Cognitive Approach- Cognitive Distortions

Question 1

What are cognitive distortions?

Answer 1

-faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately and usually negatively.
-they are errors or biases in peoples informational processing system
-cognitive distortions have been linked to the way criminals interpret behaviour of others and justify their own actions.

Question 2

Hostile Attribution Bias (HAM)

Answer 2

-tendency to judge ambiguous situations or actions of others as agressive and/or threatening when they may not be. Offenders may misread non-aggressive cues (e.g being ‘looked at’) and this may trigger a disproportionate, often violent response.

Question 3

Holtzworth-Munroe and Hutchinson - HAM

Answer 3

Holtzworth-Munroe and Hutchinson (1993) looked at the link between hostile attribution bias and domestic violence. Perpetrators claiming that the victims negative attitudes and behaviours contributed to the crime.

Question 4

Schoenberg and Justye (2014) - HAM

Answer 4

Presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. Violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive images as angry and hostile than a matched control group.

Question 5

Dodge and Frame (1982) - HAM

Answer 5

Showed children a video clip of an ‘ambiguous provocation’ (where the intention was neither clearly hostile nor clearly aggressive). Children who had been identified as ‘aggressive’ and ‘rejected’ prior to the study interpreted the situation as more hostile than those classed as ‘non-agressive’ and ‘accepted’.

Question 6

Minimilisation

Answer 6

-this is the tendency to under-exaggerate the consequences of a situation.
-this is in order to minimise the guilt felt by offenders
-downplaying the seriousness of an offence.
-studies suggest that individuals who commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimalisation.

Question 7

Barbare (1991)- minimilisation

Answer 7

Found among 26 imprisoned rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim.

Question 8

Pollock and Hashmall (1991) - minimilisation

Answer 8

Reported that 35% of sample child molesters argues their crime was non-sexual (just being affectionate) 36% claimed the victim had consented.