bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Studies in self‐categorization and minority conversion: Is being a member of the out‐group an advantage?
Authors: David Barbara , Turner John C.
Published: June 2011

The finding that minorities may tend to produce conversion whereas majorities may tend to produce compliance is an extremely important one for the study of social influence. Most research into minority conversion has been based on conversion theory (Moscovici, 1980) which, we would claim, rests on the notion that the ‘true’ influence exerted by minorities is possible only because they are essentially different from self. This paper reports two studies in a programme of research testing an alternative explanation, based on self‐categorization theory, which assumes that perceived similarity to a potential source of influence will be the key to its deep and lasting success. Both studies employ a full majority/minority X in‐group/out‐group design, socially significant real‐life in‐group–out‐group memberships and measure attitudes directly relevant to these social identities. Study 1 uses immediate and delayed and Study 2, public and private, responses as the measures of, respectively, compliance and conversion. The results support self‐categorization theory in that, when exposed to both majority and minority out‐group sources, subjects exhibited an immediate/public polarization away from the sources, towards a more extreme in‐group position, and there was no diminution of the extremity of their position on delayed/private measures. The classic pattern of majorities bringing about greater compliance than conversion and minorities greater conversion than compliance was evinced in the in‐group conditions of both studies, although this tended to be comparative rather than absolute. The implications of the results for the conflict between self‐categorization theory and conversion theory are discussed and the future direction of our research indicated.
Anticipated interaction and thought generation: The role of faction size
Authors: Zdaniuk Bozena , Levine John M.
Published: June 2011

Little attention has been given to how expected membership in a majority or minority faction affects the cognitive activity of prospective group members. In this study, subjects who expected to join a six‐person discussion group were led to believe that (a) the other five people in the group disagreed with their position, (b) one person agreed and four people disagreed, (c) two people agreed and three disagreed, (d) three people agreed and two disagreed or (e) four people agreed and one person disagreed. Prior to the discussion, subjects were asked to list their thoughts concerning the discussion topic. Results indicated that the smaller the subjects' faction (and the larger the opposing faction), the less biased subjects were in thinking about their own position. These findings shed new light on majority and minority influence and suggest that more attention should be devoted to the cognitive consequences of anticipated interaction in group settings.
The European election of 1989: British television viewers' knowledge, attitudes and voting behaviour
Authors: Wober J. M. , Brosius H‐B. , Weinmann G.
Published: June 2011

A representative sample of British viewers answered questions before and after the 1989 EC election. On both occasions they filled in a viewing diary yielding unobtrusive measures of amounts of viewing in each of several programme genres including news and current affairs. In the first wave they gave opinions on integration among EC nations, on another measure of (perceived) amount of viewing of television election coverage (and of reading newspaper coverage) and an indication of knowledge. In the second wave they reported whether they had voted and gave opinions on television coverage of the election. Analysis across waves found no independent relationships between amount of news and current affairs viewed in the pre‐election week and reported voting. This behaviour was, however, independently determined by knowledge, which was in turn significantly linked with the amount of coverage viewed. Voting was also related with a measure of the desirability of television coverage of pan‐European activities. Two other attitude clusters covering support for more explicitly political and economic aspects of integration were not independently connected with voting turnout.
Making sense of symptoms: Self‐categorization and the meaning of illness and injury
Authors: Levine R. M. , Reicher S. D.
Published: June 2011

A central theme in both medical sociology and health psychology is how people make sense of their symptoms. Both literatures, despite their stress on different aspects of the health evaluation process, see illness in terms of matching present symptoms to an underlying understanding of illness. In this paper we argue that such accounts have difficulty in explaining the impact of contextual factors on how symptoms are evaluated. We therefore propose a model based on self‐categorization theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher & Wetherell, 1987). It is proposed that symptoms are evaluated, not against pre‐existing illness representations, but by reference to their impact on situationally salient identities. In support of this an experiment is described which involves students who are training to be physical education (PE) teachers. They are defined either in terms of a ‘PE student’ identity or in terms of a ‘gender’ identity and asked to evaluate a number of scenarios which describe different illnesses and injuries. Overall, the results provide clear evidence that the significance ascribed to scenarios depends on which identity is salient and hence indicate the viability of a self‐categorization theory approach to symptom evaluation.
A comparison of behavioural alternative models in the context of the theory of reasoned action
Authors: van den Putte Bas , Hoogstraten Johan , Meertens Roel
Published: June 2011

