COGNITIVE CRIMINAL

BEHAVIOURPaola Gonzalez, Pamela Reyes, Pablo Elizondo, Lulu Macias y Federica

“Criminal behavior is a result of

cognitive distortions.

WHAT ARE COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS?

Cognitive distortions is the pattern of thoughts caused by depression and anxiety that lead, as a result, a series of distort, f.e; blaming others for your failures, exaggerating accomplishments and abilities to make ourselves look better in the eyes of others.

The rational choice theory claims that criminals take the choice by considering the benefit and the best outcome/reward.

THINKING PATTERNS

This consists on the believe that criminals have over 40 distinct and erroneous thinking errors that makes them different from non-criminals. This thinking errors are characterized by fear and a distorted self-image. It also denies that criminals act impulsively or just because of desire they had a rational thinking process which resulted in crimes. Thinking errors are “mistakes” Thinking errors let a person blame other people, not take responsibility for their behaviors and stops people from ever getting better.

YOCHELSON, S AND SAMENOW S. (1997)

AIMProve that criminal behavior is the result of their thinking process and that criminals cognition is different from

those who are not criminals

PROCEDURE255 male offenders who were

in a psychiatric institution who claimed to be innocent

because of insanity were interviewed.

Only 30 were chosen to complete more interviews

They worked with them during 14 years interviewing

them with psychoanalytic postulates in order to find

criminal thinking patterns or the beginning of their

criminal behavior.They used Freudian Therapy in order to observe or study changes in their cognition

over the years.

RESULTSWithin the years they discovered

52 thinking errors which were categorized in 3 main categories:

Crime-related thinking errors, automatic thinking errors, criminal thinking patterns.

EVALUATIONThis study has low validity due to the way of research since only interviews and

observation were used. Also it is lacking a control group.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

This theory explains why some people turn to crime and emphasizes the role of moral development. There are three levels of moral development each with two stages.  Some psychologists argue that criminals offend because they are still in stage 1 or 2.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Pre-conventional morality which involves childhood ages. Their morality is driven by reward, punishment and self-interest. Stage 1: During this stage the child behaves good in order to avoid punishment. They understand that if someone is punished is because they must have done something wrongStage 2: At this age children recognize there is more than just one view and that each individual will have its own view to the situation.

Conventional morality level is between adolescent ages and adulthood where most people fall into criminal behaviours. Their morals are controlled by society, law and conformity. Stage 3: The person behaves good in order for others to see him/her as a good personStage 4: The person becomes aware of judgements and rules of society so it feels socially accepted

Post-conventional level is the last level any person can reach. It’s seen as an ideal that many do not reach. Only 10-15% are capable of the kind of abstract thinking necessary for this level.Stage 5: The individual becomes aware that even though rules are for goods sometimes the rules will be against their own interests.Stage 6: The individual has developed his own moral guidelines which may or not fit the rules of society.

SOCIAL COGNITION

Social cognition refers to how we think about others around us. We attribute our own behavior to the situation, but others' behavior to their disposition, particularly when they are negative or undesirable. This can justify why they do crime, criminals are incorrectly attributing more hostile behaviors. Since they feel like they can justify being anti-social and committing offences because they feel victimized or an outcast anyway.

PALMER AND HOLLIN (2000)

AIMSee the relationship between moral reasoning, attribution theory and other cognitive processes and compare it

between young male delinquents and non-offenders.

PROCEDURESample 97 convicted male criminals aged between 13 and 21 and 77 non-offenders aged between 12 and 24.Psychometric tests were applied to both groups.All participants were given a Socio-Reflection Measure Short Form which contained 11 moral dilemma- related questions.Participants were also given scenarios where they were to attribute intent to others' behavior.Could be to change the way he/she perceives the world and the others around them in order to change their behavior

RESULTSPsychometric tests included

perceptions of parenting including rejection which check-listed of 46

offences.The delinquent group showed less mature moral reasoning than the

non-delinquent group, operating at lower levels of moral development.

EVALUATION

Limitations: Ecological validity: The method required answering moral related questions which can be argued to not represent the live moment of committing a crime. Validity: Lacks scientific measures and the moral dilemmas are bias’ which don’t show true morality of the criminals.

Strengths: Useful applications to everyday life since it suggests that criminal’s low morality could be corrected with cognitive behavioural treatment would be to change the way he/she perceives the world and the others around them in order to change their behavior

INELLIGENCE AND CRIME

Criminologists have suggested for centuries that there exists a link between intelligence and crime.The central question of IQ-crime studies is whether individuals with less intelligence, on average, commit more crime than those with more intelligence.  

The scholars, Travis Hirschi and Michael Hindelang, suggested that low IQ increases the likelihood of criminal behavior through its effect on school performance.

The ideology of IQ and crime has crystallized into the nature-versus-nurture debate. This is an argument that is related to whether the environment or heredity impacts the psychological development of individuals.In the early decades of the 20th century, researchers administered IQ tests to delinquent male children. The results indicated that close to 40% had below-average intelligence. It is important to observe that there are many individuals who have a low IQ but refrain from committing crime.

THE BELL CURVE

The bell curve is a book published in 1994. Written by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray as a work designed to explain variations in intelligence in American Society, this book suggested that individuals with a lower IQ are more likely to commit crime and get caught, and be sent to prison. They also stated that prisons and jails are highly populated with inmates with low IQs

THE BELL CURVE

But what about those criminals who actions go undetected?

Through self-reported data, the researchers discovered that these individuals have a lower IQ than the general public. Concluding that those criminal offenders who have been caught and those who have not have an IQ lower than the general population

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