ABSTRACT
As introduced in Chapter 1, existing psychological research has focussed on the misuse of fire. Although I argue that this does not tell the whole story about the complex human-fire relationship it is, nevertheless, an important part of the story. The existing firesetting literature can be organised into three categories on the basis of the main focus of the work: (a) recidivism and dangerousness, (b) characteristics of arsonists/fire setters, and (c) the classification of arsonists/firesetters, including theoretical perspectives. Each of these areas will be discussed in this chapter. There are some notable caveats which the reader must be aware of when interpreting the existing literature, for example, the vast majority of it is based on men. Furthermore, most studies have employed convicted samples, which are unrepresentative given that most firesetters are never apprehended. Another matter relates to the firesetter/non-firesetter dichotomy (often employed as a means of categorising research participants); I will argue that thinking of fire use as a dimensional construct might be more helpful in some circumstances.
