Dark Tetrad personality traits, paraphilic interests, and the role of impulsivity: an EEG-study using a Go/No-Go paradigm.

Maladaptive personality traits, such as 'dark personalities' are found to result in a diverse set of negative outcomes, including paraphilic interests and associated (illegal) behaviors. It is however unclear how these are exactly related, and if related, if then only those individuals higher on dark personality traits and higher impulsivity engage in paraphilic behaviors. In the current study, 50 participants were recruited to investigate the relationship between Dark Tetrad personality traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and everyday sadism), paraphilic interests (arousal and behavior) and the moderating role of impulsivity. Personality and paraphilic interests were investigated through self-report questionnaires. Impulsivity was measured both through self-reported dysfunctional impulsivity and the P3 event related potential using electroencephalography during the Go/No-Go task (i.e. response inhibition). The results showed that there was a positive association between psychopathy, sadism and paraphilic interests. Whereas everyday sadism was associated with paraphilic (self-reported) arousal, psychopathy was associated with paraphilic behavior. Although P3 amplitude was not associated with paraphilic interests, self-reported dysfunctional impulsivity was associated with paraphilic behavior specifically. However, there was no moderating role of dysfunctional impulsivity and response inhibition (P3) in the relationship between psychopathy and paraphilic behavior. Findings indicate that the relation between specific dark personalities and paraphilic interests may be more complex than initially thought. Nevertheless, risk assessment and intervention approaches for paraphilia and related behavior both may benefit from incorporating Dark Tetrad and impulsivity measurements.

Personality Attributions in the Context of Stalking of Ex-Intimates or Others: A Victim's Perspective.

Stalking perpetrators may suffer from maladaptive personality traits, particularly if they stalk in the context of an (ex-)intimate relationship. To date, no study has examined how different personality attributions may relate to stalker motivation, or the behaviors they engage in, and how this differs across victim-perpetrator relationships. Further, the perspective of the victim is often not taken into consideration, even though most stalking victims know their stalker intimately and a majority are stalked by a former or current partner. The present study employed a correlational design to assess the relationship between stalking behaviors, motivation to stalk, and personality attributions, as perceived by the victim across an ex-intimate or other victim-perpetrator relationship. The study sample consisted of 100 victims of stalking (63% ex-intimate; 85% female) who were recruited through a National Stalking Helpline. Results align with and extend the results of previous researchers, most notably the high proportion of reported Cluster B-aligned personality attributions among stalkers, as well as the proportion of more under-researched personality attributions, and their associated risks. Victims of an ex-intimate partner were more likely to report their stalker was motivated by intimacy, and personality attributions aligned with both borderline and paranoid PD were more often reported than in other relationship contexts. Results and clinical implications are discussed.

The Angry Echo Chamber: A Study of Extremist and Emotional Language Changes in Incel Communities Over Time.

Involuntary celibates, or incels, are part of a growing online subculture. Incels are men who are unable to engage in a sexual relationship with a woman and who experience significant distress and anger as a result. In recent years, high-profile incidents of violence perpetrated by incels or those who share incel ideology have increased research attention. Incels communicate online and share several characteristics with other online extremist groups. While only a fraction of incels engage in such violence, a broader spectrum of violence should be considered, including online harassment or general violence against women. This study sought to examine how ongoing engagement on an online incel forum affects changes in incel comments in terms of expressed anger and sadness and use of incel violent extremist language. We collected comments made on an incel forum over a 3-month period. We then identified prolific users and included their comments in our analysis. To assess how their language changed, we used a text-processing program (LIWC: Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) to assess the extent to which anger, sadness, and incel violent extremist language were expressed in the comments. Our findings indicated that incels express more anger in their comments than users on other platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. However, they did not express greater sadness. Further, we found that incels are already quite angry and sad when they join the forum, and they already use a fair amount of incel vocabulary. Initially, these aspects of their language increase, but they flatten over time. This pattern suggests that introduction to and embracing of incel ideology occurs elsewhere on the Internet, and prior to people joining an incel forum. Implications in terms of prevention of online radicalization and future directions are discussed.

