Victim Empathy, Social Self-Esteem, and Psychopathy in Rapists

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to compare the responses of 27 incarcerated rapists and 27 incarcerated nonsexual offenders using the Rapist Empathy Measure (targeting victim specific empathy deficits) and to examine the relationship between empathy with self-esteem and psychopathy for both groups. The Social Self-Esteem Inventory was used as a measure of perceived social competence and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991) was used as a measure of psychopathy. All participants completed the two self-report questionnaires on empathy and self-esteem; in addition, the rapists were required to complete an extra section of the empathy measure that assessed their empathic responses to their own victims. Demographic information and psychopathy scores were obtained by reviewing institutional files. When psychopathy scores were not available, subjects participated in a semi-structured interview and were scored on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised by the researcher. Rapists demonstrated more empathy than the nonsexual offenders toward women in general and the same degree of empathy as the nonsexual offenders toward a woman who had been a victim of a sexual assault by another male. Of particular importance were the within-group comparisons across victim type for the rapists which revealed significant empathy deficits toward their own victim(s). Interestingly, no differences were found between the rapists and nonsexual offenders in terms of self-esteem and psychopathy, and neither self-esteem nor psychopathy significantly predicted empathy for either group. It was concluded from the present study that rapists may suppress empathy primarily toward their own victim rather than suffer from a generalized empathy deficit. It is suggested that empathy deficits in rapists might better be construed as cognitive distortions specific to their victims and should be addressed in that manner in treatment.

Nonviolent Communication Training and Empathy in Male Parolees

“…Relevant literature has been equivocal in its conclusions about empathy and its influence on criminal attitudes and behaviors (Fernandez & Marshall, 2003;Goldstein & Higgins-D'alessandro, 2000). Research should examine the ways in which paroled individuals take up empathic communication skills in situations and settings that most directly affect their recovery and reintegration efforts, such as coping with substance use triggers, engaging in criminal activity, or encountering threats of violence.…”

Investigating the Utility of the Film War Zone as a Component of a Street Harassment Prevention Program

“…Reliability of the REM in a small sample of undergraduate males (race/ethnicity unreported) enrolled in an introductory psychology course was .90. Two weeks later, test-retest reliability was r = .84 (Fernandez & Marshall, 2003).…”

“…For instance, compared to incarcerated male nonsexual offenders, sexual offenders displayed the least amount of empathy toward their victim's but displayed an equal amount of empathy as nonsexual offenders toward an unknown female victim of sexual assault (Fernandez & Marshall, 2003). Quinn (2002) suggests that men may actually suppress empathic abilities toward women who are sexually harassed.…”

“…The perspective-taking ability was assessed by adapting the Rapist Empathy Measure (REM; Fernandez & Marshall, 2003). Few measures of cognitive empathy exist for victims of sexual assault, and those that do tend to be either geared toward the specific circumstances of sexual assault, or created for use in one specific study; however, the REM is easily adapted to measure empathy for a woman experiencing street harassment.…”

Assessing the Use of Employment Screening for Sexual Assault Prevention

“…Various interpersonal-skill deficits have shown mixed associations with sexual assault proclivity (e.g., Baker and Beech, 2004;Fernandez and Marshall, 2003). Finally, past perpetration of sexual assault is one of the most consistent predictors of future perpetration (Loh et al, 2005;Zinzow and Thompson, 2015).…”