Papers by Alexander F Schmidt
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2013
Sexual narcissism has recently been proposed to be a specific risk factor for the perpetration of... more Sexual narcissism has recently been proposed to be a specific risk factor for the perpetration of sexual coercion based on both self-reports of previous behavior and self-estimated likelihood of engaging in acts of sexual violence. To explore one of the potential underlying mechanisms of sexual narcissism, we tested whether for highly sexually narcissistic males the subtle priming of sexual concepts would evoke aggressive behavior in a standard measure of aggressive behavior, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm. Results showed that only for sexually narcissistic men did a subtle priming with mildly erotic words lead to an increase in shock volumes administered to the alleged competitor on this task. For women, it was postulated that physical force would not be represented as a functional behavioral script for sexually narcissistic females and, in line with this hypothesis, no effects were found for women. The results were discussed with regard to the underlying processes of sexual narcissism and the importance of an individual difference perspective in sex-aggression links.
Due to unobtrusiveness and ease of implementation, viewing time (VT) measures of sexual interest ... more Due to unobtrusiveness and ease of implementation, viewing time (VT) measures of sexual interest in children have sparked increasing research interest in forensic contexts over the last two decades. The current study presents two meta-analyses of VT measures adapted to assess pedophilic interest to determine their discrimination between sexual offenders against children (SOC) and non-SOC groups as well as convergent validity (associations with other measures of sexual interest in children). On average, VT measures showed moderate discrimination between criterion groups (fixed-effect d = 0.60, 95% CI [0.51, 0.68], N = 2,705, k = 14) and significant convergent validity with self-reports, penile plethysmography, Implicit Association Tests and offence behavioral measures ranging from r =.18 to r = .38. VT measures, however, provided better discrimination for adults (fixed-effect d = 0.78, 95% CI [0.64, 0.92]) than adolescent samples (fixed-effect d = 0.50, 95% CI [0.40, 0.61]), Qbetween = 9.37, p = .002. Moreover, using pedophilic difference scores within adult samples substantially increased VT measures' validity (fixed-effect d = 1.03, 95% CI [0.82, 1.25], N = 414, k = 7). Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications for forensic contexts. KEY WORDS: indirect measure, viewing time measure, sexual interest in children, pedophilic interest, meta-analysis, Implicit Association Test
Turner, D., Hoyer, J., Schmidt, A. F., Klein, V., & Briken, P. (in press). Risk factors for sexual offending in men working with children – A community based survey. Archives of Sexual Behavior., Mar 2016
Identifying risk factors for sexual abuse in men who work with children and who have already abus... more Identifying risk factors for sexual abuse in men who work with children and who have already abused a child could lead to more appropriate screening and prevention strategies and is thus of major scientific and societal relevance. A total of 8,649 German men from the community were assessed in an extensive anonymous and confidential online survey. Of those, 37 (0.4%) could be classified as child sexual abusers working with children, 90 (1.0%) as child sexual abusers not working with children, and 816 (9.4%) as men who work with children and who have not abused a child. We assessed the impact of working with children as an individual risk factor for self-reported child sexual abuse and compared personal factors, pedophilic sexual fantasies, deviant sexual behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and hypersexuality among the three groups. Most interestingly, working with children was significantly associated with a self-reported sexual offense against children, however, it explained only three percent of its variance. Child sexual abusers working with children admitted more antisocial and more sexually deviant behaviors than child sexual abusers not working with children and than men working with children who have not abused a child. Our findings support some of the suggestions made by other researchers concerning factors that could be considered in applicants for child- or youth-serving institutions. However, it has to be pointed out that the scientific basis still seems premature.
