Abstract. Aggressive individuals are thought to process social information in such a manner that the likelihood of engaging in aggressive acts increases drastically. Additionally, emotion and emotion regulation skills are implicated in aggressive and violent behavior as well. However, little attention has been paid to the reciprocal relations between emotion and emotion regulation and Social Information Processing (SIP) in explaining aggression. Therefore, the present study systematically examined extant research on the role of emotion and SIP in aggressive behavior. The results supported substantial overlap between emotion and emotion regulation processes and SIP in explaining aggression. Due to the paucity and nature of available studies, no firm conclusion can be drawn about the nature of their reciprocal relationships. However, the integration of cognition and emotion seems a promising avenue of research for explaining the development and manifestation of aggressive behavior, as well as to inform its prevention and treatment. Future research is needed to elucidate the likely intertwined roles of emotion and the entire SIP process in offender or at-risk populations.

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Violent offending behaviours remain an important issue in particular when associated with mental illness. To prevent recidivism and protect society, investments are required to develop new tools that would provide decision makers with a better understanding of violent behaviours and ultimately improve treatment options for violent offenders. Recently, Virtual Reality (VR) is gaining recognition as promising tool in forensic psychiatry. Amongst other things, VR allows a renewal from both methodological and theoretical points of view. The aim of this paper is to introduce VR applications in the context of forensic psychiatry. After a brief introduction to the purpose of forensic psychiatry, examples will be given in order to illustrate how VR can help address some of the field's current issues.