A pilot development of virtual stimuli depicting affective dispositions for penile plethysmography assessment of sex offenders

Abstract

There are concerns regarding the reliability, realism, and validity of stimulus materials used in the assessment of sexual interests among sex offenders. This article explores new stimulus materials for use with penile plethysmography (PPG) assessments. First, this paper presents a pilot study where undergraduate students rated virtual characters (male and female) on perceived age. In addition, the materials developed are unique in that they depict the characters exhibiting varying affective dispositions, including neutral, fearful, sad, joyful, and seductive. Participants in the first study were also asked to identify the affective disposition of the virtual characters, and results suggest that affective disposition was largely perceived as intended, especially in terms of identifying the general emotional valence of the affective dispositions (i.e., positive versus negative). In a second pilot study, we used the computer-generated images to measure sexual arousal responses in a group of non-deviant males recruited in the community. Responses measured through penile plethysmography suggest participants responded to the stimuli as expected, as the greatest amount of sexual arousal was recorded when participants were shown the adult female character. In addition, participants responded with significant arousal only when the adult female character was depicted as sexually open ( joyful or seductive), rather than sexually closed or neutral. Results suggest these materials may discriminate sexual interests if applied within clinical forensic assessment of sex offenders.

Use of penile plethysmography in the court: A review of practices in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States

“…For the first and second criteria, the PPG has been the subject of numerous studies that have been published in peer‐reviewed journals. Although there is a long history of research on the PPG, within the last 5 years specifically, it has been studied using samples of men with pedophilic interests (Müller et al, ), examining attempts to dissimulate (Babchishin, Curry, Fedoroff, Bradford, & Seto, ; Trottier, Rouleau, Renaud, & Goyette, ), comparisons of PPG laboratories, techniques, and standardization (Demidova et al, ; Murphy & Fedoroff, ; Murphy, Ranger, Stewart, et al, , Murphy, Ranger, Fedoroff, et al, ), PPG stimuli (Dennis, Rouleau, Renaud, Nolet, & Saumur, ; Murphy et al, ; Murphy, Ranger, Fedoroff, Burke, & Dwyer, ; Rosetti et al, ), and meta‐analytic techniques (McPhail et al, ).…”

eHealth in Treatment of Offenders in Forensic Mental Health: A Review of the Current State

“…In the majority of the included studies, web-based interventions were as effective as and, in some cases, more effective than in-person interventions. However, many technologies were not studied as extensively as this category, so to create a thorough evidence base for all categories, more evaluation studies are recommended ( 58 , 60 , 76 ). A more specific recommendation provided by several studies was to determine what types of interventions work best for which type of patients, and which mechanisms of change contribute to these differences between individuals ( 47 , 48 , 59 , 76 , 83 ).…”

Comparison of arousal and preference assessment outcomes for sex offenders with intellectual disabilities

“…The most common measure of arousal for the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders continues to involve the use of the penile plethysmograph (e.g., Dennis, Rouleau, Renaud, Nolet, & Saumur, ; Reyes, Vollmer, & Hall, ; Reyes, Vollmer, & Hall, ). This approach involves measuring penile tumescence in the presence of a variety of stimuli to identify the conditions under which an individual will show arousal.…”