Individual determinants of punitive attitudes towards sexual and domestic abuse offenders

Purpose –individual factors predicting punitive attitudes toward sexual and domestic offences and offenders have received little attention, which this paper aims to address. Design/methodology/approach - in Study 1, 137 participants completed a 25-item online questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesised to predict punitive attitudes towards four sexual crimes: rape, paedophilia, incest and bestiality. In Study 2, 100 participants completed a similar questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesized to predict punitive attitudes towards male and female emotional, physical and sexual abusers. Findings - the standard multiple regression models of Study 1 found that Age (i.e., being older), Belief in a Just World and Gender (i.e., being female) were predictors of harsher punitive attitudes. The models of Study 2 found that the low score on the Social Dominance scale was the most common predictor. Research limitations - this survey-based project presents a nuanced picture that could be complemented by the inclusion of a wider range of more complex factors and follow-on qualitative studies. Practical implications – the key message from this study is to inform the public on the role of personality factors in developing punitive attitudes. Social implications – it is vital to increase the legislators’ and the people’ awareness of the factors shaping the public impressions of criminal justice processes and evidence-based treatment effectiveness

Factors behind support for harsher punishments for common and uncommon offenders

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore individual factors predicting support for harsher punishments for relatively common and uncommon serious offenders. Design/methodology/approach - In Study 1, 120 UK participants (60 males and 60 females; mean age =37.31 SD=16.74) completed a survey exploring the extent to which they supported harsher punishments (SHP) for first time and repeat fraud, sexual and violent offenders. In Study 2, 131 participants (70 Britons and 61 Singaporeans; 69 females and 62 males; mean age=31.57; SD=10.87) completed a similar survey exploring their support for life sentence without the possibility of parole (SLSWP) for rather uncommon repeat offenders (i.e. drug traffickers, human traffickers, serious sexual offenders). Findings - Study 1 found that right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) was an SHP predictor for first time and repeat fraud, violent and sex offenders. Study 2 found that national identity (i.e. how British or Singaporean participants felt) played a similar role to Study 1's RWA in being a positive SLSWP predictor for repeat human traffickers and drug traffickers of both sexes, as well as male sex offenders. In contrast to the hypothesis, however, participants' locations did not appear to play a statistically significant role. Research limitations/implications - This survey-based research reveals a nuanced and quite consistent picture that could benefit from the inclusion of socio-economic factors and other cross-cultural comparisons. Practical implications - The key message from this study is to inform the public on the role that right-wing authoritarianism and national identity play in their SHP and SLSWP. Social implications - It is vital to increase the legislators' and the public awareness of the role that national identity and RWA seem to play. Originality/value - The paper offers insight into factors behind people's punitive attitudes towards specific crimes regardless of geo-cultural location. © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited

Is Extreme in the Eye of the Beholder? An Experimental Assessment of Extremist Cognitions

Scholars have extensively discussed the topic of “online radicalization,” often seeking to understand the form and function of online extremist material. However, this work has neglected to examine the role that the Internet plays alongside individual personality factors in the process through which someone develops violent extremist cognitions. This article aims to extend the understanding of the role of personality differences in the effect of exposure to extremist material online. In this study, we experimentally measure the short-term psychological consequences of exposure to extremist material on extremist cognitions. We use a between-group experimental design in which participants are shown extremist propaganda with either pre- or post-counter messages. Our results indicate that trait personality, and specifically aggression, may be more influential than exposure to extremist propaganda in influencing extremist cognitions. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of future research directions

Anxiety about Digital Security and Terrorism and Support for Counter-terror Measures

Purpose: This paper aims to determine the potential predictors of anxiety about digital security, terrorist threats and support for high-tech counter measures. Design/methodology/approach: In Study 1, 195 participants indicated their anxiety about digital security systems, data protection and social networking sites. In Study 2, 107 participants indicated their anxiety about domestic terrorism, international terrorism and extremist groups. In Study 3, 261 participants indicated their support for high-tech counter terrorism measures. Findings: Study 1 suggests that whereas anxiety about digital security systems, data protection and social networking sites were positively predicted by right-wing authoritarianism, anxiety about social networking was also negatively predicted by time spent online. Study 2 shows that time spent online was a negative predictor of anxiety about domestic terrorism. Study 3 indicates that the strongest positive predictor of support for all the measures was right-wing authoritarianism, followed by national identity. Research implications: The findings show the relevance of terror management theory to digital security and counter-terrorism. Practical implications: It appears that right-wing authoritarianism and national identity may serve as mechanisms for people to subjectively counter the presented threats. This notion may inform relevant policy and practice aimed at making communities safer and potentially help introduce counter-terror measures with less public backlash. Social implications: When designing counter-terror measures, policy makers should consider compound national identities (e.g., Catalan or Basque people). Originality/Value: The paper makes contribution to underexplored areas of terrorism anxiety and support for counter-terror measures

Production technology of Nabataean painted pottery compared with that of Roman terra sigillata

The Nabataeans, who founded the city of Petra (southern Jordan) in the late first millennium BCE, are noted for the production of a distinctive very fine pottery with painted decoration and a wall thickness sometimes as little as 1.5 mm; this pottery appears largely locally made and not widely circulated. Using a combination of OM, SEM with attached EDS, surface XRF, and XRD, it is shown that the Nabataean fine pottery bodies were produced using semi-calcareous clays which were fired to temperatures of about 950 °C. In contrast, published data indicate that contemporary and in many ways apparently functionally equivalent Roman terra sigillata, which was traded throughout the Roman Empire, was produced using fully-calcareous clays which were fired to temperatures in the range 1000–1100 °C. Furthermore, the high gloss slip applied to Roman terra sigillata is fully vitrified whereas the red-painted decoration applied to the Nabataean pottery is unvitrified. The more robust Roman terra sigillata is therefore better suited as tableware for serving and consuming food than would be the case for Nabataean fine pottery, and would be a more successful export material

