FORENSIC, ao3 cognitive distortions

Question 1

strength

Answer 1

• real world application
• CBT aims to identify and challenge negative faulty thinking and has been used as an application in therapy, has made people face up to what they have done and establish less distorted views of their actions
• strength has it reduced denial and minimalisation and therefore reducing reoffending rates, shows how it can be applied to real world so it has its place here

Question 2

limitation 1

Answer 2

• limited explanation
• only explains certain types of offences such as non-contact sex offenders used more cognitive distortions than contact sex offenders
• limitation as this can’t be generalised to everyone and is only used for some type of offences, so it is not a universal explanation and therefore we should use other approaches

Question 3

limitation 2

Answer 3

• descriptive rather than explanatory
• though it’s useful in understanding how people think, it is not useful in predicting and capturing offenders
• limitation as on its own, doesn’t tell us who committed a crime and only explains why someone committed an act after the event
• therefore we should use this alongside other approaches such as Eysenck’s criminal personality