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Seinfeld S, Arroyo-Palacios J, Iruretagoyena G, Hortensius R, Zapata LE, Borland D, de Gelder B, Slater M, Sanchez-Vives MV. Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: impact of changing perspective in domestic violence. Sci Rep 2018; 8:2692. [PMID: 29426819 PMCID: PMC5807352 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19987-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 12/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of empathy and perspective-taking in preventing aggressive behaviors has been highlighted in several theoretical models. In this study, we used immersive virtual reality to induce a full body ownership illusion that allows offenders to be in the body of a victim of domestic abuse. A group of male domestic violence offenders and a control group without a history of violence experienced a virtual scene of abuse in first-person perspective. During the virtual encounter, the participants' real bodies were replaced with a life-sized virtual female body that moved synchronously with their own real movements. Participants' emotion recognition skills were assessed before and after the virtual experience. Our results revealed that offenders have a significantly lower ability to recognize fear in female faces compared to controls, with a bias towards classifying fearful faces as happy. After being embodied in a female victim, offenders improved their ability to recognize fearful female faces and reduced their bias towards recognizing fearful faces as happy. For the first time, we demonstrate that changing the perspective of an aggressive population through immersive virtual reality can modify socio-perceptual processes such as emotion recognition, thought to underlie this specific form of aggressive behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Seinfeld
- Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Systems Neuroscience, Rosselló 149-153, 08036, Barcelona, Spain.,Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain
| | - J Arroyo-Palacios
- Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain.,Sony Interactive Entertainment, Research and Development, California, United States
| | - G Iruretagoyena
- Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Systems Neuroscience, Rosselló 149-153, 08036, Barcelona, Spain.,Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain
| | - R Hortensius
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Wales Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, United Kingdom
| | - L E Zapata
- Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Systems Neuroscience, Rosselló 149-153, 08036, Barcelona, Spain
| | - D Borland
- Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Systems Neuroscience, Rosselló 149-153, 08036, Barcelona, Spain.,Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain.,RENCI, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - B de Gelder
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - M Slater
- Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain.,ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain
| | - M V Sanchez-Vives
- Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Systems Neuroscience, Rosselló 149-153, 08036, Barcelona, Spain. .,Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) Laboratory, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Valld'Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain. .,ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain.
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Kret ME, de Gelder B. When a smile becomes a fist: the perception of facial and bodily expressions of emotion in violent offenders. Exp Brain Res 2013; 228:399-410. [PMID: 23828232 PMCID: PMC3710410 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-013-3557-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Accepted: 05/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Previous reports have suggested an enhancement of facial expression recognition in women as compared to men. It has also been suggested that men versus women have a greater attentional bias towards angry cues. Research has shown that facial expression recognition impairments and attentional biases towards anger are enhanced in violent criminal male offenders. Bodily expressions of anger form a more direct physical threat as compared to facial expressions. In four experiments, we tested how 29 imprisoned aggressive male offenders perceive body expressions by other males. The performance of all participants in a matching-to-sample task dropped significantly when the distracting image showed an angry posture. Violent offenders misjudged fearful body movements as expressing anger significantly more often than the control group. When violent offenders were asked to categorize facial expressions and ignore the simultaneously presented congruent or incongruent posture, they performed worse than the control group, specifically, when a smile was combined with an aggressive posture. Finally, violent offenders showed a greater congruency effect than controls when viewing postures as part of an emotionally congruent social scene and did not perform above chance when categorizing a happy posture presented in a fight scene. The results suggest that violent offenders have difficulties in processing emotional incongruence when aggressive stimuli are involved and a possible bias towards aggressive body language.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. E. Kret
- Psychology Department, University of Amsterdam, Weesperplein 4, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - B. de Gelder
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre M-BIC, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Abstract
Until recently, the sexual offending literature focused on male perpetrators and neglected to examine the characteristics of female perpetrators. As a result, treatment provision for female sexual abusers has been either nonexistent or inappropriately adapted from programs designed for males. What we do know is that male and female sexual abusers share similarities; however, there remain distinct differences that warrant empirical and theoretical study. The current review systematically examines the literature on offense-supportive cognition in female sexual abusers. The aim of this systematic review is to aid clinical practitioners who work with female sexual abusers by providing an evaluation of current available research regarding implicit theories, rape myth acceptance, violence-supportive cognition, gender stereotypes, beliefs about sex, and empathy. We conclude that further research examining the offense-supportive cognition of female sexual abusers is needed in order to facilitate more effective empirically driven clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa A Gannon
- Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology, School of Psychology, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NP, UK.
