Psychological explanations: Cognitive Level

• Moral development


  Kohlberg's concept of moral reasoning applied to offending behaviour
• Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning

  1. Proposed that people's decisions + judgements on issues of right + wrong can be summarised in stage theory

  2. Higher the stage, more sophisticated the reasoning

  3. Based on people's responses to moral dilemmas, e.g. Heinz dilemma
• Offenders


  Tend to show a lower level of moral reasoning than non-offenders
• Violent youths


  Were at a lower level of moral development than non-violent youths, even after controlling for social background
• Preconventional level of Kohlberg's model

  Characterised by need to avoid punishment + gain rewards, + is associated w/ less mature, childlike reasoning
• Adults + adolescents who reason at preconventional level


  May commit crime if they can get away with it and gain rewards
• Offenders


  Often more egocentric + display poorer social perspective-taking skills than non-offender peers
• Individuals who reason at higher levels


  Tend to sympathise more w/ the rights of others + exhibit more conventional behaviours such as honesty, generosity + non-violence
• Cognitive distortions


  Errors/ biases in people's information processing system characterised by faulty thinking
• Hostile attribution bias


  Propensity for violence is often associated w/ a tendency to misinterpret the actions of other people as confrontational when they aren't
• Violent offenders


  Were significantly more likely to perceive ambiguous facial expressions as angry + hostile compared to non-aggressive control group
• Aggressive + rejected children


  Interpreted ambiguous provocation as more hostile than non-aggressive + accepted children
• Minimalisation


  Attempt to deny/ downplay the seriousness of an offence, e.g. burglars saying they're supporting their family
• Individuals who commit sexual offences

  Are prone to minimalisation, with 54% denying they had committed an offence at all and 40% minimising the harm caused to the victim