Celebrity status, sex, and variation in psychopathy predicts judgements of and proclivity to generate and distribute deepfake pornography

Can deepfakes manipulate us? Assessing the evidence via a critical scoping review

Deepfakes are one of the most recent developments in misinformation technology and are capable of superimposing one person's face onto another in video format. The potential of this technology to defame and cause harm is clear. However, despite the grave concerns expressed about deepfakes, these concerns are rarely accompanied with empirical evidence. We present a scoping review of the existing empirical studies that aim to investigate the effects of viewing deepfakes on people's beliefs, memories, and behaviour. Five databases were searched, producing an initial sample of 2004 papers, from which 22 relevant papers were identified, varying in methodology and research methods used. Overall, we found that the early studies on this topic have often produced inconclusive findings regarding the existence of uniquely persuasive or convincing effects of deepfake exposure. Moreover, many experiments demonstrated poor methodology and did not include a non-deepfake comparator (e.g., text-based misinformation). We conclude that speculation and scare mongering about dystopian uses of deepfake technologies has far outpaced experimental research that assess these harms. We close by offering insights on how to conduct improved empirical work in this area.

Understanding how survivors of non-consensual intimate image dissemination are perceived by UK and Norwegian respondents

PURPOSE

In popular media, 'revenge pornography' refers to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII) of another. Despite survivors of NCSII facing long-term consequences, they still face victim-blaming attitudes. Extant literature has typically sampled from countries where NCSII has long been illegal, such as the United Kingdom (UK); neglecting perspectives from countries lacking NCSII-specific legislation, such as Norway at the time of data collection.

METHODS

Participants (n = 477) from the UK and Norway responded to vignettes depicting NCSII, which differed by the survivor-perpetrator relationship depicted (i.e., casual vs. committed).

RESULTS

Controlling for participant sex and psychopathic personality traits (previously implicated in judgements of image-based sexual abuse), UK citizens perceived NCSII to have worse impacts on survivors than Norwegian citizens. Moreover, data trends suggested participants attributed increased victim-blame in vignettes featuring casual relationships, with higher self-reported psychopathic personality traits predicting judgements associated with viewing NCSII as less criminal in nature.

CONCLUSION

These findings emphasise a need to better understand the role of legislation in public perceptions of NCSII (and image-based sexual abuse more broadly) and the need to be conscious about further exploring technology-facilitated crime internationally.

Understanding Social Judgments of and Proclivities to Commit Upskirting

Against a backdrop of legislative change that sees the taking of private sexual images underneath the clothing of a non-consenting other being made a criminal offence - upskirting - there is a need to understand the public's judgments of and motivations to perpetrate said behavior. In this study (N = 490), we investigated whether judgments of upskirting differed as a function of the sex of the person who was upskirted (male, female) and their perceived attractiveness (attractive, unattractive), as well as how variation in voyeuristic interest, belief in a just world, and dark personality traits predicted judgments of and proclivity to engage in upskirting. We consistently observed more lenient judgments of upskirting behavior when the person who was upskirted was attractive and male, with such judgements predicted by older age across all conditions. Moreover, proclivity to engage in upskirting was predicted by past voyeuristic behaviors, higher psychopathic personality, and being male and of older age. We discuss our findings in the context of needing to qualitatively understand the rationale underpinning these judgments, combating barriers to disclose victimization, and practitioner implications.

Psychopathic Personality as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Atypical Sexuality and Sexual Coercion Proclivity in the General Population

Being sexually coerced can have long-lasting psychological impacts on victims; with perpetration strongly predicted by elevated psychopathic traits. Owing to recent legislative developments in the United Kingdom that criminalize coercive control under the Domestic Abuse Act (2021), this study offers a timely investigation into the mechanisms of sexual coercion in domestic abuse across sexual abuse and coercive control. We used moderation analysis (n = 405) to investigate whether sexual coercion proclivity was predicted by facets of atypical sexuality (non-clinical elevated levels of sex drive, sexual sadism, and sexual masochism), and whether this relationship was moderated by psychopathic personality traits specifically the factor one components, which encompasses interpersonal and affective characteristics. Psychopathic personality traits significantly moderated the positive association between sex drive and sexual coercion proclivity, and between sexual sadism and sexual coercion proclivity in males (but not females), but psychopathic personality traits had no such moderating effect in the sexual masochism model. Results are discussed in terms of identifying risk factors of sexual coercion within a general population sample and international application. Open data and a preprint of this paper are available at [https://osf.io/xkcah/?view_only=134ff9c93ad24ba286515b348ce79c0c].

Judgement Differences of Types of Image-Based Sexual Harassment and Abuse Conducted by Celebrity Perpetrators and Victims

An emerging corpus exists pertaining to societal judgements of image-based sexual harassment and abuse (IBSHA). This type of research centres on the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII; sometimes called 'revenge pornography'), but recent legislative developments seeking to convict those who engage in the unsolicited sending of intimate images (USII; sometimes called 'dick pics') evoke a need to broaden this literature. Moreover, in the context of recent and highly publicised accounts featuring both celebrity perpetrators and victims of IBSHA, it is important to understand whether celebrity status impacts said judgements. We present three studies outlining judgement differences between vignettes featuring NCSII and USII as a function of perpetrator/victim celebrity status and as predicted by previously implicated personality traits and beliefs. In Studies 1 (N = 261) and 2 (N = 237), though vignettes involving NCSII were perceived more criminal in nature and anticipated to evoke more harm than USII, said victims also received more blame. Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no further impact of celebrity status on either the perpetrator (Study 2) or victim (Study 3; N = 207). Finally, although dark personality traits (associated with callousness and low empathy) predicted variation in judgements of IBSHA across all studies, in Study 2, psychopathic personality traits specifically predicted proclivity to engage in NCSII but not USII. The results are discussed in reference to the importance of IBSHA-related education on an international level and the pursuit of further legislation in this area.

Bad parents? evaluating judgements of infant homicides

While the killing of one's own infant is an undoubtedly harrowing crime, there exists little research exploring attitudes toward these individuals. Such work has focused primarily on depictions of mothers, yet U.K. government data indicate that the majority of infant homicide cases involve paternal suspects. A sample of U.K. residents (n = 245) participated in a mixed-methods design to explore attitudes toward mothers and fathers who have been accused of murdering their infant child and whether parental mental health issues impacted these judgements. Results aligned with the chivalry hypothesis wherein maternal suspects were evaluated more leniently. Qualitative analyses uncovered hidden gender expectations: mothers were ascribed blame when the father was accused of infant homicide, a finding that was not present in the reverse scenario. This suggests that traditional views of motherhood conflict with a shifting social landscape that is seeing an increase in stay-at-home fathers and working mothers.

Image-Based Sexual Abuse Associated Factors: A Systematic Review

Purpose

Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) is a recently studied form of violence and abuse perpetrated using technology. This systematic review aims to examine and systematize studies exploring factors associated with IBSA (e.g., victimization, perpetration, and propensity to perpetrate).

Method

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement, 17 articles were included.

Results

The results of this study highlighted conceptual and methodological limitations in the literature on IBSA. Aside from these limitations, this systematic review identified factors associated with IBSA, focusing on four macro-areas: victimization, perpetration, propensity to perpetrate IBSA, and IBSA implications. The results demonstrated the role of psychological, relational, and social variables, although the effect sizes observed in the quantitative studies were small or in few cases moderate.

Conclusions

These results suggest further research should be carried out to explore the multidimensionality of IBSA and its associated factors, which may assist in guiding interventions to promote preventive and rehabilitative methods to lower the prevalence of this crime and its consequences.