Abstract

The use of implicit measures of cognition within forensic psychology domains has become increasingly popular. Due to convenience, however, the vast majority of these studies have primarily focussed on the implicit cognitions of individuals convicted of an offence who have or are receiving therapy. It thus becomes unclear whether the implicit differences identified in these individuals post-offence are indeed functionally related to their offending behaviour, or are simply an artefact of the therapeutic context, in which offence-specific concepts are salient and frequently paired. In order to explore potential contamination effects of offender therapy, we examined the implicit beliefs of treatment facilitators and compared these to a non-offending, non-professional control group. These findings are discussed in relation to previous and on-going IRAP research.