Psychological Barriers to the Detection of Child Sexual Abuse

dc.contributor.authorScurich, N., & Dietz, P.
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-22T18:31:17Z
dc.date.available2021-02-22T18:31:17Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractAdults sexually abusing children where they work or volunteer has become painfully familiar not only to survivors of sexual abuse, but also to their families, law enforcement, and the schools, churches, youth-serving organizations, and other institutions within which so many cases occur. In the aftermath of discovering that sexual abuse occurred, questions invariably arise as to why the abuse was not detected earlier. This chapter describes two different psychological phenomena that help to explain why child sexual abuse is difficult to recognize ex ante and, paradoxically, why it is so easy to recognize ex post. These phenomena are “halo effects” and the “hindsight bias,” respectively. Basic and applied research bearing on each is reviewed in this chapter as well as research on potential debiasing strategies. Halo effects and hindsight bias have significant implications for civil lawsuits that are occasioned by sexual abuse that occurs within organizations.en_US
dc.identifier.citationScurich, Nicholas and Dietz, Park, Psychological Barriers to the Detection of Child Sexual Abuse (February 16, 2021). The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Law, D. DeMatteo & K. Scherr, editors, OUP, forthcoming 2021, UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2021-11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3786874en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3786874
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/4992
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of California, Irvineen_US
dc.subjectchild sexual abuseen_US
dc.subjectyouth-serving organizationsen_US
dc.subjectreporting biasen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.titlePsychological Barriers to the Detection of Child Sexual Abuseen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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