In Fishbein & Ajzen's theory of reasoned action, behaviour is predicted by the behavioural intention, which in turn is determined by a personal attitudinal and a social normative factor. These variables are usually measured with respect to the behaviour of interest, ignoring the choice process between behavioural alternatives that precedes the performance of behaviour. Several methods that take account of this choice process are discussed and empirically compared. It is shown that a direct comparison of behavioural alternatives can be made and that such a method is preferable to both the usually applied method and an indirect comparison of behavioural alternatives. It improves the predictive value of the model of reasoned action, is efficient in the number of items administered to subjects and allows for analysis on an interval level.
Stereotyping and social influence: The mediation of stereotype applicability and sharedness by the views of in‐group and out‐group members
Authors: Haslam S. Alexander , Oakes Penelope J. , McGarty Craig , Turner John C. , Reynolds Katherine J. , Eggins Rachael A.
Published: June 2011

Since the advent of the ‘cognitive revolution’ in stereotyping research, interest in the consensual nature of stereotypes and its social psychological basis has declined dramatically. Reversing this trend, this paper examines the manner in which the strength of shared stereotypes and the links between particular content and particular groups are mediated by processes of social influence. Two experiments (Ns = 300, 230) are reported in which participants' pre‐existing stereotypes about Australians and Americans were confirmed or contradicted by either an in‐group or an out‐group source. As predicted, this social validation had powerful effects on the perceived applicability of content to groups (Expt 1) as well as stereotype consensus and favourableness (Expt 2). Stereotypes were typically bolstered when they were confirmed by an in‐group or contradicted by an out‐group, relative to conditions in which they were contradicted by an in‐group or confirmed by an out‐group. It is argued that the theoretical integration of principles from stereotyping and social influence research offers the potential for a fuller understanding of the inter‐subjective, group based properties of stereotypes and stereotype change.
Repressive coping style and the architecture of emotion‐related memories: Is their relationship that simple?
Authors: Orbach Israel , Mikulincer Mario
Published: June 2011

The present study re‐examines the relationship between repressive coping style and the architecture of emotion‐related memories by introducing methodological improvements in the elicitation of these memories. Participants were classified into four repressive coping groups according to the Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale and the Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability scale. They were then asked to recall personal experiences related to five core relational themes attempting to elicit positive and negative emotions and to rate how they felt in each situation. Results indicated that differences in the architecture of emotion‐related memories among the four repressive coping groups depended on the type of the elicited memory. The discussion emphasizes the complexity of the relationship between repressive coping style and the architecture of emotion‐related memories and suggests an expansion of the concept of repression.
Positive—negative asymmetry of social discrimination: A normative analysis of differential evaluations of in‐group and out‐group on positive and negative attributes
Authors: Wenzel Michael , Mummendey Amélie
Published: June 2011

Following Mummendey & Simon's (1991) taxonomy of social discrimination, a distinction was made between two forms of discriminatory behaviour such that either positive or negative stimuli may be allocated to or taken away from group members differentially. We argue that an extrapolation of findings from the positive domain to the largely neglected negative domain is unjustified, and hypothesize a ‘positive—negative asymmetry of social discrimination’ whereby in‐group favouritism for negative stimuli is less probable than discrimination in terms of positive stimuli. First, in two parallel experiments, this hypothesis was tested in the realm of evaluations of group products. The two experiments differed in their operationalization of the valence of the judgement dimensions: in Expt 1a both, positive and negative, attributes were given (‘mixed lists’), whereas in Expt 1b either positive or negative attributes were used for evaluations (‘pure lists’). Whereas with ‘mixed lists' there was no significant in‐group bias, with ‘pure lists' the hypothesized asymmetry was confirmed. These differing results were interpreted in terms of a norm enhancement hypothesis: the possibility of discriminating via negative stimuli enhances a fairness norm. A second vignette study, using descriptions of the first experiment's setting, yielded considerable support for this normative theoretical interpretation.
Nursing staff responses to violent events in closed psychiatric wards: A comparison between attributional and cognitive—neo‐associationistic analyses
Authors: Apel Dorit , Bar‐Tal Yoram
Published: June 2011

This paper examines the behavioural response of nursing staff in psychiatric wards to a patient's violent behaviour towards a staff member as a function of whether the patient's behaviour was presented as arbitrary or not. The participants were 133 nurses. They were given two vignettes describing an arbitrary and a non‐arbitrary behaviour of a patient and were asked what the typical response in their ward to each event would be. The results show that when the patient's behaviour was perceived as arbitrary, staff was believed to respond with a therapeutic reaction more frequently than to non‐arbitrary behaviour. Moreover, participants' professional characteristics played a greater role in the non‐arbitrary scenario. It is suggested that a therapeutic response to a patient's violent behaviour requires a recognition that the patient's behaviour is consistent with his/her role as a patient. The implication of these results for Berkowitz & Heimer's (1989) cognitive—neo‐associationistic analysis is discussed.
The dialogic unconscious: Psychoanalysis, discursive psychology and the nature of repression
Authors: Billig Michael
Published: June 2011

