Child molesters’ cognitive distortions. Conceptualizations of the term.

Abstract

The concept of cognitive distortion was created by A. T. Beck and it is one of the key-concepts of cognitive psychotherapy. In the 80s of the twentieth century, researchers began to use it in studies of sexual offending, but with reference to the social learning theory rather than to the theory of cognitive psychotherapy. Subsequent authors continued the use of this term in the determinants of child molestation and defined them as products emerging from specific implicit theory of the offender, the judgements resulting from his beliefs, values and actions, dysfunctional cognitive schemas, deviant cognitive practices undertaken in the interaction of internal and external components of perpetrator's cognitive system and his social practices. The primary theoretical background in the description of the concept of cognitive distortions of child molesters was the social cognition theory, but it was complemented with the assumptions of the theory of cognitive psychotherapy, extended theory of mind and discursive psychology perspective. Particular concepts describe the cognitive distortions relating them to different classes of cognitive phenomena: products, processes and structures, and the only thing they have in common is their incompatibility of their content to the social norms. Giving this concept a normative nature leads to internal contradictions within the conceptions that concern it. Moreover, using it to explain the various processes oversimplifies the picture of this phenomenon and leads to contradictions between theories. It is, therefore, necessary to consider replacing the term cognitive distortions with alternative and more precise concepts.

Impulsividad y empatía en una muestra de delincuentes en tratamiento: diferencias entre delincuentes sexuales y no sexuales

“…La irreflexión puede distinguirse del otro componente de la impulsividad, la temeridad, en que el sujeto no es consciente del riesgo que conllevan sus actos, actuando sin reparar en ellos (Eysenck et al, 1985;Luengo et al, 1991); lo que nos llevaría a pensar que sus esquemas cognitivos y teorías implícitas podrían tener un importante papel en aquellos sujetos con antecedentes penales. Las teorías implícitas afectan a la capacidad de predicción de la conducta de los otros, la elección de los propios actos y las expectativas sobre la reacción de los otros (Szumski y Zielona-Jenek, 2016). Por ejemplo, la teoría implícita de un delincuente sexual podría construirse en torno a la creencia de que la actividad sexual de un adulto con un niño no es perjudicial para el menor, que es neutral o incluso gratificante para él/ella; una distorsión cognitiva que legitimaría la conducta delictiva (Ward y Keenan, 1999).…”

Psychopathy and Stress in Child and Adolescent’s Sexual Offender

“…Therefore, some characteristics become evident, such as difficulties in controlling impulses and establishing intimate relationships, immature and unstable personality, aggression in the face of frustration, hostility and low self-esteem, distortion in affective, social / relational and cognitive aspects. (Prentky, Knight & Lee, 2008;Szumski & Zielona-Jenek, 2016).…”

Exploring Human-Tech Hybridity at the Intersection of Extended Cognition and Distributed Agency: A Focus on Self-Tracking Devices

“…The EMT has previously been used as a theoretical lens to explore a number of different contexts, such as the musically extended mind ( Krueger, 2014 ), spirituality and Christian life ( Brown and Strawn, 2017 ), treatment of sex offenders ( Ward, 2009 ), social ant behavior ( Bosse et al, 2005 ), as well as other studies that explore cognitive integration and the extended mind ( Menary, 2010 ), and sense-making ( Thompson and Stapleton, 2009 ). However, studies like these that adopt the EMT are typically conceptual and do not seem to engage directly with research subjects to understand, in practice, how cognitive capabilities become distributed and contribute to the formation of hybrids.…”