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Clair J, Martin L, Bond AJ, O'Ryan D, Davis P, Curran HV. An experimental study of aggressive and neutral interpretative bias in opiate-dependent and opiate-abstinent men. J Psychopharmacol 2009; 23:428-35. [PMID: 18562417 DOI: 10.1177/0269881108091880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
There is a paucity of research on the relationship between opiate use and aggression, and no previous study has examined this from a cognitive theoretical perspective, which views an individual's interpretation of information as a central mediator of their response to it. This study aimed to determine whether opiate users and ex-users differed from opiate-naïve controls on a task which involved processing ambiguous sentences. In an independent group design, the interpretative bias task was administered to 64 participants: 21 opiate-dependent receiving methadone maintenance treatment, 21 opiate-abstinent in rehabilitation, and 22 healthy unemployed controls. We found that both opiate-dependent and opiate-abstinent groups interpreted ambiguous sentences in a neutral rather than an aggressive way, whereas controls showed no bias in either direction. In the opiate-dependent group, neutral interpretative bias correlated both with their current dose of methadone and years of methadone use. These findings indicate that current and ex-opiate users in treatment have a bias towards neutral interpretations of ambiguous information. The fact that neutral interpretative bias in opiate-dependent individuals correlated with current dose and years of methadone use suggests that methadone treatment is associated with a neutral cognitive bias. Decreased testosterone levels associated with chronic opiate use may underpin this neutral bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Clair
- Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK
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Abstract
The treatment of violent offenders has evolved in recent years, shifting from interventions focused on anger management to those incorporating social information processing skills. The present study was a multimethod evaluation of one such program, the Persistently Violent Offender program. A total of 256 Canadian male violent offenders participated in the study; 70 Persistently Violent Offender program completers were compared to two control groups (n(1) = 33, n(2) = 105) who completed an alternate program and to 48 offenders who failed to complete either program. Results demonstrate few differences among groups in terms of changes on measures of treatment targets, involvement in institutional misconducts, and postrelease returns to custody, thus demonstrating that the Persistently Violent Offender program was superior to neither the alternate program nor program noncompletion. These results are discussed in light of the findings from two more promising recent evaluations of similar programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph C Serin
- Carleton University, Department of Psychology, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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Abstract
Violent offenders often articulate offense-supportive cognitions during rehabilitation, yet these statements have received little theoretical attention, and intervention approaches have targeted each type of statement individually, as if they were unrelated. An implicit theory approach to cognitions has proved fruitful for research and intervention. The authors apply it to violent offenders. The first study presents a grounded theory investigation of offense-supportive cognition in prisoners attending an intensive rehabilitation program for violent offenders. Analysis of offense transcripts enabled the identification of several implicit theories. These results were refined with a second sample and trialed in the rehabilitation program. Findings suggest that several implicit theories held by violent offenders are linked to each other through the widespread normalization of violence. Few offenders experienced their violent behavior as abnormal, or completely outside of their control, once initiated. The authors make suggestions for enhancing the empirical status of this research domain, particularly through experimental investigations.
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Abstract
Cognitive processing approaches to personality have gained momentum in recent years, and the present review uses such a cognitive approach to understand individual differences in anger and reactive aggression. Because several relevant cognitive models have been proposed in separate literatures, a purpose of this review is to integrate such material and evaluate the consistency of relations obtained to date. The analysis reveals that processes related to automatic hostile interpretations, ruminative attention, and effortful control appear to be important contributors to individual differences in angry reactivity. Memory accessibility processes, by contrast, failed to exhibit a consistent relationship with trait anger. This review concludes with the proposal of an integrative cognitive model of trait anger and the discussion of several broader issues, including the developmental origins of cognitive processing patterns and plausible links to temperament-based perspectives.