Sexually attractive stimuli are watched longer than unattractive stimuli. The processes underlyin... more Sexually attractive stimuli are watched longer than unattractive stimuli. The processes underlying this robust and reliable viewing time effect are presently not well understood. In the present research comprising four experiments (total N = 250), four classes of potential explanations are proposed and the derived implications were experimentally tested. Contrary to explanations based on either deliberate delay or attentional adhesion to sexually attractive stimuli, prolonged response latencies were also found under restricted task conditions. Sexually preferred targets elicited longer response latencies in a self-paced evaluation task when stimulus pictures were presented for 750 ms (Experiment 1) or for 500 ms and followed by a pattern mask (Experiment 2). Prolonged latencies for sexually preferred targets were also observed when sexual attractiveness was rated in a speeded binary decision task with a response window of 1000 ms (Experiment 3). Eventually, it was shown that the response latency effect in the speeded binary choice task was still preserved when only the heads of target individuals were presented instead of the bodies (Experiment 4). Mate identification and schematic processes are discussed as the remaining plausible mechanisms for prolonged response latencies for sexually attractive targets under restricted conditions.
The amount of time an individual spends gazing at images is longer if the depicted person is sexu... more The amount of time an individual spends gazing at images is longer if the depicted person is sexually appealing. Despite an increasing use of such response latencies as a diagnostic tool in applied forensic settings, the underlying processes that drive the seemingly robust effect of longer response latencies for sexually attractive targets remain unknown. In the current study, two alternative explanations are presented and tested using an adapted viewing time paradigm that disentangled task- and stimulus-specific processes. Hetero- and homosexual male participants were instructed to rate the sexual attractiveness of target persons differing in sex and sexual maturation from four experimentally assigned perspectives–heterosexual and homosexual perspectives for both sexes. This vicarious viewing time paradigm facilitated the estimation of the independent contributions of task (assigned perspective) and stimuli to viewing time effects. Results showed a large task-driven effect as well as a relatively smaller stimulus-based effect. This pattern suggests that, when viewing time measures are used for the assessment of sexual interest, it should be taken into consideration that response latency patterns can be biased by judging images from a selected perspective.
A newly developed Semantic Misattribution Procedure (SMP), a semantic variant of the Affect Misat... more A newly developed Semantic Misattribution Procedure (SMP), a semantic variant of the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP), was used in three studies as an indirect measure of sexual interest. Using a known-group approach, homosexual men (Study 1 & 2), heterosexual men (Study 1 to 3) and heterosexual women (Study 3) were asked to guess the meaning of briefly presented Chinese ideographs as “sexual” or “not sexual”. The ideographs were preceded by briefly presented primes depicting male and female individuals of varying sexual maturity. As hypothesized, the frequency of “sexual” responses increased after priming with pictures of individuals of the preferred sex and increasing sexual maturation. The SMP showed satisfactory reliability and convergent validity as indicated by correlations with direct and two indirect measures of sexual interest. In two further studies, the hypothesized pattern was replicated whereas a standard AMP with the identical prime stimuli did not produce this result. The potential usefulness of semantic variants of the AMP is discussed.
Werner, V. A., Naefgen, C., Koppehele-Gossel, J., Quinten, L., Banse, R., & Schmidt, A. F. (2016). Validity of content-based techniques to distinguish true and fabricated statements: A meta-analysis. Law and Human Behavior, 40, 440-457.
Within the scope of judicial decisions, approaches to distinguish between true and fabricated sta... more Within the scope of judicial decisions, approaches to distinguish between true and fabricated statements have been of particular importance since ancient times. Although methods focusing on “prototypical” deceptive behavior (e.g., psychophysiological phenomena, nonverbal cues) have largely been rejected with regard to validity, content-based techniques constitute a promising approach and are well established within the applied forensic context. The basic idea of this approach is that experience-based and non-experience-based statements differ in their content-related quality. In order to test the validity of the most prominent content-based techniques, Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) and Reality Monitoring (RM), we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis on English- and German-language studies. Based on a variety of decision criteria, 56 studies were included revealing an overall effect size of g = 1.03 (95% CI [0.78, 1.27], Q = 420.06, p < .001, I² = 92.48%, N = 3429). There was no significant difference in the effectiveness of CBCA and RM. Additionally, we investigated a number of moderator variables such as characteristics of participants, statements, and judgment procedures, as well as general study characteristics. Results showed that the application of all CBCA criteria outperformed any incomplete CBCA criteria set. Furthermore, statement classification based on discriminant functions revealed higher discrimination rates than decisions based on sum scores. Finally, unpublished studies showed higher effect sizes than studies published in peer-reviewed journals. All results are discussed in terms of their significance for future research (e.g., developing standardized decision rules) and practical application (e.g., user training, applying complete criteria set).
