Do Cognitive Distortions Mediate the Relationships Between Critical Thinking, Moral Reasoning and the Risk of Violence?

ABSTRACT

Background

A considerable body of existing literature has shown links between critical thinking, moral reasoning and violence or risk of violence. Still, the psychological processes through which these deficits translate into violent behaviour remain unclear. Emerging evidence suggests that cognitive distortions may be key mechanisms, yet these pathways have rarely been tested in severe offender samples.

Aims

To examine whether cognitive distortions—specifically emotional suppression and abundant thoughts—mediate the associations between critical thinking, moral reasoning and the risk of violent behaviour.

Methods

Participants, all men, were recruited from one prison for the homicide and other violent offender groups and from the broader community for the nonviolent comparison group. Consenting participants completed standardised measures of critical thinking, moral reasoning, cognitive distortions and violence risk. Mediation analyses were then conducted to examine whether cognitive distortions accounted for the associations between reasoning abilities and violent behaviour.

Results

The final sample was of 57 men convicted of homicide, 60 of nonfatal violence and 59 wider-community-living men with no criminal history. Noncriminal men showed the highest critical thinking and moral reasoning scores, followed by violent offenders, with homicide offenders lowest. Cognitive distortions showed the reverse pattern and were strongest among homicide offenders. Stronger reasoning abilities were associated with lower violence risk, whereas greater distortions were associated with greater risk. Mediation analyses indicated that emotional suppression and abundant thoughts partly explained the associations between lower reasoning skills and both past severe violence and estimated future violence risk.

Conclusions

This study shows that emotional suppression and abundant thoughts are central mechanisms linking weaker critical and moral reasoning to violence risk, advancing prior work by identifying how these deficits translate into violent behaviour. Demonstrating these pathways in a homicide offender sample provides new evidence that cognitive distortions are crucial intervention targets. Strengthening reasoning skills alongside reducing distortion-based thinking may therefore help lower violence and recidivism.