PE - Cognitive

• What is Kohlberg's kevels of moral reasoning?

  Kohlberg believed that moral reasoning would change we grow older. He studies 72 boys from Chicago between the ages of 10-16 years. 58 were followed up at three-yearly intervals for 20 years. They were given a 2 hour interview and ten dilemmas. Kohlberg found that the reasons given tended to change as they got older.
• What is moral reasoning?

  The process of which individual tries to determine the difference between what is right and what is wrong in a personal situation by using logic.
• What are Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning?

  • Level 1 - Preconventional morality
  • Level 2 - Conventional morality
  • level 3 - Postconventional morality
• What is in Level 1 - Preconventional morality?

  • Stage 1 - Punishment orientation
  • Stage 2 - Instrumental orientation or personal gain
• What is in Level 2 - Conventional morality?

  • Stage 3 - 'Good boy' or Good girl' orientation
  • Stage 4 - maintenance of the social order
• What is in Level 3 - Postconventional morality?

  • Stage 5 - Morality of contract and individual rights
  • Stage 6 - Morality of conscience
• What level is most associated with criminals?

  Most criminals fall under Level 1 - Preconventional morality

  • This is links with personal gain
• What is cognitive distortions?

  Faulty, biased and irritational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, the world or others negatively.
• What are the 2 types of cognitive distortions?

  • Hostile attribution bias
  • Minimalisation
• What is hostile attribution bias?

  • Violence is caused by the perception that other people's acts are aggressive.
  • People may be perceived as being confrontational when they are not.
  • (e.g., "he was giving me a funny look", as a reason for attacking someone, when no such look had happened).
• What is minimalisation?

  • Down playing the seriousness of an offence.
  • Some will underplay their offence (e.g., paedophiles may claim they were, "just being affectionate" or fraudsters may claim "it wasn't that much money compare to the company's worth".
• What is a strength of the cognitive explanation?

  Usefulness

  • The theory of cognitive distortions has proved useful in treating criminal behaviour. Through CBT, offenders can be encouraged to confront the seriousness of their actions and research has found that successfully overcoming denial is correlated with lower rates of reoffending. This gives the cognitive explanation a useful real-world application.
• What is a strength of the cognitive explanation?

  Research support

  • Palmer and Hollin (200) found that, when presented with moral dilemmas, convicted offender shows less mature moral reasoning than non-offending males and females. This supports Kohlberg's suggestion that lower levels of moral reasoning is a factor in criminal behaviour.
• What is a limitation of the cognitive explanation?

  Lack of falsifiability

  • We can't test the cognitive distortions: or morality. we can assume people/criminals have them but there is no concrete evidence.