Queiroz C1, Rowlands M2, Dawson A3
1UNSW, 2Monash University, 3University of Melbourne
Biography:
Cindy Queiroz is a postgraduate student currently completing a Master of Psychology (Forensic) at UNSW. She has an avid interest in the research of sexual offenders, with aspirations to complete further research narrowing into public perceptions.
The current media portrays sex offenders as a stigmatised group. Given the egregious offences committed, this is unsurprising. The reviled reactions by the public have meant that the re-entry of sex offenders into the community is faced with numerous challenges and criticisms.
A prominent theory potentially underpinning public attitudes towards sex offenders is the dual processing theory of moral judgement. This model is based on the notion that cognitive thinking is mediated by two central systems. The first system is known to operate rapidly and automatically and is commonly associated with an emotional reaction. Whereas system two is the analytic system and is based on logical reasoning resulting in operations that are slow and heavily demanding.
To investigate this theory, the current study focused on applying the dual processing theory to determine whether public views differed based on their elicited response.
A total of 352 participants (Mage = 31.92) were recruited and randomly allocated into one of three groups; 1. cognitive manipulation, 2. emotional manipulation and, 3. control group. The first group involved completing psychometric scales known to activate rational thinking, and the second group involved exposure to two 10-second videos used to evoke the emotional reaction of disgust.
The analysis identified that no significance was detected across groups, suggesting that the saliency of sexual offending might outweigh any rational considerations. These findings raise ethical questions and concerns as to whether attitudes can be free from bias.