Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males

How does sexual attraction alter social interaction behavior? We examined the influence of sexual orientation on locomotor approach-avoidance behavior and interpersonal distance. We immersed androphilic and gynophilic male subjects into a virtual environment and presented various male and female virtual persons. In the first experiment, subjects took a step forward (approach) or backward (avoidance) in response to the sex of the virtual person. We measured reaction time, peak velocity, and step size, and obtained ratings of sexual attractiveness in every trial. In the second experiment, subjects had to approach the virtual person as if they were to engage in a social interaction. Here, we analyzed interpersonal distance and peak velocity of the approaches. Our results suggest that sexual attraction facilitates the approach response and reduces the preferred interpersonal distance. We discuss our findings in terms of proxemics, current findings in sex research, and the applicability of our novel task in other fields of psychological research

Web-Based Health Services in Forensic Psychiatry: A Review of the Use of the Internet in the Treatment of Child Sexual Abusers and Child Sexual Exploitation Material Offenders

In recent years, web-based health services for a variety of mental disorders have been developed and evaluated. Evidence suggests that guided internet-based therapy can be as effective as conventional face-to-face therapy. In forensic psychiatric practice, few web-based treatments have been implemented up to now. However, to our knowledge, there do not yet exist guided internet-based treatments for child sexual abusers and child sexual exploitation material offenders. This review aims at examining under what conditions patients are most likely to benefit from internet-based treatments. In addition, some computer-based health services in forensic psychiatry will be summarized and their potentials and weaknesses will be discussed. Subsequently, the review focuses on the implications for the development of online treatments for child sexual abusers as well as on a variety of ethical and legal issues that practitioners may encounter during the development, evaluation and delivery of online health services. The review will conclude with proposed quality standards for the development and implementation of web-based interventions for child sexual abusers and child sexual exploitation material offenders. By virtue of the low number of psychotherapists offering therapy to this clientele as well as individual barriers to seeking treatment such as fear of stigmatization, feelings of shame, long access routes, or limited mobility due to physical handicaps, the development of mental eHealth services in this sector could close an important healthcare gap. By increasing the density of supply, more child sexual abusers and child sexual exploitation material offenders would have the chance to engage in treatment and, ultimately, more incidents of sexual assault against minors could be prevented

@myTabu—A Placebo Controlled Randomized Trial of a Guided Web-Based Intervention for Individuals Who Sexually Abused Children and Individuals Who Consumed Child Sexual Exploitation Material: A Clinical Study Protocol

Background: There is a high demand for evidence-based and cost-effective treatment concepts for convicted individuals who sexually abused children (ISAC) and individuals who consumed child sexual exploitation material (ICCSEM) under community supervision (CS). The @myTabu-consortium developed a guided web-based intervention for convicted ISAC and ICCSEM under CS consisting of six online modules targeting psychological meaningful risk factors. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this guided web-based intervention in reducing dynamic risk factors and the risk to re-offend compared to a placebo condition. Furthermore, these dynamic risk factors are measured before and after every module to evaluate their individual effectiveness to reduce the respective risk factor as well as risk to re-offend. This clinical trial protocol describes the planned methods as well as the intervention concept. Methods: The methodological design is a placebo controlled randomized add-on trial (N = 582) with follow-ups at 8 points in time. The placebo condition controls for attention and expectation effects and comprises the same amount of modules with a comparable temporal effort as the experimental intervention. The trial is conducted as an add-on to community supervision as usually done. Primary outcomes are dynamic risk factors assessed by self-report risk assessment tools and officially recorded re-offenses. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, the study is the first to compare the (cost-) effectiveness of a guided web-based intervention for convicted ISAC and ICCSEM under community supervision against a placebo condition. Methodological limitations (e.g., potential ceiling- or volunteers-effects) are discussed. Clinical Trial Registration: German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS 00021256). Prospectively registered: 24.04.2020

Behavioral Monitoring of Sexual Offenders Against Children in Virtual Risk Situations: A Feasibility Study