This paper explores possible links between discursive psychology and psychoanalytic theory. At first sight, the two approaches would seem to be incompatible. Discursive psychology, in keeping with its Wittgensteinian and conversation analytic background, concentrates upon the social and discursive constitution of psychological phenomena rather than on supposed inner motivations. However, the notion of the ‘dialogic unconscious’ is introduced in order to suggest how processes of repression can be studied discursively. The argument for the dialogic unconscious suggests that conversational interaction can have repressive functions, as well as expressive ones. It is suggested that discursive psychology has tended to overlook this repressive dimension, concentrating upon the presences rather than absences in discourse. However, the conversational devices, which conversation analysts have revealed to be vital for politeness and everyday morality, can also be seen to repress the temptation of rudeness. That being so, repression can be observed to be routinely accomplished by discursive interaction. Moreover, the notion of the dialogic unconscious not only suggests that dialogue can be repressive, but also that repression is itself a dialogic, or discursive, process. The implications for both discursive psychology and Freudian psychoanalytic theory are discussed.
The limitations of trust in intimate relationships: Constructions of trust and sexual risk taking
Authors: Willig Carla
Published: June 2011

This paper challenges the assumption that trust is a generally desirable, static, measurable attitude of the individual. A reconceptualization of trust as situationally specific, negotiated and purposeful social action is proposed. Data presented in this paper are based on a series of semi‐structured interviews with 16 heterosexual individuals. The interview agenda included questions about respondents' sexual behaviour within the context of HIV/AIDS. All interviews were tape‐recorded and transcribed. Parker's (1992) version of the discourse analytic method guided the analysis of the transcripts. Three discursive constructions of trust were identified: trust‐as‐security, trust‐as‐symbolic‐practice and trust‐as‐social‐regulation. All of these were employed by respondents in order to justify sexual risk taking. The paper traces the ways in which these constructions are deployed and discusses their implications for relationship dynamics. Further research into the ways of ‘doing trust’, both publicly and privately, is called for.
On the parallels between social cognition and the ‘new racism’
Authors: Hopkins Nick , Reicher Steve , Levine Mark
Published: June 2011

This paper questions the degree to which the social cognition perspective allows us to explore and critique contemporary racism. In the first section we consider the way in which the social cognition perspective talks of ‘racial’ categorization and the processes of racism, and note how these reproduce the key themes to be found in ‘new racism’. In the second, we interrogate the adequacy of this approach through exploring how a police officer engages with the charge of police racism. On the one hand, this analysis illustrates the importance of exploring the ways in which racialized social categories are constructed strategically to advance particular understandings of the genesis of social conflict. On the other, it provides a concrete example of how many of the arguments advanced by the social cognition perspective may be used for reactionary purposes (in this case a defence against the charge of racism). We argue that there is a need to resist taking categories for granted and so develop a social psychological analysis of the processes of racialization.
Processing goal as moderator of in‐group‐serving illusory correlations
Authors: van Knippenberg Daan , van Knippenberg Ad , Dijksterhuis Ap
Published: June 2011

This study tested the hypothesis that the effect of in‐group‐serving expectancy biases on memory and judgment is moderated by processing goal. In‐group‐serving biases in both recall and judgments (estimated frequencies of desirable and undesirable in‐group and out‐group behaviour, evaluative ratings) were hypothesized to be stronger when processing goal interfered with online impression formation compared with when attention is focused on the formation of group impressions. This hypothesis was tested in an illusory correlation experiment in which in‐group‐serving expectancy bias and infrequency bias (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) could be studied simultaneously. Participants read statements describing desirable and undesirable behaviour of members of the in‐group and out‐group, while the in‐group held either minority or majority status, while participants were instructed either to form group impressions or to memorize the information. As predicted, memorizing compared with impression formation resulted in in‐group‐serving illusory correlations in recall and frequency estimates and in in‐group bias in group evaluations. Infrequency of occurrence affected recall and judgments irrespective of processing goal. The implications of these results for social stereotyping are discussed.
The warm–cold variable in impression formation: Evidence for the positive–negative asymmetry
Authors: Singh Ramadhar , Onglatco Mary Lou Uy , Sriram N. , Tay Albert B. G.
Published: June 2011

