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Implicit measurement of violence-related cognitions

Blumenthal, S; Gray, NS; Shuker, R; Wood, H; Fonagy, P; Allonby, M; Flynn, A; ... Snowden, RJ; + view all (2019) Implicit measurement of violence-related cognitions. Psychology of Violence , 9 (2) pp. 235-243. 10.1037/vio0000194. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Violence-related cognitions may underpin many acts of violence, but explicit self-report measures of these cognitions may be inadequate to assess them fully due to their unconscious nature or due to deliberate dissimulation. We designed three versions of the implicit association test (IAT) that separately examined violence-related associations to valence (good vs bad), hedonic-value (enjoy vs dislike) and arousal (exciting vs boring) and examined if these were associated with greater levels of past criminal activity and self-reported violence. METHOD: The three IATs were administered to an offender sample (N = 108) with a history of serious offending and a diagnosis of Personality Disorder. Violence was assessed via the Proactive and Reactive Aggression Questionnaire and by examination of previous convictions. RESULTS: The IATs showed good to moderate reliability. The valence-IAT did not show any significant correlations to the measures of previous violence. The hedonic value-IAT showed positive relationships with official records of convictions, especially among participants without a conviction for homicide. The arousal-IAT was positively related to self-reported aggression in those without a conviction for homicide. CONCLUSIONS: The results show some promise that indirect techniques may be able to measure violence-related cognitions.

Type: Article
Title: Implicit measurement of violence-related cognitions
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1037/vio0000194
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/vio0000194
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Implicit association test, Reactive aggression, Proactive aggression, Personality disorder
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10045162
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