In A
ugust 2020, Hannah published a new, open-access paper with her colleagues in the SOTRAP journal:
Garrington, C., Merdian, H.L., & Boer, D. P. (2020) Variables influencing the case prioritisation of men convicted of internet child abuse material offences. Sexual Offending: Theory, Research, & Prevention, 15 (1)
The paper can be found at: https://sotrap.psychopen.eu/index.php/sotrap/article/view/3065
In July 2020, Ross Bartels published a new book with Routledge (with external co-editors Geri Akerman and Derek Perkins).
The book is entitled: “Assessing and Managing Problematic Sexual Interests: A Practitioner’s Guide“, and includes a chapter on assessing sexual fantasies by Ross. It also contains a chapter written by Charlotte Wesson (ex-PhD student) and Todd Hogue on eye-based measures of sexual interest.
In August 2020, Dr Georgina Gous, in collaboration with Dr Robin Kramer and others, published a new paper examining face familiarity and image-specific memory in ‘Perception’.
Abstract:
Face familiarity produces advantages for both memory and matching. By developing an internal representation through repeated experience, viewers extract identity-specific information that aids subsequent recognition. However, researchers have recently argued that this process may also result in a familiarity disadvantage, whereby specific instances of the face are more difficult to remember, perhaps due to this process of prioritising identity- over image-specific information. Although previous experiments found no evidence of this disadvantage in working memory, initial research has demonstrated an effect in longer term storage. Here, we attempted to replicate this finding by focussing on the ability to learn images of a single (un)familiar identity. Our results failed to demonstrate a familiarity disadvantage while replicating the finding that familiarity influences response bias. As researchers continue to investigate how familiarity alters both internal representations and associated processes, it is important to establish which processes may or may not be affected.
In July 2
020, Amanda Roberts (and other UK academics) wrote to secretaries of state regarding funding of gambling research, education and treatment.
Their open letter has been published in the BMJ. The details are as follows:
“Open letter from UK based academic scientists to the secretaries of state for digital, culture, media and sport and for health and social care regarding the need for independent funding for the prevention and treatment of gambling harms. British Medical Journal, 2020;370:m2613
It can be found here: https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/370/bmj.m2613.full.pdf
Dr Ross Bartels (and ex-student Abbie Marono) have had a new paper published in Psychology, Crime, and Law entitled ‘Examining the judgments of paedophiles in relation to a non-sexual offense
Although pedophilia is not synonymous with child sexual abuse, it remains a highly stigmatized phenomenon. As such, non-offending pedophilic individuals are judged as being dangerous, abnormal, amoral, and in need of punishment. It is unknown, however, whether a pedophilic individual would be judged more harshly than people with a different sexual orientation regarding a nonsexual, nonviolent offense. This was the aim of the present study. A final sample of 309 participants were recruited online and allocated to one of three sexual orientation conditions. Participants read the same hypothetical crime report (breaking and entering) followed by a suspect profile that was identical across conditions except for sexual orientation. They then provided sentencing and moral character judgements of the suspect. Participants also completed a punitive attitudes scale pertaining to pedophilia. Results showed that the pedophilic individual received harsher judgments relative to the heterosexual individual, but only at higher levels of pre-existing punitive attitudes. These findings suggest that anti-pedophilia stigma can bias judgments about offenses that are not sexual. We argue that this is due to a ‘reverse halo effect’. However, we consider an alternative explanation based on the idea of interpreting information in a schema-consistent manner.
Congrats to FCRG member Dr Georgina Gous who, in collaboration with Dr Robin Kramer, has published a new two-study paper examining the utility of face descriptions (without memory) in ‘Applied Cognitive Psychology’.
Kramer, R. S., & Gous, G. (2020). Eyewitness descriptions without memory: The (f) utility of describing faces. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3645
Abstract:
Eyewitness descriptions provide critical information for the police and other agencies to use during investigations. While researchers have typically considered the impact of memory, little consideration has been given to the utility of facial descriptions themselves, without the additional memory demands. In Experiment 1, participants described face images to their partners, who were then required to select these faces from photographic lineups. Performance was error‐prone when the same image appeared in the lineup (73% correct), and decreased further when a different image of the same face was presented (22% correct). We found some evidence to suggest this was due, in part, to difficulties with recognizing that two different images depicted the same person. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that descriptions of the same face given by different people showed only moderate agreement. Taken together, these results highlight the problematic nature of facial descriptions, even without memory, and their limited utility.
Gous, G., & Wheatcroft, J. M. (2020). Directive Leading Questions and Preparation Technique Effects on Witness Accuracy. SAGE Open, 10(1), 2158244019899053.
The use of leading questions during cross-examination can undermine the accuracy and completeness of evidence presented in court. Furthermore, increasing numbers of general witnesses are arriving in court unprepared for the experience. In this study, 60 mock witnesses from England and Wales were allocated to one of the three preparation conditions: (a) those who received no familiarization with the cross-examination process, (b) those who received a guidance booklet on cross-examination procedures, and (c) those who underwent an alternative rapport-building protocol. The participants observed a hit-and-run scenario video clip before being cross-examined with either (a) non-directive leading questions or (b) directive leading questions. The results showed that directive leading questioning styles were most detrimental to witness accuracy. Neither familiarization with the types of questions typically employed during cross-examination nor the rapport-building protocol were found to be effective as a preparation strategy to increase accurate responses compared against a control group. Consideration of the impact of directive leading question styles on all witnesses in court seems necessary.
A new study by PhD student Elizabeth Deehan and Dr Ross Bartels entitled “Somnophilia: Examining Its Various Forms and Associated Constructs” has been published in the Sexual Abuse.
Somnophilia refers to a sexual interest in having sex someone who is asleep and is an under-researched phenomenon. Using an online sample, this new study provides the first empirical investigation into somnophilia. The study contributes to the literature by:
(1) offering a new measure designed to assess an interest in and proclivity towards somnophilic behaviour.
(2) showing that somnophilic interest is associated with necrophilic, biastophilic, and sadistic sexual fantasies, as well as a need for sexual dominance
(3) highlighting that many people are also interested in being the recipient of sexual activity while asleep (the authors term this “dormaphilia”), which is associated with masochistic fantasies and a need for sexual submission
The paper suggests that somnophilia may not be as rare as first thought. It also indicates that it is important to differentiate between consensual somnophilia and non-consensual somnophilia.
Elizabeth Deehan is now continuing to investigate somnophilia more deeply as part of her PhD research.
Dr Ross Bartels has (in collaboration with Professor Theresa Gannon) contributed a chapter entitled “Theories of Rapists” in the new SAGE Encyclopedia of Criminal Psychology.
Details of the book can be found here
Dr Ross Bartels (and colleagues Dr Robert Lehmann & Dr David Thornton) have published a paper in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychiatry (Forensic Psychiatry).
The paper is entitled ‘Validating the utility of the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire with men who have sexually offended against children‘. It examines whether one of the oldest self-report sexual fantasy measures is valid and useful for use with men who have sexually offended against children, as well as men who report some level of sexual interest in children but have not offended. The study highlights some strengths and limitations that are useful for forensic clinicians and researchers to consider.
The paper can be read and downloaded here – https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00206/full