The Resolution of Binocular Rivalry among Assaultive and Nonassaultive Youthful Offenders

Abstract

This research is part of a larger project aimed at ultimately locating a set of predictive psychological testing instruments that would permit an early identification of assault-prone persons.

Two groups of youthful offenders were shown twenty pairs of stereograms. One group was composed of twenty offenders com mitted by the court to a correctional institution after conviction for a violent crime; the other group, twenty offenders who had no history of violent behavior. Our hypothesis, that violent persons perceive significantly more violent percepts in a binocu lar rivalry situation, was not confirmed.

The discrepancy between our expectations and our findings led us to an analysis of the experiment. We concluded that the threatening aspects in the testing situation somewhat invalidated the violent subjects' verbal responses. Because the dependability of their reports may be doubted, simple methods of assessment that draw on such verbal reporting may well prove to be useless.