Cognition in rapists - Theoretical patterns by typological breakdown

Cognitive processing has been implicated in sexual offending in a number of recent theoretical and empirical papers. Clinicians have emphasized the ne ed to challenge the cognitive distortions that are often exhibited by sexua l offenders, and they have incorporated cognitive restructuring components into treatment programs. However, until recently, the literature has lacked an integrative theoretical approach to cognition in sexual offenders. In a ddition, the use of generic classifications (i.e., rapist, child molester) in both theoretical and empirical work has obscured understanding of the ro le played by a number of etiological factors, including cognition. In this paper, we present a multifaceted approach to cognition in rapists. We begin with a brief overview of a conceptual framework of cognitive dimensions. N ext, we consider the heterogeneity that characterizes rapists as a group an d the problems this presents for research. We suggest that Knight and Prent ky's typology may prove useful for dealing with these problems and, in the final section, we provide our conceptualization of the potential distorted cognitions for each of the subtypes within the typology. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.