Reducing Antisocial Behavior

Through Prosocial Role-taking

Engaging children in prosocial behaviors is a technique that has long been known to be
effective in promoting their prosocial tendencies (e.g. Barton, 1981; Staub, 1979; White, 1972).
Children who are assigned responsibility to teach others or who are encouraged to participate in
prosocial activities subsequently display more prosocial behavior. Assigning children
responsibility for others enhances their prosocial behavior (Maruyama, Fraser, & Miller, 1982;
Peterson, 1983). In fact, cross-cultural research has found that children from cultures in which
youngsters are routinely assigned responsibilities for assisting others are more prosocial than
children from other cultures (Whiting & Whiting, 1975).
There are also many examples of the success of programs that have engaged older individuals
such as antisocial adolescents and adult offenders in prosocial activities in which they play the
role of helpers for others. In this article we present a rationale for recommending such
interventions in programs designed to lead antisocial individuals to adopt a prosocial life-style.
Helper Therapy
Some explanations are similar to those that were suggested to account for the success of a
"Peer Therapist" program that trained instituionalized adolescent delinquents as "Peer
Therapist" for their delinquent peers and reduced the recidivism of the "Therapists" from 58% to
6% (Ross & McKay, 1979). The program was referred to as "Helper Therapy", a term used by
Riessman (1965) for his observation that you get more out of therapy if you are the therapist
than if you are the patient. Riessman was not referring to money. Therapy for many therapists
may help their financial well-being more than it helps the financial well-being of the patients who
must pay their fees, but Riessman was referring to something non-pecuniary: the good feeling
that comes from helping people. The adolescent "Therapist" helpers in the "Peer Therapy"
program were reinforced for their prosocial activity not by monetary or other tangible rewards
but by social rewards in the form of acceptance by their adolescent peers. However, their
frequently voiced comments indicated that they were more strongly reinforced by the fact that
their activities made them feel worthwhile. Helping others may not be selfless because helping
others leads to a more favorable mental state for the helper.
Altruism was probably first created when our primitive ancestors realized that cooperation
increased the odds of survival in a danger-filled environment. However, in modern times there
are other rewards. For example. antisocial individuals who engage in such prosocial role-taking
may be rewarded by their newly acquired feelings of prosocial competence. They feel
empowered and they may develop a sense of self-efficacy. They experience a sense of
acceptance and belonging in a prosocial culture. They may come to view themselves as
prosocial.
You Become The Role You Play
There is another important benefit that can be obtained by helping others. Research in social
psychology indicates that individuals tend to attribute to themselves characteristics of the roles
they play.
Bem (1967) argued that if we can subtly get people to behave in ways in which they do not
normally behave, they will come to attribute to themselves the characteristics of people who
usually behave in these ways. Individuals who engage in prosocial acts learn to think of
themselves as prosocial, caring people (Perry & Perry, 1983). They develop a 'prosocial
identity'.
If you treat an individual…as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what
he ought to be and could be. Author unknown
Antisocial individuals who are led to engage in prosocial roles as helpers for others may come
to see themselves in a very different light - they may come to see themselves as prosocial
rather than anti-social. They begin to attribute to themselves positive, prosocial characteristics
which were previously foreign to them. They also come to appreciate the value of prosocial
behavior, to recognize the awards it can bring them, and to acquire social skills which can serve
as alternatives to their antisocial behavior. They learn that prosocial behavior “feels good”.
Although seldom explained this way, the helper therapy principle is operative in a variety of
"self-help" groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight Watchers in which participants
become advocates of alcohol avoidance or improved eating habits.
The Story Of Our Life
How individuals behave is strongly influenced by their “scripts” (or their “self-narrative” that they
develop through their social experience that tells them who they are and why they are that way
(Huesmann & Eron,1989; Maruna, 1999). They come to behave in ways that fit their narratives.
