Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

facts or outcome (which is never knowable or known).

As a result of the limited data regarding the reliability

and validity of opinions formed when using RMSE

techniques, commentators have recommended that

professionals who are asked to conduct such examina-

tions proceed cautiously and make clear the limita-

tions inherent in such inquiries.

Randy K. Otto

See alsoCriminal Responsibility, Assessment of; Expert

Psychological Testimony; Forensic Assessment;

Testamentary Capacity

Further Readings

Ogloff, J. R. P., & Otto, R. K. (2003). Psychological autopsy

and other retrospective mental state evaluations: Clinical

and legal issues. In I. Z. Schultz & D. O. Brady (Eds.),

Handbook of psychological injuries(pp. 1186–1230).

Chicago: American Bar Association Press.

Poythress, N., Otto, R. K., Darkes, J., & Starr, L. (1993).

APA’s expert panel in the congressional review of the

U.S.S. Iowa incident. American Psychologist, 48,8–15.

Scott, C. L., & Resnick, P. J. (2006). Patient suicide and

litigation. In R. I. Simon & R. E. Hales (Eds.),Textbook

of suicide assessment and management(pp. 527–544).

Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.

PSYCHOLOGICALINVENTORY OF

CRIMINALTHINKINGSTYLES

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking

Styles (PICTS) is an 80-item self-report inventory

designed to measure eight thinking styles presumed to

reinforce, support, and maintain a criminal lifestyle.

The eight thinking styles assessed by the PICTS are

Mollification, Cutoff, Entitlement, Power Orientation,

Superoptimism, Sentimentality, Cognitive Indolence,

and Discontinuity. The PICTS also contains two

validity scales—Confusion and Defensiveness; four

factor scales—Problem Avoidance, Interpersonal

Hostility, Self-Assertion/Deception, and Denial of

Harm; two content scales—Current and Historical;

two composite scales—Proactive Criminal Thinking

(P) and Reactive Criminal Thinking (R); and a general

score covering all 64 criminal thinking items—

General Criminal Thinking (GCT).

Description and Development

There were 32 items on the PICTS when it first

appeared in 1989, 4 for each thinking style. In 1990,

the PICTS was expanded to 40 items with the addition

of two validity scales, and the ratings went from

3 points (agree, uncertain, disagree) to 4 points

(strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree). In 1992,

the number of items per scale was raised to 8 to pro-

duce an inventory of 80 items. Norms were estab-

lished by administering this third version of the

PICTS to 150 minimum-security male federal inmates,

150 medium-security male federal inmates, 150

maximum-security male federal inmates, and 227

state and federal female inmates. The PICTS validity

scales were successfully revised in 2001, leading to

the fourth and current version of the PICTS, in which

the content (phrasing) and position (item number)

of the 64 thinking-style items and 8 retained validity

scale items remained constant across Versions 3.0 and

4.0. Consequently, research studies and norms from

Version 3.0 should be applicable to Version 4.0.

Hierarchical Organization

Factor analytic research has revealed one-, two-, four-,

and eight-factor solutions for the PICTS. Like the

criminal thinking it is designed to measure, the PICTS

is factorially complex and hierarchically organized.

The eight PICTS scales are at the bottom of the hierar-

chy. The P and R scales are in the middle of the

hierarchy, with the Mollification, Entitlement, and

Superoptimism thinking-style scales loading heaviest

on P and the Cutoff, Cognitive Indolence, and

Discontinuity thinking-style scales loading heaviest on

R. At the top of the hierarchy, P and R merge to form

general criminal thinking, as measured by the GCT.

Reliability

Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) is

.54 to .79 for the PICTS scales, .80 to .91 for the P and

R scales, and .93 for the GCT. Test-retest reliability

(Pearson r) after 2 weeks is .73 to .93 on the thinking-

style scales, .88 to .96 on the P and R scales, and .85

to .93 on the GCT. Test-retest reliability (Pearson r)

after 12 weeks is .47 to .86 on the thinking-style

scales, .70 to .88 on the P and R scales, and .84 to .85

on the GCT.

Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles——— 639

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