Skip to main content

Do child molesters hold distorted beliefs? What does their memory recall tell us?

Gannon, Theresa A., Wright, Daniel B., Beech, Anthony R., Williams, Sian E. (2006) Do child molesters hold distorted beliefs? What does their memory recall tell us? Journal of Sexual Aggression, 12 (1). pp. 5-18. ISSN 1355-2600. (doi:10.1080/13552600500451655) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:4285)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13552600500451655

Abstract

Do child molesters hold distorted beliefs (or cognitive distortions) that support their sexual offending? To test this hypothesis, we asked 28 child molesters and 20 inmate controls to read a description of child molestation. Within this vignette, we planted 10 ambiguous descriptions. If child molesters' information processing were driven by cognitive distortions, we hypothesized that they would use this knowledge to disambiguate and cognitively distort each description. This was tested by examining participants' free recall of the vignette. Chi-square tests of association showed that both child molesters and inmate controls had various memory distortions for the vignette, but could not be differentiated based on the numbers of cognitive distortions in their recall classifications. In other words, our findings did not support the widely held cognitive distortion hypothesis—a finding which could promote substantial revision of both how we view child molesters' “cognitive distortions”, and how we treat them.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/13552600500451655
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Theresa Gannon
Date Deposited: 29 Aug 2008 14:43 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:42 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/4285 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.