Psychological Explanations: Cognitive

Question 1

Who came up with the levels of moral reasoning explanation?

Answer 1

Kohlberg (1968)

Question 2

What did Kohlberg propose?

Answer 2

People’s decisions and judgements on issues of right and wrong can be summarised in a stage theory of moral reasoning; the higher the stage the more sophisticated the reasoning.

Question 3

What do studies suggest about offenders in regards to moral reasoning?

Answer 3

Offenders tend to show lower level of moral reasoning than non-offenders.

Question 4

What did Kohlberg find in regards to offenders having lower levels of moral reasoning?

Answer 4

Using moral dilemmas, found that a group of violent youths were at a significantly lower level of moral development than non-youths- even after controlling for social background.

Question 5

What is level 1? (moral reasoning)

Answer 5

Pre-conventional morality.

Question 6

What is level 2? (moral reasoning)

Answer 6

Conventional morality.

Question 7

What is level 3? (moral reasoning)

Answer 7

Post-conventional morality.

Question 8

What is stage 1? (moral reasoning)

Answer 8

Punishment orientation.
-> Rules are obeyed to avoid punishment.

Question 9

What is stage 2? (moral reasoning)

Answer 9

Instrumental orientation or personal gain.
-> Rules are obeyed for personal gain.

Question 10

What is stage 3? (moral reasoning)

Answer 10

‘Good boy’ or ‘Good girl’ orientation.
-> Rules are obeyed for approval.

Question 11

What is stage 4? (moral reasoning)

Answer 11

Maintenance of the social order.
-> Rules are obeyed to maintain social order.

Question 12

What is stage 5? (moral reasoning)

Answer 12

Morality of contract and individual rights.
-> Rules are challenged if they infringe on the rights of others.

Question 13

What is stage 6? (moral reasoning)

Answer 13

Morality of conscience.
-> Individuals have a personal set of ethical principles.

Question 14

What level are offenders most likely to be classified at? (moral reasoning)

Answer 14

Pre-conventional level.
(Stages 1 and 2)

Question 15

What level are non-offenders most likely to be classified at?

Answer 15

The conventional level and beyond.

Question 16

What is the level of moral reasoning assumption support by?

Answer 16

Studies which suggest that offenders are often more egocentric and display poorer social perspective-taking skills than non-offender peers.

Question 17

What does it mean for individuals who reason at higher levels?

Answer 17

They tend to sympathise more with the rights of others and exhibit more conventional behaviours such as honesty, generosity and non-violence.

Question 18

What are cognitive distortions?

Answer 18

Errors or biases in people’s information processing system characterised by faulty thinking.

Question 19

What are the 2 types of cognitive distortions?

Answer 19

-Hostile attribution bias
-Minimalisation

Question 20

What is hostile attribution bias?

Answer 20

The tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they may not be.

Question 21

What did Schoenberg and Justye (2014) research consist of? (Hostile attribution bias)

Answer 21

They presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions.

Question 22

What were the findings from Schonenberg and Jusyte (2014) study? (Hostile attribution bias)

Answer 22

When they were compared with a non-offender matched control group the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile.

Question 23

What was Dodge and Frame’s (1982) research about regarding children? (Hostile attribution bias)

Answer 23

They showed children a video clip of an ‘ambiguous provocation’. Children who had been identified as ‘aggressive’ and ‘rejected’ prior to the study interpreted the situation as more hostile than those classed as ‘non-aggressive’ and ‘accepted’.

Question 24

What is minimalisation?

Answer 24

A type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion. A common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt.

Question 25

What were Barbaree’s (1991) findings in regards to minimalisation?

Answer 25

He found that among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim.

Question 26

What crime has studies shown to be the most prone to minimalisation?

Answer 26

Sexual offences.