psychological expantions - cognitive

Question 1

level of moral reasoning
moral development

Answer 1

Kohlberg

people’s decision and judgements on issues of right and wrong can be sugared in a stage theory of moral reasoning

level 1 - pre-conventional morality

level 2 - conventional morality

level 3 - post-conventional morality

the higher the stage the more sophisticated the reasoning

many studies have suggested that offenders tend to show a lower level of moral reasoning than non offenders

Question 2

link with criminality

Answer 2

offenders are more likely to be classified as the pre-conventional level

whereas non-offender have generally porgeeesed to the conventional level and beyond

pre-conventional level is characterised by a need to avoid punishment and gain rewards

associated with less mature childlike reasoning

adults and adolescents who reason at this level may commit a crime if they can get away with it to fain rewards such as money or increased respect

Question 3

strength

Answer 3

research support

evidence for the link between level of moral reasoning and crime

palmer and hollin

compared moral reasoning in 332 non offenders and 126 convicted offenders

usng the socio moral reflection measure short form

which constrains 11 moral dilemma-related questions such as not taking things that belong to others and keeping a promise to a friend

the offender group showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offenders group

this is consistent with Kohlbergs predictions

Question 4

limitation

Answer 4

type of offence

level of moral reasoning may depend on the offence

thornton andf reid

found that people who committed crimes for financial gain such as robbery were more likely yo show pre-conventional morality level reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes

pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes in which offenders believe that have a good chance of evading punishment

this suggests that kohl begs theory may not apply to all forms of crime

Question 5

cognitive distortions

Answer 5

errors or biases in people information processing system characterised by faulty thinking

research links the way in which offenders interpret other people babirusa to justify their own actions

two expamples are hostile attribution bias and minimisation

Question 6

hostile attribution bias

Answer 6

evidence suggests that a propensity for violence is often associated with a tedncey to misinterpret the actions of other people

to assume others are being contfrontational when heya re not

this si called hostile attribution bias and

offenders may misread non-aggressive cues and this may trigger a disproportionate response

Jus yet et al presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions

when compared with a non-aggressive matched control group

the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive these images as a get and hostile

Question 7

minimilisation

Answer 7

attempt to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence

example - burglars may describe themselves as doing a job or supporting thei frijoles as a way of minimising the seriousness of their offences

studies suggest that indvuals who committed crimes for sexual offences are particularly prone to minimilisation

Barbara’s found that among 26 incarcerated roasts 54% denise’s that had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the charm they had cause to the victim

Question 8

strength

Answer 8

real world application

cognitive distortions have applications to therapy

cbt aims to challenge irrational thinking

in the case of offending behaviour offenders are encouraged to face up to what they have done and establish a less distorted view of their actions

studies such as hearings suggest that reduced incidence of denial and minimilasiation in theocracy is hugely associated with a reduced risk of reoffending pig

this suggests that the theory of cognitive distortions has practical value

Question 9

limitation

Answer 9

type of offence

level of cognitive duration depends on the type of offence

howitt and sheldon gathered questionnaire responses form sexual offenders

contrary to what the researchers predicted they found that non-contact sex offenders used ore cognitive distortions than contact se offenders

those who had a previous history of offending were also more likely to use distortions as a justification

suggest that distortions are not used in the same way by all offenders