Hostile attribution bias is when offender’s misinterpt social cues and justify their actions to themselves by attributing the cause of their offence to their victim. An unprovoked act is justified on the grounds that the victim did something to initiate the violence. Offenders tend to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they are not. They may misread non-aggressive cues as aggressive and this may trigger a disproportionate, often violent, response.
Minimalization
Minimalization is when offenders justify their offence to themselves by playing down the significance of their actions. They may suggest that injuries inflicted in a vicious assault were mild. This bias acts to reduce an offender’s feeling of guilt. Offenders often use euphemisms for their offences, e.g. a burglar may say they have been ‘doing a job’. Sex offenders are in particular prone to minimalization.
Advantages of Cognitive Distortions
+ Understanding the nature of cognitive distortions has proven beneficial in the treatment of criminal behaviour. The dominant approach in the rehabilitation of sex offenders is cognitive behavioural therapy. This encourages offenders to ‘face up’ to what they have done and establish a less distorted view of their actions. A reduced incidence of cognitive distortions in therapy is highly correlated with a reduced risk of offending.
Disadvantages of Cognitive Distortions
- Hostile attribution bias can explain reactive aggressive behaviour better than pre-medicated and planned aggression.
- Minimalization can describe how an offender rationalises/interprets their actions after the even but does not necessarily explain the initial cause of the offending.
- One key failing with the cognitive approach is that, whilst it explains thinking, it cannot account for the source of these thoughts. Are people born with cognitive distortions (nature) or are they the result of trauma (nurture).
- Cognitive distortions cannot be observed or measured. Psychologists have to rely on self-report or their own inferences to determine what someone is thinking. This means the cognitive explanation of criminal behaviour is not scientific.
