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The implicit theories theory has been one of the most influential single-factor theories explaining the role of cognitive distortions in sexual offending against children (Dangerfield, Ildeniz, & Ó Ciardha, 2020; Ward, 2000; Ward, Polaschek, & Beech, 2006). The dangerous world implicit theory is one of the most consistently hypothesised implicit theories across different offender groups (e.g., Beech, Fisher, & Ward, 2005; Ó Ciardha & Gannon, 2012; Ward & Keenan, 1999). It refers to the core belief that the world is a dangerous place in which other people are perceived as threatening, abusive and rejecting (Ward & Keenan, 1999). Ward and Keenan proposed two versions of this theory based on the beliefs that: (1) one needs to fight back in order to achieve control over others' threatening and abusive behaviour, and (2) unlike adults who are perceived as threatening, children are seen as safe and dependable; capable of understanding one's needs and sexual desires as well as willing to gratify them. The primary goal of this thesis is to unpack and examine the conceptualisation of the dangerous world implicit theory by Ward and Keenan (1999). A series of six studies (both quantitative and qualitative) were conducted, examining the potential sub-constructs within the dangerous world implicit theory, the similarities between those and other psychological constructs in the wider literature as well as the development and the role of the dangerous world implicit theory in sexual offending against children. Overall, results suggested that the concept of dangerous world implicit theory is multi-dimensional and some of the dimensions may be developed as a result of early adverse experiences in life. The proposed multi-dimensional model in this thesis offers a unique alternative framework for understanding the concept of a dangerous world implicit theory.

During the visual processing of sexual content, pupillary responses have been positively associated with observers' sexual orientation. The question of whether this measure also reflects age-specific sexual preferences, however, is rarely considered. This is remarkable given the potential applied value of pupillary responses for directly measuring unhealthy and inappropriate sexual desires in clinical and forensic settings. The experiments in this thesis addressed this question with a series of tasks whereby observers' viewed images of adults and children while their eye movements and pupil responses were recorded. These results were then compared with sexual appeal ratings for these images and self-report questionnaires relating to sexual interests and experiences. The main findings indicate that pupil dilation is a measure of sexual orientation that is particularly robust and consistent for male participants (Chapters 2 to 4). Furthermore, these experiments provide initial evidence that pupil dilation could also be used as an age-specific measure of sexual interest in males and females (Chapters 2 and 3). Additionally, this thesis explored the influence of low-level stimulus artefacts within the scenes on pupillary patterns (Chapter 2). Findings provide further evidence that the pupillary responses obtained in these experiments are driven by the person content in the scenes. These findings are discussed in relation to existing research on eye-tracking and other current measurements of sexual interest.