Cognitive Distortions

• Cognitive Distortion


  Irrational thought processes caused by distorted negative attitudes in the criminal’s mind, which legitimises offending behaviour
• Cognitive distortions were introduced in the developments of CBT by Beck (1972)
• Hostile Attribution Bias


  When a perpetrator misinterprets an ambiguous event as threatening, thus believing it is worthy of an aggressive response
• Spielberger (1998) research demonstrates a relationship between Hostile Attribution Bias and aggression
• Minimalisation


  Form of self-deception/denial, when a criminal downplays the significance of an event/emotion as a means of dealing with guilt
• Egocentric Bias


  Cognitive bias that causes an individual to rely too much on their own perspectives when considering events, ideas, and beliefs, leading to a skewed pattern of thinking, believing they play a more important role than they do in life