Upload
albert-weaver
View
216
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Cognition and Crime
Kristopher ProctorKirk R. Williams
Nancy G. Guerra
University of California, Riverside
The Differential Association TraditionThe differential association tradition (Akers 1985, 2009; Burgess and Akers 1966; Matsueda 1992; Sutherland 1947; Sutherland, Cressey, Luckenbill 1992) has long focused on providing a “genetic” or “life history” explanation of criminal behavior
These theories explain how an individual develops the skills, attitudes, motivations, rationalizations, etc, which will predispose the person to criminal behavior
Criminal behavior occurs when an individual is confronted with a situation conducive to criminal behavior
Cognitive Elements
See Handout
Knowledge of Others
Knowledge of Cause and Effect
Knowledge of Self
SkillsAttitudes, Morals, and Neutralizations
Empirical Assessment
Learning theories tend to be successful in explaining the formation of cognitions relevant to criminal behavior
• They tend to be less successful in accounting for situational factors (Matsueda 1982, Matsueda and Heimer 1987; Warr and Stafford 1991)
• Theoretical elaborations have focused on:
• Expanding the number of cognitions associated with criminal behavior
• Specifying macro-level forces which structure the development of particular cognitions
Empirical Assessment
Rather than elaborating the theory in terms of macro-dynamics or expanded cognitions, the explanatory power of learning theories can be increased by specifying not only the content of knowledge, but also how knowledge is processed within a given situation
Doing so can shed light on how cognitions and situations interact to produce behavioral outcomes
• This requires a re-examination of “The Black Box” and a “mechanistic” theory of social behavior
“Person and Situation are not factors exclusive of each other, for the situation which is important is the situation as defined by the person who is involved. The tendencies and inhibitions at the moment of the criminal behavior are, to be sure, largely a product of the earlier history of the individual, but the expression of these tendencies and inhibitions is a reaction to his immediate situation as defined by the person.”
(Sutherland 1947: 5)
Database
A database consists of stocks of knowledge
An individuals stocks of knowledge are organized as latent mental structures
Schemata - Categories, rules of membership, causality
Scripts - Event Schemata
Personae or Stereotypes
Working Models - Cognitive understandings of environments & relationships
Encoding
Encoding
In order for a cue to be relevant, one must encode it
Encoding requires the individual to mentally represent stimuli
Much behavior does not occur simply because an individual fails to encoded relevant stimuli
Interpretation
Interpretation
Schemata
Facilitate the interpretation of stimuli
Schemata allow individuals to process information efficiently
People follow rules for categorical and causal classification
Interpretation
Schemata related biases
Causal attribution bias
Hostile attribution bias (Biases inferring intent)
Clarification of Goals
Goals are seen as arousal states
Goals maybe internal or external
Individuals in constant state of arousal and goals may change depending on immediate stimuli
Goals are derived from
Feelings
Temperament
Social sources
Response Access
Individuals draw and construct potential goal-relevant acts from memory
Three important aspects of access
The number of responses generated
Content of response
Order in which responses are generated
Response Decision/Behavior
Individuals evaluate generated response prior to action
Evaluations relate to:
Morals
Outcome expectations
Self-efficacy evaluations
Individuals select the most positively valued response
Behavior occurs
Methodological Implications
Significance of Knowledge
Knowledge acquired over the life course is important
But the relationship between knowledge and behavioral outcome depends upon how knowledge is used in situations
Methodological Implications
The stages of processing suggest methodologies for assessing mental structures
Encoding/Interpretation -
Does a person encode a cue
Does a person infer a cue
Goal Clarification - What emotions are aroused by a stimuli?
Methodological Implications
Response Access
How many responses are generated?
Is the content criminal/non-criminal
How are responses ordered
Response Decisions
Does the participant see a response as immoral?
Is criminal behavior expected to result in favorable outcomes?
Does the participant belief he or she can successfully engage in the act?
Conclusion•What does SIP Theory contribute to the differential association tradition?
•The "person-situation complex" views an "act" as an emergent property of cognition and circumstance
•The distribution/presence of situational cues are important
•The stage of processing in which a cognition is relevant is also important
•A person's stocks of knowledge create situations (both intentionally and unintentionally)
•SIP provides a framework and methodology for examining "cognition in context" and moves away from global attitude measures