Cognitive Distortions

• What are cognitive distortions?

  Errors or biases in the way people process information, leading to faulty thinking
• How are cognitive distortions linked to offending behaviour?

  Offenders often misinterpret situations and justify their actions using these distortions
• What are the two main cognitive distortions associated with offending?

  1. Hostile attribution bias
  2. Minimalisation
• What is the hostile attribution bias?

  The tendency to misinterpret others’ actions as aggressive or confrontational when they are not. This allows offenders to rationalise their behaviour by blaming others
• What did Schönenberg and Justye find in their study on hostile attribution bias?

  Experimental group of 55 violent offenders. When shown ambiguous facial expressions, violent offenders were significantly more likely than a control group to interpret them as angry and hostile
• What did Dodge and Frame discover about childhood hostile attribution bias?


  Children previously labeled as aggressive and rejected were more likely to interpret an ambiguous situation as hostile
• What is minimalisation?


  An attempt to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence to explain the consequences as less significant. This helps them accept the consequences of their own behaviour and reduce negative emotions (shame/guilt)
• What did Bandura suggest about minimalisation?


  Offenders often use euphemistic labels to justify their behaviour (e.g. burglars saying they were ‘doing a job’.
• What did Barbaree find about minimalisation in sex offenders?


  Among 26 incarcerated rapists:

  • 54 % denied committing an offence at all
  • A further 40 % minimised the harm they caused to their victim
• Pollock and Hashmall reported that 35 % of child molesters argued that they were ‘just being affectionate’ and it was non-sexual. 36 % stated that the victim gave consent.