Exposure to continuous political violence: rational and experiential thinking styles, coping styles and post traumatic stress symptoms.

Cognitive style is considered an important determinant of individual behavior. The aim of the present study was to examine the relations between rational and experiential thinking styles, coping styles and Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms among civilians exposed to continuous and ongoing exposure to political violence. Three-hundred and thirty-two Israeli adult citizens living in the south region of Israel reported on their experiences of exposure to political violence as well as level of PTS, coping styles, and preference toward rational and experiential processing style. Results showed that low rational thinking was related with elevated PTS, both directly and indirectly through the mediation of high emotion-focused coping. The findings suggest that rational thinking may serve as a protective factor against stress related to chronic exposure to political violence; conversely, a preference for low rationality may be a risk factor.

Effects of Mood on Psychophysiological Detection of Concealed Information and the Relation to Self-Assessed Lying Ability.

The present study examined the effects of mood on physiological responses in the Concealed Information polygraph Test and the relation to self-assessed lying ability. One hundred and eight undergraduate students self-assessed their lie-telling ability, committed a mock theft, and were asked to conceal information related to the crime. Participants were then divided into three equal groups: two groups were asked to provide a detailed written account of either a happy or sad event in order to induce a happy or sad mood, while the third group served as a neutral group. Participants then underwent a polygraph test and were asked to try to avoid detection. An induced happy or sad mood tended to lower relative skin conductance responses to critical (crime related) items and enhance relative cardiovascular responses. Relative respiration responses to critical items obtained for the sad mood condition were more robust than the ones obtained for the happy mood condition. Under induced sad and happy moods, those who self-rated their lie-telling ability as high showed enhanced cardiovascular responsivity to critical items. These results were limited to the initial phase of the test. We discussed possible motivational explanations and implications for the Concealed Information polygraph test.

In the eye of the beholder: Decision-making of lawyers in cases of sexual harassment.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of deliberative vs. intuitive thinking styles on forensic judgments of legal professionals. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) that low deliberative thinking would be related to judgmental biases (b) that lawyers would report a greater tendency and preference toward deliberative thinking in comparison to students and make more rational judgments. METHOD: Ninety-one lawyers and 120 undergraduate students, who served as controls, were asked to read a criminal case depicting sexual harassment (SH) and judge victim and offender blame, whether the case constitutes SH, and the damage for the victim. RESULTS: Deliberative thinking of lawyers was higher than students, and higher than their intuitive thinking style, supporting the more rational blame attributions of the former. In addition, higher deliberative thinking was related to a stronger perception of the event as SH. Nevertheless, all the participants were more inclined to perceive the case as SH when the victim was a woman instead of a man. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that gender stereotypes and bias may persist despite high deliberative thinking and may even be manifested through deliberative thinking processes. Awareness of legal professionals of these biases as well as the development of more objective tools which will help make the judging process less subjective-will ensure more accurate assessment of victims, offenders, and cases.

A Model for Predicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to Exposure to Chronic Political Violence: Big Five Personality Traits, Ego-Resiliency, and Coping.

Research on psychological effects of exposure to political violence has focused mainly on the effect of environmental factors whereas the effect of individual differences is understudied. The present study offers an integrative model of the contribution of personality traits, ego-resiliency, and coping styles to post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptomatology of civilians exposed to chronic political violence. Three-hundred and thirty-two Israeli citizens living in the south region of Israel were asked to report their experience with different types of political violence incidents, their coping strategies, and PTS symptoms. The participants were also asked to complete the Big Five personality Inventory and Ego-Resiliency Scale. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that ego-resiliency and emotion-focused coping mediate the relationship between big five personality traits and levels of stress symptoms. It is suggested that neurotic people are more vulnerable to PTS due to low levels of ego-resiliency and a preference to use emotion-focused coping strategies.

Police Perceptions of Sex-worker Rape Victims and Their Offenders: A Vignette Study.

Women who are sex workers are at high risk of being victims of sexual violence. Yet research suggests that their claims of victimization are not taken seriously enough and largely go unbelieved by the police. The current study goes beyond the issue of victim credibility to examine police officer blame attributions and judgments toward rape victims and offenders. Two-hundred and twenty police officers read a description of the rape of a young student who was either a sex worker or not. After reading the description, participants reported their perceptions of blame toward the victim and offender, as well as their perceptions of victim resistance, consequences of rape to the victim, and feelings toward the victim. Deserved punishment for the offender was also reported. The findings indicated that police officer attributions of victim-blaming were more prominent toward the sex working victim, and they assessed the consequences that she suffered as less severe. Male officers were more biased than female officers in blame attributions toward the offender, manifested in lower levels of blaming as well as in supporting more lenient sanctions, and specifically when the victim was a sex worker. Negative sentiment toward the victim was indicated, especially among male officers, which also adhered more than female officers to the idea that the victim could have resisted the attack. The findings are interpreted within the contexts of rape myths and stereotypes and unique characteristics of the police subculture. Possible implications for the investigation of rape victims and cases are discussed. The importance of the findings is highlighted by recent data indicating that sex working may be a relatively common phenomenon among young normative students.