Studies of the process of "desistance" demonstrates that offenders who "go straight" make pro-
social sense of their lives. The research indicates that “In order to desist from crime…ex-
offenders need to develop a coherent, prosocial identity for themselves” (Maruna, 2000).
Providing service to others is one way individuals can change their antisocial self-narrative. One
of the earliest examples of this phenomenon was the "Peer Therapist" program.
Becoming Good By Doing Good
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already C.S.
Lewis
The institutionalized antisocial adolescents who were persuaded to act as “therapists” for their
delinquent peers came to view themselves as prosocial problem-solvers rather than the
antisocial, problem-ridden individuals they thought they were (and indeed were) before their
involvement in the program. They were treated as cohorts rather than patients; as research
assistants in the long-term research project.
It is important to note that the adolescents' participation was voluntary. They were never given
any material rewards for acting as helpers. Therefore, they needed to explain to themselves
why they were acting in such an unaccustomed, prosocial manner. They asked themselves,
"How can I explain to myself why I am engaging in helping others?" Their answer was "perhaps
it is because that is the way I am".
Antisocial individuals who are led to engage in prosocial role-taking may justify their reasons for
doing so by attributing to themselves characteristics of people who normally behave that way. "I
must be prosocial if I behave prosocially". Engaging in prosocial activities leads them to change
their antisocial self-identity to that of a prosocial one.
The adolescents' previous antisocial behavior had been underpinned by an "antisocial" self-
narrative that they had developed as a way of making sense of the way they usually behaved –
the way that they believed was the best way, or the only way to deal with their problems. It
became over time their “story” about how they must behave in order to cope with their
environment. Their new experiences helped them to create a different “story” as they began to
develop a prosocial narrative and self-identity (cf. McAdams, 1993; Maruna, 1999; Sampson &
Laub, 1993; Ward & Maruna, 2007).
We act 'as if' we are all the things we want to become.
We act as if' we're decent and caring and bright and talented.
And we eventually become these things.
Mimi Silbert
Is It Better To Give Than To Receive?
It is important to realize that the adolescents' improvement was not engendered by their
receiving help from their peers. It was engendered by their giving help. The improvement in the
behavior of the adolescents did not occur until they actually had been assigned peer "patients"
and had begun helping these other adolescents. It was by acting prosocially that they became
prosocial. Perhaps it really is better to give than to receive.
Reciprocal Altruism
However, it is also important to note that they became therapists only after they had received
help from their peers. Thus, their participation as "therapists" may constitute "reciprocal
altruism". It was more than just direct reciprocity ("if you help me, I'll help you") since the
individuals they helped when they became therapists were new residents - not the individuals
who had previously helped them.
Perhaps this indicates that adolescents who have experienced very little acceptance and
support and considerable rejection and maltreatment in the past can become prosocial by being
helped by caring peers. Unfortunately, this did not appear to be the case in this instance – the
adolescents who received the help of their peers but left the institution before they became
"therapists" for others did not make much improvement in their behavior while in the institution
or fare as well after release. It appears that receiving help was not as helpful as giving help.
That conclusion is reinforced by evidence that among adolescent students engaged in peer
tutoring programs and peer counselling programs in schools, those who serve as tutors and
counsellors make gains in knowledge and attitudes to school; but there is little evidence of any
benefit to the tutored students (Resnick & Gibbs, 1988). However, it may be that being helped
by their peers may be an effective way to motivate antisocial adolescents to subsequently
engage in helping others.
The Power of Positive Acting
Hans Toch (2000) has argued that many "altruistic" programs such as those that involve
offenders in assisting underprivileged persons including the elderly, children, and the disabled
not only assist the recipients of the services but also yield the offenders "a sense of
accomplishment, grounded increments in self-esteem, meaningful purposiveness, and obvious
restorative implications". He notes that such activities accord well with the principles of
restorative justice. They also enable them to find a sense of community and belonging and
encourage social integration rather than social exclusion (Midlarsky, 1991).
