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Content-based techniques for credibility assessment (Criteria-Based Content Analysis [CBCA], Reality Monitoring [RM]) have been shown to distinguish between experience-based and fabricated statements in previous meta-analyses. New simulations raised the question whether these results are reliable revealing that using meta-analytic methods on biased datasets lead to false-positive rates of up to 100%. By assessing the performance of and applying different bias-correcting meta-analytic methods on a set of 71 studies we aimed for more precise effect size estimates. According to the sole bias-correcting meta-analytic method that performed well under a priori specified boundary conditions, CBCA and RM distinguished between experience-based and fabricated statements. However, great heterogeneity limited precise point estimation (i.e., moderate to large effects). In contrast, Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN)--another content-based technique tested--failed to discriminate between truth and lies. It is discussed how the gap between research on and forensic application of content-based credibility assessment may be narrowed.

People with pedophilia (PWP) can deal with their sexual desires by relieving sexual arousal without sexually exploiting children. Study 1 investigated whether public reactions toward nonoffending pedophilic men are affected by their strategies to relieve sexual arousal (nonsexual pictures vs. child sex dolls) or to reduce their sex drive via testosterone lowering medication in legally nonproblematic ways. A sample of German-speaking participants (N = 143) read three vignettes describing PWP using either of these strategies. Participants' (59.4% females) mean age was 39.7 (SD = 15.6). Although no significant difference was detected between the nonsexual pictures and sex dolls conditions on cognitive (except for dangerousness), affective, and behavioral levels, both consistently elicited more stigmatizing reactions than the testosterone-lowering medication condition. To investigate if this effect was driven by disapproving any relief of sexual arousal or the use of actual child stimuli in particular, Study 2 (N = 151) added two conditions with PWP using adult child-like stimuli to relieve sexual arousal: adult-as-schoolgirl porn and adult partner with childlike appearance. Here, Participants' (57.6% females) mean age was 28.0 (SD = 13.3). Results indicate that stigmatization was driven by disapproving the use of child stimuli rather than the relief of sexual arousal in general. Individuals with a sexual interest in children face strong stigmatizing reactions, which are only alleviated when they are described as undergoing treatment lowering sex drive or – to a lesser extent – being able to mate with an adult partner or using porn with adult actors posing as schoolgirls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detrimental consequences of suggestive witness manipulation have been frequently discussed in the literature. Notably, these discussions have been limited to the consequences of suggestive question types and interrogator conduct. This study is the first to investigate the influence of interrogator's intonation on interrogative suggestibility. Specifically, utilizing a modified German version of the forensic Gudjonsson suggestibility scale as dependent variable, we experimentally manipulated phrase-final contours (low vs. high) and accentuation of details (neutral vs. emphatic) in the questions of the interrogator in a student sample (N = 88). Phrase-final falling intonation contours increased suggestibility both through suggestive questions and through negative feedback. In contrast, accentuation of selected details increased only the latter. The combination of both tonal patterns only partially influenced suggestive response behavior after the exposure to interrogative pressure. However, particularly the combination of phrase-final rising and neutral intonation consistently led to lowest interrogative suggestibility. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications for forensic contexts.

Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance and the understanding of cognitive distortions as defense mechanisms, we argued that individuals convicted of sexual offenses diagnosed with exclusive pedophilia (epICSOC) report more child offense related cognitive distortions compared to individuals convicted of sexual offenses without such diagnosis (oICSOC). In the present study, we aimed to empirically validate these clinical observations and previous results by relating cognitive distortions to four measures of pedophilic preference, namely, a clinical diagnosis of pedophilia, viewing time captured and self-reported pedophilic preference (EISIP; as well as the SSPI-2). Results revealed that cognitive distortions in general and minimizing sexually offending behavior toward children or attributing sexual interest to children in particular, significantly correlated with all four measures of pedosexual preference. Regression analyses, furthermore, indicated that attributing sexual interest to children was the best predictor for a pedosexual preference. Results thus show that cognitive distortions typically associated with child molesting in general are, in fact, more common in individuals convicted of sexual offenses diagnosed with exclusive pedophilia than in those without such diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the link between childhood sexual abuse experiences (CSAE) and pedohebephilia is limited by its focus on events that the respondents rate as abusive. We asked 199 German-speaking (Study 1) and 632 English-speaking (Study 2) men with and without self-reported pedohebephilia to complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and scales to assess perceived non-coercive childhood sexual experiences with adults (PNCSE-A), and peers (PNCSE-P, only Study 2). A substantial number of participants with PNCSE-A disagreed with all items of the CTQ Sexual Abuse subscale (e.g., 35% and 26% of pedohebephilic men in Studies 1 and 2, 38% of teleiophilic men in Study 2). While pedohebephilic men reported more CSAE than teleiophilic men, the effects for PNCSE-A did not consistently point in the expected direction. In Study 2, conviction status for sexual offenses among pedohebephilic men was linked to higher rates of CSAE, PNCSE-A, PNCSE-P, physical neglect, and physical abuse. Pedohebephilic men in Study 2 also reported more PNCSE-P than teleiophilic men. Our results highlight the importance of assessing different (positive or neutral) perceptions of CSAE. Better controlled designs (e.g., matched case-control studies) are needed to substantiate whether and how perceived non-coercive childhood sexual experiences relate to pedohebephilia and sexual offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]