Stable-2007 and indeterminate detention

Public safety is the primary reason to assess future risk in men with a history of sexual offending. Over the last twenty-five years our knowledge of, and ability to assess, dynamic risk factors in men with a history of sexual offending has meaningfully improved, but understanding, adoption, utilization, and reasonable implementation of the fruits of this new knowledge is not universal. This article presents a brief overview of the development of dynamic risk assessment for men with a history of sexual offending, primarily following the work of R. Karl Hanson and his associates. This is followed by a review of a meta-analysis on the reliability and validity of STABLE-2007 and two other independent studies that provide useful ancillary information. Utilizing STABLE-2007 with men faced with, or under sanction of indeterminate detention is the focus of this paper and we will review how mental health diagnoses affect recidivism assessment, some concerns about implicit assessment biases, how to employ stable dynamic assessment in secure facilities, address treatment implications resulting from dynamic assessment, and present ideas for future research. I will close by presenting nine (9) arguments why using STABLE-2007 is recommended practice with indeterminate detention populations.

Overcoming limitations of self-report: an assessment of fear of weight gain in anorexia nervosa and healthy controls using implicit association tests

Background Fear of weight gain is a characteristic feature of anorexia nervosa (AN), and reducing this fear is often a main target of treatment. However, research shows that 20% of individuals with AN do not report fear of weight gain. Studies are needed that evaluate the centrality of fear of weight gain for AN with a method less susceptible to deception than self-report. Methods We approximated implicit fear of weight gain by measuring implicit drive for thinness using implicit association tests (IATs). We asked 64 participants (35 AN, 29 healthy controls [HCs]) to categorize statements as pro-dieting vs. non-dieting and true vs. false in a questionnaire-based IAT, and pictures of underweight vs. normal-weight models and positive vs. negative words in a picture-based IAT using two response keys. We tested for associations between implicit drive for thinness and explicitly reported psychopathology within AN as well as group differences between AN and HC groups. Results Correlation analyses within the AN group showed that higher implicit drive for thinness was associated with more pronounced eating disorder-specific psychopathology. Furthermore, the AN group showed a stronger implicit drive for thinness than HCs in both IATs. Conclusion The results highlight the relevance of considering fear of weight gain as a continuous construct. Our implicit assessment captures various degrees of fear of weight gain in AN, which might allow for more individually tailored interventions in the future.

Dissociating implicit and explicit ensemble representations reveals the limits of visual perception and the richness of behavior

Our senses provide us with a rich experience of a detailed visual world, yet the empirical results seem to suggest severe limitations on our ability to perceive and remember. In recent attempts to reconcile the contradiction between what is experienced and what can be reported, it has been argued that the visual world is condensed to a set of summary statistics, explaining both the rich experience and the sparse reports. Here, we show that explicit reports of summary statistics underestimate the richness of ensemble perception. Our observers searched for an odd-one-out target among heterogeneous distractors and their representation of distractor characteristics was tested explicitly or implicitly. Observers could explicitly distinguish distractor sets with different mean and variance, but not differently-shaped probability distributions. In contrast, the implicit assessment revealed that the visual system encodes the mean, the variance, and even the shape of feature distributions. Furthermore, explicit measures had common noise sources that distinguished them from implicit measures. This suggests that explicit judgments of stimulus ensembles underestimate the richness of visual representations. We conclude that feature distributions are encoded in rich detail and can guide behavior implicitly, even when the information available for explicit summary judgments is coarse and limited.

Rasch gone mixed: A mixed model approach to the Implicit Association Test

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is one of the most commonly used measures for the implicit assessment of preferences and attitudes. Nevertheless, the meaning of the IAT effect remains unclear. Since the IAT is based on the speed and accuracy with which different stimuli are categorized in the category to which they belong, the sense of the IAT measure is strongly related to the functioning of the stimuli used to represent the categories. Thus, a model providing a fine-grained analysis at both respondents and stimuli levels would help in clarifying and interpreting the IAT measure. By applying Linear Mixed Effects Models to IAT accuracy and time responses, this study aims to present a modeling framework for IAT data resulting in such a detailed analysis at both respondents and stimuli levels. The proposed models provide a detailed picture of the contribution of each stimulus to the IAT effect, allowing for the identification of malfunctioning stimuli that can be eliminated or substituted to obtain better performing IATs. Additionally, the detailed information on respondents' performance yields a better understanding of the classic measure of the IAT effect (i.e., the <i>D</i> score). Implications of the results and future research directions, also implying different implicit procedures, are discussed

