Cognitive Distortions

• Cognitive distortions 


  Warped and irrational thinking
• Hostile attribution bias 


  ‘Attribution’ refers to the inferences we make about another, eg, we attribute ‘friendly’ to someone that smiles at us on the street

  HAB refers to the tendency to misattribute negative feelings or intentions to others (assuming aggression or confrontation)

  This can lead to offending through tending to misread non-aggressive behaviour cues as being looked at which may then be retaliated to
• Minimisation

  This refers to a tendency to downplay or even deny seriousness of a behaviour (ie offence)

  May lead to offending through justification of criminal behaviour - tending to argue that there was minimal harm done to the victim, and they may even argue that the victim contributed to the crime

  This reduces negative interpretations of the offence by offender, allowing avoidance of negative emotions

  Evidence suggests this is often seen in sex offenders