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2013
We review the recent research literature on pro-criminal attitudes (PCAs) as a causal factor of r... more We review the recent research literature on pro-criminal attitudes (PCAs) as a causal factor of recidivism with a focus on studies on the effectiveness of offender treatment programs targeting PCAs to prevent recidivism. The main conclusions that can be derived from the literature are that (1) the evidence supports the hypothesis that PCAs are related to reoffending; (2) most investigated offender treatment programs tend to reduce PCAs, although the general lack of adequate control group designs does not rule out alternative explanations for this reduction; and there is no conclusive empirical evidence that intervention programs designed to reduce PCAs are effective in reducing recidivism. Empirical research in this area lacks the theoretical and methodological rigor to test causal models of the influence of treatment on reducing PCAs, and effects of PCAs on recidivism. Limitations of the empirical evidence are related to inadequate research designs and/or suboptimal data analysis strategies.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2010
Sexually attractive stimuli are watched longer than unattractive stimuli. The processes underlyin... more Sexually attractive stimuli are watched longer than unattractive stimuli. The processes underlying this robust and reliable viewing time effect are presently not well understood. In the present research comprising four experiments (total N = 250), four classes of potential explanations are proposed and the derived implications were experimentally tested. Contrary to explanations based on either deliberate delay or attentional adhesion to sexually attractive stimuli, prolonged response latencies were also found under restricted task conditions. Sexually preferred targets elicited longer response latencies in a self-paced evaluation task when stimulus pictures were presented for 750 ms (Experiment 1) or for 500 ms and followed by a pattern mask (Experiment 2). Prolonged latencies for sexually preferred targets were also observed when sexual attractiveness was rated in a speeded binary decision task with a response window of 1000 ms (Experiment 3). Eventually, it was shown that the response latency effect in the speeded binary choice task was still preserved when only the heads of target individuals were presented instead of the bodies (Experiment 4). Mate identification and schematic processes are discussed as the remaining plausible mechanisms for prolonged response latencies for sexually attractive targets under restricted conditions.
Psychological assessment, 2014
Individuals differ in the extent to which they are interested in sexualized violence, as displaye... more Individuals differ in the extent to which they are interested in sexualized violence, as displayed in the frequent but not ubiquitous sexual interest in consensual acts of violent sexual role play and violent pornographic media in the normal population. The present research sought to develop and validate a multi-method assessment battery to measure individual differences in the preference for sexualized violence. Three indirect measures (Implicit Association Test, Semantic Misattribution Procedure, Viewing Time) were combined in an online study with 107 men and 103 women. Participants with and without an affiliation with sadomasochistic sexual interest groups were recruited on corresponding Internet platforms. Results revealed that all 3 indirect measures converged in predicting self-reported sexual interest in non-consensual sexuality. Specifically, for men all indirect measures were related to non-consensual sadistic sexual interest, whereas for women an association with masochist...
