Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Access Criminology and Criminal Justice journals now

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Smith, P.
Right arrow Articles by Waterman, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Smith, P.
Right arrow Articles by Waterman, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Processing Bias for Sexual Material: The Emotional Stroop and Sexual Offenders

Paul Smith

School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, p.smith{at}psychology.leeds.ac.uk

Mitch Waterman

School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

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 nonviolent 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.

Key Words: Stroop • bias • sexual • aggression • offender.

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol. 16, No. 2, 163-171 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/107906320401600206
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?