Assumptions

• Assumptions

  1. The Computer Analogy
  2. Internal Mental Processes
  3. Schemas
• The Computer Analogy

  • Often compares the human mind to a computer. How we take information (input) store it or change it (process) and recall it when necessary (output)
  • The multistore memory model (Atkinson + Shriffin 1968) = in this theory, it was proposed that information enters (input) the brain through the senses and then move to short term memory store + then to long term memory store
  • Whenever information is required it can be retrieved, it becomes output
• The Computer Analogy - Criminal behaviour

  • Cognitive distortions, akin to errors in computer processing, involve irrational thinking that distorts reality
  • For instance, hostile attribution bias leads to negative interpretations, increasing aggression, like a glitch in computer processing leading to incorrect outcome
  • This shows how ‘processing issues’, like computer errors, contribute to cognitive distortions in criminal behaviour.
• Internal Mental processes

  • Humans are basically seen as information processors
  • The main concern of cognitive psychology is how info received from our senses is processed by the brain + how this processing directs how we behave
  • The thought process is broken down into 5 steps
• Internal Mental processes - thought process

  1. Pretty - Perception = being aware by means of senses
  2. Angry - Attention = concentration of awareness
  3. Men - Memory = storing information
  4. Let - Language = a communication system
  5. Trumps - Thinking = ability to process information, hold attention + select appropriate responses and actions
• Internal Mental Processes 3

  Griffiths (1994) - investigated the thought processes of regular + non-regular gamblers:

  • Participants were asked to think aloud whilst playing a fruit machine + weren't allowed to censor what they were going to say
  • Found that gamblers used more irrational verbalisations
• Internal Mental Processes - ASD

  • Mind blindness in ASD directly relates to internal mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, language, and thinking
  • These processes are crucial for forming theories about the minds of others, but individuals with ASD may struggle with this due to their impaired theory of mind
  • As a result, their challenges in social & communicative situations stem from these internal mental processes not functioning fully
• Schemas

  • Organised packets of information that are built through experiences
  • Schemas help us make sense of the world by providing short cuts to identifying things that we come across. Without them we would struggle to navigate our way through the world
  • Schemas are generated through past experiences + interactions with people and the world around us. However, they don't always represent reality. They can be based off stereotypes + at the cause of racism and sexism
• Schemas 2

  • Schemas can alter our memory causing us to misremember events that don't fit into our existing schema
  • For example, Allport and Postman (1947) - they investigated the effect of stereotypes on recall. They showed white participants a picture of a black person being held at knifepoint by a white man. When asked to recall the event but, they misremembered the black man as the mugger
  • Physically attractive = attractive personality
• Schemas - Criminal Behaviour

  • Schemas, learned through experiences, influence criminal behaviour, (Sutherland's Differential Association Theory)
  • Individuals get attitudes, crime types, & methods through interactions with family, peers, and the community
  • These learned schemas are organised based on associations with those supporting/opposing criminal behaviour
  • E.g. Crime – positive or negative schema. The frequency & significance of these interactions decide their impact on criminal tendencies