Taxometric Analysis of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles in Incarcerated Offenders and College Students

Abstract

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) was administered to 427 (204 male and 223 female) incarcerated offenders and 393 (177 male and 216 female) college students in order to assess the latent structure of the PICTS under conditions conducive to the formation of a pseudotaxon. Objective and subjective analyses of 3 different taxometric procedures—mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum covariance/maximum eigenvalue (MAXCOV/ MAXEIG), and latent mode (L-Mode) factor analysis—in the total sample and 4 subgroups of participants were conducted. Results revealed modest to moderate support for a dimensional interpretation of the latent structure of the PICTS, despite wide differences in age, race, criminality, and PICTS scores between the groups in each subsample. The implications of these results for the lifestyle theory of criminal behavior are discussed.

An exploration of criminal thinking styles among civil psychiatric patients

“…Contrary to our expectations, criminal cognitions were signifi cantly higher among civil psychiatric patients than among male prison inmates. Specifi cally, the PICTS scales of mollifi cation, cutoff, entitlement, power orientation and sentimentality were all signifi cantly higher in this psychiatric sample compared with non-mentally ill male inmates (Walters and McCoy, 2007). This is particularly noteworthy because our sample of psychiatric patients was signifi cantly older than the inmate sample.…”

“…underage drinking) or denied any criminal behaviour. In a subsequent analysis, Walters and McCoy (2007) found that several PICTS thinking styles scales were actually higher in the male college sample as compared with the male offender sample, although this effect was attributed to the younger age of the college sample. When age was statistically controlled, scores in the offender sample were higher.…”

“…According to self-report and confi rmed though transcribed criminal record, most patients (60, 78.9%) have previously been arrested. Data from the study participants were compared with data from 204 men in medium-security correctional institutions (see Walters and McCoy, 2007).…”

“…Independent samples t-tests were used to compare the PICTS thinking style scores within our sample and with data from correctional samples reported by Walters and McCoy (2007). In addition, because age and education have been found to infl uence scores on the PICTS (younger test takers tend to score higher), independent samples t-tests were calculated on these two variables.…”

Criminogenic Thinking Mediates the Relation Between Violent Media Exposure and Aggression

“…As the name suggests, this is a cognitive style or belief system that contributes to criminal behavior (Walters, 2006). Although criminogenic thinking has historically been discussed mainly in regard to criminal offenders, criminogenic thinking occurs on a continuum and everyone engages in some level of criminogenic thinking, which can perpetuate noncriminal maladaptive and irresponsible behavior (Walters & McCoy, 2007). Researchers in this area have provided different conceptualizations of what constitutes criminogenic thinking.…”