individualistic cognitive

• Yochelson and samenow criminal personality theory:

  • KEY IDEA = criminals are prone to faulty thinking and this makes them more likely to commit crime
  • STUDY = 240 male offenders most of whom had been committed to psych ward
  • THINKING ERRORS LINK TO CRIME = criminals show a range of biases and errors in their thinking and decision making which may lead to crime. for example lying, secretiveness and having a victim stance
• strengths of Yochelson and Samenow:

  • has lead to other research such as PICTS
  • successful treatments. CBT has been developed from these ideas
• limitations of Yochelson and Samenow:

  • they didn't use a control group of non criminals to compare thinking errors with
  • high sample attrition rate. only 30 left in study by the end
  • their sample was unrepresentativeness. only males and mostly in psych hospitals. doesn't account for all criminals
• general criticisms of individualistic theories

  • artificiality = behaviour in lab experiments is often not the same as real life situtions
  • sample bias = studies are often only on convicted criminals which may differ from those who don't get caught
  • neglect of social factors = they ignore social factors that may cause criminality such as poverty or decriminalisation
• Kohlberg's moral development theory:

  • KEY IDEA = ideas of right and wrong develop through series of stages from childhood to adulthood
  • LINK TO CRIME = criminals are stuck at a less mature level of moral development and likely to think only of reward and punishment not how actions can affect others
  • CBT = cognitive theories have led to development of CBT as possible treatment for criminal behaviour
• strengths of Kohlberg:

  • studies show delinquents having a less mature stage of moral development
  • THORTON AND REID = found the theory to be truer for planned crimes such as theft and robbery than impulsive crimes like violence
• limitations of Kohlberg :

  • focuses on moral thinking rather than moral behaviour. someone may be capable of thinking morally while acting imorally