A warm–cold difference in impression formation implies a positivity effect of warmth, a negativity effect of coldness or both. Drawing from the positive–negative asymmetry literature, we hypothesized that the person positivity bias governs the warm–cold asymmetry. In Expts land 2, the baseline control condition had intelligence information; the experimental condition had the intelligence information plus either coldness or warmth information. The negativity effect only emerged in attraction and sociability judgments. In Expt 3, participants first judged a stranger in a no‐trait information control condition. Later they rejudged him, after knowing that the stranger was either a cold or a warm person. Although both the positivity and negativity effects emerged, the former was weaker than the latter forming the standard positive–negative asymmetry. Experiment 4 replicated the positive‐negative asymmetry, using a between‐participants design. Person positivity bias, as disclosed by responses to the control condition of no‐trait information, also evoked positive inferences about missing dimension of personality. Clearly, then, the negativity effect only and the positive–negative asymmetry are linked to the ways in which the control condition is created.
The relationship between involvement, attitude accessibility and attitude–behaviour consistency
Authors: Kokkinaki Flora , Lunt Peter
Published: June 2011

A study was conducted to examine the simultaneous influence of attitude accessibility and involvement with the attitude object on the attitude–behaviour relationship. Ninety students reported their attitudes towards a number of consumer products and their involvement with the underlying product categories. In addition, the accessibility of product attitudes was assessed. The results revealed that both involvement and attitude accessibility moderated the impact of attitudes on product choice behaviour. High levels of both variables were associated with more attitude‐consistent behaviour. The moderating influence of involvement and accessibility on attitude–behaviour consistency was independent. Further, the results provided some support for the notion that high involvement is associated with more accessible attitudes. Taken together, these findings suggest that involvement and accessibility constitute two distinct but interrelated dimensions of attitude strength.
Rhetorical intentionality attribution: Its ontogenesis in ordinary conversation
Authors: Bonaiuto Marino , Fasulo Alessandra
Published: June 2011

This paper addresses the assumption that the epistemological dichotomy between reality and its construction is an everyday rhetorical tool children and adults use in their explanations and arguments. Within a discursive psychology perspective, the phenomenon of attribution of rhetorical intentionality (AIR) is theoretically defined developing the notion of ‘prepackaged interest attribution technique’ (Edwards & Potter, 1992). AIR consists in an explanation of others' discursive moves in terms of a rhetorical–argumentative activity; that is, in terms of a deliberate attempt aimed at construing and presenting reality as a function of the speaker's point of view, perspective and interests, in order to affect the listener's mental state (belief, knowledge, intention) or action. Theoretical links are made to the theory of mind paradigm in the study of intentionality attribution, particularly to the ‘form of life’ approach which defines intentionality attribution in terms of language games. On this basis, the present study examines the structures and functions of AIR used by children and their parents in everyday conversation. Qualitative discourse analysis of transcripts of 22 dinner conversations from eight Italian families shows explicit and implicit AIR in children from three and a half to seven years of age. Moreover, parents attribute rhetorical intentionality to their children, contributing to their social construction as rhetorical speakers. AIR is used as a rhetorical strategy within disputes and argumentative contexts, often achieving topic closure. Results are discussed with reference to the ontological status of intentionalist talk.
On the context dependence of national stereotypes: Some Scottish data
Authors: Hopkins Nick , Regan Martin , Abell Jackie
Published: June 2011

This study explores the context dependence of national stereotypes. Scottish subjects stereotyped their own national group in three between‐subject conditions: after rating the English, after rating the Greeks, and in isolation (i.e. without explicit reference to any other category). Following the logic of self‐categorization theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher & Wetherell, 1987; Turner, Oakes, Haslam & McGarty, 1994), we predicted that the Scottish self‐stereotype would depend on the frame of reference created by the experimental manipulations. Further we predicted that changes in the definition of this stereotype would be dimension specific. In other words, stereotype variation was predicted to be contingent upon the relevance of the dimension of judgment for capturing the differences between the Scottish and the category constituting the frame of reference. These predictions were confirmed. As these data were obtained in a context where quite specific predictions about the nature and form of stereotype variation were possible, these data confirm and extend Haslam, Turner, Oakes, McGarty & Hayes' (1992) analysis of the context dependence of stereotypes.
More on deindividuation, power relations between groups and the expression of social identity: Three studies on the effects of visibility to the in‐group
Authors: Reicher S. , Levine R. M. , Gordijn E.
Published: June 2011

