Kohlberg’s cognitive explanations of criminality

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  • Kohlberg’s cognitive explanations to criminality
    • Levels of moral reasoning
      • How advanced an individual’s moral processing is.  Uses moral dilemmas to determine which level an individual is
      • 1.  Preconventional morality.
        • Stage 1 - punishment orientated
        • Stage 2 - instrumentallyorientated or for personal gain
        • 2. Conventional morality.
          • Stage 3 - approval orientated
          • Stage 4 - maintenance of social order is important.
          • 3. Post-conventional morality
            • Stage 5 - morality of contract and individual rights
            • Stage 6 - morality of conscience
      • Criminals tend to be stuck in the first level and act for their own gain or to avoid punishments.
    • Cognitive distortions
      • Faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking which means that we perceive ourselves, others and the world negatively.
      • Hostile Attribution Bias - tendency to judge ambiguous/ vague situations or the actions of others as aggressive or threatening, when they are not.
      • Minimisation - a cognitive distortion which involves deception and the downplaying of events and emotions. This helps an offender deal with guilty feelings they may have.
        • E.g telling a ****/assault victim that it wasn’t that bad or denial of committing the offence at all

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