The decision about unsupervised privileges for sexual offenders against children (SOC) is one of the most difficult decisions for practitioners in forensic high-security hospitals. Facing the possible consequences of the decision for the society, a valid and reliable risk management of SOCs is essential. Some risk management approaches provide frameworks for the construction of relevant future risk situations. Due to ethical reasons, it is not possible to evaluate the validity of constructed risk situations in reality. The aim of the study was to test if behavioral monitoring of SOCs in high-immersive virtual risk situations provides additional information for risk management. Six SOCs and seven non-offender controls (NOC) walked through three virtual risk situations, confronting the participant with a virtual child character. The participant had to choose between predefined answers representing approach or avoidance behavior. Frequency of chosen answers were analyzed in regards to knowledge of the participants about coping skills and coping skills focused during therapy. SOCs and NOCs behavior differed only in one risk scenario. Furthermore, SOCs showed in 89% of all cases a behavior not corresponding to their own belief about adequate behavior in comparable risk situations. In 62% of all cases, SOCs behaved not corresponding to coping skills they stated that therapists focused on during therapy. In 50% of all cases, SOCs behaved in correspondence to coping skills therapists stated that they focused on during therapy. Therapists predicted the behavior of SOCs in virtual risk situations incorrect in 25% of all cases. Thus, virtual risk scenarios provide the possibility for practitioners to monitor the behavior of SOCs and to test their decisions on unsupervised privileges without endangering the community. This may provide additional information for therapy progress. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the predictive and ecological validity of behavioral monitoring in virtual risk situations for real life situations

Changed processing of visual sexual stimuli under GnRH-therapy – a single case study in pedophilia using eye tracking and fMRI

BACKGROUND: Antiandrogen therapy (ADT) has been used for 30 years to treat pedophilic patients. The aim of the treatment is a reduction in sexual drive and, in consequence, a reduced risk of recidivism. Yet the therapeutic success of antiandrogens is uncertain especially regarding recidivism. Meta-analyses and reviews report only moderate and often mutually inconsistent effects. CASE PRESENTATION: Based on the case of a 47 year old exclusively pedophilic forensic inpatient, we examined the effectiveness of a new eye tracking method and a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-design in regard to the evaluation of ADT in pedophiles. We analyzed the potential of these methods in exploring the impact of ADT on automatic and controlled attentional processes in pedophiles. Eye tracking and fMRI measures were conducted before the initial ADT as well as four months after the onset of ADT. The patient simultaneously viewed an image of a child and an image of an adult while eye movements were measured. During the fMRI-measure the same stimuli were presented subliminally. Eye movements demonstrated that controlled attentional processes change under ADT, whereas automatic processes remained mostly unchanged. We assume that these results reflect either the increased ability of the patient to control his eye movements while viewing prepubertal stimuli or his better ability to manipulate his answer in a socially desirable manner. Unchanged automatic attentional processes could reflect the stable pedophilic preference of the patient. Using fMRI, the subliminal presentation of sexually relevant stimuli led to changed activation patterns under the influence of ADT in occipital and parietal brain regions, the hippocampus, and also in the orbitofrontal cortex. We suggest that even at an unconscious level ADT can lead to changed processing of sexually relevant stimuli, reflecting changes of cognitive and perceptive automatic processes. CONCLUSION: We are convinced that our experimental designs using eye tracking and fMRI could prospectively add additional and valuable information in the evaluation of ADT in paraphilic patients and sex offenders. But with respect to the limited significance of this single case study, these first results are preliminary and further studies have to be conducted with healthy subjects and patients

Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males.

How does sexual attraction alter social interaction behavior? We examined the influence of sexual orientation on locomotor approach-avoidance behavior and interpersonal distance. We immersed androphilic and gynophilic male subjects into a virtual environment and presented various male and female virtual persons. In the first experiment, subjects took a step forward (approach) or backward (avoidance) in response to the sex of the virtual person. We measured reaction time, peak velocity, and step size, and obtained ratings of sexual attractiveness in every trial. In the second experiment, subjects had to approach the virtual person as if they were to engage in a social interaction. Here, we analyzed interpersonal distance and peak velocity of the approaches. Our results suggest that sexual attraction facilitates the approach response and reduces the preferred interpersonal distance. We discuss our findings in terms of proxemics, current findings in sex research, and the applicability of our novel task in other fields of psychological research

Risk taking and impulsivity: An IAT for the assessment of implicit risk attitudes

