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| International Symposium - Implicit Sexual Behavior: Developing and Using Implicit Behavior Tests to Identify Sexual History |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Gregory AB |
| Area: CSE; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| CE Instructor: Maria R. Ruiz, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Behavior-analytic research into derived stimulus relations has laid the foundation for powerful and easily administered tests for implicit behavioral histories. These tests allow the behavioral researcher to gather information about an individuals behavioral history without the individuals awareness. While popular implicit tests such as the Implicit Association Test (I.A.T) claim to do precisely this, the processes involved in these tests are poorly understood. This symposium outlines a behavioral research program into the development of implicit behavioral tests, and in particular tests for sexual history and attitudes. The first paper provides an overview of behavior-analytic research into derived stimulus relations that has laid the foundation for the development of behavior-analytic implicit tests. The second paper reports on an experiment designed to assess the utility of a derived relations-based implicit test in detecting a history of inappropriate internet use. The third paper outlines a study that employed a derived relations-based implicit test to assess differences in the attitudes of men and women towards children and sexuality. This issue is also pursued in the fourth paper, which reports on a study employing an I.A.T-type test to examine gender differences in the categorization of children and sexual terms. Together these papers constitute a behavioral research program into the development of behavioral implicit tests that may have a wide variety of uses in research, clinical and forensic settings. |
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| Developing Implicit Behavior Tests Based on the Concept of Derived Relational Responding. |
| BRYAN T. ROCHE (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Amanda Gavin (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College) |
| Abstract: The Implicit Association Test (I.A.T.) provides a powerful methodology for the analysis of attitudes and behavior in a non-invasive and subtle manner. However, the test assumes to measure implicit or unconscious cognitions and to this extent poses a problem for the behavioral researcher. Moreover, the I.A.T technique bears a striking similarity to behavioral methods of attitude and behavior assessment that rely on the concept of stimulus equivalence and derived relations more generally. The current paper provides an overview of behavior-analytic research that has already laid the foundation for behavioral implicit tests. A behavioral model of the I.A.T in terms of derived stimulus relations will be outlined. This model suggests that the I.A.T measures a history of relational responding, rather than attitudes per se. A program of research designed to establish a behavior-analytically grounded implicit test, not unlike the I.A.T, will also be presented. |
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| A Stimulus Equivalence-Based Implicit Test to Identify Inappropriate Internet Use. |
| AMANDA GAVIN (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Sarah McGuire (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Conor Linehan (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College) |
| Abstract: Subjects were exposed to a simulated internet experience consisting of a word-picture association training phase in which each of two nonsense syllables (A1 and A2) were paired with sexual and disgusting images (C1 and C2), respectively. In effect, conditioning established the relations A1-C1 and A2-C2. A control group were exposed to a similar but non-contingent conditioning procedure in which all possible combinations of the A-C relations were established. Using a linear training protocol all subjects were trained to form the equivalence relations A1-B1-C2 and A2-B2-C1. Subjects were then exposed to a modified equivalence test in which C stimuli were presented as samples and one of the A stimuli was presented as a comparison on every trial. Responding was recorded using a yes/no procedure in which subjects were required to confirm if the sample and comparison “went together”. Experimental subjects showed lower rates of stimulus equivalence acquisition than control subjects. The effect is interpreted in terms of the competing histories of respondent conditioning and equivalence training. This effect may form the basis of an implicit test for history of internet use or other relational histories. |
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| Using a Behavioral Precursor to the Implicit Association Test to Measure Differences in the Sexual Categorisation of Children and Adults by Men and Women. |
| AMANDA GAVIN (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Louise Levins (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Conor Linehan (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College) |
| Abstract: The current study was designed to assess male and female participants' relative fluency in matching sexual words with child-related words compared with adult-related words. Adult males and female participants were taught a series of conditional discriminations designed to establish two three-member equivalence relations according to a linear training protocol. Specifically, participants were trained to relate each of the terms Child and Adult (i.e., A stimuli) to one of two nonsense syllables (i.e., B stimuli), which in turn were related to a sexual and a nonsexual term, respectively (i.e., C stimuli). Participants were then exposed to an equivalence-type test in which only one comparison was presented per trial. A Yes/No procedure was employed to record responses on each trial. Interesting patterns of gender differences in the acquisition of stimulus equivalence were observed using these terms as stimuli. The findings raise interesting questions regarding differences in the verbal practices of men and women and contribute to our functional-analytic understanding of implicit test procedures. |
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| Using an Implicit Association Test to Assess Differences in the Sexual Categorisation of Children and Adults by Men and Women. |
| MARIA R. RUIZ (Rollins College), Jaslin Goicoechea (Rollins College), Brittany Johnson (Rollins College), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Amanda Gavin (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: Previous research by the current authors involved using a behavioral variation of the Implicit Association Test to examine differences in relational responding towards children between incarcerated pedophiles and other non-offender groups. The procedure was designed to assess participants' fluency in associating terms related to sexuality with images of children. The results suggested that pedophiles make significantly more correct responses when child images and sexual terms require the same operant response. Of a range of other groups tested, including non offender males, only non-offender female subjects showed significantly more errors relating sexual terms to children rather than adults. The current study further explored this effect by administering a specifically-designed IAT-type test to assess differences the sexual categorization of children and adults by a random selection of normal men and women. The results point to possible differences in the ways in which men and women categorize children and have implications for a behavioral understanding of the Implicit Association Test. |
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