Citation

Smith P, Waterman M. Sex. Abuse 2004; 16(2): 163-171.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. p.smith@psychology.leeds.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15208900

Abstract

As part of an ongoing research project we examined information-processing biases in forensic and nonforensic participants (n = 10 sex offenders, n = 10 violent offenders, n = 10 nonviolent offenders, and n = 13 undergraduates). A computerised version of the Stroop task demonstrated that offenders convicted of both sexual and violent offences were significantly slower than undergraduates to color-name words relating to sexual offending (with sex offenders demonstrating the greatest interference bias). Furthermore, processing bias was also evident for aggression words in violent offenders and violent sexual offenders but not in non-violent sexual offenders. Specifically, paedophiles convicted of indecent assault presented different response profiles compared to heterosexual rapists. These findings suggest that tests that assess information processing bias for salient material may also prove useful as an assessment tool within forensic populations.

Language: en