An experimental study using a sexual strategies explanation to reduce homophobia toward gay men among lay people and healthcare professionals in China

IntroductionHomophobic discrimination and stigmatization, especially from healthcare professionals, are important stressors for gay men. Homophobia may be partly rooted in seeing some gay men having casual sex and many sexual partners as a signal of mental problems. Sexual Strategies Theory (SST) suggests that such sexual behavior is a result of different sexual strategies men and women tend to adopt and is unrelated to sexual orientation per se. This study aimed to investigate (1) the effectiveness of providing an SST explanation for gay men’s sexual behavior in reducing homophobia among both lay persons and healthcare professionals; (2) differences in homophobia between healthcare professionals and lay people and also between medical and non-medical professionals.MethodsThe main analyses included 492 heterosexual participants recruited online via Chinese social media and sample services in 2021. Of these, 227 were healthcare professionals (128 medical, 99 non-medical) and 265 were lay people. The participants were randomly assigned into an experimental group given the SST explanation (n = 126), an active control group given a Minority Stress (MS) explanation (n = 184), and a control group (n = 182). After the manipulation, homophobia, knowledge about homosexuality, professional homophobic attitude, gay affirmative practice, and contact with gay men were assessed.ResultsThe results of factor analysis suggested dividing homophobia into Oppressing Homophobia (Oppressing HP) describing believing that gay men should have fewer rights and Pathologizing Homophobia (Pathologizing HP) describing believing that the sexual behavior of gay men is a signal of mental problem. Importantly, the SST explanation reduced Pathologizing HP while the MS explanation reduced Oppressing HP. Healthcare professionals reported more Oppressing HP than lay people, and medical professionals conducted less gay affirmative practice than non-medical professionals.ConclusionAn SST explanation can potentially reduce some aspects of homophobia among both healthcare professionals and lay people. Also, worryingly, Chinese healthcare professionals, especially medical professionals, reported more homophobia than lay individuals

Opposition to Inbreeding Between Close Kin Reflects Inclusive Fitness Costs

Due to the intense selection pressure against inbreeding, humans are expected to possess psychological adaptations that regulate mate choice and avoid inbreeding. From a gene’s-eye perspective, there is little difference in the evolutionary costs between situations where an individual him/herself is participating in inbreeding and inbreeding among other close relatives. The difference is merely quantitative, as fitness can be compromised via both routes. The question is whether humans are sensitive to the direct as well as indirect costs of inbreeding. Using responses from a large population-based sample (27,364 responses from 2,353 participants), we found that human motivations to avoid inbreeding closely track the theoretical costs of inbreeding as predicted by inclusive fitness theory. Participants were asked to select in a forced choice paradigm, which of two acts of inbreeding with actual family members they would want to avoid most. We found that the estimated fitness costs explained 83.6% of participant choices. Importantly, fitness costs explained choices also when the self was not involved. We conclude that humans intuit the indirect fitness costs of mating decisions made by close family members and that psychological inbreeding avoidance mechanisms extend beyond self-regulation

Rikospaikkakäyttäytyminen ja tekijän piirteet suomalaisissa henkirikoksissa : alustava tarkastelu

Aineisto on Opiskelijakirjaston digitoimaa ja Opiskelijakirjasto vastaa aineiston käyttöluvist

A Mega-Analysis of the Effects of Feedback on the Quality of Simulated Child Sexual Abuse Interviews with Avatars

The present study aimed to test the effectiveness of giving feedback on simulated avatar interview training (Avatar Training) across different experiments and participant groups and to explore the effect of professional training and parenting experience by conducting a mega-analysis of previous studies. A total of 2,208 interviews containing 39,950 recommended and 36,622 non-recommended questions from 394 participants including European and Japanese students, psychologists, and police officers from nine studies were included in the mega-analysis. Experimental conditions were dummy-coded, and all dependent variables were coded in the same way as in the previously published studies. Professional experience and parenting experience were coded as dichotomous variables and used in moderation analyses. Linear mixed effects analyses demonstrated robust effects of feedback on increasing recommended questions and decreasing non-recommended questions, improving quality of details elicited from the avatar, and reaching a correct conclusion regarding the suspected abuse. Round-wise comparisons in the interviews involving feedback showed a continued increase of recommended questions and a continued decrease of non-recommended questions. Those with (vs. without) professional and parenting experience improved faster in the feedback group. These findings provide strong support for the efficacy of Avatar Training

Linking serial homicide - : towards an ecologically valid application

Purpose Crime linkage analysis (CLA) can be applied in the police investigation-phase to sift through a database to find behaviorally similar cases to the one under investigation and in the trial-phase to try to prove that the perpetrator of two or more offences is the same, by showing similarity and distinctiveness in the offences. Lately, research has moved toward more naturalistic settings, analyzing data sets that are as similar to actual crime databases as possible. One such step has been to include one-off offences in the data sets, but this has not yet been done with homicide. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how linking accuracy of serial homicide is affected as a function of added hard-to-solve one-off offences. Design/methodology/approach A sample (N = 117-1160) of Italian serial homicides (n = 116) and hard-to-solve one-off homicides (n = 1-1044, simulated from 45 cases) was analyzed using a Bayesian approach to identify series membership, and a case by case comparison of similarity using Jaccard's coefficient. Linking accuracy was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics and by examining the sensitivity and specificity of the model. Findings After an initial dip in linking accuracy (as measured by the AUC), the accuracy increased as more one-offs were added to the data. While adding one-offs made it easier to identify correct series (increased sensitivity), there was an increase in false positives (decreased specificity) in the linkage decisions. When rank ordering cases according to similarity, linkage accuracy was affected negatively as a function of added non-serial cases. Practical implications While using a more natural data set, in terms of adding a significant portion of non-serial homicides into the mix, does introduce error into the linkage decision, the authors conclude that taken overall, the findings still support the validity of CLA in practice. Originality/value This is the first crime linkage study on homicide to investigate how linking accuracy is affected as a function of non-serial cases being introduced into the data.Peer reviewe