When Kinks Come to Life: An Exploration of Paraphilic Behaviors and Underlying Predictors.

Paraphilia is defined as a condition in which sexual excitement relies on fantasizing about and/or participating in unusual sexual behavior. Although recent studies have assessed the concordance between paraphilic interests and paraphilic behaviors, few studies have studied which individual traits and demographics predict engaging in paraphilic behaviors, or the level of concordance between arousal and behavior. The current study replicated and expanded Joyal and Carpentier's 2022 study. We assessed concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior. Further, we assessed the impact of Dark Tetrad traits, impulsivity, social desirability and demographic variables on engaging in paraphilic behaviors using self-report questionnaires in a sample from the general population and FetLife. Finally, we were interested in whether these individual differences moderated the concordance between arousal and behavior. Results indicated high concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior for all paraphilias except pedophilia and hebephilia. Younger, male participants were more likely to engage in various paraphilias than women and older participants. Machiavellianism was linked with lower paraphilic behavior, particularly impulsive or risky ones. Psychopathy predicted engaging in more deviant or illegal paraphilias, whereas sadism only showed an association for engaging in frotteurism and narcissism was not a predictor for engaging in any paraphilia. For several paraphilias, individual traits moderated the effect of arousal on behavior. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Mimicry Deception Theory applied to sexual abuse of children.

Sexual abuse of children remains a widespread problem with well-documented, adverse consequences. Often, abuse ending is contingent on a disclosure made by the victim, but victims delay disclosure if they tell someone at all. The factors associated with (non)disclosure are complex and interrelated. In this paper, we propose a new theoretical framework (Mimicry Deception Theory; MDT) to explore various aspects of the grooming process, using a qualitative content analysis of US court appeal cases (N = 25). Specifically, we focus on how MDT components contribute to the likelihood of a CSA disclosure. MDT is made up of five components: Victim Selection, Community Integration, Complexity of Deception, Resource Extraction, and Detectability. These five components allow us to look at several characteristics of abuse in tandem and examine how they interact to impact various outcomes, such as (non)disclosure. We provide a detailed codebook for this framework, that can be used to systematically extract relevant information from large amounts of data. Through the application of this framework, we were able to identify several factors that may play a role in delayed or non-disclosure. Further, we found repeat offenders were likely to use the exact same methods of access, grooming, and remaining undetected across victims. Implications for prevention, as well as clinical interventions with perpetrators as well as victims are discussed.

General Criminal Dynamic Risk and Strength Factors Predict Short-Term General Recidivism Outcomes Among People Convicted of Sexual Crime During Community Supervision.

There are clinical practice and operational reasons why it may be appropriate to primarily focus on general risk factors when supervising people convicted of sexual crime in the community. General risk domains may be particularly relevant when supervision officers engage in frequent reassessment of acute dynamic risk factors. We tested the ability of a case management tool, the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry, to discriminate community based, short-term general (all outcome) recidivism versus nonrecidivism among people convicted of sexual crime (n = 562). We tested the predictive discrimination validity of each DRAOR item and then subscale scores in univariate and multivariate models (also controlling for general static risk). DRAOR scores were associated with general recidivism outcomes and effect sizes were generally similar or stronger compared to models with people convicted of nonsexual crime (n = 2854). DRAOR Acute scores were consistently and incrementally related to general recidivism outcomes beyond other scores. In practice, case managers should remain aware that people convicted of sexual crime are at risk for nonsexual recidivism outcomes and assess problematic functioning broadly alongside problems in sexual domains. Clinically, interconnection among domains potentially provides multiple avenues for effective intervention.

Gender Stereotypes and Perceptions of Stranger Violence: Attributions of Blame and Motivation.