Between a rock and a hard place of geopolitically sensitive threats – critical incidents and decision inertia

While the SAFE-T model of decision making emphasizes naturalistic decision making, its potential for cross-comparative analysis of incidents with global implications remains underutilized, which the current paper aims to address. To this end, it draws upon open-source reports from unclassified American, British and Russian intelligence reports to explore the management of three types of 10 high-profile geopolitically sensitive threats from across the globe (verifying potential terrorist identity, hostage rescue and national/international security). Defining features of such incidents include decision makers’ ability to prospectively model competing scenarios in which they must select between options and where every outcome looks aversive and high risk (‘damned if you do or damned if you don’t decisions’). A frequent consequence of such calculations is ‘decision inertia’ (a failure to execute an important, irrevocable decision resulting in non-optimal consequences), or ‘implementation failure’ (a failure to make a choice). Combining the benefit of the theoretical framework and hindsight knowledge of the analyzed incidents, the paper facilitates theoretical understanding of decision inertia and failures to act. Encouraging the consideration of multiple scenario endings contingent on a wide spectrum of factors and unique cultural-historical context, it also helps identify past decision errors in order to inform assessment and management of similar geopolitical threats in the future

The role of information sharing on decision delay during multiteam disaster response

© 2019, The Author(s). Multiteam systems (MTSs) are comprised of two or more interconnected teams working toward shared superordinate goals but with unique sub-goals. To date, research has predominantly focused on how decisions are made and has viewed these cognitive processes as occurring within individuals. However, for MTSs operating in extreme environments such as disasters, it is often not a question of how decisions are made, but what is causing delays and failures to make decisions. To understand the causes of decision delay within these complex networks, it is important to focus on decision processes at the multiteam level. Using naturalistic observational and interview data collected during a multi-site, multiteam emergency response to a large-scale disaster exercise, this study examines both information sharing (what was shared, with whom, how long this took), and decision processes across teams (situational awareness—SA, plan formulation, and plan execution). Findings demonstrate that interdependencies in cognitive processes exist across individuals where goals overlap. Decision delay is not only caused by failure to develop SA within a team preventing their ability to formulate and execute plans but also by the inability of other teams to execute their plans. The implications of these findings for developing targeted interventions are discussed

Psychology perspectives on community vengeance as a terrorist motivator

Purpose: The paper explores the concept of vengeance as a terrorist motivator. Approach: The paper takes a community psychological perspective to examine vengeance in a number of forms. Firstly covering ‘blood vengeance’, it then examines vigilantism and death squads as functional examples of vengeful entities, as well as the morality of vengeance and the impact of propaganda on vengeance as a terrorist motivator. Finally, both group processes and individual factors relating to the promotion and use of vengeance in terrorism are covered. Findings: Vengeance can be conceptualised in a number of ways: as a predisposing factor to individual involvement, a factor that contributes to keeping the movement ‘bound’ together (but which can also negatively affect the group’s strategic logic), a factor in the escalation of violent activity through vigilantism, retribution and retaliation which can result in a perpetuation of a cycle of violence, and as a moral mandate that is ideologically rationalised and justified, with perceptions of righteousness and obligation inherent to it. Limitations: The presented research is limited by the scarcely available data. Practical implications: Efforts should be made to defuse vengeful motivations by tapping into collective identities of communities and incorporating multicultural values. Social implications: Policy makers should be wary of scoring populist scores by ridiculing outgroup/religious elements as that creates potential for vengeful terror attacks. Originality/value: The paper offers insights by renewing the neglected perspective of vengeance in terrorism research

Imagining grim stories to reduce redundant deliberation in critical incident decision-making

Redundant deliberation is a cognitively demanding form of inertia in which a decision-maker fails to gain any additional advantage by thinking about a problem compared to the risk of failing to act and deal with the problem. It most commonly occurs where there is no standard operating procedure (to help provide guidance) or where experience is lacking. This article argues that training interventions, including ‘grim storytelling’, must focus on supporting decision-makers’ ability to imagine rare, high-impact events, and construct ‘least–worst’ scenarios to help them anticipate, prevent, mitigate, adapt to and recover from such threats

The Effects of Intelligence and Personality on Performance in Simulated Interrogation Scenarios

The paper explores the relationships between individual differences in intelligence and personality, and the ability to extract critical information (and identify missing but required information) from a suspect’s brief sheet (i.e., model formulation) and develop a suitable line of questioning (i.e., approach strategizing) in interrogation scenarios. We hypothesized that cognitive flexibility, emotion management, low need for closure, and rapport would all be predictors of these abilities. Two hundred and seventy four participants of different backgrounds were exposed to two interrogation scenarios to assess model formation and approach strategizing abilities, as well as intelligence and personality tests. Benchmarks for performance were measured against two experienced interrogators and two psychologists’ calibrated performance. In terms of overall performance, only rapport and cognitive flexibility were significant positive predictors. Whereas only rapport was a positive predictor of approach strategizing, both rapport and cognitive flexibility were positive predictors of model formation. In conclusion, the data from the early stage of our project suggests that the examined factors should be carefully considered when training and selecting optimal interrogators. Though previous research has identified a number of individual differences in intelligence and personality that are important in demanding law-enforcement contexts, ours is the first to explore them with respect to effective interrogator performance