The studies reported in this paper address the predictions of the social identity model of deindividuation phenomena, or SIDE (Reicher, Spears & Postmes, 1995), concerning the strategic effects of visibility to the in‐group: increasing the visibility of in‐group members to each other increases their ability to support each other against the out‐group and hence increases the expression of those aspects of in‐group identity which would attract sanctions from this out‐group. In a first study, where anti‐fox hunting participants were rendered accountable to pro‐fox hunters, the results were the opposite of those expected: participants actually decreased their endorsement of anti‐hunt disruption (which had been defined as normative for the in‐group but unacceptable to the out‐group) when made more visible to the in‐group. These results were explained by arguing that participants perceived the intergroup relationship as participants versus experimenters rather than as anti‐versus pro‐fox hunters and that in‐group visibility was being used to resist an experimentally imposed definition of themselves as favouring disruptive activity. This interpretation was supported in a second study where participants' accountability to the pro‐fox hunters was removed, leaving them solely accountable to the experimenters, and similar results were obtained. In the final study, the relationship between student participants and staff experimenters was made the explicit topic of study. As expected students increased their endorsement of activities that are normative to students but unacceptable to staff when visible to fellow in‐group members. Together these results provide further support for the SIDE model.
Habit versus planned behaviour: A field experiment
Authors: Verplanken Bas , Aarts Henk , van Knippenberg Ad , Moonen Anja
Published: June 2011

A field experiment investigated the prediction and change in repeated behaviour in the domain of travel mode choices. Car use during seven days was predicted from habit strength (measured by self‐reported frequency of past behaviour, as well as by a more covert measure based on personal scripts incorporating the behaviour), and antecedents of behaviour as conceptualized in the theory of planned behaviour (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intention). Both habit measures predicted behaviour in addition to intention and perceived control. Significant habit × intention interactions indicated that intentions were only significantly related to behaviour when habit was weak, whereas no intention‐behaviour relation existed when habit was strong. During the seven‐day registration of behaviour, half of the respondents were asked to think about the circumstances under which the behaviour was executed. Compared to control participants, the behaviour of experimental participants was more strongly related to their previously expressed intentions. However, the habit‐behaviour relation was unaffected. The results demonstrate that, although external incentives may increase the enactment of intentions, habits set boundary conditions for the applicability of the theory of planned behaviour.

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. …

William James (1890, p. 122)
Prejudiced responses and affect
Authors: Ho Colin P. , Driscoll Denise M.
Published: June 2011

Recent research has demonstrated that individuals experience negative affect (e.g. discomfort) when they are more prejudiced than what their personal standards allow. This affective response has been attributed to the discrepancy between persona] standards and prejudiced responses, with discrepancy operationalized as the sum of difference scores between a measure of personal standards and a measure of proneness to be prejudiced. The use of an algebraic difference index to operationalize discrepancy, however, is appropriate if and only if the assumptions that underlie an algebraic difference index are met. The present study shows that these assumptions are not met. The implications of these findings for research on prejudiced responses and affect are discussed. Recommendations regarding the use of alternative approaches for studying prejudice‐related discrepancies are also offered.
Intergroup bias and correspondence bias: People engage in situational correction when it suits them
Authors: Vonk Roos , Konst Dorien
Published: June 2011

This study tests the hypothesis that the correspondence bias is reduced when the correspondent inference of a behaviour runs counter to the goal of forming a more favourable impression of in‐group than of out‐group members. Participants were leaders and subordinates in an organization and read favourable or unfavourable behaviour descriptions of either a leader or a subordinate. The descriptions were accompanied by information indicating either that the behaviour was produced by an underlying disposition of the actor or by situational causes. Supporting the hypothesis, unfavourable behaviours with situational causes produced moderate inferences only when the actor was an in‐group member (indicating that the situational causes were taken into account); conversely, when the actor was an out‐group member, favourable behaviours with situational causes produced moderate inferences.
Moral identity in action: Young offenders' reports of encounters with the police
Authors: Kerby Joanne , Rae John
Published: June 2011

Conversation is a site where social identities are achieved and negotiated (see for example Widdicombe & Wooffitt, 1995). We examine some ‘young offenders” reports of encounters with the police and analyse the identities and categorizations which are used or occasioned. Rather than looking for evidence of some kind of failure of moral reasoning we show that these reports involve detailed analyses of social situations. In particular we note that they contain reflexive analyses of how the speakers' moral identity is visible to the police, and that this serves as a resource to analyse the moral identity of the police.
Politics, moral reasoning and the Defining Issues Test: A reply to Barnett et al. (1995)
Authors: Emler Nicholas , Palmer‐Canton Emma , St James Angela
Published: June 2011