Violence is a harmful, complex and gendered act that impacts individuals and communities financially, physically, socially and psychologically. Many studies have investigated how and why gender impacts perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV), but little research has investigated its effect on stranger violence, despite being publicly perceived as causing greater fear and harm. Th is study examines the effects of gender attitudes and stereotypes on perceptions of stranger violence, specifically attributions of blame, affective response, alleged motivations and attitudes regarding the acceptability of violence (in general). Data was collected from 265 United Kingdom (UK) adults using an online survey posted on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Results indicate that like IPV, gender affects perceptions of stranger violence. Male and female perpetrators of stranger violence are perceived differently, and gender differences are evident between male and female participants. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Empowerment or Threat: Perceptions of Childhood Sexual Abuse in the #MeToo Era.

The rise of the #MeToo movement has shed light on the prominence of sexual violence, and its victims who often remain silent. Despite increasing awareness, victims or survivors of sexual violence who disclose may be faced with negative reactions such as disbelief or blame. Such reactions extend to child victims of sexual abuse. This study aimed to shed light on gender differences in responses to sexual violence against a backdrop of #MeToo. Through an online survey (N = 253) on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we assessed participants' exposure to and perception of the #MeToo movement. In addition, we measured proximity to a victim or perpetrator of sexual violence. The effect of these variables on participants' response to a disclosure of childhood sexual abuse was examined. Results indicated that men are more likely to perceive the movement as threatening than women. Furthermore, a discrepancy in proximity to sexual violence emerged, with women more likely to know a victim and men more likely to know a perpetrator. In response to a disclosure of childhood sexual abuse, men were more likely to respond in a skeptical manner than women. Positive perceptions of the #MeToo movement translated into more supportive responses to a disclosure. Proximity to a victim of sexual violence did not impact how people responded to a disclosure, but proximity to a perpetrator was associated with a more negative response. Although the aim of this movement is to give a voice to victims of sexual violence, it may trigger a defensive response from men, which makes them more skeptical toward disclosures of victimization.

Assessing Deception Differences with Mimicry Deception Theory.

Mimicry Deception Theory (MDT) argues that deception varies along a long- to short-term continuum. Long-term deception involves complex deception, community integration, slow resource extraction, and low detectability, whereas short-term deception is the opposite. To date, no self-report scale exists that assesses a dispositional orientation toward long-term deception. Across four studies, we developed and validated a Mimicry Deception Scale (MDS) to assess individuals' dispositional orientation toward long-term deception. Using theoretically driven items, we found a reliable four-factor structure through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Further, MDS components were strongly correlated and had acceptable internal consistency. For convergent validity, long-term MDS positively correlated with Machiavellianism, conscientiousness, and planning. Finally, the test-retest reliability of the MDS was acceptable, and the complexity facet of the MDS predicted successful lying over time. The findings have implications for how to profile, identify, and recognize patterns of deception, especially with respect to long-term patterns using self-report.

Predictors of Skeptical Responses to Disclosures of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) may be met with skeptical responses when they disclose their experience. The fear of such a response means that most victims delay telling anyone about the abuse. The aim of this study was to explore how contextual factors of abuse such as victim gender and age, perpetrator gender, and victim-perpetrator relationship affect a response to CSA. Further, we explored what personality traits may predict a skeptical response. An online questionnaire with 357 undergraduate students asked participants to read a vignette describing CSA, and to indicate the extent to which they believed the vignette, whether they blamed the victim or perpetrator, and what punishment they would recommend for the perpetrator. Results indicated that older victims were less likely to be believed and more likely to be blamed than younger victims. Further, we found more blame was placed on a perpetrator of intrafamilial abuse compared with extrafamilial abuse, but only if the perpetrator was male. Female perpetrators were punished less harshly than male perpetrators, but female intrafamilal perpetrators received harsher punishment than female extrafamilial perpetrators. No such effect was found for male perpetrators. Openness to Experience was associated with a more supportive response to CSA, as was Agreeableness. Implications and future directions are discussed.