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In this study we are looking at the effects of victim sex, participant sex, belief in a just world, dark triad personality traits, sexual attitudes, and sociosexuality on judgments of technology-facilitated sexual violence (in the form of revenge pornography and upskirting).

An initial look at perceptions of implicit malevolent intent across the ideological spectrum

Manuscript Preparation

An examination of the identification, ascription, and reception of 'fake news' across the ideological spectrum.

In this study, we will assess the differences in ideological responses to when political figures break social and physical distancing guidelines in response to the novel coronavirus disease-2019. In the UK, several government officials across the political spectrum have broken these guidelines, and here we explore if the political ideology (liberal vs. conservative) of both the perpetrators and the subjects influences their judgments about the severity of the breaches.

This study aims to investigate whether individual judgments about COVD-19 vaccinations are predicted by age, sex, political ideology, bullshit receptivity, fear of COVID, lockdown attitudes and adherence, and scientific knowledge.

Data and Analyses

An examination of the identification, ascription, and reception of 'fake news' across the ideological spectrum.

Slides from all presentations given at academic conferences by Dr. Craig Harper from 2018 onwards.

In June 2016, British voters elected to leave the European Union by a margin of 52% to 48%. Emerging work has begun to characterize ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ voters in the context of increasing unrest and polarization between the two sets of voters. We investigated whether increasing empathy might reduce polarization, and whether such effects were consistent across voter groups. A final sample of 262 British voters completed measures of cognitive and affective empathy, ingroup identification, and outgroup polarization. Political polarization was predicted by higher levels of cognitive empathy, and was greater in ‘Remain’ voters. However, the relationship between ingroup identification and polarization was not moderated by empathy or vote choice. As such, polarization in the Brexit debate appears to be tribal in nature and symmetrical across ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ voters. Nonetheless, we do provide evidence that increasing cognitive empathy for one’s political outgroups may reduce polarization in highly politicized contexts.

To understand the lived experience of service users and multi-disciplinary staff within the offender personality disorder pathway this includes: challenges, benefits, therapeutic interventions, training, relationships with staff/service users, environment, perceived effectiveness of OPD pathway, interactions with colleagues and views towards individuals with mental health difficulties. It will include and exploration of the convergence and divergence of the lived experiences of service users and staff. In order to generate evidence based practical recommendations for staff and service users within the OPD pathway.

Exploring the potential for concept creep across the ideological spectrum. Replication of an initial study in an American sample.

For a long time, sexual offences have been common conversation topics in social, political, and academic circles, however this has been exacerbated by social media, and in particular, the #MeToo movement (Askanius & Hartley, 2019; Palmer et al., 2021; PettyJohn et al., 2019). High profile cases (Reynhard Sinaga), celebrity scandals (Bill Cosby), and social movements (#metoo) have thrust sexual violence into the zeitgeist (Askanius & Hartley, 2019; Palmer et al., 2021; PettyJohn et al., 2019). Evidence suggests some individuals may have distorted, or misconceived views of non-consensual penetrative sex and related legislation (Adams-Clark & Chrisler, 2018; Haugen et al., 2018; Javaid, 2015; Loney-Howes, 2018; Siegel et al., 2021). Further, these misconstructions may permeate those who work with or around sexual offences, such as police officers, medical professionals, and psychologists (Javaid, 2015a; O’Neal & Hayes, 2020a; Sleath & Bull, 2010; Dworkin et al., 2021). Offence Supportive Beliefs, Offence Stereotyping and Victim Blaming support this notion, as they are observed among both public (Jaffe et al., 2021; Hills et al., 2020; Reed et al., 2020) and professional populations (Grandgenett et al., 2020; Javaid, 2019; O’Neal & Hayes, 2020). Little research has undertaken the task of gauging understanding and attitudes towards sexual offence legislation or discovering how the individuals construct and define sexual offences in their view. Misrepresentation of legislation, or a lack of correct knowledge about non-consensual penetrative sex and the corresponsive legislation could be exacerbating issues of secondary victimisation, low reporting rates, and low prosecution rates (Adams-Clark & Chrisler, 2018; Hamby, 2017; Haugen et al., 2018; Javaid, 2015). The present research aims to explore knowledge, understanding, and attitudes of sexual offence law; constructions and definitions of sexual offences; and evaluate the presence of psychosocial factors (e.g. victim blaming, cognitive distortions, and implicit biases) that may influence the prior elements among both the ‘professional’ and ‘public’ samples.