psychological explanations: cognitive (distortions)

Question 1

what are cognitive disortions?

Answer 1

faulty, bias and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately and usually negatively

Question 2

what are two examples of cognitive distortions?

Answer 2

• hostile attribution bias
• minimalisation

Question 3

what is hostile attribution bias?

Answer 3

the tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and / or threatening when in reality they may not be

Question 4

how is hostile attribution bias linked to offending behaviour?

Answer 4

offenders may misread non-aggressive cues (eg. being looked at) which triggers a disproportionate, often violent, response

Question 5

hostile attribution bias: schönenberg and jusyte (2014)

Answer 5

• presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions
• when compared with a non-aggressive matched control group, the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile

Question 6

hostile attribution bias: dodge and frame (1982)

Answer 6

• showed children a video clip of an ‘ambiguous provocation’, where the intention was neither clearly hostile nor clearly accidental
• children who had been identified as ‘aggressive’ and ‘rejected’ prior to the study interpreted the situation as more hostile than those classed as ‘non-aggressive’ and ‘accepted’

Question 7

what is minimalisation?

Answer 7

attempting to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence. this is a common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt

Question 8

examples of minimalisatio for burglary

Answer 8

burglars may describe themselves as ‘doing a job’ or ‘supporting my family

Question 9

minimalisation and sexual offenders (barbaree 1991)

Answer 9

• studies suggest that individuals who commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimalisation
• barbaree found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victime

Question 10

evaluation: real-world application to therapy

Answer 10

• CBT aims to challenge irrational thinking
• offenders are encouraged to face up to what they have done and establish a less distorted view of their actions
• harkins et al. (2010) suggested that redcued incidence of denial and minimalisation in therapy is highly associated with a reduced risk of reoffending, as acceptance of one’s crimes is thought to be an important aspect of rehabilitation

Question 11

evaluation: level of cognitive distortion depends on the type of offence (howitt and sheldon 2007)

Answer 11

• gathered questionnaire responses from sexual offenders
• contrary to what the researchers predicted, they found that non-contact sex offenders (accessed sexual images on the internet) used more cognitive distortions that contact sex offenders (had physically abused children)
• those who had a previous history of offending were also more likely to use distortions as a justification
• therefore, distortions are not used in the same way by all offenders

Question 12

evaluation: descriptive or explanatory?

Answer 12

• cognitive theories of offending are good at describing the criminal mind
• they may also help in reducing reoffending in the long term, as understanding that offenders minimalise their crimes may be a useful starting point in therapy
• however, cognitive theories do not help in predicting future offender behaviour
• just because someone tends to have distorted thinking doesn’t inevitably mean they will become an offender