Neuropsychological Correlates of Anger,Hostility, and Relationship-Relevant Distortions in Thinking among Partner Violent Men

Prior research has demonstrated that perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) display poorer performance than controls on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning (EF) and impulsivity (Imp). In a treatment-seeking sample of 80 partner-violent men, the current study examined EF and Imp as correlates of anger-reactivity, cognitive distortions, irrational beliefs, anger expression, anger control, hostility, and abusive relationship behavior. Executive functioning had significant inverse associations with cognitive distortions, irrational beliefs, and anger-reactivity assessed during anger induction using the Articulated Thoughts within Simulated Situations (ATSS) paradigm, and with global self-reports of anger expression and general hostility. Impulsivity was positively associated with cognitive distortions, irrational beliefs, and anger-reactivity on the ATSS. No significant associations were found between neuropsychological functioning and anger control or self-reported levels of physical assault and psychological aggression. Limitations in neuropsychological functioning among IPV perpetrators are associated with distorted cognitive processing of negative relationship stimuli and difficulties with anger reactivity, anger expression, and general hostility.     

What were they thinking? An exploration of child sexual offenders’ beliefs using a lexical decision task

Abstract

Cognitive distortions have been afforded a key role in the offending behaviour of child sexual offenders. While the mechanisms underlying cognitive distortions are not fully understood, they are generally thought to reflect entrenched beliefs that distinguish child sexual offenders from other individuals. We investigated this hypothesis using a robust experimental technique called the lexical decision task. Child sexual offenders, offender controls, and non-offender controls completed a lexical decision task in which they responded to words that completed sentences in either an offence-supportive or nonoffence-supportive manner. Contrary to predictions, child sexual offenders did not respond faster to words that were consistent with offence-supportive beliefs, relative to controls. However, they did show accelerated recognition for word stems supporting external locus of control beliefs. These results highlight the need to use cognitive experimental methods to study child sexual offenders’ beliefs, and the importance of investigating potential alternative drivers of cognitive distortions.     

The effects of visual priming on information processing in child sexual offenders

Abstract

Child sexual offenders are hypothesized to hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The current study seeks support for this view via a cognitive-experimental approach. Child sexual offenders and offender controls were exposed to pictures of semi-clothed children (priming condition) or clothed, mature adults (control condition). Participants then read ambiguous sentences describing children's actions that could be interpreted in a sexualized manner. Next, participants completed a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously non-sexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, primed and/or control child sexual offenders did not show a memory bias for sexualized sentences, suggesting that they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Results raise questions about whether child sexual offenders universally hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate their offending. Results also highlight the need for further experimental research within this field.     

The effect of childhood trauma on later psychological adjustment

This study examined whether adult attachment and cognitive distortion mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological adjustment. The participants were 219 students (40 men and 117 women) enrolled in a university degree. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, which assessed retrospective accounts of childhood trauma; the Relationships Scales Questionnaire, which measured two dimensions of adult attachment (model-of-self and model-of-other); the Cognitive Distortions Scale, which measured internal attributions and perceptions of controllability; and the Trauma Symptom Inventory, which assessed posttraumatic symptoms and was used in this study to measure psychological adjustment. Results supported the hypothesis that model-of-self and cognitive distortion are related constructs. The influence of model-of-self on psychological adjustment however was only via its effect on cognitive processes. In other words, a negative model-of-self influenced cognitive distortion, which in turn influenced the expression of symptoms in adults reporting a history of childhood trauma. The implications for therapy were considered.     

脑外伤认知障碍者神经心理学评价研究

目的探讨神经心理学检测指标在脑外伤者认知功能障碍评定中的应用价值。方法对脑外伤后认知障碍者进行中国修订韦氏成人智力量表、韦氏记忆量表及计算机化神经行为评价系统部分项目等神经心理学检测,按照原发性损伤程度和专家鉴定结论分别编组,对检测结果进行分析。结果损伤程度组填图、长时记忆、瞬时记忆、视觉保留及视简单反应时项目得分,轻型组高于中、重型组(P<0.05),其余项目(木块图、知识、相似、曲线吻合及数字筛选)组间差异无统计学意义。专家鉴定组中长时记忆、瞬时记忆、视觉保留、视简单反应时、曲线吻合及数字筛选得分值随认知功能障碍程度加重而逐渐降低,其中前4项组间差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。而韦氏智力测验4个项目较轻组与较重组得分接近,且均低于中度组,其中3项得分比较具有统计学差异(P<0.05)。结论原发性脑外伤与认知障碍严重程度有一定相关性,但相关检测项目显示不完全平行,在进行鉴定中应选择更为可靠的检测项目。     

