The Unique Role of ChatGPT in Closing the Awarding Gap

In the United Kingdom, there is a target to reduce the higher education awarding gap by 2031. This awarding gap refers to the educational achievement (measured by the proportionate awarding of first and upper-second classifications) between groups of students on the basis of – among other characteristics – their ethnicity, socio-economic status, and gender. The introduction of the popular artificial intelligence powered chatbot, ChatGPT, presents a unique opportunity for academics to work alongside their students to help close this awarding gap. Discussed in the context of potentially nefarious means by which ChatGPT might be used to cheat the academic system, this commentary highlights contemporary international discussions of how ChatGPT might be used positively to help students better understand complex topics and apply their understanding to alterative fields of study and employment. Though limitations exist, such as the need to both discuss the wider ethical implications of its use as well as better understand the corpus from which said knowledge is derived, this commentary acts as a ‘call-to-action’ for academic working parties to empirically test the efficacy of ChatGPT as a means of closing the awarding gap

I married a Traveller: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the lived experiences of women marrying into the Travelling community and its impact to their identity’

UK governmental policies associated with increased lifestyle-related regulations have compelled Travellers to re-assess their social worlds and adapt to restrictions imposed on their traditional lifestyles. Consequential to this enforced integration process is that many Travellers now engage in inter-ethnic marriages. With limited literature acknowledging the impacts of merging these two contrasting cultures, this study adopted a social constructionist stance, drawing upon the Identity Process Theory, alongside Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as a broad framework to (1) explore how non-Traveller women experienced a sense of community integration upon marrying into the Traveller community, (2) explicate the extent to which experiences of integration impacted upon their own identity, and (3) develop an understanding of how these lived experiences inform changes within Traveller culture. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six women aged between 28-42 years living in the UK. Three superordinate themes, each consisting of two subordinate themes were discussed; highlighting experiences of interpersonal conflict and continuous negotiations between continuity and discontinuity, which had both positive and negative impacts on their individual identities. Implications for professionals who aim to provide support and enhance the overall wellbeing of individuals living between these two contrasting cultures are discussed

Electrophysiological indices of the violence inhibition mechanism and their associations with physical agression, callous-unemotional traits, and dietary omega-3

Each year, aggressive behaviour contributes to a substantial number of criminal offenses - resulting in severe personal, social, and financial ramifications. As such, there is importance for understanding the underlying mechanisms of aggression and how it might best be managed. The violence inhibition mechanism, thought to be dysfunctional in individuals characterised by aggressive behaviour and associated callous-unemotional traits, is used to explain how the perception of facial distress might inhibit an ongoing aggressive act. Despite a sizeable literature characterising the violence inhibition mechanism, to date, empirical research has overlooked this investigation on an electrophysiological level. This thesis developed a novel facial-affect stopping task in order to tease apart the distinct stages of face processing and distress-induced motor extinction using electroencephalography. Results suggested that whilst callous-unemotional traits, specifically uncaring traits, were associated with electrophysiological indices of structural/featural face processing (N170, P200), aggressive traits, specifically physical aggression, were associated with electrophysiological indices of distressinduced motor extinction (stop-N200, stop-P300). Furthermore, in light of a growing literature suggesting a benefit of omega-3 dietary intake for both aggressive and callous-unemotional traits, correlational analysis suggested an association between omega-3 and physical aggression/distress-induced motor extinction, but not callous-unemotional traits/face processing. These results have theoretical implications for understanding and investigating the violence inhibition mechanism on an electrophysiological level, as well as practical utility for better understanding how omega-3 might benefit aggressive traits and motor extinction. Specifically, the importance of distinguishing between both [1] aggressive and callous-unemotional traits and [2] face processing and motor extinction ability, when investigating the violence inhibition mechanism

Psychopathic Personality as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Atypical Sexuality and Sexual Coercion Proclivity in the General Population

Being sexually coerced can have long-lasting psychological impacts on victims; with perpetration strongly predicted by elevated psychopathic traits. Owing to recent legislative developments in the United Kingdom that criminalize coercive control under the Domestic Abuse Act (2021), this study offers a timely investigation into the mechanisms of sexual coercion in domestic abuse across sexual abuse and coercive control. We used moderation analysis (n = 405) to investigate whether sexual coercion proclivity was predicted by facets of atypical sexuality (non-clinical elevated levels of sex drive, sexual sadism, and sexual masochism), and whether this relationship was moderated by psychopathic personality traits specifically the factor one components, which encompasses interpersonal and affective characteristics). Psychopathic personality traits significantly moderated the positive association between sex drive and sexual coercion proclivity, and between sexual sadism and sexual coercion proclivity in males (but not females), but psychopathic personality traits had no such moderating effect in the sexual masochism model. Results are discussed in terms of identifying risk factors of sexual coercion within a general population sample and international application. Open data and a preprint of this paper are available at [https://osf.io/xkcah/?view_only=134ff9c93ad24ba286515b348ce79c0c]

A comparative analysis of public educational needs in the rehabilitative care of individuals who have committed serious criminal offences: A cross cultural study.