Rasch gone mixed: A mixed model approach to the Implicit Association Test

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is one of the most commonly used measures for the implicit assessment of preferences and attitudes. Nevertheless, the meaning of the IAT effect remains unclear. Since the IAT is based on the speed and accuracy with which different stimuli are categorized in the category to which they belong, the sense of the IAT measure is strongly related to the functioning of the stimuli used to represent the categories. Thus, a model providing a fine-grained analysis at both respondents and stimuli levels would help in clarifying and interpreting the IAT measure. By applying Linear Mixed Effects Models to IAT accuracy and time responses, this study aims to present a modeling framework for IAT data resulting in such a detailed analysis at both respondents and stimuli levels. The proposed models provide a detailed picture of the contribution of each stimulus to the IAT effect, allowing for the identification of malfunctioning stimuli that can be eliminated or substituted to obtain better performing IATs. Additionally, the detailed information on respondents' performance yields a better understanding of the classic measure of the IAT effect (i.e., the <i>D</i> score). Implications of the results and future research directions, also implying different implicit procedures, are discussed

Lions, and Tigers, and Implicit Measures, Oh My! Implicit Assessment and the Valence vs. Threat Distinction

Physically threatening objects are negative, but negative objects are not necessarily threatening. Moreover, responses elicited by threats to physical harm are distinct from those elicited by other negatively (and positively) valenced stimuli. We discuss the importance of the threat versus valence distinction for implicit measurement both in terms of the activated evaluation and the design of the measure employed to assess that evaluation. We suggest that accounting for the distinct evaluations of threat and valence better enables implicit measures to provide understanding and prediction of subsequent judgment, emotion, and behavior.

Addressee factor in Text of the Official Document (Decrees of Governor of Tula Region, Issued in Connection with the Spread of Covid-2019)

The issue of taking into account the addressee factor in the text of an official document is considered. The controversial nature of this issue and the topicality of the material determined the relevance of the study. It is proved that the originality of the texts of decrees is defined by two oppositely directed tendencies. On the one hand, it is stated that the addressee factor is taken into account due to the performative nature of the legislator’s speech. It is noted that his speech activity is based primarily on prohibitions and restrictions; permissions are exceptions to the prohibition; the requirements are reduced to the obligations of the addressee and the instructions to him. It was revealed that the implicit meanings of the text become clear taking into account the pragmatic presupposition “what is appropriate is good”. It was established that the implicit assessment is formed under the influence of the addressee factor: the preambles of decrees are estimated, the temporal characteristics of the statements are detailed. It is shown that when constructing texts, the focus on the addressee becomes obvious due to the structural-rubric allocation and grouping of information. It is emphasized that the genre canons are being blurred due to the desire of the legislator for convincing reasoning of decisions. On the other hand, the analysis of texts in dynamics revealed that the historically established system of changing documents is not focused on the addressee. It is concluded that the complexity of the presentation of information or its vagueness testifies to the stereotypes of the legislator’s speech behavior.

Dissociating implicit and explicit ensemble representations reveals the limits of visual perception and the richness of behavior

Our senses provide us with a rich experience of a detailed visual world, yet the empirical results seem to suggest severe limitations on our ability to perceive and remember. In recent attempts to reconcile the contradiction between what is experienced and what can be reported, it has been argued that the visual world is condensed to a set of summary statistics, explaining both the rich experience and the sparse reports. Here, we show that explicit reports of summary statistics underestimate the richness of ensemble perception. Our observers searched for an odd-one-out target among heterogeneous distractors and their representation of distractor characteristics was tested explicitly or implicitly. Observers could explicitly distinguish distractor sets with different mean and variance, but not differently-shaped probability distributions. In contrast, the implicit assessment revealed encoding of mean, variance, and even distribution shape. Furthermore, explicit measures had common noise sources that distinguished them from implicit measures. This suggests that explicit judgments of stimulus ensembles underestimate the richness of visual representations. We conclude that feature distributions are encoded in rich detail and can guide behavior implicitly, even when the information available for explicit summary judgments is coarse and limited.