Characteristics of men and women completing cognitive/behavioral spouse abuse treatment

Although abuse in relationships is widespread and often escalates without intervention, the scant extant data indicate that people in abusive relationships often fail to complete treatment programs. We compared demographic characteristics, Male-Female Relations Inventory scores (MFRI), and selected MilIon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory I (MCMI-I) scale scores of men and women who did and did not complete an 8-session 4-week cognitive/behavioral group treatment program. The 16 completer men had lower scores on MCMI-I scales related to drug abuse as compared with the 18 noncompleter men. Court-referred men completed more often than other men. The 23 completer women also had lower scores on MCMI-I scales related to drug abuse than the 17 noncompleter women. Fewer of the completer women were employed and fewer had children than the noncompleter women. Scores on the MFRI were not different for completer or noncompleter men or women. Implications for interventions are discussed.     

Effects of Positive Impression Management on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; S. O.Lilienfeld & B. P. Andrews, 1996) is a self-report test that has shown considerable promise as a screening measure for psychopathy. A current limitation of the PPI is that no data exist regarding the impact of response sets such as positive impression management. Although the PPI contains a validity scale (Unlikely Virtues) designed to identify response biases such as faking good, its utility has not yet been assessed. In this study a repeated measures analogue design was employed in which 186 respondents completed the PPI both under standard conditions and with specific instructions to create a favorable impression of themselves. In the fake good condition, participants were able to appear significantly less psychopathic, with those who obtained higher scores in the standard instruction condition showing the largest decreases in their PPI scores. Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses indicated that, although the Unlikely Virtues scale significantly differentiated between fake good and honest protocols (area under the curve = .73), a considerable number of misclassifications occurred. The clinical and forensic implications of these findings are discussed.     

Providing eyewitnesses with initial retrieval support: what works at immediate and subsequent recall?

The effect of retrieval support on eyewitness recall was investigated in two experiments. Based on the outshining hypothesis, Experiment 1 tested whether retrieval support enhances witness performance (compared to free recall) especially when witnessing conditions are suboptimal (e.g., because witnesses were distracted during the crime). Eighty-eight participants watched a videotaped crime with either full or divided attention and subsequently received retrieval support with the Self-Administered Interview© (SAI) or completed a free recall (FR). One week later (Time 2 – T2) all participants completed a second FR. Unexpectedly, retrieval support did not lead to better memory performance than FR under divided attention conditions, suggesting that retrieval support is not effective to overcome adverse effects of divided attention. Moreover, presence of retrieval support at Time 1 (T1) had no effect on memory performance at T2. Experiment 2 (N = 81) tested the hypothesis that these T2-results were due to a reporting issue undermining the memory-preserving effect of T1-retrieval support by manipulating retrieval support (SAI vs. FR) at T1 and T2. As expected, T1-retrieval support led to increased accuracy at T2. Thus, the beneficial value of T1-retrieval support seems greatest with high-quality T2-interviews. Interviewers should consider this when planning a subsequent interview.     

BELIEFS ABOUT THE CUES TO DECEPTION IN HIGH- AND LOW-STAKE SITUATIONS

Prison officers and students completed a questionnaire concerning beliefs about 34 verbal and non-verbal behaviours in high- and low-stake situations. They were asked to consider behaviour in four different situations (two high-stake and two low-stake) and were asked to rate each scenario in terms of both the behaviour that they believed that they would show and the behaviour that they believed someone else would show. For each behaviour they were asked to rate on a seven-point scale how frequently they believed it occurred during deception (when compared to truth-telling). While there were no differences within high- and low-stake conditions (i.e. between scenarios of similar stakes), certain behaviours were believed to increase more in high-stake situations compared to low-stake ones. People rated their own behaviour differently to other people's, suggesting that they believed they would appear more credible in deception situations than other people would. Prison officers and students did not differ in their overall beliefs about the cues to deception in line with previous research. Results are discussed in terms of the roles that high-stake, infrequent, easily accessible situations and unsuccessful deceptions may play in the development and maintenance of general beliefs about the cues to deception.     

