Abstract
Research with violent offenders has consistently shown impaired recognition of other’s facial expressions of emotion. However, the extent to which similar problems can be observed among sexual offenders remains unknown. Using a computerized task, we presented sexual and violent offenders, and non-offenders, with male and female expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, morphed with neutral expressions at varying levels of intensity (10, 55, and 90% expressive). Based on signal detection theory, we used hit rates and false alarms to calculate the sensitivity index d-prime (d′) and criterion (c) for each emotional expression. Overall, sexual offenders showed reduced sensitivity to emotional expressions across intensity, sex, and type of expression, compared with non-offenders, while both sexual and violent offenders showed particular reduced sensitivity to fearful expressions. We also observed specific effects for high (90%) intensity female faces, with sexual offenders showing reduced sensitivity to anger compared with non-offenders and violent offenders, and reduced sensitivity to disgust compared with non-offenders. Furthermore, both sexual and violent offenders showed impaired sensitivity to high intensity female fearful expressions compared with non-offenders. Violent offenders also showed a higher criterion for classifying moderate and high intensity male expressions as fearful, indicative of a more conservative response style, compared with angry, happy, or sad. These results suggest that both types of offender show problems in emotion recognition, and may have implications for understanding the inhibition of violent and sexually violent behaviors.
Highlights
Facial expressions of emotion serve a critical role in human social and emotional behavior
Problems in recognizing others facial expressions of emotion can lead to a breakdown in social and emotional responding, with difficulties observed in relation to autism (Gross, 2004), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Singh et al, 1998), schizophrenia (Trémeau, 2006), anxiety disorder (Easter et al, 2005; Palm et al, 2011), and psychopathy (Dawel et al, 2012)
It was hypothesized that both types of offender would show reduced sensitivity to emotional expressions compared with non-offenders, and that these difficulties would be marked for negative expressions
Summary
Facial expressions of emotion serve a critical role in human social and emotional behavior. It is argued that these expressions, referring to anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, are central to social interaction in three ways: they provide information about the emotions and intentions of the Emotion recognition in sexual and violent offenders expresser, they evoke responses in the perceiver, and they provide incentives for desired social behavior (Keltner, 2003). Problems in recognizing others facial expressions of emotion can lead to a breakdown in social and emotional responding, with difficulties observed in relation to autism (Gross, 2004), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Singh et al, 1998), schizophrenia (Trémeau, 2006), anxiety disorder (Easter et al, 2005; Palm et al, 2011), and psychopathy (Dawel et al, 2012). The aim of the current paper was to investigate differences in the emotion recognition abilities of sexual and violent offenders, and non-offending controls
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
