Cognitive Distortions

• What is a cognitive distortion?

  These are errors of biases in people's information processing system characterised by faulty thinking. As a result of this we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately. They are usually negative.
• What is Hostile Attribution Bias?

  To interpret the actions of another person to be hostile and confrontational when they are not. An individual who has a high hostile attribution bias could be inclined to get angry about what they have seen, making them more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
• What is minimization?

  A type of cognitive bias where a person would be more likely to minimise or play down the severity of the circumstances that they are in. It can also be seen as denial or self-deception as the downplaying of the situation highlights their non-acceptance of what they have done and it perhaps a way of dealing with the emotion of guilt.
• Hostile Attribution Bias - Research Support:

  Schonenbery and Jusyte presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. When compared with a non-aggressive matched control group the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile.