10 key strategic points and a rough draft of the prospectus

Research questions

It was not known how criminal offenders perceive and mentally represent the world around them

It was not known what role perception plays in an individual’s potential to commit crime

The basis of Cognitive theory

Cognitive is defined as an ability to process information: Cognition has to do with one's ability to learn information quickly, memorize, and understand information they receive. Therefore, cognitive theories of crime fall under the psychological theories of criminal behavior. It's important to know that there are different theories that attempt to explain acts of criminal behavior.

Cognitive-behavioral theory combines the principles of social and developmental psychology and those of experimental-clinical psychology. The theory, applied to crime and delinquency, proposes that social behavior is learned. To understand why and how people commit crimes, psychologists and sociologists often study, analyze, and develop explanations of why these behaviors exist. Cognitive theory is one of many psychological theories of criminal behavior.  Cognitive theories of crime explain criminal behavior as a defect in moral thinking, thought processes, and mental development. Cognitive theories focus on how we perceive the world around us, how we think, and the factors that influence our mental development (family upbringing, parental modeling, personality, intelligence). These theories help to explain how we develop morally in our thought process. Cognitive theories also help us to understand how an individual's personality and intelligence level are linked to delinquency. 

Theoretical framework : theory of cognitive development

Jean Piaget: Moral and intellectual development. People construct a mental model of the world from childhood. Thus, from birth onward an individual will continue to develop. It is a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment.

Bandura maintains that individuals are not born with an innate ability to act violently. He suggested that, in contrast, violence and aggression are learned through a process of behavior modeling (Bandura, 1977). In other words, children learn violence through the observation of others. Aggressive acts are modeled after three primary sources: (1) family interaction, (2) environmental experiences, and (3) the mass media.

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987), who applied the concept of moral development to criminological theory. Kohlberg (1984) believed that individuals pass through stages of moral development. Most important to his theory is the notion that there are levels, stages, and social orientation. The three levels are Level I, preconventional; Level II, conventional; and Level III, postconventional. With respect to the different stages, Stages 1 and 2 fall under Level I. Stages 3 and 4 fall under Level II, and Stages 5 and 6 fall under Level III.

The next subdiscipline is the information-processing branch. This area is predicated on the notion that people use information to understand their environment. When an individual makes a decision, he or she engages in a sequence of cognitive thought processes. To illustrate, individuals experience an event and encode or store the relevant information so it can be retrieved and interpreted at a later date (Conklin, 2007). Second, these individuals search for the appropriate response, and then they determine the appropriate action. Last, they must act on their decision. There are some vital findings regarding this process. First, individuals who use information properly are more likely to avoid delinquent or criminal behavior (Shelden, 2006). Second, those who are conditioned to make reasoned judgments when faced with emotional events are more likely to avoid antisocial behavioral decisions (Siegal, 2008). Interestingly, an explanation for flawed reasoning is that the individual may be relying on a faulty cognitive process; specifically, he or she may be following a mental script that was learned in childhood (Jacoby, 2004).A second reason that may account for flawed reasoning is prolonged exposure to violence. A third possibility of faulty reasoning is oversensitivity or rejection by parents or peers. Contemplating the consequences of long-lasting rejection or dismissal is likely to produce damage to an individual’s self-esteem. Research has demonstrated that individuals who use violence as a coping mechanism are substantially more likely to exhibit other problems, such as alcohol and drug dependency (Piquero & Mazarolle, 2001).