Perhaps we could learn a lesson from the substantial benefits that accrued for the
institutionalized mentally ill in the 1820s when "moral treatment" was introduced to help free
these "patients" from their shackles and other forms of extreme control and maltreatment. Moral
treatment was based on the belief that they should be treated with kindness. However, it was
more firmly based on the principle that they could spend their time helping others (Clouette &
Deslandes, 1997). Would that this relatively unknown principle could have been operationalized,
(or at least included) in the rationalization behind the deinstitutionalization movement that 'freed'
large numbers of psychiatric patients in the modern era.
If you want to look in a crowd and find the person who is going to help someone else, look at
someone who has been damaged.
Michael Levy (The lives of Heroes)
More Than Just "Feel Good Programs"
Helping others enables people to feel good not only about themselves but also about other
people (Post, Underwood, Schloss & Hurlbut, 2002). Experiencing positive emotions such as
kindness from helping activities can displace the helper's harmful negative emotional states
such as rage, hatred, fear, depression, anxiety, anger and hostility which can trigger antisocial
behavior (Post, 2005).
The "Good Lives" Model
Some practitioners have begun to consider the use of positive psychology in offender treatment.
Positive psychology emphasises the facilitation of optimal mental and physical health rather
than combating dysfunctional thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Seligman et al., 2004; Snyder
& Lopez, 2001). The goal of positive psychology is to enable people to live flourishing lives with
greater health, well-being, and meaning. By focusing on the strengths of happy people, positive
psychology has identified factors that facilitate a more satisfying life. The factors include work,
helping others, being a good citizen, developing spirituality and integrity, realizing potential, and
self¬-regulating impulses (Seligman, 2004).
Positive Psychology is the foundation of the "Good Lives" model of offender treatment which
represents a paradigm shift from deficit-based to strength-based programming (Ward & Stewart,
2003). Rather than focusing on reducing "criminogenic needs or criminogenic risk factors", the
model suggests that programs stress teaching skills and values and providing opportunities and
social supports to enable offenders to improve their functioning and obtain a better quality of life.
Such strength-based programs treat offenders as "community assets" and seek to provide
opportunities for them to develop prosocial identities and engage in work that is helpful to others
(Burnett & Maruna, 2006). Research on desistance from a criminal life-style has found that the
most successful desisters changed their self-identity from that of an offender to that of a person
who cares about others (Maruna, 2000).
Such an approach is far from new. The basic principles were presented in the 1960's and 1970's
under the ‘New Careers Movement’ in which, for example, poverty- stricken citizens were
engaged in constructive social programs to relieve the hardships of their peers (Pearl and
Riess¬man, 1965). Pearl (an unsuccessful U.S. Presidential candidate) suggested that "the best
people to solve a social problem are the products of that social problem". Interestingly, he
suggested training such individuals in an offender rehabilitation program (Reasoning and
Rehabilitation "R&R", Ross & Ross, 1986 ) that has been successfully delivered throughout the
world to reduce reoffending teaches prosocial competence. The R&R program equips
participants with skills they ccan apply in order to bring about positive social change (Pearl,
1989).
A Rose by Any Other Name
If you can't say something nice,
don't say nothing at all.
Thumper (in the movie "Bambi")
An important component in the "Peer Therapist" program in the 1960's was what was termed
"normalizing" or "depathologizing". The program staff were asked to avoid talking about their
clients' behavior in pathological terms or in terms of personal deficits. Instead they focused
almost exclusively on their competence, prosocial skills and personal strengths – no matter how
limited they might be.
Neurocriminology
Recent neuroscience research indicates that experiences in life become recorded and hard-
wired in our brains in neural connections. It indicates that neural connections formed by
exposure to criminogenic and/or pathogenic environments can engender an "antisocial brain". It
also suggests that engaging in prosocial experiences may foster the development of prosocial
connections in our brains that can lead us to engage in further prosocial activity. New prosocial
experiences can yield new connections and a new prosocial life story.