Banse, R., Schmidt, A. F., & Imhoff, R. (in press). Aggression in the perspective of the Reflective-Impulsive Model: Testing predictions using indirect measures. In R. Deutsch, B. Gawronski, & W. Hofmann (Eds.). Reflective and impulsive determinants of human behavior. New York, NY: Psychology Press., 2015
Frontiers in Psychology, Aug 24, 2015
Recently, reported that a mirror task produced no differences for recognition rates of sexualized... more Recently, reported that a mirror task produced no differences for recognition rates of sexualized female stimuli that had been presented in upright vs. upside down orientations (based on acceptance of the null-hypothesis) whereas recognition rates for sexualized males were better in upright vs. upside down presentations. According to their sexualized-body-inversion hypothesis (SBIH) the authors concluded that male stimuli were processed configurally (i.e., person perception, amenable to stimulus presentation orientation) as opposed to female stimuli being perceived analytically (i.e., object perception, unimpaired by presentation mode). This research has been critized . Empirically, we have shown greater asymmetry in female vs. male stimuli to explain the original pattern of results. Utilizing the same design and stimuli subsets from Bernard et al. we replicated their results but replication failed with stricter experimental control (counterbalancing of the original stimulus subsets) and with a newly developed symmetry-matched stimuli set . We concluded that the original effect was dependent on two important boundary conditions in a task vulnerable to symmetry confounds between a) male and female stimuli and b) different stimulus subsets. This interpretation has been challenged (Bernard et al., 2015a).
PLoS ONE, Jul 6, 2015
Although, much is currently known about hypersexuality (in form of excessive sexual behavior) amo... more Although, much is currently known about hypersexuality (in form of excessive sexual behavior) among sexual offenders, the degree to which hypersexual behavior is linked to paraphilic and especially pedophilic interests in non-forensic populations has not been established. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the associations between total sexual outlets (TSO) and other sex drive indicators, antisocial behavior, pedophilic interests, and sexual offending behavior in a large population-based community sample of males. The sample included 8,718 German men who participated in an online study. Hypersexual behavior as measured by self-reported TSO, self-reported sex drive, criminal history, and pedophilic interests were assessed. In moderated hierarchical logistic regression analyses self-reported contact sexual offending against children was linked to sexual fantasizing about children and antisociality. There was no association between aggregated sex drive, and sexual abusive behaviour in the multivariate analyses. In contrast, self-reported child pornography consumption was associated with sex drive, sexual fantasies involving children, and antisociality. Nevertheless, in clinical practice an assessment of criminal history and pedophilic interests in hypersexual individuals and vice versa hypersexuality in antisocial or pedophilic men should be considered as particularly antisociality and pedophilic interest are important predictors of sexual offending against prepubescent children.
Consistent evidence exists for sexual interest in children in non-clinical/non-forensic male popu... more Consistent evidence exists for sexual interest in children in non-clinical/non-forensic male populations. However, prevalences for community males’ self-reported sexual interest in children involving prepubescent children have been based on indiscriminate definitions including postpubescent individuals, age-restricted samples, and/or small convenience samples. The present research assessed males’ self-reported sexual interest in children (including child prostitution and child sex tourism) on community level and examined the link between strictly defined sexual fantasies and behaviors involving prepubescent children. In an online survey of 8,718 German males 4.1% reported sexual fantasies involving prepubescent children, 3.2% sexual offending against prepubescent children, and 0.1% a pedophilic sexual preference. Sexual fantasies involving prepubescent children were positively related to sexual offending against prepubescent children. Sexual interest in children was associated with subjectively perceived need for therapeutic help. In contrast to findings from forensic samples, men who exclusively reported child pornography use were identified as a subgroup differing from contact sexual offenders against prepubescent children and men who committed both child pornography and contact sexual offenses against prepubescent children. The empirical link between child-related sexual fantasies and sexual victimization of prepubescent children and high levels of subjective distress from this inclination underscore the importance of evidence-based child sexual abuse prevention approaches in the community. Findings are discussed in terms of their relation to pedophilic disorder.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, Nov 2015
