NCJ Number
152061
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Dated: (October 1994) Pages: 543-552
Date Published
1994
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Rogers proposed three models to explain why certain persons malinger mental illness (pathogenic, criminological, and adaptational); in the current study, highly experienced forensic experts performed prototypical ratings on attributes associated with each model.
Abstract
The study sample consisted of 320 respondents who were predominantly male and almost exclusively white. Most respondents were psychologists, and most were experienced in both forensic and nonforensic evaluations. Principal components analysis of prototypical ratings by experts offered provisional support for pathogenic, criminological, and adaptational models. The criminological model, however, was significantly less prototypical than the adaptational model. Overall, experts rated most attributes included within the adaptational model as at least moderately important in the understanding of malingering. Only 3.4 percent of the forensic experts favored the pathogenic model. Supplemental analysis suggested that conceptual differences influenced the diagnosis of coexisting disordeers. Psychologists with a high-pathogenic criminological perspective were more likely to diagnose psychotic and mood disorders in malingerers than those with a low-pathogenic perspective. Experts with a criminological perspective were less likely to view malingerers as motivated for treatment. 23 references and 2 tables