The emotional apperception test : a victim specific empathic competency measure for child sex offenders

It is commonly assumed that sex offenders lack empathy. However, this assumption is often a source of confusion. Theorists have been unable to agree on a coherent definition of empathy, subsequently often measuring different aspects of what is essentially a multicomponent phenomenon. This confusion is particularly evident in the sexual offending literature, where sex offenders are presumed to lack empathy. In a recent attempt to ameliorate this uncertainty, a four-stage model of the empathic process has been presented and it is now realised that sex offender empathy deficits are most likely victim-specific. This study is an attempt to create a new measure of empathy in the child sex offender, which measures empathic competency towards their own victim(s), other victims, and generalised contexts. The measure also sought to discover if offender empathy deficits emanate in one, or all, of the four necessary stages of empathy. Twenty incarcerated child sex offenders and twenty community non-offenders were administered the Emotional Apperception Test. The EAT provided reliable and discriminating results. The sex offenders presented significant victim specific empathy deficits, but were also generally less empathic than the non-offenders. Their deficits emanated at the perspective taking stage of empathy, particularly towards their own victims. They presented more general deficits at the following emotional replication stage. These deficits were consistent during and immediately after the sexual encounter with their most recent victim. These results were mostly consistent with recent research, and emphasised the need for further development of competency based measures which are not subject to the fundamental bias associated with self report scales. The limitations and research implications are discussed with particular emphasis on the Emotional Apperception Test and the factors that manifest these victim specific empathy deficits