Michael Z1, Brewer N1, Young R1
1Flinders University
Biography:
Zoe Michael is a PhD Candidate (Clinical Psychology) at Flinders University in South Australia. Her research examines the relationship between perspective-taking and the detection of suspicious behaviour, and how this might impact vulnerability to criminal involvement and victimisation. Clinically, Zoe has a keen interest in forensic assessment and intervention and is currently completing her final clinical placement at the Department for Correctional Services Sentence Management Unit.
The ability to take the perspective of others is fundamental to successful social interaction. In potentially problematic social exchanges, people with impaired perspective-taking may be vulnerable to manipulation and coercion that may lead to them becoming involved in crime or being victimised. Empirical evidence demonstrating the impact of impaired perspective-taking in forensic contexts is, however, limited. To investigate the relationship between perspective-taking and the detection of suspicious behaviour, we developed a novel paradigm to measure people’s ability to detect and respond to suspicious behaviour within an interaction. Online participants listened to several audio scenarios (some of which culminated in criminal acts such as storing child pornography or acting as a getaway driver for a burglary) and were probed several times during the scenarios to assess how they would react based on the information received to that point. They were also required to provide a justification for this reaction. Across two studies we found the paradigm was a viable way to capture rich data regarding people’s behaviours and their recognition of suspicion across various problematic situations. Individuals’ reactions were coded into behavioural categories (e.g., would comply with the interaction partner’s request, would seek further information, would extricate self from the interaction, report to the police). The data illustrate whether people reacted adaptively, how early in the interaction they did so, why they did so, etc). The tool will now be validated against existing measures of gullibility, social vulnerability, and trust, and investigate differences in responding between autistic and non-autistic individuals.