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Summary Forensic Psychology (Forensic Psychology)
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Forensic psychologyPart I. the causes of crime
Chapter 1. psychological approaches to understanding crime
1.2 psychological theories
1.2.1 moral reasoning theory
- A body of literature is available that examines the relationship between moral reasoning and
offending.
- Moral reasoning = refers to how individuals reason about and justify their behavior with
respect to moral issues.
- By far the best-known approach to moral reasoning within psychology is the cognitive-
developmental approach initially proposed by Piaget and subsequently developed by
Kohlberg. Later revised by Gibbs.
-
- There is now a sizable amount of evidence pertaining to the relationship between moral
reasoning and offending. Looking at Kohlberg/Gibbs’ theories, it is possible to morally justify
offending behavior at each of the stages;
1. Offender is morally justified if punishment can be avoided
2. Offender is morally justified if the benefits to the individual outweigh the costs
, 3. Offending is morally justified if it maintains personal relationships
4. Offending is morally justified if it maintains society or is sanctioned by a social institution
- However, although offending can be justified at all stages, the circumstances in which it
usually occurs reflects moral reasoning at the less mature stages.
- Gibbs has considered what particular features characterize the moral development of
offenders.
- He suggests: (1) developmental delay in moral judgment; (2) self-serving cognitive
distortions; and (3) social skill deficiencies.
- Cognitive distortions = Gibbs proposes that the main offence-supporting distortion is
egocentric bias, which is characteristic of both immature moral reasoning and the thinking
styles of offenders.
- Secondary cognitive distortions = are proposed to support egocentricity in contributing to
offending. These comprise; (1) blaming others or external factors rather than oneself for
behavior that harms other people; (2) having a hostile attributional bias, by which ambiguous
events/social interactions are interpreted as hostile; and (3) minimizing
consequences/mislabelling one’s own antisocial behavior in order to reduce feelings of guilt
and regret. Finally, there is some evidence that offenders have social skills deficits that can
impact on their behavior in social situations.
- Therefore, within the moral reasoning theory framework, offending behavior is seen as a
result of sociomoral developmental delay beyond childhood, accompanied by an egocentric
bias. The secondary cognitive distortions then allow individuals to disengage from taking
responsibility for their behavior on a moral level.
1.2.2 social information-processing theory
- Models of social information-processing theories have been applied to explain aggression
and delinquent behavior in order to examine individual differences in why one individual will
respond to a certain situation aggressively whereas another will not
- Crick and Dodge; a model of six-steps of social information-processing that describes how
individuals perceive their social world and process information about it, and the influence of
previous experience on these processes. The six steps in the model are;
1. Encoding of social cues
2. Interpretation and mental representation of the situation
3. Clarification of goals/outcomes for the situation
4. Access or construction of responses for the situation
5. Choice of response
6. Performance of chosen response
- At all steps processing is influenced by social knowledge structures based on an individual’s
past experiences, such as social schema and scripts.
- The Response Evaluation and Decision (RED) model = outlines a number of criteria used
when evaluating responses, including the perceived efficacy and value (in terms of its
moral/social qualities) of the response, and the perceived efficacy and value of the outcome
behavior.
1.2.2.1 social information-processing and criminal behavior
- There is now a large body of research showing that aggressive and delinquent individuals
show distinct patterns of social information-processing across the six steps
, - At the first two steps, research suggests aggressive individuals experience a range of
problems in encoding and interpreting social cues, leading to an inaccurate representation of
a situation
- A number of studies have reported that aggressive individuals have a hostile attributional
style, and so often misinterpret situations as hostile.
- Taken together, the distinctive patterns of processing that are associated with aggressive and
antisocial behavior suggest that social information-processing is influential in the
development of juvenile delinquency and adult offending.
1.3.1 interpersonal violence
- There are a number of theories that attempt to provide explanations of violence and violent
offending, including those that focus on the role of social factors in violent offending and
cognitive theories of aggression.