The Double Standard Toward Female and Male Victims of Non-consensual Dissemination of Intimate Images.

Non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (NCII) is a growing problem of sexual violence with grave consequences for victims. However, despite recent criminalization and civil and legal sanctions, there is reason to suspect that the majority of NCII cases remain unreported. The reasons for that may be similar to the ones accounting for under-reporting in cases of physical sexual violence and are tied to society's attitude toward victims. Being a relatively new form of violence, psychological research on perceptions of NCII victims and offenders is scarce. The purpose of the present study was to extend the current knowledge by comparing perceptions toward female and male victims of NCII, while manipulating the victim's role in producing the intimate material. Drawing on rape research, it was hypothesized that gender stereotypes interact with victims' sex and behavior to influence the way victims are perceived. Five-hundred and thirty-nine male and female students were presented with a scenario depicting an NCII offense in which the intimate material was either self-generated by the victim (selfies) or stealth-taken by the victim's ex-intimate partner. Victim and offender sex were also manipulated. The findings indicate a differential treatment toward female and male victims of NCII, depending on their role in the taking of the intimate images. More blaming was attributed toward a female victim whose intimate images were self-taken, in comparison to all other research conditions, and negative feelings toward her were the highest as well. These blame attributions, as well as negative feelings toward female victims, were particularly high on the side of male participants. The findings are interpreted as reflecting perceptions of traditional gender roles and a double standard toward female and male sexual behavior.

Police Officer Perceptions of Non-consensual Dissemination of Intimate Images.

Non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (NCII) is a major concern in many countries. The increase in the number of NCII cases and awareness of its adverse effects on victims has raised public awareness, with many states enacting legal and non-legal measures to combat this new type of violence. Yet, despite recent legislation, there is a reason to suspect that the majority of NCII cases remain unreported. Thus, research is needed on law enforcement perceptions of victims and identification of victim-blaming attitudes and factors that might affect legal decision-making. The present study addressed this issue by focusing on Israeli police officer perceptions of NCII victims and offenders: 145 police officers and 160 students, who served as a control group, were presented with a scenario depicting an NCII offense in which the stolen intimate material was either self-generated by the victim (selfies) or stealth-taken by the victim's ex-boyfriend. In both cases, the stolen images were disseminated by the ex-boyfriend without the victim's permission. The findings indicated victim-blaming attitudes toward NCII victims within law enforcement as well as an effect of the source of stolen images. Although officers perceived NCII as criminal and the offender as highly culpable and punishable, they engaged in victim-blaming. This was especially the case for the self-taken scenario, which elicited negative feelings and less empathy toward the victim. The relevance of emotions in legal contexts is emphasized in light of their contribution to the participants' punitive judgments. Victim-blaming in NCII offenses and its implications are discussed, and suggestions are made for how to reduce negative and victim-blaming attitudes among law enforcement.

Is It Harassment? Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Among Lawyers and Undergraduate Students.

This study examined differences between lawyers (n = 91) and undergraduate students (n = 120) regarding their evaluation of behavior as sexual harassment (SH) and blame attributions toward offender and victim. The current study used a cross-sectional, comparative, independent measures design. Also examined was the correlation between these perceptions and belief in a just world (BJW) hypothesis. The respondents were presented with case descriptions of SH that were identical in all aspects but the perpetrator and victim's gender (alternately depicted as male/female and female/male). Results showed that both lawyers and students agreed that the described event comprised SH, yet gender bias was evident. Both lawyers and students were more inclined to regard the behavior as SH when the vignette description depicted the perpetrator as a man (i.e., female victim) than as a woman (male victim). Gender bias was also evident in the examination of blame attributions, which were higher toward a male (vs. female) harasser. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that lawyers were less biased than students, manifested in less victim-blame and higher perpetrator blame attributions. No correlation between BJW and perceiving the vignette as SH and blame attribution was found. The findings indicate discriminatory judgments of SH based on gender. Gender-related stereotypes and sociocultural explanations are discussed.