Bittner JV, Becker J. Risikofreude und Impulsivität: Ein IAT zur Erfassung impliziter Risiko-Einstellungen. EFPPP Jahrbuch. Empirische Forschung in der forensischen Psychiatrie, Psychologie und Psychotherapie. 2012;2012:113-120.Als Einstellungen werden Beurteilungen von Personen oder Objekten bezeichnet, die positiv oder negativ sein können und eine kognitive oder affektive Komponente besitzen können. Explizite Einstellungen werden meist mittels Interviews oder Fragebögen erfasst, in denen die Teilnehmer die Stärke ihrer positiven oder negativen Bewertung angeben, die sie gegenüber einem bestimmten Einstellungsobjekt empfinden. Diese Messmethoden beinhalten jedoch einige Fehlermöglichkeiten, da gerade bei Fragen zur Kriminalprognose die Möglichkeit der bewussten Antwortverfälschung besteht. Auch kann sich ein Straftäter um eine positive Selbstdarstellung bemühen und gesellschaftlich inakzeptable Einstellungen nicht äußern. Neben rationalen, expliziten Prozessen beeinflussen auch automatische, implizite Prozesse unser Verhalten, unsere Motivation und Kognitionen. Implizite Einstellungen sind Bewertungen, die häufig nicht bewusst sind, aber trotzdem einen messbaren Einfluss auf das Verhalten haben. Da sie im Gedächtnis gespeichert sind, können sie automatisch und ohne kognitive Anstrengung aktiviert werden. Dazu reichen bereits relevante Signale aus der Umgebung aus, die implizite Einstellungen automatisch aktivieren können

DataSheet5.pdf

<p>The decision about unsupervised privileges for sexual offenders against children (SOC) is one of the most difficult decisions for practitioners in forensic high-security hospitals. Facing the possible consequences of the decision for the society, a valid and reliable risk management of SOCs is essential. Some risk management approaches provide frameworks for the construction of relevant future risk situations. Due to ethical reasons, it is not possible to evaluate the validity of constructed risk situations in reality. The aim of the study was to test if behavioral monitoring of SOCs in high-immersive virtual risk situations provides additional information for risk management. Six SOCs and seven non-offender controls (NOC) walked through three virtual risk situations, confronting the participant with a virtual child character. The participant had to choose between predefined answers representing approach or avoidance behavior. Frequency of chosen answers were analyzed in regards to knowledge of the participants about coping skills and coping skills focused during therapy. SOCs and NOCs behavior differed only in one risk scenario. Furthermore, SOCs showed in 89% of all cases a behavior not corresponding to their own belief about adequate behavior in comparable risk situations. In 62% of all cases, SOCs behaved not corresponding to coping skills they stated that therapists focused on during therapy. In 50% of all cases, SOCs behaved in correspondence to coping skills therapists stated that they focused on during therapy. Therapists predicted the behavior of SOCs in virtual risk situations incorrect in 25% of all cases. Thus, virtual risk scenarios provide the possibility for practitioners to monitor the behavior of SOCs and to test their decisions on unsupervised privileges without endangering the community. This may provide additional information for therapy progress. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the predictive and ecological validity of behavioral monitoring in virtual risk situations for real life situations.</p

DataSheet1.pdf

<p>The decision about unsupervised privileges for sexual offenders against children (SOC) is one of the most difficult decisions for practitioners in forensic high-security hospitals. Facing the possible consequences of the decision for the society, a valid and reliable risk management of SOCs is essential. Some risk management approaches provide frameworks for the construction of relevant future risk situations. Due to ethical reasons, it is not possible to evaluate the validity of constructed risk situations in reality. The aim of the study was to test if behavioral monitoring of SOCs in high-immersive virtual risk situations provides additional information for risk management. Six SOCs and seven non-offender controls (NOC) walked through three virtual risk situations, confronting the participant with a virtual child character. The participant had to choose between predefined answers representing approach or avoidance behavior. Frequency of chosen answers were analyzed in regards to knowledge of the participants about coping skills and coping skills focused during therapy. SOCs and NOCs behavior differed only in one risk scenario. Furthermore, SOCs showed in 89% of all cases a behavior not corresponding to their own belief about adequate behavior in comparable risk situations. In 62% of all cases, SOCs behaved not corresponding to coping skills they stated that therapists focused on during therapy. In 50% of all cases, SOCs behaved in correspondence to coping skills therapists stated that they focused on during therapy. Therapists predicted the behavior of SOCs in virtual risk situations incorrect in 25% of all cases. Thus, virtual risk scenarios provide the possibility for practitioners to monitor the behavior of SOCs and to test their decisions on unsupervised privileges without endangering the community. This may provide additional information for therapy progress. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the predictive and ecological validity of behavioral monitoring in virtual risk situations for real life situations.</p