Psycolgoival Explanantions: Cognitive Flashcards
What are cognitive distortions
Are error or biases in peoples information processing system characterised by faulty thinking meaning we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately
What are two examples of cognitive distortions
Hostile attribution bias
Minimalisation
What is hostile attribution bias
The tendency to judge ambiguous situations or the actions of others as aggressive or threatening when in reality they might not be
This may then trigger a disproportionate response
Studies supporting hostile attribution bias
55 violent offenders presented euthanasia images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions
Compared to non aggressive matched control group the violent offenders were significantly ,ore likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile
What is minimalisation
A type of deception involving downplaying the significance of an event or emotion
Common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt
Studies showing minimalisation
Among 26 incarcerated rapist
54% denied they had committed an offence at all
40% minimised the harm they had caused to victim
What did kohlberg propose
Peoples decisions and judgements on issues of right and wrong can be summarised be summarised in a stage theory of moral reasoning
His theory is based on peoples responses to a series of moral dilemmas He
Wat did Kohlberg et al show using his moral dilemmas
Group of violent youths were at a significant;y lower level of moral development than non violent outs
Who is more likely to be classified in each of the three moral development stages
Pre conventional morality - offenders more likley
Conventional or post conventional morality - non offenders more likley
What is the pre conventional morality characterised as
Need to avoid punishment and gain reward and Socrates with less mature childlike reasoning
So people who reason at this level may commit crime if they can get away with it with it or gain rewards
The assumption that offender are more likley to be in the pre conventional stage is supported by
Studies suggest that offenders are often more self centred and display poorer social perspective talking skills than no offenders
Individuals reason at higher levels tend to sympathise more with the right of others and exhibit more conventional behaviours
Research evidence of the link between moral reasoning and crime
Player and hollin compared moral reasoning in 332 non offenders and 126 convicted offender using the (SRM-SF) which contains 11 moral dilemma related questions
Offender group shows less mature moral reasoning than the non offender group
This is consistent with kohlberg predictions
Limitation of stage theory of moral reasoning
Level of moral reasoning may depend on the offence
Research found that people who committed crimes for financial gain were more likely to show pre conventional moral reasoning that those convicted of impulsive crimes
Pre conventional choral reasoning tend to be associated with crimes in which offender believe they have a god chance of evading punishment so this suggest kohlberg theory may not apply to all forms of crime
Strength of cognitive distortions
Application to therapy
- CBT aims to challenge irrational thinking
Offender are encouraged to face up to what they have done and establish less districted view of their actions
Studies have shown reduced incidence of denial and minimalisationnin therapy is highly associated with a reduced risk of reoffending
So cognitive distortions has practical value
Limitation of kohlbergs theory -validity
Moral reasoning does not always translate to moral behaviour so anyone can claim to think or feel a a particular way but tit does not mean this is actually what they feel hence the theory may lack validity