Validity Beliefs and Ideology Can Influence Legal Case Judgments Differently

Jurors sometimes enter a case both with prior beliefs about its likely validity and with more general ideologies that are relevant to the case. Although prior validity beliefs may serve as heuristics, directly biasing decisions when cognitive capacity is low, we hypothesized that ideology may bias systematic thought even when cognitive capacity is high. This experiment studied simulated individual juror decisions in a sex-discrimination case, measuring validity beliefs about such cases as well as feminist ideology, and exposing participants to 1 of 3 case versions under time pressure or no time pressure. Validity beliefs had a direct, heuristic impact on judgment only under time pressure. However, feminist ideology had a mediated influence on judgment via valenced thoughts about the evidence, even under no time pressure. Also, people with initially proplaintiff beliefs judged a woman's sex-discrimination suit more negatively than did prodefendants if the evidence was weak. The results suggest that when jurors can fully process information, validity expectancies might backfire if not supported by case evidence, but ideology can have a more pervasive influence on the decision-making process.     

Epistemic Responsibility and Criminal Negligence

Criminal Law and Philosophy - We seem to be responsible for our beliefs in a distinctively epistemic way. We often hold each other to account for the beliefs that we hold. We do this by criticising...     

Biomechanical Factors in Human Dermal Bitemarks in a Cadaver Model*

Abstract: In bitemark analysis, the forensic odontologist must consider how the biomechanical properties of the skin contribute to distortion of the bitemark. In addition, one must consider how the bitemark can be distorted by postural movement of the victim after the bite has occurred. A fundamental review of the architecture and biomechanical properties of the dermis is described and evaluated through bites made on cadavers. In order to assess distortion, 23 bites from a single characterized dentition were made on un‐embalmed cadaver skin. Bite indentations were photographed. Following various body manipulations they were re‐photographed in different positions. Hollow volume overlays of the biting dentition were constructed, and metric analysis of the dentition and all bitemarks was completed. The overall intercanine, mesial to distal, and angle of rotation distortion was calculated. Of the 23 bites made, none were measurably identical, and in some cases, dramatic distortion was noted.     

Stereotyping,congruence and presentation order: Interpretative biases in utilizing offender profiles

Abstract

This paper explores how offender profiles might influence the way in which individuals interpret investigative information dependent on its congruence with the investigators’ own beliefs. Participants, comprising 222 lay people, completed an online questionnaire where a profile was either congruent or incongruent with a stereotypical or an atypical suspect who was presented before or after the introduction of the profile (resulting in eight conditions). Several cognitive strategies appeared to be used in interpreting the information. Contrary to expectations, individuals relying on representativeness heuristics were more influenced by a profile challenging their views than by one supporting them, whilst individuals who invested greater cognitive effort (termed hereafter “cognitive elaboration”) were more resistant to changing their views in light of disconfirming profiling advice. There was tentative evidence to suggest that a confirmation bias might occur when individuals engage in cognitive elaboration, such that individuals appeared to be more influenced by a confirming profile than by a disconfirming one. Finally, it was found that the profile was perceived to be more influential when presented before the introduction of a suspect than after. Implications for advising on the interpretation of such advice, as well as preparing such reports, are discussed.     

Criteria-Based Content Analysis: An empirical test of its underlying processes

Abstract

Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) is a tool to assess the veracity of written statements, and is used as evidence in criminal courts in several countries in the world. CBCA scores are expected to be higher for truth tellers than for liars. The underlying assumption of CBCA is that (i) lying is cognitively more difficult than truth telling, and (ii) that liars are more concerned with the impression they make on others than truth tellers. However, these assumptions have not been tested to date. In the present experiment 80 participants (undergraduate students) lied or told the truth about an event. Afterwards, they completed a questionnaire measuring “cognitive load” and “tendency to control speech”. The interviews were transcribed and coded by trained CBCA raters. In agreement with CBCA assumptions, (i) truth tellers obtained higher scores than liars, (ii) liars experienced more cognitive load than truth tellers, and (iii) liars tried harder to control their speech. However, cognitive load and speech control were not correlated with CBCA scores in the predicted way.     

