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Cognition and Crime
Kristopher Proctor
Kirk R. Williams
Nancy G. Guerra
University of California,
Riverside
The Differential
Association Tradition
The 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
Basic Learning Theory Model
Cognitive Elements
Knowledge of
Cause and Effect
Knowledge
of Others
Knowledge
of Self
See Handout
Attitudes,
Morals, and
Neutralization
s
Skills
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)
Social Information Processing Theory
(Crick and Dodge 1994; Dodge 1986)
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
Cues
Cues are simply stimuli
They can be either external or internal
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 goalrelevant 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