Why can abusers believe they are innocent?

Abuse is a social and human problem that has existed throughout the history of humanity, having a presence in all kinds of societies and cultures. It is a painful reality that affects people of all ages, genders and cultures, leaving deep physical and emotional scars on its victims and their families and loved ones.

Some specialists speak of abuse as a public health problem, especially in relation to gender abuse. On many occasions, mistreatment kills; the abusers come to end the life of their victims. What is very disconcerting, especially in these cases, is the ability of abusers to justify their actions and believe themselves innocent before the eyes of society and, sometimes, even before themselves.

How is it possible that someone can commit acts of violence and cruelty on another person and, at the same time, deny their responsibility, even going so far as to consider themselves victims instead of executioners? The answer to this question lies in the complexity of the human mind and how different psychological defense mechanisms arise as a result of aggressive or abusive behavior.

In this article, we are going to explore different motives or reasons why abusers may come to believe they are innocent. before their crimes, analyzing different psychological and social layers that influence this distorted perception of the reality.

• Related article: "Self-concept: what is it and how is it formed?"

What is abuse?

In order to understand the mechanisms that determine that an abuser believes himself innocent of her mistreatment, it is It is important to first understand what abuse is and what types of abusers exist or are the most common. Abuse is defined as any form of violence whose sole intent is to harm the other person, manifested in a variety of forms including physical, verbal, and psychological and present in different areas of life. Abusers are individuals who physically, verbally, or emotionally abuse other people, displaying a pattern of dominant and controlling behavior.

Different types of abuse and abusers can be described depending on the environment or environment in which it occurs. Among the three most common abuses, we find:

1. Abuse in couple relationships / gender abuse

In this case, the abusers exert physical or psychological violence on their partner, manifesting in most cases excessive jealousy, isolation, economic control and emotional bullying. We talk about gender violence when it is given by a man towards a woman and with an explanation centered on the matriarchal and macho influence of society that makes man experience and experience his power through mistreatment of his couple of him These behaviors have a devastating impact on mental health and emotional of the victim, in addition to endangering her life or even death.

• You may be interested in: "The 11 types of violence (and the different kinds of aggression)"

2. Abuse in the workplace

Some people assume abusive attitudes in the workplace, verbally assaulting or denigrating their colleagues. colleagues, even going so far as to manipulate and boycott the work of another in order to obtain advantages personal. In a large number of cases, it is the bosses or people in higher positions who, influenced by power, abuse this power. to be intimidating towards their workers and thus generate fear and avoid disobedience.

3. family abuse

This includes those abusers who use violence or abuse within the family, such as parents who physically or emotionally mistreat their children or siblings who behave aggressively towards each other. On many occasions, the vicarious learning Being exposed to situations of violence in the family generates the assumption of violent behaviors as normal, increasing the probability of mistreatment in the future.

• Related article: "Domestic violence: how it arises and how to detect it"

Cognitive biases involved in abuse

Going back to the initial question of this article and looking for an explanation of why abusers can develop the conviction of being innocent despite not being so, it is important to take into account the multifactorial nature of the abuse. Abuse is determined by a multitude of factors such as genetics, the existence of violence in previous generations, the forms of socialization, the social constructs, the dynamics relational…

One of the personal aspects that influences the development of violent attitudes and that is the subject of interest for our initial question is the existence of biases or cognitive distortions in people abusive.

Knowing more about them allows us to discover the perception, appreciation and classification schemes that abusers use when exercising and interpreting violence. According to Beck's cognitive model, cognitive biases are emotional states that lead to make errors in the processing of information, the consequences of which are attitudes of hostility. Thus, cognitive maltreatment research has been focused on discovering which cognitive distortions have greater roles in explain the different dimensions of abuse, including the assumption of innocence and the denial of culpability.

1. Personalization bias

Personalization bias refers to identify and understand the actions of other people as always directed and centered on the individual. In relation to abuse and the maintenance of aggressive behaviors, this bias explains violent emotional reactivity to any action of others that is processed as directed towards the abuser, thinking that everyone talks about him or thinks something negative about him he.

• You may be interested in: "Cognitive biases: discovering an interesting psychological effect"

2. Selective abstraction bias

Selective abstraction bias causes cognitive resources to focus on distorted thoughts, ignoring any other information that contradicts these biased thoughts. Thus, an abuser ignores objectivity because he is completely invested in his distorted cognitions and identifies them as the only reality**.

3. Generalization bias

Through the generalization bias, people tend to think that a single characteristic already defines the whole of a person or a situation. Therefore, an abusive person who acts under the influence of this bias may interpret any action as a threat to her authority.

4. denial bias

The denial bias is the one that is most related to the conviction of innocence that we have been talking about, and refers to the tendency to appear innocent or that they had no other possibility of action in order to avoid any responsibility for the violence. Basically, seeing the repercussions of his actions, an abuser claims that he had no choice; that he had to develop these violent behaviors because he had no other choice.

5. Thought reading bias

This bias is related to the previous one and is that, through the mind reading bias, the abusers assume that they knew the intentions of the people attacked and they interpreted them as negative towards them, so they explain their violent reactions as a "defense mechanism" or to avoid aggression by the other person.

6. Minimization bias

Using the minimization bias, abusers downplay the events or circumstances in which they have used violence, I understand that "it has not been such a big deal" or it is a situation "that usually happens". Thus, violent reactions are given legitimacy through an explanation centered on passion or excessively intense emotionality.

Consequences and responsibility

It is important to keep in mind that the consequences of abuse are bidirectional; affect victims and abusers. From here, we want to give voice to this social problem and function as a speaker to understand the full set of consequences that abuse can have for society.

Therefore, it is important not only that abusers take responsibility for their actions and understand that cognitive biases cannot be presented as the "guilty" of abuse, but we also have a role of social responsibility as participants in society to increase awareness and knowledge about this matter. Pointing out attitudes that can be understood as violent and speaking openly with our circles about these issues, we add a grain of sand to the awareness of the danger of abuse. Some of the consequences and responsibilities associated with abuse are:

1. Impact on victims

Victims of abuse experience a wide spectrum of negative consequences, including trauma emotions, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, social isolation and in extreme cases, even attempts to suicide. Abuse can leave deep and lasting scars on physical and mental well-being of those who suffer from it.

2. cycle of violence

When abusers do not face the consequences of their actions and are not held accountable for them, the cycle of violence can be repeated and perpetuated. Abusive patterns can be repeated in future relationships, increasing emotional damage over time.

3. Impact on society

Abuse affects not only individuals, but also has a negative impact on society as a whole. Interpersonal violence and abuse can contribute to a culture of aggression and lack of empathy, deteriorating relationships and social cohesion.

Awareness, learning and caring

Abusers can defend their innocence and avoid blame for their actions when their behavior is completely guided by biases or cognitive distortions that give meaning to their actions. This is the result of cognitive and human complexity, but we all have a role in society to increase our knowledge on this topic and put an end to the maintenance of the violence. Through awareness, we can all learn about those attitudes that must be perpetuated in our relationships to encourage maximum care for the people around us.