Simply thinking about someone else's problems lights up the same part of the brain that gets
activated when we reflect on our own problems. The compassion we feel registers in our brain's
pleasure zones. Neuroscientists, Jorge Moll and his colleagues at the National Institutes of
Health (2005) have now found persuasive evidence that altruistic acts activate pleasure centers
in the brain that usually are activated in response to food or sex.
Helping, Health and Mental Health
Helping others can help the others but helping others may help the helpers even more. It may
have significant physical and mental health benefits. The health benefits of helping others have
been touted by innumerable cliches such as "Good deeds are good medicine". There now is
strong evidence that there is considerable substance to such cliches.
For example, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder have been found to be reduced among
veterans after caring for their grandchildren (Hierholzer, 2004). Helping can also neutralize
negative emotional states which cause stress and stress-related illness (e.g. Fredrickson, 2003;
Sternberg, 2001).
Research in bioneurology has also established that our physiology can be changed by helping
others (e.g. Post, 2007; Schloss, 2005). For example, examination of the saliva of students
watching a videotape of Mother Theresa found evidence of elevation in their immunity-boosting
chemicals (McClelland, McClelland, & Kirchnit, 1988). In fact, helping others can lower stress
hormones (Field, Hernandez-Reif, Quintino, Schanberg & Kuhn, 1998).
Recent studies have confirmed an association between helping activities and both emotional
well-being and life satisfaction (e.g. Dulin & Hill, 2003; Liang, Krause, & Bennett, 2001; Krueger,
Hicks & McGue, 2001; Morrow-Howell, Hinterlonh, Rozario, & Tang, 2003). Actively engaging in
helping others can also reduce feelings of depression (Musick & Wilson, 2003). Helpers can
gain the good feeling of vicariously sharing the joy of the person they help (Smith, Keating, and
Stotland, 1989).
Just thinking about helping can have positive physiological effects. For example, students who
watched a film about Mother Theresa working with poor and sick individuals strengthened the
immune system of the observers but not that of students who watched a neutral film (Edwards &
Cooper, 1988).
Helping others can even substantially increase the helper's longevity. Research reviews indicate
that individuals who help others may reduce their own chances of dying (Post, 2005). For
example, a five year study of elderly couples found that those who provided emotional support
to spouses, friends and relatives were half as likely to die over the five-year period. Another
study found that among AIDS patients those who reported high levels of altruism, including
helping other AIDS victims, lived longer. “Altruistic persons live longer than egoistic individuals”
(Sorokin 2002).
Helpers Get High
Such research supports the view that it is not what we receive from relationships that is most
beneficial. It is what we give. There appears to be a "helper's high," similar to the endorphin
rush that runners often experience. The "helper's high" can produce immune-enhancing
biological changes.
However, the prosocial role-taking activities that we are discussing are not just "self-help
programs". They are "other help programs".
Nobody should be only a receiver. If people are going to feel good and be accomplished
and be part of something, they have to be doing something they can be proud of. ... So if
 we want them to be pro-society, then we ought to set-up the vehicles that help them to
be somebody in more traditionally socially positive ways.
Mimi Silbert, Delancey Street.
It Can Be Done and It Has Been Done. There is a remarkable and growing number of examples
that demonstrate that "helping others" programs can be implemented even with antisocial
individuals:
• Adolescent Psychiatric Patients: Ross & McKay's (1979) "Peer Therapist" program not only
reduced recidivism, it also eliminated self-mutilation among the adolescents in the institution
who were acting as "therapists". Crabtree and Grossman (1974) achieved a major decrease in
self-mutilatory behavior using a very similar intervention - they persuaded the adolescents in an
adolescent psychiatric ward to help other high-risk patients.
