Cog explanation

• What do cog exp look for ?

  The origins of offending in the mind of the individual 
• What’s moral reasoning ?

  Process by which an individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong
• How can decisions and judgements be summarised of right and wrong?

  Moral development
• -based on a series of moral dilemmas 

  -higher the stage ,the more sophisticated the reasoning

  -studies show that offenders show a lower level of moral reasoning
• What did Kohlberg et al find ?

  Found that a group of violent youths  were significantly lower in moral development.Even after controlling for social background 
• Where do non offenders generally operate?

  In higher stages 
• Where are offenders more likely to be classified?

  -At pre-conventional stage in Kohlbergs model 

  -need to avoid punishment and gain reward

  -less mature and childlike reasoning

  -crime is committed if they can get away with it or gain some kind of reward (tangible or intangible)
• This assumption is supported by studies showing that offenders are more egocentric and display less social perspective-taking skills (chandler,1973)

  -higher levels are associated with sympathising the rights of others,honesty,generosity and non-violence
• What’s cognitive distortions mean?

  -A tendency to judge ambiguous situations,or the actions of others,as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they may not be 

  -Schoenberg & just he (2014) - 55 violent offenders were more likely to perceive an emotionally ambiguous face as angry and hostile 
• What does minimalisation mean?

  -A type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion.A common strategy when dealing with feeling of guilt.

  -denying or downplaying the seriousness of offences - applying a euphemistic label (Bandura,1973)
• What did Kennedy + grubin found?

  Sex offenders often downplay their behaviour e.g through denial or by claiming the victims in some way contributed to the crime.
• What are the evaluations for Kohlberg (moral reasoning)

  :) supporting evidence - parameters + Hollis 

  :( may be better exp bio explanation e.g twin studies 

  :( may depend in the type of crime 
• What are the evaluations for cognitive distortions?

  :) can apply to CBT - aims to challenge irrational thinking and offenders are encouraged to face what they’ve done

  :( depend on the type of crime

  :( may be better exp bio explanation e.g twin studies