Reinforcement sensitivity of sex offenders and non-offenders: An experimental and psychometric study of reinforcement sensitivity theory
Authors: Leue, Anja1; Brocke, Burkhard2; Hoyer, Jürgen2
Source: British Journal of Psychology, Volume 99, Number 3, August 2008 , pp. 361-378(18)
Publisher: British Psychological Society
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Abstract:
This study tested predictions of Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) in subgroups of sex offenders and male non-offenders using an experimental choice task consisting of a reward and a non-reward phase. In addition, RST-related psychometric measures were used. Both experimental and psychometric data were of interest to determine whether sex offenders could be reliably differentiated from non-offenders. Paraphilic (N=50) and impulse control-disordered (N=48) sex offenders showed greater sensitivity to continuous reward than male non-offenders (N=51). Impulse control-disordered sex offenders showed less behavioural adaptation under non-reward than both paraphilic sex offenders and male non-offenders. In addition, reward sensitivity, rash-spontaneous impulsivity, and anxiety measures discriminated sex offenders from male non-offenders. The results suggest that reinforcement sensitivity is a promising personality trait for differentiating subgroups of sex offenders from non-offenders. The experimental and psychometric results illustrate that predictive accuracy in forensic settings could be improved by combining several types of data.Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1348/000712607X228519
Affiliations: 1: Faculty of Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany 2: Department of Psychology, Dresden University of Technology, Germany
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