Lesson 6 – Cognitive Explanations

Question 1

What is moral reasoning?

Answer 1

Moral reasoning- process by which individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether action right ✅ or wrong ✖️

Question 2

How can the quality of people’s judgments of right and wrong be summarised?

Answer 2

Kohlberg (1973)- summarised by stage theory of moral development

Question 3

Which psychologist looked into moral reasoning and when did they do so?

Answer 3

Kohlberg (1973)

Question 4

What did Kohlberg base his stages on?

Answer 4

Kohlberg (1973)- based his stages on ppl’s responses to moral dilemmas

Question 5

How many levels of moral reasoning are there?

Answer 5

3

Question 6

What are the levels of moral reasoning?

Answer 6

1) Pre-conventional
2) Conventional
3) Post-conventional

Question 7

What is the pre-conventional level?

Answer 7

Individual shows concern for self interest and external reward (e.g. 💵) or punishment

Question 8

What is the conventional level?

Answer 8

Individual does what is expected of them by others

Question 9

What is the post conventional level?

Answer 9

Individual develops more autonomous decision making based on principles of right and justice

Question 10

What type of moral reasoning are offenders likely to have?

Answer 10

Offenders- ⬆️ likely to have moral reasoning classified at pre- conventional level … person is punishment orientated (reasoning based on whether act-> to punishment) and reward orientated (reasoning based on what can be gained)
Immature reasoning- typically lasts from ages 3-7- teenagers and adults who still reason in this way may commit crime if can get away with it and/or gain rewards (💵, respect etc)

Question 11

What are the evaluation points of moral reasoning?

Answer 11

👍- Palmer and Hollin (1998)- compared moral reasoning between 210 👩 non-offenders, 122 👨 non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using 11 moral dilemmas e.g. ✖️ taking things that belong to others- offenders showed ⬇️ mature moral reasoning than non-offenders
👎- level of moral reasoning may depend on type of offence- Thornton and Reid (1982)- found that individuals who committed crimes for financial gain (💵) e.g. robbery- ⬆️ likely to show pre-conventional reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (e.g. assault) where ✖️ reasoning evident

Question 12

What are cognitive distortions?

Answer 12

Cognitive distortions- faulty and irrational ways of 💭- make people perceive themselves, other 👨 👩 and the 🌎 inaccurately and often ➖ly

Question 13

How many types of cognitive distortions are there?

Answer 13

2

Question 14

What are the types of cognitive distortions?

Answer 14

1) Minimalisation

2) Hostile attribution bias

Question 15

What is hostile attribution bias?

Answer 15

Hostile attribution bias- tendency to judge ambiguous situations or actions of others as aggressive 😡 and/or threatening when in reality they are ✖️- offenders may misread non-😡 cues-> disproportionate, often violent, response- ALSO can-> offender blaming victim for having ‘started it’

Question 16

What is minimalisation?

Answer 16

Minimalisation- when criminal downplays impact of their crime on their victims- common strategy that ppl use to avoid feeling guilt
ALSO offenders often use euphemisms for their offences e.g. burglar may say they have been ‘doing a job’- sex offenders particular prone to minimalisation e.g Ted Bundy

Question 17

What are the evaluation points of cognitive distortions?

Answer 17

👍- understanding nature of cognitive 🧠 distortions proven beneficial in treatment of criminal 🏃‍♂️- dominant approach in rehabilitation of sex offenders is 🧠 🏃‍♂️al therapy- encourages offenders to ‘face up’ to what they have done and establish a ⬇️ distorted view of their actions- ⬇️ incidence of 🧠 distortions in therapy is ⬆️ly correlated with ⬇️ risk of offending
👎- cognitive approach explains 💭 BUT ✖️ account for source of these 💭 (nature or nurture?)
👎- cognitive distortions ✖️ be observed 👀 or measured … 🧠 explanation of criminal 🏃‍♂️ is ✖️ scientific 🧪