Timothy Auburn

Working with Sex Offenders: The Perceptions and Experiences of Professionals and Paraprofessionals

The last 20 years have witnessed an increase in the attention paid to crimes of sexual violence. Academic research, social services, and the general public have responded to the steady rise in these crimes by subjecting them to increased scrutiny and address. Professionals and paraprofessionals responsible for the processing, supervision, and treatment of sex offenders are under increasing pressure. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of professionals and paraprofessionals working with sex offenders. Such research is important because these perceptions influence practice. Using a semistructured interview schedule, 23 men and women were interviewed about various aspects of their work with sex offenders for between 1 and 2 hours. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings are discussed in terms of professionals’and paraprofessionals’ perceptions of sex offenders and their offences and the manner in which such perceptions affect their professional practice.

The Social Construction of Rape in the Talk of a Convicted Rapist

The study used a discursive approach to explore the rape narratives of a convicted rapist. These narratives were recounted during the group therapy sessions of a prison-based Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP). The analysis suggested that the offender drew on two main practical ideologies (Wetherell et al., 1987) in recounting his version(s) of the rape. These practical ideologies, which often embodied popular rape myths, served to construct the incident as ambiguous. In particular, this ambiguity called into question whether the incident constituted rape or consensual sexual intercourse. These findings lend support to feminist writers’ assertions that there is no clear distinction between rape and sex. The implications of the research for sex offender treatment programmes are discussed.

Identity and placement learning: student accounts of the transition back to university following a placement year

There has been an increasing emphasis on employability within the higher education curriculum. Supervised work experience, particularly in the form of a placement year, has been an established means of providing experiences which are intended to enhance employability. This study examines a relatively neglected but important aspect of supervised work experience, i.e. the return from the placement organisation to the final year of the degree programme. This transition was examined using a discourse analytic methodology. Recently graduated students (n = 9), whose principal programme of study was psychology, and who had undertaken a placement were interviewed. This interview data was analysed with the aim of identifying relevant linguistic repertoires which gave meaning to the experience of the return from placement. Two repertoires were identified: an ‘acquired powers’ repertoire and a ‘two realms’ repertoire. The first repertoire constructed the experience of placement learning in terms of a range of individual knowledge, skills or values acquired from the placement experience, and which were deployed in particular areas of the final year. The second repertoire constructed a separation between the academic and practical arenas, which was enforced by academic staff, who limited and controlled the opportunities for students to utilise their experiences of placement. These findings are discussed in terms of the shifting social identities of students, following a placement and alienated experiences of education, contingent on the subject positions occupied by students and academic staff.

`You Punched Him, didn't You?': Versions of Violence in Accusatory Interviews

This paper explores the management in police-suspect interviews of accusations of violent involvement. Eleven officially taperecorded interviews between police and suspects were transcribed and analysed and a basic grammar of violent accusations was identified. Different ways in which accusations are warranted and contested are discussed and instantiated. It is suggested that the interview participants use two discourses of violence: disorderly and justificatory. The paper explores their localized deployment and raises issues concerning their wider ideological implications.

Noise in the environment: A social perspective

Abstract This is a review of findings relating to the social effects of loud noise. Evidence is drawn from four areas of research: noise annoyance, mental health, social behaviour and performance. It is suggested that noise may bring about strategic changes in behaviour by masking speech and acoustic variation and by its action as a stressor. Based on a range of evidence from laboratory and naturalistic settings three factors are isolated which form a basis for a comprehensive theory of the social effects of noise: (a) social interaction is disrupted by the masking of sounds; (b) the weighting of interpersonal judgements is changed; and (c) noisy settings are perceived as aversive, which governs the utility of social engagement.