Self-Reported Intentions to Offend: All Talk and No Action?

To study criminal decision making, researchers commonly present hypothetical offending scenarios to participants and record their self-reported intentions to offend (SRIO). These SRIO scores are treated as an indicator of participants?? predisposition to commit the act described in the scenario. Drawing from the field of clinical measurement, the current study examines the diagnostic accuracy of SRIO scores by comparing participants?? intentions to acquire illegal music files from a designated distributor to their actual attempts to acquire such files. Approximately 7% of participants who read about a (bogus) music piracy opportunity reported strong??and at times definitive??intentions to seek out the illegal files. However, in actuality, no one in the study engaged in this behavior. Clinimetric indicators suggest that SRIO scores are better at predicting abstention from crime than actual criminal participation.     

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment: The Effects of Gender,Legal Standard,and Ambivalent Sexism

This research tests the possibility that the reasonable woman as compared to the reasonable person test of hostile work environment sexual harassment interacts with hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs and under some conditions triggers protectionist attitudes toward women who complain of sexual harassment, We administered to a sample of undergraduates the ambivalent sexism inventory along with the fact patterns in two harassment cases and asked them to make legally relevant decisions under either the reasonable woman or person standard. We found that those high in hostile sexism, and women, found more evidence of harassment. However, those high in benevolent sexism did not exhibit the hostile sexism effects. Although men were less sensitive to the reasonable woman standard than women, under some conditions the reasonable woman standard enabled both genders to find greater evidence of harassment. The results are discussed from the perspectives of law and psychology.     

An exploratory study of child molesters' relationship patterns using the core conflictual relationship theme method

This study examined the relationship patterns of N = 20 child molesters (CM) using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method. The relationship patterns of the CMs were compared with those of a control group of N = 20 subjects from an out patient counseling service. Results showed that CMs had significantly less wish to be controlled, hurt, and not responsible than the control group. No significant difference was found between both groups for the CCRT response of other component (RO). For the response of self (RS) component, results indicated that CMs reported more relationship episodes in which they felt respected and accepted and self-controlled and self-confident. The authors suggest that these interactions could be indicators of the CMs'attempts to attribute blame to others and present themselves as victims. It is also suggested that CMs may have core issues involving autonomy and control.     

The role of beliefs and trait aggression in prison bullying among young offenders

This study aimed to explore the characteristics of those involved in bullying, including trait aggression, beliefs, interpretation of potential threat and responses to aggression. Three hundred and thirteen young adult male offenders completed three measures; the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist, the Aggression Questionnaire, and the Threat Appraisal of Behaviour measure. Pure bullies and bully-victims were predicted to have higher trait aggression scores, and to be more likely to endorse beliefs supportive of aggression than other groups. Bully-victims were predicted to have higher levels of trait hostility and higher levels of fear than pure bullies. The results demonstrated that both bully groups had higher trait aggression scores, with bully-victims having higher scores on the hostility subscale than pure bullies or those not involved. Bully-victims viewed bullying as more of a threat and were more fearful of it than pure bullies and they were also more likely to endorse both aggressive and avoidant coping responses whereas pure bullies were more likely to endorse aggressive responding. Findings highlight differences between the two bully groups and offers an outline of the underpinning causes of bullying for each group.     

The Word Memory Test in medicolegal assessment: a measure of effort and malingering?

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is claimed to measure effort and to detect cognitive response bias. Archival data from n = 2526 cases referred in 2009–2016 for medicolegal assessment were analyzed. Each participant underwent a medical and a psychological examination including a cognitive test battery and several validity measures including the WMT. The WMT validity test scores do not approximately follow a normal distribution. Thus, parametric statistics for WMT validity scores may not be appropriate. WMT performance explains 0–20% of the variance in cognitive test performance. This is more than what substantial brain damage accounts for. The standard uniform cutoff indicating a ‘fail’ in all three WMT effort subtests (equal or less than 82.5% correct responses) seems not supported by the data. Taking into account the context of the testing, cutoffs may be chosen according to the desired sensitivity or specificity. ROC-statistics with modified Slick criteria as gold standard for malingering look alike for the three WMT effort subtests, with a AUC between 0.86 and 0.88. The WMT seems a good indicator of both effort and (Slick) malingering, however, little is gained by administering the entire test.