Despite decades of research on the adverse consequences of stereotyping and discrimination for ma... more Despite decades of research on the adverse consequences of stereotyping and discrimination for many stigmatized groups, little is known about how people with pedophilia perceive and react to stigma. In this article, we present a framework that outlines how stigma-related stress might negatively affect emotional and social areas of functioning, cognitive distortions, and the motivation to pursue therapy, all of which may contribute to an increased risk of sexual offending. We tested our hypotheses in an online survey among self-identified German-speaking people with pedophilia (N = 104) using a wide range of validated indicators of social and emotional functioning (Brief Symptom Inventory-53, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Emotion Subscale of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, Fear of Negative Evaluation-5, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). Specific risk factors such as self-efficacy, cognitive distortions and the motivation to seek treatment were also assessed. In line with our hypotheses, fear of discovery generally predicted reduced social and emotional functioning. Contrary to our predictions, perceived social distance and fear of discovery were not linked to self-efficacy, cognitive distortions, or treatment motivation. Results were controlled for the effects of confounding variables (e.g, age, educational level, social desirability, relationship status). We critically evaluate the empirical contribution of this study to research on stigma and child sex offenses, including a discussion of the results in light of the potential indirect effects that public stigma may have on the overall risk for sexual offenses.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, Jun 2015
The present study was conducted to validate an adaptation of the Implicit Relational Assessment P... more The present study was conducted to validate an adaptation of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as an indirect latency-based measure of sexual orientation. Furthermore, reliability and criterion validity of the IRAP were compared to two established indirect measures of sexual orientation: a Choice Reaction Time task (CRT) and a Viewing Time (VT) task. A sample of 87 heterosexual and 35 gay men completed all three indirect measures in an online study. The IRAP and the VT predicted sexual orientation nearly perfectly. Both measures also showed a considerable amount of convergent validity. Reliabilities (internal consistencies) reached satisfactory levels. In contrast, the CRT did not tap into sexual orientation in the present study. In sum, the VT measure performed best, with the IRAP showing only slightly lower reliability and criterion validity, whereas the CRT did not yield any evidence of reliability or criterion validity in the present research. The results were discussed in the light of specific task properties of the indirect latency-based measures (task-relevance vs. task-irrelevance).
Schmidt, A. F., Zimmermann, P. S., Banse, R., & Imhoff, R. (2015). Ego depletion moderates the influence of automatic and controlled precursors of reactive aggression: A double dissociation. Social Psychology, 46, 131-142.
From a dual-systems perspective, it has been proposed that predictive validity of whether individ... more From a dual-systems perspective, it has been proposed that predictive validity of whether individuals act out or stifle their reactive aggression will be maximized if (a) automatic and (b) controlled precursors of aggression are assessed and (c) situational boundaries in favor of acting out or restraining oneself are specified. In the present research we experimentally manipulated participants’ self-regulatory resources in an ego depletion paradigm and subsequently measured reactive aggression in the Taylor Aggression Paradigm. Assessing automatic and controlled precursors of reactive aggression via an Implicit Association Test of Aggressiveness (Agg-IAT) and a self-report reactive aggressiveness questionnaire, respectively, we demonstrated a theoretically expected double dissociation: Reactive aggression of ego depleted individuals was associated with the indirect measure (Agg-IAT) whereas non-depleted participants’ reactive aggression correlated with the direct measure (self-report). The results corroborate the usefulness of both direct and indirect measures of aggressiveness and point to boundary conditions of these measures’ criterion validity.
Cognition, Jan 2015
Recently, Bernard, Gervais, Allen, Campomizzi, and Klein (2012) reported that individuals were le... more Recently, Bernard, Gervais, Allen, Campomizzi, and Klein (2012) reported that individuals were less able to recognize inverted vs. upright pictures of sexualized men as compared to women. Based on their formulation of the sexualized-body-inversion hypothesis (SBIH) it was concluded that sexualized women as compared to men are perceived in a more object-like manner supporting sexual objectification (SO) of females – independent from observer gender. We challenge this interpretation and hypothesize that the originally reported effect is the result of a methodological artifact due to gender-symmetry and stimuli setup-symmetry confounds in the original stimulus set. We tested this theoretically more parsimonious account in a methodologically stricter and extended conceptual replication of the putative SO-effect. Results from two studies showed that the original stimulus set indeed suffered from symmetry confounds and that these are necessary boundary-conditions in order for the hypothetical SO-effect to occur. It is concluded that the SBIH as postulated by Bernard et al. (2012) is based on a methodological artifact and cannot be related to SO but symmetry detection.
