Psychological Explanations: Cognative Explanations

Question 1

Kohlberg proposed that people’s decisions and judgements about right and wrong can be identified in his theory of

Answer 1

Moral development

Question 2

The higher the stage

Answer 2

The more sophisticated the reasoning

Question 3

Kohlberg et al date

Answer 3

1973

Question 4

Kohlberg et al used a moral dilemma technique and found

Answer 4

Criminal offenders tend to be at the preconventional Level

Question 5

The preconventional Level

Answer 5

A need to avoid punishment and gain rewards,

Less mature, childlike reasoning.

Question 6

Non criminals progress to the

Answer 6

Conventional level and beyond

Question 7

Offenders may commit crimes if they can

Answer 7

Get away with it or gain rewards

Question 8

what are the rewards?

Answer 8

money or respect

Question 9

research shows that offenders are often

Answer 9

self-centered (egocentric) and display poorer social perspective-taking skills

Question 10

individuals who reason at a higher level tend to

Answer 10

sympathies more and exhibit behaviors such as honesty, generosity and non-violence

Question 11

cognitive distortions are

Answer 11

errors or biases in peoples information processing systems characterized by faulty thinking

Question 12

we all occasionally exhibited

Answer 12

faulty thinking

Question 13

although we all exhibit faulty thinking, research shows this is a

Answer 13

much more typical way for criminals to interpret their behavior and justify their actions

Question 14

Schonenberg and Justye date

Answer 14

2014

Question 15

Schonenberg and Justye found that violent offenders were more likely then non offenders to percieve

Answer 15

ambiguous facial expressions as angry and hostile

Question 16

Schonenberg and Justye findings

Answer 16

offenders misred non agressive cues and this can trigger a disproportionate and violent responce

Question 17

minimalisation reduces a persons

Answer 17

sense of guilt

Question 18

minimalisation example: burglars may describe themselves as

Answer 18

“doing a job” or “supporting my family” as a way of minimalising the seriousness of their actions and their sense of guilt.

Question 19

Pollock and Hashmall date

Answer 19

1991

Question 20

Pollock and Hashmall found that

Answer 20

35% of a sample of child molesters say their crime was non-sexual

Question 21

Pollock and Hashmall also found that

Answer 21

36% of offenders stated the victim consented

Question 22

Palmer and Hollin date

Answer 22

1998

Question 23

Palmer and Hollin used a scale of

Answer 23

11 moral dilemma-related questions

Question 24

Palmer and Hollin findings

Answer 24

offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than a non-offending control group

Question 25

Palmer and Hollin is in line with

Answer 25

Kohlberg’s pradictions

Question 26

blackbern date

Answer 26

1993

Question 27

Blackbern argues delinquants may show

Answer 27

poor moral development due to a lack of role playing during childhood

Question 28

Blackbern suggests that role playing opportunities should be provided to

Answer 28

develop moral reasoning

Question 29

Gibbs date

Answer 29

1979

Question 30

Gibbs revised visions of Kohlbergs theory has

Answer 30

mature (guided by consciousness) and immiture (guided by reward and avoidance of punishment)

Question 31

Gibbs argued that Kohlbergs post-conventional Level should be

Answer 31

Abandoned because it is culturally biased towards western culture and didn’t represent a ‘natural’ maturational stage of cognitive development

Question 32

Gibbs theory was supported by

Answer 32

Piagets theory of moral development

Question 33

Piagets theory of moral development suggests

Answer 33

Child like criminal reasoning is egocentric and gives way to empathy as children get older

Question 34

Understanding cognitive distortions helps treat criminal behaviour as CBT

Answer 34

Helps offenders to face up to their behaviour with a less distorted view of their behaviour

Question 35

Studies suggest reduced denial and minimisation in therapy is correlated with

Answer 35

Reduced reoffending risk - acceptance of ones crimes is a key feature of anger management

Question 36

Thornton and Reid Date

Answer 36

1982

Question 37

Thornton and Reid found those committing crimes for financial gain

Answer 37

Were more likely to show preconventional reasoning than those committing compulsive crimes

Question 38

Preconventional reasoning was also associated with

Answer 38

Offenders who believed they could evade punishment

Question 39

While the cognitive approach may be good at describing the criminal mind

Answer 39

It’s less successful when it comes to explaining it

Question 40

Cognitive explanations are

Answer 40

After the fact theories

Question 41

Cognitive explanations are useful when predicting offenders but

Answer 41

They give us little insight into why the offender committed the crime in the first place