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Cognitive Theory
It focuses on mental processes and how people perceive and mentally represent the world around
them and solve problem.
It focuses on how people perceive their social environment and learn to solve problems. The moral
and intellectual development perspective is the branch of cognitive theory that is most associated with the
study of crime and violence.

Development of reasoning Abilities (Piaget, 1932)

a. The Sensorimotor stage
Ages: birth to 2 Years
Major Characteristics and developmental changes:
- The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations.
- Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and
listening.
- Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object Permanence).
- They are separate beings from the people and object around them.
- They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them.

b. The preoperational stage

Ages: 2 to 7 years
Major characteristics and developmental changes:
- Children begin think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent object.
- Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of
others
- While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about thing in
very concrete terms.

c. The concrete operational stage

Ages: 7 to 11 Years
- During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events.
- They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide
cup is equal to that in tall, skinny glass, for example.
- Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still concrete.
- Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to general principle.
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d. The formal operational stage
Ages: 12 and up
Major characteristics and development changes:
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- At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly reason about hypothetical
problems.
- Abstract thought emerges.
- Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that
require theoretical and abstract reasoning.
- Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information.

Six Different Stages of Moral Development (Kohlberg, 1969)

Level 1: pre-conventional morality
Age Range: seen in preschool children, most elementary school students, some junior high school
students, and few high school students
Stage 1: Punishment-avoidance and obedience
Nature of moral Reasoning: people make decisions based on what is best for themselves, without
regard for others needs or feeling. They obey rules only if established by more powerful individuals; they may
disobey if they aren’t likely to get caught. “Wrong” behaviors are those that will be punished.
Stage 2: Exchange of favors
Nature of moral reasoning: people recognize that other also has needs. They may to satisfy others’
needs if their own needs are also met (“yet scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”). They continue to define right
and wrong primarily in terms of consequences to themselves.
Level 2: conventional morality
Age Range: seen in a few elementary school students some junior high school students, and many
high school students (stage 4 typically does not appear until the high school years)
Stage 3: Good boy/girl
Nature of reasoning: people make decisions based on what actions will please others, especially
authority figures and other individuals with high status (e.g., teachers, popular peers). They are concerned
about maintaining relationships through sharing, trust, and loyalty, and they take other peoples perspectives
and intentions into account when making decisions.
Stage 4: Law and order
Nature of reasoning: people look to society a whole for guidelines about right or wrong. They know
rules are necessary for keeping society running smoothly and believe it is their “duty” to obey them. However,
they perceive rules to be inflexible; they don’t necessarily recognize that as society needs change, rules
should change as well.
Level 3: Post –conventional morality
Age Range: rarely seen before college (stage 6 is extremely rare even in adults)
Stage 5: Social contract
Nature of reasoning: people recognize that rules represent agreements among many individuals
about appropriate behavior. Rules are seen as potentially useful mechanisms that can maintain the general
social order and protect individual rights, rather than as a absolute dictates that must be obeyed simply
because they are “the law”.
Stage 6: universal ethical principle
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Nature of reasoning: stage is a hypothetical, “ideal” stage that few people ever reach. People in
this stage adhere to a few abstract, universal principles (e.g., equality of all people , respect for human dignity
commitment to justice) that transcend specific norms and rules. They answer to a strong inner conscience
and willingly disobey laws that violate their own ethical principles.

Personality theory
This theory believes that criminal activity is result of a defective, deviant, or inadequate personality.
Examples of deviant personality traits include hostility, impulsiveness, aggression and sensation-seeking.
Psychoanalytical Theory
A general perspective stating that the cause of criminal behavior can be found in the mind of the
individual. The criminal behavior is the result of mental disturbance.
According to Sigmund Freud, this may been caused by a conflict between the ID, EGO and
SUPEREGO, or may be the result of an improper fixation during a stage of emotional development
Who is a psychopathic? It is a general term referring to a variety of antisocial personality disorders.

Visit the link: https://youtu.be/IhcgYgx7aAA to view the discussion on the theory of Cognitive.