Psychological explanation’s of offending behaviour: Cognitive

define cognitive distortion

is a form of irrational thinking. In particular, distortions are ways that reality has become twisted so that what is perceived no longer represents what is actually true.

define hostile attribution bias

When a person automatically attributes malicious intentions to another.

define minimisation

Underplaying the consequence of an action to reduce negative emotions such as feeling guilty.

define moral reasoning

Thinking in a consistent and logical way about right and wrong, with reference to socially agreed principles.

what are two examples of cognitive distortions which are particularly relevant to crime?

1. hostile attribution bias

2. minimalisation

what is hostile attribution bias most likely kinked to in crime?

increased levels of aggression

what can minimalisation explain in terms of criminal behaviour?

can explain how an offender may reduce any negative interpretation of their behaviour before or after a crime has been committed. This helps the individual accept the consequences of their own behaviour and means that negative emotions can be reduced.

what was Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning?

Kohlberg interviewed boys and men about the reasons for their moral decisions and constructed a stage theory of moral development. Each stage represents a more advanced form of moral understanding, resulting in a more logically consistent and morally mature form of understanding.

what are the three levels of moral reasoning?

1. pre conventional

2. conventional

3. post conventional

what % of adults reach the post conventional level?

10%

what is the most common level of moral reasoning?

conventional

what occurs in the pre conventional level?

Children accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions by their consequences. Actions that result in punishments are bad; those that bring rewards are good.

what’s the conventional level?

Individuals continue to believe that conformity to social rules is desirable, but this is not out of self-interest. Maintaining the current social system ensures positive human relationships and social order.

what’s the post conventional level?

individual moves beyond unquestioning compliance to the norms of the social system, the individual defines morality in terms of abstract moral principles that apply to all societies and situations

what did Hollin and Palmer do?

assessed the level of moral reasoning in offenders compared to non delinquents, all were between 13 to 22 years old.

what did Hollin and Palmer find?

Male offenders showed poorer moral reasoning on 10 of the 11 questions compared to male non offenders. Suggesting offenders do have developmental moral deficits and proving supporting evidence for Kohlberg’s theory

what was Aiste’s study?

showed emotionally ambiguous faces to 55 violent offenders in prison and compared their responses to matched control 'normal participants. The faces showed angry, happy or fearful emotions, in varying levels of intensity of the target emotion.

what were the results of Aiste’s study?

The offenders were more likely to interpret any picture that had some expression of anger as an expression of aggression.

what’s support for minimalisation?

Research into sex offenders' crimes provides some support for minimalisation. Kennedy and Grubin (1992) found that sex offenders accounts of their crimes often downplayed their behaviour.

what did the offenders in Grubin’s study say about their behaviour?

the offenders suggested that the victim's behaviour contributed in some way to the crime. Some also simply denied that a crime had been committed.

what are the real world application for the cognitive explanation?

Understanding cognitive distortions can be used in treatment.

what did Heller study in relation to real world applications?

worked with a group of young men who were mainly from disadvantaged groups in Chicago. They used cognitive behavioural techniques to reduce judgement and decision-making errors (cognitive distortions).

what were Hellers findings?

Those participants who attended 13 one-hour sessions had a 44% reduction in arrests compared to a control group.

what’s a major issue with the moral reasoning theory?

concerns the fact that Kohlberg's research was based only on male samples, a gender bias. Furthermore, Carol Gilligan suggested that the theory is focused on a male perspective - one of justice rather than caring

what’s a real world application of kohlberg’s theory?

He observed that children raised on Israeli kibbutzim were morally more advanced than those not raised on kibbutzim, which led him to suggest that belonging to a democratic group and being involved in making moral judgements facilitated moral development. With Carol Gillian, he set up a number of Cluster Schools (also called just communities) in a number of schools, and even one in a prison. Members had the power to define and resolve disputes within the group, encouraging moral development.

evaluation points?

• real life applications (CBT)

• supporting evidence for hostile attribution bias/cognitive distortions (aiste)

• supporting evidence for minimisation (Grubin crimes in sexual assault)

• supporting evidence for Kohlbergs model of moral reasoning (hollin and palmer)

• cant explain the cause of offenders behaviours