Psychology undergraduates' experience of placements: A role-transition perspective

ABSTRACT The experiences of a year-long sandwich placement for psychology undergraduates and the effects of this experience on attitudinal and skill outcomes were investigated. A transition model of the placement experience was presented which described the placement as one stage in a series of role transitions between higher education and work. A survey was conducted in which two cohorts of psychology undergraduates (totalN = 412) were recruited. A proportion of undergraduates in each cohort undertook a sandwich placement. The survey spanned the periods prior to placement, during placement, the final year after placement, and the transition to first employment. Four dependent measures were administered: career decidedness, self-rated work abilities, work experiences and use of work abilities. Comparisons were made between placement and non-placement students. The results indicated that the placement provided unique experiences particularly in terms of co-operation and communication with others at work. I...

Making Heat Visible Promoting Energy Conservation Behaviors Through Thermal Imaging

Householders play a role in energy conservation through the decisions they make about purchases and installations such as insulation, and through their habitual behavior. The present U.K. study investigated the effect of thermal imaging technology on energy conservation, by measuring the behavioral effect after householders viewed images of heat escaping from or cold air entering their homes. In Study 1 (n = 43), householders who received a thermal image reduced their energy use at a 1-year follow-up, whereas householders who received a carbon footprint audit and a non-intervention control demonstrated no change. In Study 2 (n = 87), householders were nearly 5 times more likely to install draught proofing measures after seeing a thermal image. The effect was especially pronounced for actions that addressed an issue visible in the images. Findings indicate that using thermal imaging to make heat loss visible can promote energy conservation.

Effects of loud noise and signal probability on visual vigilance

Abstract The combined effects of training and loud (95 dBC) white noise were investigated in a visual version of the Bakan vigilance task. Two signal probabilities, high (p=0·02) and low (p=0·), were factorially combined to give the following training/test combinations: high/high, high/low, low/high and low/low. While signal detection was sensitive to task length only, response times were sensitive to both training and noise level. Noise tended to lengthen response times for those people trained in, and then receiving, the low-probability schedule and this effect increased over time. The memory component of the task (recall of pre-signal digits) was independently sensitive to both noise and signal probability. The results imply that it is the high memory component of the task which allows a variety of strategies to be employed in order to perform the task. The measures do not allow us to differentiate performance effects due to changes in efficiency from those due to changes in strategy.

Cognitive distortions as social practices: an examination of cognitive distortions in sex offender treatment from a discursive psychology perspective

Abstract This article presents a critique of the concept of cognitive distortion as it has been developed within the domain of sex-offender treatment programme theory and practice. Drawing upon a discursive psychology perspective, it is argued that cognitive distortions should not be considered as mental entities but as social practices. This argument is illustrated by closely examining how offenders’ accounts of their offences during sex offender treatment sessions were organized. Recordings and transcriptions of treatment group sessions were analysed for the occurrence of regular patterns of talk and interaction. This analysis focused on how minimization was achieved through well documented rhetorical and conversational devices (conversational repair, narrative contrast devices). An orientation to cognitive distortions as a resource was also illustrated through examining its use by group members to admonish a focus offender and through a narrative reflexivity device. These findings suggest that the notion of cognitive distortion and its role in treatment settings should be reconsidered. Furthermore, it is suggested that a discursive psychology perspective can also make a highly relevant contribution to the evaluation of treatment group processes and that further research is needed in order to examine in detail the way that treatment groups are socially organized.

Arousal and the Bakan vigilance task: The effects of noise intensity and the presence of others

The joint effects of social setting and loud noise on task performance are examined. In a modified version of the Bakan vigilance task subjects were required to detect a sequence of two identical even digits and to report the two digits preceding the signal. Two types of acoustic environment were compared: loud noise at 90 dBC and quiet noise at 60 dBC. Two types of social setting were employed: “pair” where two subjects worked in the same room on similar tasks, and “single” where a subject performed the task alone. The effects of noise and the presence of another did not interact. Loud noise increased the speed of responses to signals early in the task. This effect is attributed to noise-induced arousal. There was a higher incidence of recall errors in pre-signal digits when subjects were in pairs. This effect is attributed to distraction.