• The Equip program: A major reduction in recidivism among male delinquents was achieved in
the United States in two residential settings for antisocial adolescents with a history of
aggressive, disruptive and antisocial behavior through a program that included a remarkably
similar approach to the "Peer Therapist" program of the 1960's. In the U.S. program, juvenile
offenders were taught values and social skills which they used as helpers for their peers. In a
12-month post-release follow-up, recidivism for these adolescents was only 15% compared to
recidivism of 40.5% for the control group (Gibbs, 1996).
• Wharton Tract Narcotics Treatment Program: The success of a multifacetted program for
young offenders with lengthy histo¬ries of criminal behavior and of heroin use has usually been
attributed to the problem-solving component. However, it combined training in problem solving
with a form of group activities in which the offenders acted as "agents of change for others". At
the end of a two-year follow-up period, partici¬pants had a significantly lower rearrest rate (49%
vs. 66%) than a comparison group. Moreover, those reconvicted had a lower rate of re-
commitment to institutions, implying that their reoffences were of a less serious nature (Platt et
al.,1980).
• Uvic: Arguably, the most effective programs ever conducted in a prison was a program that
provided post secondary courses in the humanites to adult prisoners with little education and
long criminal histories (Duguid, 2000). As a key part of this program, prisoners acted as
"teaching assistants" to their prisoner peers. The prisoners entered the program as students but
later became tutors for their fellow inmates. The program re-labelled the prisoners as students
then as educators rather than criminals. The prisoners could not attribute their prosocial
behavior to some external rewards such as a favourable parole release decision. They came to
view themselves as teachers who valued helping others learn. They became committed to
prosocial behavior by advocating it to others – their prisoner/student peers. Although there were
unavoidable shortcomings in the evaluation, the four year outcome in terms of reduction in
recidivism was remarkable: "more than three times as many of a matched group of non
participants...were reincarcerated (52%) as of the Uvic participants (14%) (Ross, 1980).
Nowhere else in the criminological literature can one find such impressive results with
recidivistic adult offenders.
• Offenders as Researchers: Hans Toch (1997) has reported that reduced violence can accrue
among violent individuals in prison by engaging them as research assistants engaged in the
study of violence by their peers.
• Delinquents Studying Delinquency: Bryan McKay (1979) who trained the institutionalized
adolescents in the "Peer Therapist" program, has pointed to the benefits in terms of reduced
delinquency that were obtained by his having delinquents on probation act as research
assistants in the study of delinquency.
• Therapeutic Community: A classic example of engaging offenders in helping roles is the
many therapeutic communities (TC's) that have been implemented in prisons, secure hospitals,
and institutional and community settings for drug abusers (e.g. De Leon, 2000; Cullen, 1997).
Meta-analyses indicate that TC's have reduced recidivism for incar¬cerated substance-abuse
offenders (Aos et al.,2006,b; Lipton et al.,2002). Outcome studies of prison-based TC programs
with com¬munity after-care have reduced both recidivism and drug use (Knight, Simpson, &
Hiller, 1999; Martin, Butzin, Saum, & Inciardi, 1999; Wexler, Melnick, Lowe, & Peters, 1999).
There are also a few controlled studies that have reported positive outcomes for TC's in drug
treatment settings (e.g. Falkin, Wexler, & Lipton, 1992). Athough they involved only small
samples of participants, two rigorous studies have indicated the value of Therapeutic
Community programs for mentally-ill offenders. (Sacks, Sacks, McKendrick, Banks & Stommel,
2004; Van Stelle & Moberg, 2004).
However, metanalyses also highlight the many problems involved in evaluating TC's (Lees,
Manning & Rawlings, 2004). For example, since TC's are designed to involve the whole
"community" of patients (and staff…) it is difficult to obtain an untreated sample. Moreover,
among the many in-prison TC's, attempts are made to introduce multiple changes in the
organization, management and culture of the prison. It is difficult to determine the relative
contribution of such contextual factors to outcome. Many provide a wide range of programs
services and it is difficult to determine the relative contribution to outcome of any one of them.