Previous research has consistently shown that those on the political Right tend to prefer or use conventional or Stage 4 moral reasoning, while those on the political Left prefer principled or Stage 5 reasoning (cf. Kohlberg, 1976). One interpretation of this finding is that developmental level of moral reasoning influences a person's political views, another that the moral ‘stages’ associated with contrasting political positions are in fact contrasting politico–moral ideologies and that people choose the form of moral reasoning which best expresses their own political identity. We report four studies to test aspects of these alternatives. Participants (N = 50) in Study 1 rated moral arguments representing different stages as differentially relevant to people of varying political persuasions. In Study 2, participants (N = 106), assigned to play the role of constituency political parties (either Labour or Conservative) selecting candidates to represent their party, evaluated imaginary candidates differentially as a function of the kinds of moral arguments the candidates expressed. In Study 3 (N = 61), principled and particularly conventional moral arguments were again found to express contrasting political identities. In Study 4 (N = 51) a manipulation of the salience of participants' political identity produced as predicted high correlations between moral reasoning scores and measures of political attitudes when political identity was salient but not when personal identity was salient. The findings overall, however, only partially support the view that political identity influences moral reasoning. We conclude that, although degree of preference for conventional or Stage 4 reasoning is a function of political identity, principled reasoning may be unrelated to political orientation. We also propose that these two forms of reasoning do not reflect successive developmental stages and that preference for one may be independent of preference for the other.
What is forensic psychology?*
Authors: Blackburn Ronald
Published: June 2011

Increased involvement of psychologists with legal processes and products has resulted in an indiscriminate use of the term ‘forensic psychology’. It is argued that forensic psychology denotes the provision of psychological information to facilitate legal decisions rather than a particular form of psychological knowledge or skill. This is a specialized function that can be exercised by any psychologist with expertise appropriate to a legal question and goes beyond clinical or criminal issues. It is also an activity undertaken for the agents of law. Stricter delineation of forensic psychology is needed to clarify the professional and ethical obligations of psychologists who offer services in legal contexts and to avoid misleading consumers.
The concentration of offending in families
Authors: Farrington David P. , Barnes Geoffrey C. , Lambert Sandra
Published: June 2011

In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, 411 London males from 397 families of origin have been followed up from age eight to age 32 by interviews, and from age 10 to age 40 in records. This paper relates convictions of these males to convictions of their biological fathers and mothers, full brothers and sisters, and wives. Overall, 601 out of 2203 birth family members were convicted (1.5 convicted persons on average out of 5.5 persons per family). While 64 per cent of the families contained at least one convicted person, only 6 per cent of the families accounted for half of all the convictions. Convictions of one family member were strongly related to convictions of every other family member. In both generations, the majority of convicted mothers mated with convicted fathers. About three‐quarters of convicted fathers and convicted mothers had a convicted child, and about three‐quarters of families containing convicted daughters also contained convicted sons. Same‐sex relationships within generations and between generations were stronger than opposite‐sex relationships. Convictions of older siblings were more strongly related to convictions of the Study male than were convictions of younger siblings. Convictions of each family member were independendy related to convictions of the Study male. Very little of the association between convictions of family members was attributable to co‐offending. It is concluded that offending is strongly concentrated in families and tends to be transmitted from one generation to the next; however, this research does not establish the precise mechanism of transmission (genetic or environmental).
The Impact of the Edinburgh Prison (Scotland) Drug Reduction Programme
Authors: Shewan David , Macpherson Alexander , Reid Margaret M. , Davies John B.
Published: June 2011

The Edinburgh Prison (Scodand) Drug Reduction Programme was evaluated to assess its impact on clients' drug‐using behaviour during their current prison sentence. Thirty drug users who were being prescribed as part of the Drug Reduction Programme (DRP) and who had completed the programme's educational and groupwork sessions were compared with 30 drug users who had not. Participants were interviewed approximately a month after either completing the programme (intervention group) or after being admitted to prison (control group). A smaller sample of participants drawn from both groups were interviewed again within two weeks of their release from prison. The intervention group had used a significantly lower number of drugs during their current sentence than had the control group, and was less likely to have used cannabis, dihydrocodeine, buprenorphine, temazepam, diazepam, and LSD, or to have used these drugs less frequently and in smaller amounts. When compared with other independent variables, not completing the Drug Reduction Programme was found to be the sole predictor of using cannabis more often and in greater amounts; of being more likely to have used dihydrocodeine and to have used it more often and in greater amounts; of being more likely to have used buprenorphine and diazepam, and a co‐predictor of having used a higher number of drugs and of using diazepam more often. Other independent variables which were co‐ or sole predictors of drug use at the time of the first interview were all related to previous drug use. The previous drug use of DRP clients and the control group was broadly comparable, indicating that completing the DRP is associated with reducing the reinstatement of previous behaviour. Prior to release, the differences in drug use between DRP clients and the control group had largely been maintained, and not completing the programme was still a co‐predictor of having used a higher number of drugs. The Edinburgh Prison Drug Reduction Programme provides a model which could be adopted by other prisons. This follows the principle argued for by the WHO of providing health care in prison comparable to that available in the community, and also enables the development of prison‐based drug services which can have a beneficial effect on client's drug‐using behaviour.
The public perception of crime prevalence, newspaper readership and ‘mean world’ attitudes
Authors: O'Connell Michael , Whelan Anthony
Published: June 2011

