| eyesneck believed criminals were likely to be.. | neurotic, extraverted and prone to psychoticism |
| neurotic people tend to be... | anxious and restless |
| extraverted people tend to be.. | outgoing, talkative, impulsive |
| psychotism | - likely to experience psychotic breakdown
- hostile, aggressive |
| eysneck evaluation | - combines biological, psychological and social approaches which makes it more holistic
- criminal personality types are self report method which reduces its reliability as there is a chance of bias |
| cognitive distortions | faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, others and the world inaccurately and usually negatively. |
| hostile attribution bias | tendency to judge ambigious situations or actions of others as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they are not.
offenders may misreas non-aggressive cues such as being looked at and this may trigger a violent reaction |
| minimalization | type of deception involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion. a common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilty.
e.g burglars may describe themselves as doing a joke. studies show that individuals who commit sexual offences are prone to minimalization |
| SUPPORT for cognitive distortions | - real life application to therapy
- CBT challenges irrational thinking. offenders will be confronted to what they have done and establish less distorted views of actions. this can also help to reduce reoffending |
| LIMITATION of cognitive distortions | - cognitive distortions are not used the same way for all offenders
- previous offenders are more likely to use distortions as justification
-non contact sex offenders are more likely to use cognitive distortions than contact offenders |
| level moral reasoning | moral reasoning refers to the way a person thinks about right or wrong. this thinking applies to moral behaviour. higher the level, the more that behaviour is driven by sense of what is right and the lower the level the less its driven by just avoiding punishment |
| moral reasoning and criminality | - offenders are more likely to be classified at the pre-conventional level of kohlberg's model whereas non-offenders have generally progressed beyond the conventional level.
- pre-conventional level is characterized by need to avoid punishment and gain rewards. is associated with being less mature and childish
- adults who are at this level may commit crime if they can get away with it or gain rewards like money or respect |
| STRENGTH for level of moral reasoning and crime | - Palmer and Hollin compared moral reasoning of non-offendors and convicted offenders
- the offender group showed less mature moral reasoning |
| LIMITATION for level of moral reasoning and crime | - may depend on the offence
- people who commit crimes for financial gain were more likely to show pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes in which offenders are more likely to get away with it |