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Wilkowski BM, Robinson MD, Gordon RD, Troop-Gordon W. Tracking the Evil Eye: Trait Anger and Selective Attention within Ambiguously Hostile Scenes. J Res Pers 2007; 41:650-66. [PMID: 24920865 DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2006.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that trait anger is associated with biases in attention and interpretation, but the temporal relation between these two types of biases remains unresolved. Indeed, two very different models can be derived from the literature. One model proposes that interpretation biases emerge from earlier biases in attention, whereas the other model proposes that hostile interpretations occur quickly, even prior to the allocation of attention to specific cues. Within the context of integrated visual scenes of ambiguously intended harm, the two models make opposite predictions that can be examined using an eye-tracking methodology. The present study (N = 45) therefore tracked participants' allocation of attention to hostile and non-hostile cues in ambiguous visual scenes, and found support for the idea that high anger individuals make early hostile interpretations prior to encoding hostile and non-hostiles cues. The data are important in understanding associations between trait anger and cognitive biases.
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Hoshi R, Pratt H, Mehta S, Bond AJ, Curran HV. An investigation into the sub-acute effects of ecstasy on aggressive interpretative bias and aggressive mood - are there gender differences? J Psychopharmacol 2006; 20:291-301. [PMID: 16510487 DOI: 10.1177/0269881106060505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The lowering of serotonin for a period following MDMA use could account for the increases in both self-rated and objective measures of aggression previously found in ecstasy users several days after taking the drug. There is some evidence of gender differences in the acute, sub-acute and long-term effects of MDMA use, and given that gender differences have been found in aggression, it is possible that men may experience more aggression mid-week than women. The aim of this study was to attempt to replicate findings showing increased bias towards aggressive material in ecstasy users several days after using the drug. In addition, to investigate possible gender differences in mid-week aggression. A total of 46 participants were tested: 19 ecstasy users and 27 controls were compared on the night of drug use and 4 days later. On day 4, a task designed to tap cognitive bias toward material with aggressive content was administered. Participants were required to process sentences that could be interpreted as either aggressive or neutral and subsequently remember them in a recognition test. This data set was then combined with the data from Curran et al.'s (2004) study that employed exactly the same procedure. Thus, the data from 107 participants was analysed to investigate gender differences. Ecstasy users recognized more aggressive sentences than controls and tended to react slower to neutral sentences than controls. Ecstasy users also rated themselves as being more aggressive and depressed than controls on day 4. No gender differences were found on any measure of aggression in the combined data set. Both male and female ecstasy users show a bias toward interpretation of ambiguous material in an aggressive manner when compared to controls 4 days after ecstasy use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosa Hoshi
- Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, UK.
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Gannon TA, Polaschek DLL. Do child molesters deliberately fake good on cognitive distortion questionnaires? An information processing-based investigation. Sex Abuse 2005; 17:183-200. [PMID: 15974424 DOI: 10.1177/107906320501700208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Researchers and clinicians hypothesize that child molesters hold offence-supportive beliefs or cognitive distortions that require restructuring for successful rehabilitation. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Current questionnaire measures of both untreated and treated child molesters' cognitive distortions show that these men typically disagree with cognitive distortions. Such findings, especially prior to treatment, are often interpreted to mean that child molesters are faking good. In this study we drew on personality-related research showing that when participants intentionally respond in a socially desirable way on questionnaires, they make faster item responses than when answering honestly. Untreated child molesters, treated child molesters, and two types of controls (nonsexual offenders and nonoffenders) were administered a computerized cognitive distortion questionnaire and their responses and response times were recorded. Consistent with previous research, all groups tended to disagree with the cognitive distortions. However, response time data were surprising; only the treated child molesters displayed the fake-good pattern of responding significantly faster in rejecting cognitive distortions. We speculate about the implications of these results for the cognitive distortion hypothesis, and for understanding how current treatment programs effect cognitive distortion change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa A Gannon
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
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