title: An implicit test of the associations between children and sex in pedophiles.
abstract: Pedophiles are motivated to disguise their thoughts and feelings about their sexual beliefs and attraction toward children. New developments using implicit measures of associations have been successful in accessing socially stigmatic beliefs, even in cases in which the participant is resistant to this disclosure. Using an implicit measure, the authors show that pedophiles have an association between children and sex, whereas nonpedophilic offenders have an association between adults and sex. The task can therefore identify a core cognitive abnormality that may underpin some pedophilic deviant sexual behavior.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. grayns@cardiff.ac.uk
authors.forename: Nicola S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Anthony S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Malcolm J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: MacCulloch
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Snowden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001244:Association; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D014936:Word Association Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*