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Perspectiefname: het stappen in de schoenen van daders

Kenter, Annette (2013) Perspectiefname: het stappen in de schoenen van daders.

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Abstract:The present study examines the effects of explicit instructions to take the perspective of a criminal offender on participants’ willingness en ableness to take this perpective. Assumed was, that perhaps there are shortcomings to this perspective taking. Specific attention was paid to the role of crime seriousness and possible underlying factors that may explain why people have a hard time taking the perspective of a perpetrator. A 2 (Crime seriousness: High versus low) x 2 (Given instruction: taking perspective versus remaining objective) between subjects design was used. The expectation was that when crime seriousness was low, participants who were instructed to take perspective would be more willing and able to do so, than participants who were instructed to remain objective. On the contrary, when crime seriousness was high, the instruction to take perspective was expected to lead to less willingness and more difficulty to take perspective, than the instruction to remain objective. The difference between high and low crime seriousness would appear mainly in the perspective taking condition. Participants (N = 88) were given a case and subsequently filled in a questionnaire. Results indicate that, as expected, participants who were asked to take perspective had more difficulty and were less willing to take perspective when crime seriousness was high, than when crime seriousness was low. Also they experienced more distress and anger, and seemed to punish more severely, when crime seriousness was high, than when it was low. Participants who were asked to remain objective, unexpectedly, experienced to a large degree difficulty in attempting to remain objective when crime seriousness was high. They experienced distress and anger to a large degree when crime seriousness was high as well. It appears that irrespective of the condition participants were in, high crime seriousness always does something to participants. These results will be discussed to a further degree in the discussion section. Lastly, possible theoretical and practical implications are given and suggestions for sequential research are presented.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63518
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