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Bob

- Bob talks about the "children not telling him to stop". This could suggest that he see's the children as 'sexual beings' (implicit theory)
- He also states that he "didn't hurt them" this could imply the implicit theory of nature of harm.
- Bob also suggests that he 'hates' women, and he proposes that children understand him more, this can be seen as the implicit theory of dangerous world.

Study- Perception
Aim- To investigate the perception of consent with sex offenders.

Method- Presenting questionnaires to convicted sex offenders, asking them their definition of consent, how they perceive consent and what it involves.

Limitations- The participants may lie, and this would mean it would not be a true representation of this topic.
-  Sex offenders may be difficult to get to do the study, especially with the topic being consent. The Sex offenders may be reluctant to answer these questions.

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Relation to Bob (1):
- Bob says in the interview 'they never said no and they never said stop' - this indicated the implicit theory of children as sexual beings.
- Another way Bob shows the implicit theories of children as sexual beings through - 'they were smiling and they never told my sister'

Study (2): Perception:
Aim: to investigating how CMs perceive facial expressions

Method (3): CMs and non-CMs pts, all pts individually shown photographs of children's facial expressions and asked to match the list of facial expressions to the correct photographs

Ethics (4):
- using photographs of under 18s may cause harm
- some facial expressions may be difficult to determine as could be mistaken for something similar
- may be difficult to access CMs

Implications/Further Research (5):
- could benefit CJS as will allow them to know whether CMs have difficulty in recognising facial expressions
- could benefit research into cognitive distortions and whether there is a correlation into perceptions of facial expressions and cognitive distortions - e.g., if CMs cannot perceive facial expressions does it affect their cognitive distortions?

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1.
- Bob says he did "nothing bad, I didn't hurt them, I didn't force them to do anything" (Implicit theory - nature of harm).
- "They never said no and they never said stop" ( Cognitive distortion - A child who doesn't resist wants sex / Implicit theory - Children as sexual beings).
- "They were smiling and they never told my sister" (Cognitive distortion - children don't tell because they enjoy it).
- "touched them nicely" like men used to do to him (Implicit theory - uncontrollable).
- "I'm showing them some love" (Cognitive distortion - relationships with children are enhanced through sex / Implicit theory - Dangerous world).

2. Topic:
Which is the most common cognitive distortion? - is there a direct correlation to childhood abuse/trauma/environment.
Questionnaires - convicted child sex offenders.
List different cognitive distortions as examples and ask to tick all that apply.
Ask a series of questions about the participants background, if they grew up with both parents/ if they were every sexually abused as a child, if they were bullied in school etc.
- The participants would be fully briefed and warned about the questions as it could be traumatic for them to talk about the past.
- Participants could lie on the questionnaires to please the researcher.
- Questions could be misunderstood and incorrectly answered.
- would need to gain approval to use offenders (anonymity to protect them)
- ethics - to get informed consent (the brief would explain everything about the questionnaire and it would be optional if they wanted to participate or not)

This could relate to Bob as it could explain what may have been the biggest factor in his deviant behaviour. Although being abused as a child seems to be a huge contributing factor, the fact that he went from home to home and did not feel proper love as a child could possibly be a bigger factor and could be why he wanted so desperately to show his nephews "love".
Gaining knowledge on what the most common factor for criminal behaviour is could help offenders in CBT and rehabilitation. It could also help prevent children who were abused or grew up in unstable households go on to commit crimes also, tackling the main issue before they possibly offend (assuming these children go to therapy).

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1.
- Bob says that he treats his nephews the way his molestors treated him. (Implicit Theory - Uncontrollable).
- Bob explains how he enjoyed the car rides with his molestor and therefore wanted to do the same with his nephews.
- Bob explains how the nephews did not tell him no and did not resist them so therefore it was okay (Cognitive distortion - If children don't resist they want sex).
- Bob does not think what he did two his nephews were harmful (Implicit Theory - Nature of Harm).
- Bob explains that he loved his nephews and he touched his nephews to show his affection to them (Cognitive Distortion - Relation ships with children are enhanced through sex) (Implicit Theory - Dangerous World).

2.
- Topic to investigate: Cognitive Distortions in Sex offenders in prisons. and the effect of Offenders that have previously been offended, living situations and environmental situations.
-PPs could include Sex offenders in prisons (both male and female) as well as a control group of non sex offenders from the general public
- Method: Mixed Self report methods: Qualitative interview to gain some insight on why sex offenders think the way they do and if we can draw out some bias. Quantitative likert Questionnaire on repulsiveness and arousal.
- Limitations could include that the control sample may have sex offenders in it, pps could lie during the interview and the questionnaire. It may be difficult to get a sample from a prison. Pps may feel like they have to explain themselves and answer honestly even though they might not want to.
- ethics could include gaining written informed consent, debriefing the pps prior to the study and allowing them the right to withdraw at any time.
- This could be relevant to Bob as it can help explain why he feels the way he does and can give a deeper understanding on how to help rehabilitate him more efficiently.
- Could also benefit the criminal justice system as this study can give us an insight on why sex offenders may commit crime.
This could also support other research into cognitive distortions.

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Relevance to Bob :

-       Bob displays many distortions during the interview

-       Eg) he says he was being nice to the kids, not hurting them (Nature of harm)

-       “they never said no” = children as sexual beings

Method :

< assuming you would gain approval to use offenders >

-       Assess child sexual offenders using the ABCS scale (Abel + Becker Cognition Scale) through a questionnaire

-       Follow up with an in person qualitative interview to gain insight into each offenders own experience (open questions, semi structured interview)

-       Compare the data from each to see if there are any patterns that hold up when answering questions remotely and in person

-       Measuring their views and feelings towards their offence, see if any of them feel guilt for what they’ve done or just use distortions to justify it

Ethics :

-       Would need to gain approval to use offenders (debrief and protect them from harm, especially if they own up to something which may get them into trouble in the prison environment – anonymity)

-       Time consuming method

-       May get mixed results because they may not be as honest in the interview as it would be in person, so wouldn’t feel as anonymous

-       May have high drop-out rate due to the 2 tasks

Implications :

-       Most research into distortions is quantitative, this study combines quantitative and qualitative methods

-       Further support for existing distortion theories

-       Can assess each offender’s position to see whether different therapies/treatments have made a difference to how much they attribute to distortions (can gain this demographic information during questionnaire)