Implicit measures and forensic psychology - Professor Robert Snowden

Question 1

(background):

What is the Implicit Association Test?

Answer 1

(background):

The Implicit Association Test -

Measures social cognitions indirectly.

• Reliable, easy to use and returns large effect sizes
  (Nosek, Greenwald & Banaji (2005))
• Can identify socially stigmatic beliefs individuals seek to hide
  (Banse, Seise & Zerbes, 2001; Steffens & Buchner, 2003)

- Can identify known group members by:
> race
(Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz,1998)
> sexuality
(Snowden, Wichter and Gray, 2008)
> past criminal behavior
(Gray, McCulloch, Smith, Morris & Snowden, 2003). 

• Predicts behaviors which are not subject to conscious control
  (Asendorpf, Banse & Mucke, 2002; McConnell & Leibold, 2001.)

Question 2

(background):

Describe an experiment that uses the Implicit Association Test.

Answer 2

(background):

Implicit Association Test

(Greenwald, Schwartz, McGhee & Banaji, 1998)

PROCEDURE
- Computerised reaction-times based cognitive task.

• Two ‘target concepts’ (e.g. flowers + insects)
• An ‘Attribute dimension’ (e.g. pleasant + unpleasant)
• Two ‘IAT conditions’
  > Congruent or compatible
  e.g. insect + unpleasant stimuli; flower + pleasant
  > Incongruent or incompatible
  e.g. flower + unpleasant stimuli; insect + pleasant
• Incongruent is more difficult
  “Difficulty difference” indexes associations in memory.

RESULTS
Most people would associate flowers with pleasant things, and insects with unpleasant things.

(more info on relevant powerpoint slide on LC, in little notes box underneath)

Question 3

(Snowden’s Research):

When was Snowden’s research conducted?

Answer 3

(Snowden’s Research):

Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009)

REFERENCE
Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009) Implicit measurement of sexual preferences in child sex abusers: Role of victim type and denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21, 166-180

Question 4

(Snowden’s Research):

Describe the experiment’s procedure.

Answer 4

(Snowden’s Research):

Same as background research.

Except, used association between adults/children and sex.

(instead of flowers/insects)

They had all Pps do the flower/insect task, to prove they were capable of the task, and then all Pps did the child/adult sex task.

REFERENCE
Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009) Implicit measurement of sexual preferences in child sex abusers: Role of victim type and denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21, 166-180

Question 5

(Snowden’s Research):

What was the hypothesis of this study?

Answer 5

(Snowden’s Research):

Hypothesis -
Pedophiles would be faster when child and sex were on the same button and others were faster when adult and sex were on the same button.

REFERENCE
Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009) Implicit measurement of sexual preferences in child sex abusers: Role of victim type and denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21, 166-180

Question 6

(Snowden’s Research):

Describe the sample of participants.

Answer 6

(Snowden’s Research):

All participants were male severely personality disordered offenders at HMP Grendon.

PEDOPHILES
N= 18

Age = 44.1 (13.1)

Total offences
= 26.5 (19.72)
(range = 1-69)

OTHER OFFENDERS
N=60

Age = 32.8 (7.1)

Total offences
= 34.8 (26.4)
(range = 1-138)

REFERENCE
Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009) Implicit measurement of sexual preferences in child sex abusers: Role of victim type and denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21, 166-180

Question 7

(Snowden’s Research):

Describe the results of the experiment.

Answer 7

(Snowden’s Research):

• To pedophiles adult and sex is NOT congruent and they are slower. To them child and sex is congruent. We get a reversed CAT effect.
• Pedophiles associate children with sex more than adults with sex.
• Pedophiles also make significantly more errors.

REFERENCE
Brown, A., Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J. (2009) Implicit measurement of sexual preferences in child sex abusers: Role of victim type and denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21, 166-180

Question 8

Listen to LC lecture questions time thing to see if round off the research.

Answer 8

:)