For example, the TC program in Grendon prison in the U.K. has yielded decreases in recidivism
(Cullen, 1997; Marshall, 1997; Wilson & McCabe, 2002). However, this institution also provides
a form of Psychodrama which, as we will argue later, may contribute significantly to the
outcome.
Although in Therapeutic communities the participants are expected to function as helpers for
their peers, there is seldom any training like R&R provided for these helpers that could equip
them with skills or values to effectively play such helping roles. Perhaps that is why the average
reduction in recidivism of in-prison T.C. programs has only been found to be between 5.3% and
6.9% (Aos, Miller & Drake, 2006).
• TwelveSteps: The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) involves recovering alcoholics
in helping in the recovery of other alcoholics and doing so without any tangible reward. The AA
literature suggests that “he discovers that by the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has
found his own reward, whether his brother has yet received anything or not” (AA Big Blue Book,
1952). There is mounting evidence from controlled evaluations and no shortage of anecdotal
evidence and personal testimony that attests to the benefits for the ‘helper addict’ in terms of
their own recovery.
• Smoking Cessation: There is persuasive though only anecdotal evidence that smoking
cessation programs programs work best when participants become "evangelists" against or
smoking.
• Delancey Street: The well known Delancey Street program is an example of programs that
engage offenders or substance-abusing residents in helping others in the community. Delancey
residents work with senior citizens, juveniles from poor areas and people who are disabled, and
they contribute to the community in myriad ways, including running a food-distribution service
for 60 charitable organizations in the San Francisco area. The program takes the position that
"This is about people helping each other. It's not enough in life to take care of yourself ...Life
isn't just about you".
• Offenders as 'Caretakers': Many institutions have implemented programs in which inmates
‘work’ as volunteers in helping developmentally delayed children, handicapped, long-tem
institutionalized schizophrenic patients or other individuals who have more problems that they
have themselves. These programs demonstrate one way whereby individuals can change their
own antisocial self-narrative. Careful screening is obviously required for such helping
assignments as is careful supervision.
• Prison Listeners: There are currently more than 1,500 prisoners in 153 prisons in the UK and
the Republic of Ireland who have been Samaritan trained as "Listeners" who offer 24-hour
support to fellow prisoners in distress.
• Pet Therapists: A growing number of institutions engage offenders in caring for and training
stray or abandoned pets that would otherwise be “put to sleep”. However, it is not only the pets
that benefit. Animals have been shown to significantly reduce the prisoners' feelings of isolation
and frustration (Moneymaker & Strimple, 1991). Caring for pets yields prisoners a sense of
importance and of being needed. Most dogs give unconditional, non-judgmental love and
acceptance and offer spontaneous affection and undying loyalty (Cusack, 1988). The offenders
learn that caring is something they can do without fear of rejection, and they learn that caring
feels good.
There are many prison pet programs in such countries as Canada, United States, England,
Scotland, Australia, and South Africa. The pets include not only dogs but cats, birds, mice,
guinea pigs, birds, fish, horses, farm animals, and exotic animals.
The sanitized Hollywood movie depiction of the Birdman of Alcatraz depicted how his violent
behavior was curbed when he began caring for birds. There are many other anecdotal reports of
the benefits of such programs. For example, the Bird Hand-Rearing Project in Pollsmoor Prison,
one of the most notorious correctional facilities in South Africa that houses hardened criminals
and dangerous gangs involves prisoners serving long sentences (usually for violent and serious
crimes) who hand-raise exotic birds. Caring for another creature has led the offenders to
become more caring themselves.
There have been a few controlled, empirically based studies of "Pet Projects . For example, a
study conducted in a forensic hospital in Ohio compared two wards, identical except that one
had pets and one did not. It was found that the medication level doubled in the ward without
pets, as did the incidence of violence and suicide attempts (Lee, 1983).
