The authors offer a framework for conceptualizing collective identity that aims to clarify and make distinctions among dimensions of identification that have not always been clearly articulated. Elements of collective identification included in this framework are self-categorization, evaluation, importance, attachment and sense of interdependence, social embeddedness, behavioral involvement, and content and meaning. For each element, the authors take note of different labels that have been used to identify what appear to be conceptually equivalent constructs, provide examples of studies that illustrate the concept, and suggest measurement approaches. Further, they discuss the potential links between elements and outcomes and how context moderates these relationships. The authors illustrate the utility of the multidimensional organizing framework by analyzing the different configuration of elements in 4 major theories of identification.

An organizing framework for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality

Previous typologies of male batterers, including typologies developed by means of rational-deductive and empirical-inductive strategies, are reviewed. On the basis of this review, 3 descriptive dimensions (i.e., severity of marital violence, generality of the violence [toward the wife or toward others], and psychopathology/personality disorders) that consistently have been found to distinguish among subtypes of batterers are identified. These dimensions are used to propose a typology consisting of 3 subtypes of batterers (i.e., family only, dysphoric/borderline, and generally violent/antisocial). A developmental model of marital violence is then presented, and the previous literature is reviewed to examine how each batterer subtype might differ on variables of theoretical interest. Finally, some of the methodological limitations of previous typology research are reviewed, and suggestions for future work are offered.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/116/3/476.pdf

Typologies of male batterers: Three subtypes and the differences among them.

Theories of sexual aggression and victimization have increasingly emphasized the role of rape myths in the perpetuation of sexual assault. Rape myths are attitudes and generally false beliefs about...

Rape Myths In Review

Sociopaths are “outstanding” members of society in two senses: politically, they draw our attention because of the inordinate amount of crime they commit, and psychologically, they hold our fascination because most ofus cannot fathom the cold, detached way they repeatedly harm and manipulate others. Proximate explanations from behavior genetics, child development, personality theory, learning theory, and social psychology describe a complex interaction of genetic and physiological risk factors with demographic and micro environmental variables that predispose a portion of the population to chronic antisocial behavior. More recent, evolutionary and game theoretic models have tried to present an ultimate explanation of sociopathy as the expression of a frequency-dependent life strategy which is selected, in dynamic equilibrium, in response to certain varying environmental circumstances. This paper tries to integrate the proximate, developmental models with the ultimate, evolutionary ones, suggesting that two developmentally different etiologies of sociopathy emerge from two different evolutionary mechanisms. Social strategies for minimizing the incidence of sociopathic behavior in modern society should consider the two different etiologies and the factors that contribute to them.

The sociobiology of sociopathy: An integrated evolutionary model

Risk assessment and treatment for sexual offenders should focus on individual characteristics associated with recidivism risk. Although it is possible to conduct risk assessments based purely on empirical correlates, the most useful evaluations also explain the source of the risk. In this review, the authors propose that the basic requirements for a psychologically meaningful risk factor are (a) a plausible rationale that the factor is a cause of sexual offending and (b) strong evidence that it predicts sexual recidivism. Based on the second of these criteria, the authors categorize potential risk factors according to the strength of the evidence for their relationship with offending. The most strongly supported variables should be emphasized in both assessment and treatment of sexual offenders. Further research is required, however, to establish causal connections between these variables and recidivism and to examine the extent to which changes in these factors leads to reductions in recidivism potential.

/pdf/assessing-risk-for-sexual-recidivism-some-proposals-on-the-4lwhpju7s2.pdf

Assessing Risk for Sexual Recidivism: Some Proposals on the Nature of Psychologically Meaningful Risk Factors:

Structural equation modeling was used to study the characteristics of college men (N = 2,652) who aggressed against women either sexually, nonsexually, or both. According to the model, hostile childhood experiences affect involvement in delinquency, leading to aggression through two paths: (a) hostile attitudes and personality, which result in coerciveness both in sexual and nonsexual interactions, and (b) sexual promiscuity, which, especially in interaction with hostility, produces sexual aggression. In addition, sexual and nonsexual coercion were hypothesized to share a common underlying factor. Although its development was guided by integrating previous theory and research, the initial model was refined in half of the sample and later replicated in the second half. Overall, it fitted the data very well in both halves and in a separate replication with a sample for whom data were available about sexual but not about nonsexual aggression.

Characteristics of aggressors against women: testing a model using a national sample of college students.

This article reports two studies aimed at developing a new scale of attitudes toward women, incorporating six theoretically derived perspectives: conservative; liberal, radical, socialist, and cultural feminist; and women of color (womanist). In Study 1, an initial pool of 306 items was given to 117 respondents. Selection of 10 attitudinal and 3 behavioral items from each perspective for the final scale was based chiefly on item-total correlations. In Study 2, the Feminist Perspectives Scale was administered to 344 respondents and showed reasonable reliability and validity. For Femscore, a composite of five feminist attitudinal subscales, Cronbach's alpha was .91; test–retest correlations were .91 at 2 weeks and .86 at 4 weeks. Empirical data provided generally good support for the six perspectives, and factor analysis produced partial support for the six-perspective structure.

Developing a scale to measure the diversity of feminist attitudes

The study upon which this article is based arose from a series of seminars on Law and Film Studies during 2002 and 2003.1 More broadly it taps in to an ongoing question that has been at the heart of debates within the nascent law and film movement.2 Historically, the published writing on film in relation to law has assumed that popular culture must have some kind of impact on the general zeitgeist and on individuals in particular. As soon as lawyers started to feature in film there were concerns that the legal profession might be shown in a bad light, and what the implications of this would be.3 The assumption was that films had ‘effects’, and that ‘bad effects’ were to be avoided or at least balanced. The Hays Code is the best known example of the industry controlling its own output to avoid censorship. The Hays Code basically sought to preserve social values within the production of films; for example, one of the principles underlying the Code was that “Law . . . should not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation”.4 With the demise of such production codes, and their replacement by much softer touch Codes of Self Regulation, there has been a major shift away from protecting the public from having to confront bad characters without ‘balance’.

Robert J. Sockloskie

Papers

Characteristics of aggressors against women: testing a model using a national sample of college students.

Developing a scale to measure the diversity of feminist attitudes

Perceptions of lawyers—a transnational study of student views on the image of law and lawyers