Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations

Question 1

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations

parts

Answer 1

Levels of moral reasoning
Kohlberg’s model and criminality
Cognitive distortions
└Hostile attribution bias, Minimalisation

Question 2

Levels of moral reasoning

Answer 2

└moral reasoning= the process where an individual draws upon their own value system to determine if an action is right or wring

└Kohlberg attempted to objectify this process by identifying different levels of reasoning based on peoples answers to moral dilemmas
└higher stage= more sophisticated resoning
└criminals have lower levels of moral resoning

└Kohlberg et al (1973)
└used moral dilemma technique
└found a group of violent youths were significantly lower in moral development than non-violent youths
└even after controlling social background

Question 3

Kohlberg’s model

Answer 3

Level 1- Preconventional morality 
stage 1- Punishment orientation 
└rules are obeyed to avoid punishment 
stage 2-Reward orientation
└rules are obeyed for personal gain

Level 2- Conventional morality
Stage 3- ‘good boy/girl’ orientation
└rules are obeyed for approval 
Stage 4- Maintenance of the social order
└rules are obeyed to maintain the social order 

Level 3- Postconventional morality
Stage 5- Morality of contract and individual rights
└rules are obeyed if they are impartial
└democratic rules are challenged if they infringe on the rights of others
Stage 6- Morality of conscience
└the individual establishes their own set of rules according to their own ethical principles

Question 4

Kohlberg’s model and criminality

Answer 4

└criminals= pre-conventional level

└non criminals= conventional level and above

Question 5

Cognitive distortions

Answer 5

└cognitive distortions: faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking
└leads to us perceiving ourselves, others and the world incorrectly (and usually negatively)

Question 6

Hostile attribution bias

Answer 6

└the tendency to judge ambiguous situations as aggressive or threatening when in reality they may not be
└Schonenberg and Justye (2014)
└showed 55 violent offenders images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions
└more likely to perceive images as angry and hostile than control group
└Dodge and Frame (1982)
└showed children a video of ambiguous provocation (unclear if on purpose or accidental)
└aggressive rejected children interpreted the situation as more hostile than non-aggressive accepted children

Question 7

Minimalisation

Answer 7

└downplaying the significance of an event of emotion to deal with guilt
└Barbaree (1991)
└26 convicted rapists
└54% denied they had commited any offence
└40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim
└Pollock and Hashmall (1991)
└31% of a sample of child molesters said crime was non-sexual
└36% stated it was consensual

Question 8

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Strengths
summary

Answer 8

Evidence for levels of moral reasoning - Palmer and Hollin (1998), Blackburn (1993)

Research application-

Question 9

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Strengths
Evidence for levels of moral reasoning

Answer 9

└Palmer and Hollin (1998)
└compared 210 female on offenders, 122 male non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using the SRM-SF (contains 11 moral dilemma related questions e.g. keeping a promise to a friend
└offenders had less mature moral reasoning= supports Kohlberg’s predictions

└Blackburn (1993)
└suggests convicts show lack of moral development due to lack of role playing opportunities in childhood
└=should provide these opportunities

Question 10

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Strengths
Research application

Answer 10

└understanding the nature of cognitive distortions= good for treatment of criminal behaviour
└rehabilitation of sex offenders via cognitive behaviour therapy
└reduced denial and minimisation in therapy is highly correlated with reduced risk of reoffending
└key feature of anger management

Question 11

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Limitations
summary

Answer 11

Alternative theories of moral reasoning - Gibbs (1979)

Descriptive not explanatory

Question 12

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Limitations
Alternative theories of moral reasoning

Answer 12

└proposed a revised version of Kohlberg’s theory
└2 levels of reasoning
└mature: moral decisions guided by personal gain and avoiding punishment
└immature: moral decisions guided by empathy, social justice, own justice
└(represents Kohlberg’s pre conventional and conventional levels)
└said post conventional level should be abandoned as is culturally biased towards Western culture
└Gibbs view is supported by Piaget’s theory of moral development
└childlike (criminal) reasoning is self-centred
└gives way to empathy when child gets older

Question 13

Psychological explanations: Cognitive explanations
Limitations
Descriptive not explanatory

Answer 13

└good at describing criminal mind
└bad at explaining it
└useful when predicting reoffending
└not much insight into why crime was committed in first place