The "Pawsitive Directions Canine Program" at the Nova Institution for Women in Canada
teaches the women a non-punitive dog obedience training method (operant conditioning) which
they then apply in training unwanted rescue dogs which are subsequently returned to the
community as family pets or assistance dogs for disabled persons. A comprehensive evaluation
indicated that the canine program not only provides the dogs with loving carers, but also
improves the offenders' self-esteem; self-discipline; patience and empathy. Moreover, it
produces positive changes in the institutional environment and contributes positively to other
institutional programs. The program is closely linked with the R&R program and thus enables
the women to apply, and obtain reinforcement for using key cognitive skills taught in the R&R
program such as problem solving, alternative thinking, responding to the feelings of others,
verbal communication, and consequential thinking in their work with the dogs (Richardson-
Taylor & Blanchette, 2001). Hopefully, research will eventually find evidence that the offenders'
animal caring activity generalizes to their interactions with humans after release.
• Court-ordered Community Service: This is one way to engage antisocial individuals in
prosocial role-taking activities. However, the potential benefit to the individual of serving the
community may be compromised if the activities they are assigned are demeaning. Cutting
grass as part of a chain gang on a golf course in Florida might help golfers find their errant golf
balls but it is unlikely to have much rehabilitative impact on the offenders.
If the community service order is presented only as punishment, participants are likely to
attribute their prosocial role-taking not to their prosocial motivation but to a court order.
However, many community service order workers relate to offenders in a manner that is fully in
accord with the empathic understanding, genuineness, positive regard and respect, warmth,
and concreteness of expression that are essential in producing constructive client change.
Prosocial role-taking can occur in many supervised assignments that involve worthwhile service
that clearly benefits people in the community. The social service and not only the sanction
should be what is stressed.
The community services that the offenders are assigned need not involve them in directly
working with people.
Implications for Intervention
It is important to note that it is rare for programs that engage prisoners, patients or other clients
in helping roles to equip the helpers with the requisite skills to effectively perform such roles.
Engaging antisocial individuals in helping activities with others is unlikely to be helpful either for
their 'clients' or themselves if they do not have the social/cognitive/emotional skills and values
that are required for prosocial competence. Training them in such skills should precede their
engagement in prosocial role-taking (cf. Gibbs, Potter, Barriga & Liau, 1996). The R&R program
provides an empirically-based, highly structured, and manualized program that provides such
training.
Part of the rationale for the prosocial role-taking activities we recommend is that programs for
offenders often have disappointing results because, with the best of intentions, they emphasize
their problems rather than their strengths. When a program places individuals in the "offender
role" or the "victim role" they often come to believe that characteristics associated with those
roles are enduring characteristics of themselves and behave in accordance with their
perception. Thus, when we treat offenders as victims rather than victimizers we may lead them
to view themselves as helpless and powerless. Treating offenders as victims can also
unintentionally feed their egocentricity. A primary goal of the R&R program is to combat
egocentricity. It seeks to help offenders to decrease their self-centredness and increase their
concern for others.
Focusing on their shortcomings or their victimization may inadvertently reinforce their attempts
to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. This does not mean that their behavior cannot be
attributed to environmental, cultural and economic factors. Such factors must be recognized and
acknowledged both by the offender and the Trainer. In fact, by acquiring prosocial thinking and
emotional skills, the offenders may be better able to identify and understand how these past and
current factors have influenced them in their choice of an antisocial life-style. However, R&R
programs aim to help offenders realize that they are not destined to remain victims of their
background circumstances but can become self-determined individuals who are personally
responsible for what happens to themselves.
Excerpted from "Rehabilitating Rehabilitation: Neurocriminology for Treatment of
Antisocial Behaviour" (Ross & Hilborn, 2008) Published by: Cognitive Centre of Canada
www.cognitivecentre.ca Email: info@cognitivecentre.ca