Cognitive distortions

• Cognitive distortions


  Inaccurate perceptions of reality
• Faulty thinking and justification


  • Errors or biases in people's information processing systems characterised by faulty thinking
  • Research has linked this to how offenders interpret other people's behaviour and justify their own actions
• Hostile attribution bias


  • The extent to which someone interprets the behaviour of others as hostile
  • An individual with high hostile attribution bias may become angry, making them more likely to be aggressive and therefore more likely to engage in criminal behaviour
• Research into hostile attribution bias


  • Schonenberg and Jusyte presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions
  • When compared to a non-violent control group, the offenders were more likely to perceive the images as aggressive and hostile
  • Dodge and Frame showed children a video of an ambiguous provocation
  • Children who were identified as 'aggressive' and 'rejected' interpreted the situation as more hostile than those identified as 'non-aggressive' and 'accepted'
• Minimalisation


  • An attempt to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence and has been referred to as the application of a 'euphemistic label' by Bandura
  • E.g. burglars may describe themselves as 'doing a job' or 'providing for their family'
  • Studies suggest that sexual offenders are particularly prone to minimalisation
  • Barbaree found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed a crime, and 40% minimised the harm they caused the victim