Cognitive and affective components of interpersonal interaction in patients with abnormal sexual behavior

Abstract

We discuss the problem of interpersonal interaction in the perpetrators of sexual crimes against children. The purpose of the study was to examine the abilities evolved as important factors of interpersonal interaction disorders and of sexual crime predictors: decentration, identification and recognition of emotions and empathy. The experimental study sample comprised 26 people who have committed sexual offenses against children and held stationary comprehensive examination on the basis of V.P. Serbskiy State Research Center of Social and Forensic Psychiatry (14 of them were diagnosed with pedophilia). The control group (N = 21) consisted of people who have never held criminally liable. The study showed that the greatest deficits in the studied abilities were demonstrated by the criminals without pedophilia. Individuals with pedophilia have difficulty recognizing their own and others’emotional state, but at the same time demonstrate higher rates of decentration and empathy, even in comparison with the control group.