The relations between deception, narcissism and self-assessed lie- and truth-related abilities.

Seventy undergraduate students completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Lie- and Truth Ability Assessment Scale. They were then asked to share 100 points with an anonymous fellow student who was unaware of the amount of points designated for distribution. Participants were asked to allocate points to the other student bearing in mind that the transaction will be completed only if the other party accepts their offer. Participants' goal was to retain as many points as possible, and for this end, they were permitted to tell the other person that fewer than 100 points were available for distribution. Both narcissistic features and lie-telling ability assessments predicted actual deception. Results suggest that the dominance of the truth telling bias is limited in a situation where no concrete victim is harmed by dishonesty. Self-assessed lying ability and features of narcissistic personality further challenge the intuitive truth telling model.

Frequent Countermeasure Usage by Narcissistic Examinees in the Concealed Information Test.

Narcissistic dimensions and self-assessed lie and truth-telling and detecting abilities were used to predict deliberate attempts to influence the outcomes of the Concealed Information polygraph Test. In this study, which used a fabricated murder scenario, 241 examinees were randomly allocated to four experimental conditions in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Two guilt conditions (guilty and innocent) were crossed with two countermeasures conditions (with or without countermeasure instructions). One group consisted of 120 informed guilty participants who were offered the opportunity to give a false response to neutral items by verbally answering "yes," by which they falsely confirmed that the item is relevant to the murder case. Participants were told that frequent lying would confuse the polygraph and help them pass the test. Another informed guilty group (41 participants) was not given the opportunity to use countermeasures. Two control groups of 40 participants each were unaware of the critical items. One control group used countermeasures while the other did not. Narcissistic dimensions and self-assessed lie-telling ability correlated positively with frequent use of countermeasures. Conflicting results about the relation between countermeasure usage and physiological responses to critical items were obtained.

Chivalry and attractiveness bias in police officer forensic judgments in Israel.

The chivalry hypothesis and attractiveness bias were evaluated among 323 police officers and 364 students, serving as a control group. The participants were asked to read a description of a swindle, where the offender was either physically attractive or unattractive. They then had to assign a punishment to the offender and judge the blame ascribed to both offender and victim. The findings showed that the offender's sex, more than his or her external appearance, affects differences in punishment severity. Female offenders were treated more forgivingly than male offenders. Nonetheless, analysis of blame attributions shows that attractive offenders are blamed more than unattractive offenders. Women were also found to dispense severe punishments more than men.

Contributions of personality dimensions to spontaneous and deliberate information processing in the guilty actions test.

The contribution of the Big-Five personality dimensions and locus of control to examinees' physiological responses in the Concealed Information polygraph Test (CIT) was examined for the first time. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students who completed Big Five personality and locus of control questionnaires were instructed to commit a mock theft. They were subsequently tested in the Guilty Actions polygraph Test, a modified version of the CIT. Each of the six sets of items (questions) was repeated twice. Results showed that introversion predicted enhanced Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs) to the critical items only for the first repetition of the first 3 questions which was explained by sensitivity to orienting responses. In contrast, extraversion was linked to Finger Pulse Waveform Length (FPWL) responses to the first repetition of the first 3 questions and was explained by extended and more deliberate information processing due to increased interest in the experiment. Participants high in openness to experience, characterized by intellectual curiosity, responded more strongly on FPWL throughout the test. Lower Neuroticism scores predicted enhanced Respiration Line Length (RLL) responses in the first repetition of the first 3 questions. Internal locus of control predicted higher tonic skin conductance level before and throughout the test. Results were explained by different information processing styles associated with these personality dimensions during various stages of the test.

Effects of coping and cooperative instructions on guilty and informed innocents' physiological responses to concealed information.

Previous research on the Concealed Information Test indicates that knowledge of the critical information of a given event is sufficient for the elicitation of strong physiological reactions, thus facilitating detection by the test. Other factors that affect the test's efficacy are deceptive verbal responses to the test's questions and motivation of guilty examinees to avoid detection. In the present study effects of coping and cooperative instructions - delivered to guilty and innocent participants - on detection were examined. In a mock-theft experiment guilty participants who actually committed a mock-crime, and informed innocent participants who handled the critical items of the crime in an innocent context, were instructed to adopt either a coping or a cooperative attitude toward the polygraph test. Results indicated that both, guilt and coping behavior, were associated with enhanced physiological responses to the critical information, whereas innocence and cooperative behavior attenuated physiological responses. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.