Surveying an Irish sample, the authors asked respondents (N=623) to give their views on the seriousness of and appropriate penalties for 10 offence scenarios. They also assessed the respondents' risk perception of crime by asking for estimates of the prevalence of the same 10 offence scenarios compared to five years previously. Experience of crime victimization and socio‐demographic data were also gathered. Beliefs about crime prevalence were found to be independent of official crime rates, personal experience of victimization and some socio‐demographic categories. Sex, age and newspaper readership were found to be the strongest predictors of crime prevalence estimates. Additional support for the role of the media was suggested by the clustering of a number of ‘mean world’ attitudes towards crime.
Self‐efficacy and sexual offending against children: Construction of a measure and changes following relapse prevention treatment
Authors: Pollock Philip H.
Published: June 2011

The enhancement of self‐efficacy beliefs is considered a pivotal aspect in the successful treatment of sex offenders and represents a central feature in the relapse prevention model of sexual crimes (Hall, 1989). The possible relationship between self‐efficacy and recidivism has not been investigated.

The paper describes a relapse prevention treatment study of 50 male sex offenders against children employing a new measure of self‐efficacy which applies to sexual crimes. The test was constructed based on Kirsch's (1985) causal model of self‐efficacy. The three subscales of the test represent: 1. demands of high‐risk situations; 2. efficacy of coping skills and ability; 3. appreciation and expectation of rewards. Treatment outcome showed significant changes for the three self‐efficacy test subscales. A preliminary analysis demonstrated that subscale 3 and the speed at which a coping response was produced accurately classified recidivist and non‐recidivist participants at a three‐year follow‐up period. The findings suggest the importance of assessing self‐efficacy beliefs when treating child sex offenders and their relevance to treatment is discussed.
The relationship between types of claimed false confession made and the reasons why suspects confess to the police according to the Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire (GCQ)
Authors: Sigurdsson Jon Fridrik , Gudjonsson Gisli H.
Published: June 2011

The study investigates differences in the factor scores on the revised version of the Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire (GCQ) according to the type of claimed false confession made to the police during interviewing. The GCQ was factor analysed on 404 prison inmates and six factors emerged from a varimax rotation, which were used to study the perceptions and reactions of 61 inmates who claimed to have made a false confession to the police sometime in their lives. Their false confession was classified in two ways. Firstly, those who claimed to have made a false confession in order to protect somebody else were compared on the GCQ factor scores with those who claimed that they had confessed falsely for other reasons. Secondly, those inmates who claimed that they had made a coerced–compliant type of false confession were compared on the GCQ with those who had made a coerced–internalized false confession. As predicted, significant differences emerged with regard to the GCQ scores. The findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between the type of claimed false confession made and the participants' perceptions of their police interview.
Reliability of criteria‐based content analysis of child witness statements
Authors: Horowitz Steven W. , Lamb Michael E. , Esplin Phillip W. , Boychuk Tascha D. , Krispin Orit , Reiter‐Lavery Lisa
Published: June 2011

Purpose. To assess the inter‐judge and test‐retest reliability of criteria‐based content analysis, a system designed to evaluate statements by young victims and witnesses.

Methods. Transcripts of interviews with 100 alleged victims of child sexual abuse were examined for the presence of 19 criteria by three judges on two occasions.

Results. Total scores were highly reliable over time and across raters, but the inter‐judge reliability of individual criteria varied. Five criteria were sufficiently unreliable that they should either be redefined or eliminated from use, whereas the remaining 14 criteria were reliable across judges. All 19 criteria had adequate test–retest reliability.

Conclusions. With some revision, the CBCA system has sufficient reliability to be used as a psychometric procedure, provided adequate validity can also be demonstrated.
The development and evaluation of an emotion control training programme for sex offenders
Authors: Roger Derek , Masters Richard
Published: June 2011

Purpose. This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of an emotion control training programme for sex offenders.

Methods. A pilot study was conducted using a sample of 18 inmates from HMP Wakefield, all of whom completed the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ; Roger & Najarian, 1989) and the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ; Roger, Jarvis & Najarian, 1993) before and after training. The main study included 52 inmates from the same institution. To avoid singling out sex offenders, participants either volunteered themselves or were referred by prison staff, and the sample included 29 sex offenders and 23 murderers. Participants were assessed before training, immediately afterwards and again six weeks later, and behaviour ratings by prison staff were included in the main study in addition to the emotion control and coping scales.