Political doctrine has arguably coloured public perceptions of prison, as a lone deterrent, in reducing crime rates. Literature pertaining to public attitudes of criminality reports harsher punitive views towards individuals who have committed criminal offences in the UK, but this has yet to be assessed by education level. In two independently sampled studies, we explored how degree-level classifications more broadly impact the punitive or rehabilitative leaning of an individual (Study One, N = 180), and whether associations were replicated for forensic psychology education more specifically, internationally (Study Two, N = 183). Whilst merely having a degree did not significantly impact punitive judgments, undertaking a forensic psychology degree specifically, relative to criminology or psychology degrees more broadly, resulted in more positive and less punitive attitudes. There is a clear need for transparency of the Criminal Justice System in the provision of better education, allowing members of the public to make better informed decisions of their punitive judgments of individuals who have committed serious criminal offences. Furthermore, a better understanding of perceptions of these individuals and implications they may have on their treatment; the derivation of such opinions implicating governmental policies regarding rehabilitative care in cases of serious crime. Individual implications for the Slovak educational system and the overall importance of forensic psychology as an independent course

Functional fear predicts public health compliance in the COVID-19 pandemic

In the current context of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), health professionals are working with social scientists to inform government policy on how to slow the spread of the virus. An increasing amount of social scientific research has looked at the role of public message framing, for instance, but few studies have thus far examined the role of individual differences in emotional and personality-based variables in predicting virus-mitigating behaviors. In this study, we recruited a large international community sample (N = 324) to complete measures of self-perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, fear of the virus, moral foundations, political orientation, and behavior change in response to the pandemic. Consistently, the only predictor of positive behavior change (e.g., social distancing, improved hand hygiene) was fear of COVID-19, with no effect of politically relevant variables. We discuss these data in relation to the potentially functional nature of fear in global health crises

Understanding social judgments of and proclivities to commit upskirting.

Against a backdrop of legislative change that sees the taking of private sexual images underneath the clothing of a non-consenting other being made a criminal offence – upskirting – there is a need to understand the public’s judgments of and motivations to perpetrate said behavior. In this study (N = 490), we investigated whether judgments of upskirting differed as a function of the sex of the person who was upskirted (male, female) and their perceived attractiveness (attractive, unattractive), as well as how variation in voyeuristic interest, belief in a just world, and dark personality traits predicted judgments of and proclivity to engage in upskirting. We consistently observed more lenient judgments of upskirting behavior when the person who was upskirted was attractive and male, with such judgements predicted by older age across all conditions. Moreover, proclivity to engage in upskirting was predicted by past voyeuristic behaviors, higher psychopathic personality, and being male and of older age. We discuss our findings in the context of needing to qualitatively understand the rationale underpinning these judgments, combating barriers to disclose victimization, and practitioner implications

Perceptions around adult and child sex offenders and their rehabilitation as a function of education in forensic psychology independent of traditionalism and perpetrator sex

Literature pertaining to individuals with sexual convictions typically reports punitive views about their crimes, sentences, and overall effectiveness of rehabilitation, with such perceptions partially driven by offence demographics such as victim age and perpetrator sex. This manuscript extends this literature through the exploration of perceiver characteristics of self-reported traditionalism and education in forensic psychology as mechanisms of perceptions and awareness. Participants (N = 101; 60% forensic psychology students; 40% general public) read online vignettes related to sexual offences (manipulating perpetrator sex and victim age), and completed measures of perceptions of sex offenders, perceived rehabilitation efficacy and traditionalism. Members of the general population (without a background of education in forensic psychology) reported harsher views towards individuals with sexual convictions and their rehabilitation, relative to students of forensic psychology, independent of their greater traditionalism. There was no main effect of or interaction with perpetrator sex. Whilst participants endorsed more negative perceptions towards sex offenders of child than adult victims, this did not extent to differences in perceptions regarding their rehabilitation. Findings reported here indicate a need for greater understanding as to the factors that might moderate perceptions towards individuals with sexual convictions and have implications for the promotion of sex offender rehabilitation programmes. Understanding the root of such public attitudes is a key step for creating and improving associated policies

Understanding social judgments of and proclivities to commit upskirting

Against a backdrop of legislative change that sees the taking of private sexual images underneath the clothing of a non-consenting other being made a criminal offence –upskirting–there is a need to understand the public’s judgments of, and motivations to perpetrate said behavior. In this study (N= 490), we investigated whether judgments of upskirting differed as a function of victim sex (male, female) and their perceived attractiveness (attractive, unattractive), as well as how variation in voyeuristic interest, belief in a just world, and dark personality traits predicted judgments of, and proclivity to engage in upskirting. We consistently observed more lenient judgments of upskirting behavior when victims were attractive and male, with such judgements predicted by older age across all conditions. Moreover, proclivity to engage in upskirting was predicted by past voyeuristic behaviors, higher psychopathic personality, and being male and of older age. We discuss our findings in the context of needing to qualitatively understand the rationale underpinning these judgments, as well as identifying and combating barriers to disclose victimization

Electrophysiological study of the violence inhibition mechanism in relation to callous-unemotional and aggressive traits

The violence inhibition mechanism (VIM) proposes that observing another's distress inhibits responses that can lead to violent behaviour. Dysfunction of this system is associated with disorders characterised by aggressive and callous-unemotional traits, such as psychopathy. This study examines electrophysiological indices of face processing and motor extinction, in the context of aggressive and callous-unemotional traits. Fifty-four participants completed the inventory of callous and unemotional traits, the aggression questionnaire, and a Facial Affect Stop-Go task whereby facial distress was used as stop signals. Uncaring traits inversely associated with N170 amplitude across all facial expressions and aggressive traits inversely associated with Stop-P300 amplitude to facial distress. The N170 and Stop-P300 might provide useful electrophysiological markers for deficits across face processing and motor extinction stages of the VIM, respectively