Avatars with child sexual abuse (vs. no abuse) scenarios elicit different emotional reactions

Abstract

and Santtila, Pekka (2024) Avatars with child sexual abuse (vs. no abuse) scenarios elicit different emotional reactions. Psychology, Crime and Law, 30 (3). pp. 250-270.

Confirmation bias in simulated CSA interviews: How abuse assumption influences interviewing and decision‐making processes?

“…Participants that assumed an abuse happened were more confident in their judgements, used more not recommended questions, elicited more wrong details, reached less correct conclusions and used the relevant details they uncovered about the case less effectively (supporting H3.1, H3.2, H3.3, H3.4 and H4). These results are in line with empirical and theoretical development in emotion research (Briñol & DeMarree, 2012;Briñol et al, 2018) and research examining the interviewer's emotional response to suspected child sexual abuse cases (Segal & Santtila, 2022;Magnusson et al, 2021). Certain emotions frequently evoked in CSA interviews such as anger and disgust (Segal & Santtila, 2022;Magnusson et al, 2021) could induce feelings of confidence in one's thoughts (Briñol et al, 2018), which in turn may cause greater cognitive biases such as confirmation bias.…”

“…These results are in line with empirical and theoretical development in emotion research (Briñol & DeMarree, 2012;Briñol et al, 2018) and research examining the interviewer's emotional response to suspected child sexual abuse cases (Segal & Santtila, 2022;Magnusson et al, 2021). Certain emotions frequently evoked in CSA interviews such as anger and disgust (Segal & Santtila, 2022;Magnusson et al, 2021) could induce feelings of confidence in one's thoughts (Briñol et al, 2018), which in turn may cause greater cognitive biases such as confirmation bias. These effects of assumption of abuse can have a direct impact on the quality of subsequent decision-making in those alleged CSA cases where there is no other corroborating evidence besides the interview with the child.…”

“…Due to the nature of the data used in the current analysis, we did not have measures of specific emotions that in theory contributed to the elevated confirmation bias among those who presumed sexual abuse. However, the link between abuse and anger and disgust for the materials used in the studies included in the present analyses has been established in a recent study conducted by Segal and Santtila (2022) and the literature on emotion and metacognition is abundant (Briñol & DeMarree, 2012;Briñol et al, 2007Briñol et al, , 2018. Still, to offer a more rigorous examination of confirmation bias in CSA interviews, future research should measure specific emotions after reading the case introduction and after the interview.…”

“…CSA interviews can be an emotional experience for the child and the interviewer. In a recent study specifically examining the interviewer's emotional responses to narratives of alleged cases of child sexual abuse, it was found that abuse narratives induced strong feelings of sadness, anger and disgust in participants whereas narratives of non-abuse induced feelings of relief (Segal & Santtila, 2022). These emotions (anger and disgust in particular) associated with the assumption of abuse have been shown to have an impact on decision-making via metacognitive appraisals (Briñol & DeMarree, 2012;Briñol et al, 2007Briñol et al, , 2018Huntsinger et al, 2012) and may influence the interviewer's attitudes during interviewing (Oxburgh et al, 2006).…”

“…Built on literature examining interviewers' emotional response to child sexual abuse (Segal & Santtila, 2022;Magnusson et al, 2021) and basic emotion and cognition research (Briñol & DeMarree, 2012;Briñol et al, 2007Briñol et al, , 2018, we reasoned that those whose preliminary assumption was one of sexual abuse would also show greater confirmation bias. In terms of selective information processing, they would be less likely to fully make use of relevant details to reach a correct conclusion.…”