Criminal Psychology Exam with Questions and Answers, Exams of Psychology

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Criminal Psychology Exam with Questions and Answers Describe the cognitive behavioural technique for treating offenders- anger management ANSWERV ¥ Anger management is a cognitive-behavioural technique. Its based on the idea that individuals can learn to control their aggression by changing their thought patterns. there are 3 steps to anger management 1) cognitive preparation-offenders are taught to identify situations which trigger anger and thaught patterns are challenged 2) skills acquisition- offenders are taught skills to control their feelings of anger such as counting to ten and relaxation techniques to calm themselves down 3) application practice- offenders are given anger provoking scenarios such as someone swearing at them so that they can practice how to deal with difficult situations. Anger management programmes can be used in prisons or with people on probation. The courses are usually conducted in small groups and last for around 10 sessions Evaluate the cognitive behavioural technique for treating offenders- anger management in terms of directive ANSWERV V anger management can be viewed as a directive treatment as the therapist has a lot of power and tells the offenders that their thinking is wrong and that they need to change it Evaluate the cognitive behavioural technique for treating offenders- anger management in terms of effectiveness ANSWERVV/ Dowden, Blanchette and serin (1999) investigated the effectiveness of an anger management programme in canada. They found that it was effective at reducing recidivism with high risk offenders over a 3 year period Goldstein et al (1989) also found that anger management combined with social skills training could reduce recidivism. However, Watt and Howells (1999) found no difference between offenders who had been through an anger management programme and offenders who had not been treated yet using a range of measures including anger experience, anger expression, prison misconduct and observations of aggressive behaviour. They suggested that the anger management programme had not worked because of the offenders poor motivation and the