Cognitive Distortions and Social Self-Esteem in Sexual Offenders

Clinical Psychology Review, 1997

Clinicians and researchers have noted that maladaptive beliefs and distorted thinking play an important role in facilitating or justifjing sexual offenses. There have been a number of attempts to describe the nature of these beliefs and to develop ways of measuring them, but in the absence of any integrating theory. We suggest that an understanding of the cognitive processes underEying the initiation, maintenance, and justafication of sexual offending is a vital prerequisite to the development of successful treatment programs. In this paper; we use a social cognition framework to reoiew the literature on the role of cognition in sexual offending. Pertinent research in the sexual offending domain, specifically cognitive products, information processing, cognitive change, and the impact of affective and motivational factors on cognitive processes, is described and related to the social cognitive approach. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed in light of the major issues and problems highlighted in our review. 0 1997 ELsevier Science Ltd SEXUAL OFFENSES against women and children constitute a pernicious and distressingly prevalent social problem. The psychological and emotional costs to victims and their families, the high reoffending rates of some types of offenders, and the financial costs of incarceration all highlight the urgent need for effective research and treatment of this problem behavior (Furby,

Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2003

Cognitive distortions are commonly viewed as an important factor in the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders. However, consensus about the operational definition of cognitive distortions and the best instrument to measure such distortions is lacking. This paper evaluates the Bumby MOLEST and RAPE scales as measures of cognitive distortions with patients civilly committed under California's Sexually Violent Predator law. Rapists and child molesters in the current sample endorsed markedly fewer cognitive distortions than the sexual offenders in Bumby's original study (K. M. Bumby, 1996). It is suggested that current self-report measures such as the MOLEST and RAPE scales are too susceptible to a socially desirable response set to provide useful data with sexual offenders who are involuntarily committed for treatment.

Journal of Forensic Nursing, 2008

A great deal of clinical and research attention has been paid to understanding and explaining child sex offenders' social cognition. Cognitive distortions have been implicated as a core feature of child sex offenders' offense supportive cognition. The primary aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the phenomenon of cognitive distortions as currently understood with respect to child sex offenders: it reviews the theoretical and research literature and highlights the implications for clinical practice.

Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2010

A recent trend in cognitive science and neuroscience has been the stress on the importance of human embodiment for cognitive development and the way external factors can be viewed as part of human beings' extended cognitive system . Our aim in this paper is to present the extended mind theory (EMT) and outline its implications for understanding and treating cognitive distortions in sex offenders. We will first briefly examine the two most prominent theories of cognitive distortions in the sexual offending arena, Abel et al.'s (1984) post offense theory and Ward's (2000) implicit theory model. We will then examine their limitations and provide an overview of the EMT. Finally, we will apply the EMT to the sexual offending area and demonstrate the advantages of this novel conception of cognition.

Problems of Forensic Sciences

Professionals working with sexual offenders against children frequently note unusual cognitions occurring in this group which are often believed to be related with sexual recidivism. To describe it, Abel, Becker and Cunningham-Rathner (1984) applied the term cognitive distortions created earlier by Beck (1963) to describe the systematic erroneous thinking patterns of depressed patients. Later, Ó Ciardha and Ward (2013) offered a working definition: "cognitive distortions in sex offenders are specific or general beliefs/attitudes that violate commonly accepted norms of rationality, and which have been shown to be associated with the onset and maintenance of sexual offending". To avoid ambiguities related to this term, some authors prefer to define the phenomenon as "distorted schemas" (Beech, Bartels, Dixon, 2014) or "attitudes supportive of sexual offending" (Helmus, Hanson, Babchishin, Mann, 2013). While the meaning of these terms is not identical to that of cognitive distortions, they overlap to a large extent. In this paper, the term cognitive distortions is used unless a reference is made to a study that used another term. The content of cognitive distortions has been described in most detail by Ward and Kennan (1999). According to their theory, cognitive distortions emerge from different implicit theories. Five types of

Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2006

In this paper, we present the Judgment Model of Cognitive Distortions (JMCD), a new model of cognitive distortions that spans multiple levels of analysis and contains different types of judgments. This model proposes that cognitive distortions tend to cluster together in what we have termed Thematic Networks (TN): judgments about beliefs, values, and actions. We argue that the three sets of judgments cover all types of cognitive distortions apparent in sexual offenders including those revolving around content (i.e., asserting characteristics to people, the offender, the world) and cognitive operations (i.e., denial, minimization, rationalizations). Following a description of the JMCD, we demonstrate how it can account for the cognitive schemata identified in sexual offenders by researchers and clinicians. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the clinical and research implications of the JMCD.

Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 1996

Clinicians and researchers have noted the important role of maladaptive beliefs and distorted thinking in facilitating or justifying sexual offenses. There have been a number of attempts to describe the nature of these beliefs and to develop ways of measuring them but in the absence of any integrating theory. It is our belief that an understanding of the cognitive processes underlying the initiation, maintenance, and justification of sexual offending is a vital prerequisite to the development of successful treatment programs. The present paper proposes the use of a social cognition framework in considering cognitive processes that may be important contributing factors in the propensity of some men to commit sexual offenses. Pertinent research in the social cognition domain, covering information processing, mental control, and the impact of affective and motivational factors on cognitive processes, is described and related to the sexual offending literature. Implications for clinical practice and suggestions for future research are highlighted.

Cognitive distortions in sex offenders are specific or general beliefs/attitudes that violate commonly accepted norms of rationality that have been shown to be associated with the onset and maintenance of sexual offending. In this paper we describe the major theories that have been formulated to explain the role of distorted cognition in initiating and maintaining sexual offending. We evaluate each theory in light of a set of theory appraisal criteria and the available empirical research. Finally, we conclude by drawing together the results of this theory evaluation process and highlight the major implications for treatment and future research.

Journal of Forensic Nursing, 2008

A great deal of clinical and research attention has been paid to understanding and explaining child sex offenders' social cognition. Cognitive distortions have been implicated as a core feature of child sex offenders' offense supportive cognition. The primary aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the phenomenon of cognitive distortions as currently understood with respect to child sex offenders: it reviews the theoretical and research literature and highlights the implications for clinical practice.

Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2000

Factors, such as intimacy deficits, problems empathizing with victims, and cognitive distortions, have all been associated with the genesis of sexual abuse. Importantly, they all point to a lack of awareness of other peoples' beliefs, desires, perspectives, and needs. We argue that sexual offenders' problems in these domains can be viewed as partially arising from deficits in one central mechanism: the ability to infer mental states. Following a review of the above three areas, we discuss the developmental literature on children's theory of mind and develop a model informed by this work. We apply this model to sexual offenders and discuss its research and clinical implications.