1.3.1.1 social factors and violence
- A range of social factors have been shown to predict violent offending, many of which are
similar to those associated with general offending
- Family structure and parenting style, violence and severe abuse in childhood and witnessing
family violence
1.3.1.2 cognitive-behavioral theory and violence
- Cognitive-behavioral approaches = focus on the role of cognitive appraisal and other internal
processes in violence. One way of examining these processes is through Crick and Dodge’s
six-step model of social information-processing.
- The hostile attributional bias is one of the strongest findings.
- Empathy is another important factor
- Emotional arousal can also impact on cognitive processes, with anger playing a significant
role in understanding violence.
- Novaco’s work showing that there are reciprocal relationships between angry emotional
arousal and cognitive processes is important here. Novaco proposes angry thoughts can be
triggered by situational events; these angry thoughts then increase emotional arousal
(including physiological and psychological components); and this arousal heightens the
intensity of the angry thoughts. As this cycle continues, the level of cognition (angry
thoughts) and affect increase in turn, with an increased risk of violence.
1.3.1.3 neuropsychological factors and violence
- There is some evidence that violence is associated with brain damage or dysfunction.
- Malfunctioning of the frontal and temporal lobes is most associated with violence
- Together, these characteristics are often referred to as disinhibition = such as apathy,
irritability, and grandiose and unrealistic ideas
- There may be links between structures in the temporal lobe – the amygdala and
ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) – and violence, specifically psychopathy.
- It is also possible that the relationship between brain injury and violence is bidirectional; that
is, a brain injury may be a consequence of violence, rather than an antecedent.
, - However, neuropsychological research suffers from various methodological problems.
1.3.1.4 domestic violence
- Domestic violence – or intimate partner violence (IPV) – is an increasingly recognized issue
- A number of explanations have been suggested for IPV, although most have focused on male
perpetrated/female victim domestic violence;
1. Feminist theories = which propose that society is patriarchal, with an implicit assumption
that men control the lives of women and children, both within the family and through
social institutions.
2. Social learning theory = approach views domestic violence as a behavior that is learnt
through experiencing rewards from it and observing and modelling similar behavior
(vicarious learning)
1.3.2 sexual offending
- Sexual offences = covers a number of crimes, including rape, unlawful sexual intercourse,
indecent assault, indecent exposure, and gross indecency with a child. Other non-sexual
offences can also sometimes have a sexual element, such as sexually motivated murder.
- There are six major theories of sexual offending, three of which cover child sexual abuse, one
that relates to rape, and two that attempt to explain all types of sexual offending.
- Finkelhor’s “Four Preconditions” model = proposes that there are four preconditions that a
child molester must pass through prior to an offence;
1. There must be a motivation to sexually abuse, such as sexual arousal to a child,
emotional congruence with a child, or blockage of sexual expression with an adult.
2. Internal inhibitions against offending must be overcome. These inhibitions can be
overcome through distorted beliefs about child abuse, becoming disinhibited through
the use of alcohol or drugs, or experiencing severe stress
3. External factors must be overcome to allow the abuse to occur, for example gaining the
trust of the child and their family, or the child being left alone
4. The child’s resistance must be overcome, through using force or grooming techniques.
- A second theory of child sexual abuse is Hall and Hirschmann’s quadripartite model = there
are four components necessary for an offence to take place:
1. Sexual arousal to children
2. Attitudes and beliefs (cognitions) that justify child abuse
3. Poor self-regulation
4. Personality problems
- This theory suggests that vulnerability to committing child sexual abuse is caused by
personality problems.
- Situational factors, including opportunity, determine when this vulnerability is triggered,
leading to deviant arousal, emotional disturbance and offence-permitting thinking.
- Subtypes of child molesters are also proposed based on the relative level of each of these
factors. Therefore, some child abusers have greater levels of deviant arousal, others have
greater emotional disturbance, and others have more distorted cognitions
- The third theory is the Pathways Model = set out by Ward and Siegert, which proposes four
separate but interacting psychological mechanisms are involved in child sexual abuse. These
are;
1. Intimacy/social deficits
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