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Reinforcement sensitivity of sex offenders and non‐offenders: An experimental and psychometric study of reinforcement sensitivity theory
Author(s) -
Leue Anja,
Brocke Burkhard,
Hoyer Jürgen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1348/000712607x228519
Subject(s) - psychology , impulsivity , reinforcement , sex offender , clinical psychology , anxiety , impulse control , impulse (physics) , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics
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.