Results. Results from the pilot study showed significant increases in adaptive coping and a reduction in impulsiveness following training. Results from the main study showed significantly less emotional rumination and inhibition and more adaptive coping immediately after the training, and there were also significant changes amongst selected behaviour rating dimensions.

Conclusions. The results confirmed that the training programme was effective in modifying both attitudes and behaviour amongst sex offenders, and that effects were replicated for a group of inmates with other offences who were included in the sample.
The effects of the experience of hypnosis, and hypnotic depth, on jurors' decisions regarding the defence of hypnotic automatism
Authors: Wagstaff Graham F. , Green Kathryn , Somers Emma
Published: June 2011

Purpose. The view that hypnosis can induce a state of automatism, and therefore people can be coerced through hypnosis to commit antisocial acts without their volition, is widely held by the general public. Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether such attitudes would extend to judgments of guilt and innocence in criminal trials in which automatism through hypnosis is invoked as a defence, and whether an experience of hypnotic induction would influence such judgments.

Methods. In both experiments participants were given a standard hypnotic induction procedure, transcripts of a criminal trial involving hypnosis, and a questionnaire to measure attitudes towards hypnosis, and judgments of guilt and innocence.

Results. The results showed that participants who possessed credulous attitudes towards hypnosis were more likely to accept a defence of automatism, however, participants who had experienced hypnosis were more likely to have sceptical attitudes and reject the defence of automatism. Moreover, the higher participants' reports of hypnotic depth, the more sceptical they were, and the less accepting they were of the defence of automatism.

Conclusions. The results of both these studies tentatively support the views that beliefs about the coercive powers of hypnosis can influence judgments about guilt and innocence in trials in which hypnotic automatism is pleaded as a defence, and, for those who are hypnotically susceptible, an experience of hypnosis tends to make participants more sceptical about the coercive powers of hypnosis. If supported by further research these findings may have practical implications for legal cases involving hypnosis.
Ethical dilemmas in forensic clinical psychology
Authors: McGuire James
Published: June 2011

Purpose. The objective of this paper is to consider a series of ethical dilemmas that arise when psychologists attempt to combine working in a forensic capacity, gathering information which will facilitate a legal decision, with a clinical one, conducting assessment and providing psychological therapy.

Arguments. Previous literature, including survey data which is available concerning ethical conflicts of psychologists, is briefly reviewed. The principles which underlie existing professional codes of ethics are briefly discussed. The nature of potential tensions and ethical dilemmas in the relationship between forensic and clinical work are considered in terms of a series of issues: (a) confidentiality and access to information; (b) the nature of the ‘therapeutic alliance’; (c) multiple roles and relationships; (d) offering predictions of behaviour; (e) ethical standpoints and conflicts with the law.

Conclusions. It is proposed that a common approach can be adopted to ‘forensic’ and ‘clinical’ roles of psychologists which does not eliminate but can considerably reduce the degree of potential conflict between them. This derives from the manner in which interviews with individuals are conducted, and rests on the adoption of a systematic approach which centres on the need for clarity in (a) the nature of information given to individuals, and (b) the ethical ground rules stated concerning how information obtained from them will be used.
Police beliefs about women who offend
Authors: Horn Rebecca , Hollin Clive R.
Published: June 2011

Objectives. This study looked at police and non‐police beliefs about offenders. It was hypothesized that police officers would have a more negative attitude than non‐police officers towards offenders, and that female offenders would be viewed in a more positive way than male offenders. Police officers were expected to perceive greater differences between male and female offenders than the public.

Methods. An adapted version of Melvin, Gramling & Gardner's (1985) Attitude Towards Prisoners scale was used to measure attitudes towards male and female offenders. The sample consisted of 135 police officers and 201 non‐police officers.

Results. Factor analysis of responses suggested three main factors: one concerning the ‘fundamental badness’ of offenders; one concerning the similarity of offenders and non‐offenders; and one concerning the extent to which offenders can be trusted. Analyses of variance indicated that police officers viewed offenders as less similar to non‐offenders, and less trustworthy, than the public did. Both police and non‐police respondents saw women offenders as less ‘fundamentally bad’ than male offenders, as more similar to non‐offenders, and as more trustworthy than male offenders. No significant interactions were found.

Conclusions. Women offenders are believed to be significantly different from male offenders, but police and non‐police respondents' beliefs about male and female offenders do not differ significantly. Future research could usefully look at the relationship betweeen policewomen and female offenders, and a more qualitative approach would allow a more contextual analysis to be made of beliefs about women offenders.