Cognitive theories of crime

- Argue our mental processes shape our behaviour e.g. our beliefs, attitudes, descion-making and how we interpret world around us

Criminal personality theory

• Yochelson and Samenow argue criminals are prone to ‘faulty thinking’ making more likely to commit crimes

• Based on a long term study of 240 male offenders , most of whom had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital

Thinking errors (Ych+Smn)

• Argue criminals show a range of errors and biases in their thinking and decision-making including: lying; super optimism; uniqueness; victim stance; and a need for power

• Leads them to commit crime

Kohlberg’s moral development theory

• Argues our ideas of right and wrong develop through a series of stages from to childhood-adulthood

• At ‘pre-conventional’ or pre-moral level young children discover rights and wrongs by punishment and reward, whereas by adulthood ideas of right and wrong involve an understanding of underlying morals and values

KMDT with criminality

* Suggests criminals moral development is stuck at a less mature level than everyone else- ==thinking whether actions will result in reward or punishment rather than how it affects others==

Cognitive behavioural therapy- KMDT

• Cognitive theories that see delinquents thought patterns as different from those of normal people have led to range of treatments for offenders

• These come under the general heading of CBT