individualistic cognitive

Cards (7)

  • 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