Conceptualising intimate partner violence perpetrators' cognition as aggressive relational schemas

Abstract

Abstract The forensic psychology and psychotherapy field recognises offence-supportive cognition as a major dynamic risk factor for reoffending, meaning it is one focus of risk assessment instruments and offender treatment programs. Despite the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), the cognitive characteristics of IPV offenders have received little theoretical and research attention in comparison to those who engage in violent or sexual offending outside the context of a relationship. To address this gap, this paper draws on social cognitive theory to specify the potential structure, content, and information processing effects of cognition supportive of IPV. We propose that IPV perpetrators possess self-schemas, other-schemas and relational scripts that contain cognition about relationships, gender, and aggression and violence, respectively. In applying the model to IPV, we use established social information processing theory to suggest how such cognitive content is processed in moment-to-moment interactions between IPV perpetrators and their victims in ways that result in violence. The paper provides etiological hypotheses, integrates a broad array of existing literature, and offers a guide for clinicians seeking to formulate and intervene in cognition associated with IPV perpetration.