Counteracting deceptive responding in the Finnish Investigative Instrument of Child Sexual Abuse (FICSA)

Unfounded child sexual abuse (CSA) allegations take investigative resources from real cases and have detrimental consequences for the people involved. The Finnish Investigative Instrument of Child Sexual Abuse (FICSA) supports investigators by estimating the probability of a CSA allegation being true based on the child's background information. In the current study, we aimed at making FICSA resistant to deception. Two gender-specific questionnaires with FICSA questions and additional "trap" questions were constructed. The trap questions were designed to seem statistically related to CSA although they were not. Combining the answers of 278 real victims and 275 16-year-old students, instructed to simulate being CSA victims, we built a Naive Bayes classifier that successfully separated the two groups (AUC = 0.91 for boys and 0.92 for girls). By identifying false allegations early in the investigation, authorities' resources can be directed towards allegations that are more likely true, effectively helping actual CSA victims

Confirmation bias in simulated CSA interviews: How abuse assumption influences interviewing and decision‐making processes?

Purpose Research has shown that confirmation bias plays a role in legal and forensic decision-making processes and, more specifically, child interviews. However, previous studies often examine confirmation bias in child interviews using non-abuse-related events. We enrich the literature by examining interviewers’ behaviours in simulated child sexual abuse (CSA) cases. Method In the present study, we used data from a series of experiments in which participants interviewed child avatars to examine how an assumption of abuse based on preliminary information influenced decision-making and interviewing style. Interview training data (N interview = 2084) from eight studies with students, psychologists and police officers (N = 377) were included in the analyses. Results We found that interviewers’ preliminary assumption of sexual abuse having taken place predicted 1) a conclusion of abuse by the interviewers after the interview; 2) higher confidence in their judgement; 3) more frequent use of not recommended question types and 4) a decreased likelihood of reaching a correct conclusion given the same number of available relevant details. Conclusion The importance of considering how preliminary assumptions of abuse affect interview behaviour and outcomes and the implications for the training of investigative interviewers were discussed

Confirmation Bias in Simulated CSA Interviews: How Abuse Assumption Influences Interviewing and Decision‐Making Processes?

CC BY 4.0Purpose: Research has shown that confirmation bias plays a role in legal and forensic decision-making processes and, more specifically, child interviews. However, previous studies often examine confirmation bias in child interviews using non-abuse-related events. We enrich the literature by examining interviewers’ behaviours in simulated child sexual abuse (CSA) cases.Method: In the present study, we used data from a series of experiments in which participants interviewed child avatars to examine how an assumption of abuse based on preliminary information influenced decision-making and inter-viewing style. Interview training data (Ninterview = 2084) from eight studies with students, psychologists and police officers (N = 377) were included in the analyses. Method: In the present study, we used data from a series of experiments in which participants interviewed child avatars to examine how an assumption of abuse based on preliminary information influenced decision-making and inter-viewing style. Interview training data (Ninterview = 2084) from eight studies with students, psychologists and police officers (N = 377) were included in the analyses.Results: We found that interviewers’ preliminary assumption of sexual abuse having taken place predicted 1) a conclusion of abuse by the interviewers after the interview; 2) higher confidence in their judgement; 3) more frequent use of not recommended question types and 4) a decreased likelihood of reaching a correct conclusion given the same number of available relevant details. Conclusion: The importance of considering how preliminary assumptions of abuse affect interview behaviour and outcomes and the implications for the training of investigative interviewers were discussed

Online Sexual Solicitation of Minors: How Often and between Whom Does It Occur?

Objectives: This study examined how frequently online sexual solicitation of adolescents and children by adults occurs and what characteristics the perpetrators have using a novel methodological approach. Method: In an online survey, we investigated the frequency of online sexual solicitation exhibited by adult Internet users (N = 2,828), including a subgroup recruited on pedophilia-related websites. Perpetrators soliciting adolescents were compared to those soliciting children concerning solicitation outcomes (e.g., cybersex) and demography. Results: In total, 4.5 percent reported soliciting adolescents and 1.0 percent reported soliciting children. Most solicitors of adolescents and children were from pedophilia-related websites (49.1 and 79.2 percent). Solicitation frequently involved sexual outcomes (47.5 percent), which also followed nonsexual interaction. The minors' age did not affect the odds of sexual outcomes. A substantial proportion of perpetrators were female. Conclusions: This study offers unprecedented data on the number of adults soliciting minors. Although adolescents were more often target of solicitation, the risk of sexual outcomes was equally high in solicitation of children, suggesting younger children to be considered in prevention efforts as well. Nonsexual interactions resulting in sexual outcomes need to be more closely examined to inform appropriate prevention efforts. Moreover, awareness should be raised about females as perpetrators