The Self and the Ideal Self: Methodological Study of Pedophiles

Abstract

Ratings of the self and of the ideal self were obtained from 215 institutionalized child molesters and 143 child molesters who were living in the community. The discrepancy between the two ratings of the self is seen to be related to the descriptive terms used to depict the self Words that are clearly evaluative in nature did not lead to discrepancies in the two ratings. Words that were descriptive but nonevaluative gave rise to large differences between ratings of the ideal self and the real self. There were few apparent differences between the child molesters in the community and those in the institution.