Psychological Assessment, Dec 2014
Individuals differ in the extent to which they are interested in sexualized violence as displayed... more Individuals differ in the extent to which they are interested in sexualized violence as displayed in the frequent but not ubiquitous sexual interest in consensual acts of violent sexual roleplay and violent pornographic media in the normal population. The present research sought to develop and validate a multi-method asessment battery to measure individual differences in the preference for sexualized violence (PSV). Three indirect measures (Implicit Association Test, Semantic Misattribution Paradigm, Viewing Time) were combined in an online study with 107 men and 103 women. Participants with and without an affiliation with sadomasochistic sexual interest groups were recruited on corresponding internet platforms. Results revealed that all three indirect measures converged in predicting self-reported sexual interest in non-consensual sexuality. Specifically, for men all indirect measures were related to non-consensual sadistic sexual interest, whereas for women an association with masochistic sexual interest was found. Stimulus artefacts versus genuine gender differences are discussed as potential explanations of this dissociation. An outlook on the usability of the assessment battery in applied settings is delivered.
Archives of Sexual Behavior
Men have been shown to estimate their likelihood of engaging in sexually coercive behaviors and a... more Men have been shown to estimate their likelihood of engaging in sexually coercive behaviors and also uncommon and unprotected sexual behaviors as higher when they are in an acute state of sexual arousal. The present research sought to test (1) whether sexual arousal effects could be replicated under more controlled laboratory settings, (2) whether women showed the same pattern of results, and (3) whether this effect was specific to sexual disinhibition or would generalize to non-sexual disinhibited behavior. In two experimental studies male and female participants (Study 1: N = 84; Study 2: N = 86) were either sexually aroused by acoustically presented erotic narratives or listened to sexually non-arousing neutral narratives. Afterwards, they self-estimated their likelihood of engaging in a variety of behaviors that could be characterized as sexual or nonsexual disinhibited behavior. Results replicated the previously established effect of sexual disinhibition under sexual arousal for men and provided the first evidence for a similar effect in women. No arousal effects were observed for non-sexual behavior, rendering alternative explanations based on mere indifferent responding unlikely. The discussion focusses on a plausible explanation for this effect.
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Papers by Alexander F Schmidt
Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es Anliegen dieses Buches, ein empirisch basiertes gutachterliches Vorgehen der psychologischen Schuldfähigkeitsbegutachtung bei SASA vorzustellen, das mit der forensischen Praxis vereinbar ist. Dabei wird zunächst einführend auf die rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen, bisher entwickelte entscheidungsorientierte Begutachtungsheuristiken sowie Mindeststandards eingegangen. Das neu vorgestellte Vorgehen zur Schuldfä-higkeitsbegutachtung bei SASA wird dabei über ein Vulnerabilitäts-Stress-Modell konzipiert, innerhalb dessen Bewältigungsfähigkeiten eine zentrale Rolle spielen. Dies wird aus einer persönlichkeitspsychologischen Rahmentheorie im Spannungsfeld von Saluto- und Pathoge-nese abgeleitet und anhand entsprechender Hypothesen überprüft. Auf der konkreten Begu-tachtungsebene wird ein zwei-axiales Begutachtungssystem vorgestellt, das sowohl situati-onsübergreifende als auch tatbezogene Erlebens- und Verhaltensweisen berücksichtigt. Proto-typen schuld- und vermindert schuldfähiger Straftäter sowie eine zugehörige Begutachtungs-heuristik auf empirischer Grundlage werden dargestellt.
Das Buch stellt in Fortführung der Forschungstätigkeit zu diesem Thema umfassendes empiri-sches Material zur Überprüfung und Absicherung der vorgestellten Heuristik für die Schuld-fähigkeitsbegutachtung bei SASA zur Verfügung. Es stellt ein hilfreiches forensisches Arbeits- und Forschungsmittel für Psychologen, Psychiater und Juristen dar."