Penile Plethysmography: Strengths, Limitations, Innovations

Laws, D. Richard

doi:10.1002/9780470747551.ch1

Cited by 37 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The research reviewed here provides an understanding of which phallometric tests are validly interpreted as measuring pedohebephilic interests. Previous commentaries have noted that an outstanding issue with the use of phallometric tests for pedohebephilia is that due to the lack of standardization of procedures across testing sites, the effects of different stimuli and data transformation procedures on the validity of these tests are unknown (Laws, 2009; Marshall & Fernandez, 2003; Wilson & Miner, 2016). The current meta-analysis provides data relevant to these issues regarding the validity of different phallometric tests and procedural best practices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phallometric testing is a psychophysiological assessment method frequently used in forensic settings to identify pedohebephilic interests (Howes, 1995; McGrath et al, 2010). Phallometric tests measure changes in penile circumference or volume, while stimuli depicting different ages, sexes, and sexual activities are presented to an individual (Laws, 2009). Sexual interest in a certain age category is indicated by increases in penile tumescence while attending to stimuli reflecting that age category.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Sexual interest in a certain age category is indicated by increases in penile tumescence while attending to stimuli reflecting that age category. Phallometric testing is a type of assessment, rather than any specific, standardized assessment protocol (e.g., Personality Assessment Inventory; Morey, 2007), and testing procedures vary between phallometric laboratories (Abel et al, 1989; Laws, 2009; Marshall, 2014; Marshall & Fernandez, 2000; L. Murphy et al, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Validity in Phallometric Testing for Sexual Interests in Children: A Meta-Analytic Review

et al. 2017

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Valid assessment of pedohebephilic interests (i.e., sexual interest in children) is fundamental to forensic clinical practice. Phallometric testing-which measures changes in penile circumference or volume, while stimuli depicting different ages and sexual activities are presented-is widely used in clinical and research settings to detect such interests. This meta-analysis summarizes studies comparing sexual offenders against children and various types of controls on phallometric tests for pedohebephilic interests (37 samples; N = 6,785) and studies examining the relationship between phallometric test scores and sexual reoffending (16 samples; N = 2,709). The findings suggest that several phallometric testing procedures are valid indicators of pedohebephilic interest. Certain methodological features of phallometric tests were associated with greater validity, such as, slide or audio-plus-slide stimuli and z-score-based indices. In addition, phallometric tests for pedohebephilic, pedophilic, and hebephilic interests predicted sexual reoffending which provides further evidence that phallometric test scores are valid indicators of sexual interest in children. In general, the interpretation of phallometric test scores as indicators of pedohebephilic interests is supported.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Validity in Phallometric Testing for Sexual Interests in Children: A Meta-Analytic Review

et al. 2017

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“…A standard complement to self‐report measures is penile plethysmography. The research and controversies surrounding its use has been extensively documented in a number of chapters and articles (see Fernandez, 2009; Laws, 2009). In response, there has been an increase in cognitive or attention‐based measures of sexual interest (Beech, Kalmus, Tipper, Baudouin, Flak, V., & Humphreys, 2006; Glasgow, 2009; Gray & Snowden, 2009; Gress & Laws, 2009a, 2009b; Harris, Rice, Quinsey, & Chaplin, 1996; Nunes, 2009; Wright & Adams, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delays in attentional processing when viewing sexual imagery: The development and comparison of two measures

Gress

Anderson

Laws³

2011

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose. Critically important to effectively treating and managing sexual offending is the identification or validation of an offender's deviant sexual interests as the nature of their sexual interests is what demarcates repetitive sexual offenders from nonoffenders and lower risk offenders. As an alternative or verification to self-report or phallometric measures, focus has turned to attention-based measures. These measures assess sexual content-induced delay (SCID), a specific form of attentional bias associated with preferred sexual content (images or text). Viewing time (VT) and choice reaction time (CRT) were developed and utilized to assess sexual interest via SCID (Geer & Bellard, 1996) and examine the measures' clinical utility via estimates of sensitivity and specificity.Method. Participants were 44 youth non-sexual offenders, 60 university students, and 22 adult sexual offenders. Differences between groups were examined on various subscores and receiver operator characteristic curves provided information on clinical utility.Results. The VT and CRT measures produced subtest scores with high reliability in all three samples. There were significant differences in VT between the adult sexual offenders and the youth non-sexual offenders, but not between the youth non-sexual offenders and the university students. Some of the VT subtests demonstrated good clinical utility in their ability to differentiate adult heterosexual sexual offenders from non-sexual offenders (e.g., area under the curve (AUC) = 0.87 female mature images, 0.88 male child images). Interestingly, the VT and CRT measures provided significantly different results.

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“…A recent meta-analysis by McPhail et al ( 2017 ) found that PPG is a valid measure of pedohebephilic interest, but that validity varies depending on PPG methodology. Historically, PPG has faced questions of validity, reliability, and admissibility in court (for a review, see Laws, 2009 ). PPG is not routinely used, for example, by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service in the UK in the assessment of individuals who have committed sexual offenses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latency-Based and Psychophysiological Measures of Sexual Interest Show Convergent and Concurrent Validity

2017

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Latency-based measures of sexual interest require additional evidence of validity, as do newer pupil dilation approaches. A total of 102 community men completed six latency-based measures of sexual interest. Pupillary responses were recorded during three of these tasks and in an additional task where no participant response was required. For adult stimuli, there was a high degree of intercorrelation between measures, suggesting that tasks may be measuring the same underlying construct (convergent validity). In addition to being correlated with one another, measures also predicted participants’ self-reported sexual interest, demonstrating concurrent validity (i.e., the ability of a task to predict a more validated, simultaneously recorded, measure). Latency-based and pupillometric approaches also showed preliminary evidence of concurrent validity in predicting both self-reported interest in child molestation and viewing pornographic material containing children. Taken together, the study findings build on the evidence base for the validity of latency-based and pupillometric measures of sexual interest.

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Penile Plethysmography: Strengths, Limitations, Innovations

Cited by 37 publications

References 26 publications

Validity in Phallometric Testing for Sexual Interests in Children: A Meta-Analytic Review

Validity in Phallometric Testing for Sexual Interests in Children: A Meta-Analytic Review

Delays in attentional processing when viewing sexual imagery: The development and comparison of two measures

Latency-Based and Psychophysiological Measures of Sexual Interest Show Convergent and Concurrent Validity

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