AI Flashcards DeBrito Psychopathy

Question 1

What is the most widely accepted conceptualization of psychopathy in the scientific and clinical community?

Answer 1

It is based on the construct operationalized by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R).

Question 2

What are the two correlated dimensions of psychopathy according to the PCL-R?

Answer 2

Interpersonal and affective features (Factor 1) and a chronic antisocial lifestyle (Factor 2).

Question 3

What are the four facets of psychopathy proposed by Hare (2003)?

Answer 3

Interpersonal style (Facet 1), affective experience (Facet 2), lifestyle (Facet 3), and antisocial manifestations (Facet 4).

Question 4

What are some traits associated with the interpersonal facet (Facet 1) of psychopathy?

Answer 4

Grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, and being conning/manipulative.

Question 5

What are some traits associated with the affective facet (Facet 2) of psychopathy?

Answer 5

Lack of remorse or guilt, shallow affect, callous lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility for one’s own actions.

Question 6

What are some traits associated with the lifestyle facet (Facet 3) of psychopathy?

Answer 6

Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom, parasitic lifestyle, lack of realistic long-term goals, impulsivity, and irresponsibility.

Question 7

What are some traits associated with the antisocial facet (Facet 4) of psychopathy?

Answer 7

Poor behavioural controls, early behavioural problems, juvenile delinquency, revocation of conditional release, and criminal versatility.

Question 8

What are some additional behaviours common in people with psychopathy?

Answer 8

Promiscuous sexual behaviour and many short-term marital relationships.

Question 9

What is a key point to remember when scoring psychopathic traits?

Answer 9

The presence of these traits cannot be scored without reference to the formal criteria contained in the published manuals.

Question 10

What is the role of gene-environment correlation in the development of psychopathy?

Answer 10

Environmental risk factors might in part reflect genetic predispositions. For example, parents with genetic variants that predispose to psychopathic behavior might engage in harmful parenting practices and pass on some of these genetic variants to their offspring.

Question 11

What has research on twins shown about the relationship between parenting and psychopathic traits?

Answer 11

Harsh and negative parenting and higher levels of psychopathic traits in children may reflect a genetic vulnerability within biological families. However, warm parenting can buffer the effects of heritable risk for psychopathic traits.

Question 12

What are some neurocognitive disruptions associated with psychopathy?

Answer 12

Deficits in emotional responsiveness, reinforcement-based decision-making, and attention, including deficient empathic responding.

Question 13

What emotional disturbances are observed in individuals with psychopathic traits?

Answer 13

Reduced aversive conditioning and impaired emotion expression recognition, particularly for fear.

Question 14

Which brain regions show reduced activity in fMRI studies of individuals with psychopathic traits during emotional tasks?

Answer 14

The amygdala and cortical regions such as the anterior insula and ventromedial prefrontal cortices.

Question 15

How does reduced amygdala response relate to aggression in individuals with psychopathic traits?

Answer 15

Reduced response in the amygdala to the distress of others mediates the relationship between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and instrumental aggression.

Question 16

How do individuals with psychopathy perform on reinforcement-based decision-making tasks?

Answer 16

They perform poorly, possibly due to reduced reinforcement sensitivity or responsiveness, which leads to poorer decisions, impulsivity and frustration-induced aggression.

Question 17

Which brain regions show reduced neural responsiveness to reward in individuals with psychopathy?

Answer 17

The striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Question 18

How are moral judgements affected in psychopathy?

Answer 18

Individuals with psychopathy show reduced responding in the ventromedial, rostromedial and dorsomedial frontal cortices, anterior insula cortex, striatum and amygdala during moral judgement tasks.

Question 19

What is the relationship between attention and emotional responding in psychopathy?

Answer 19

Manipulating attention influences emotional responding, and high levels of psychopathy are associated with a hyper-organized dorsal attention network.

Question 20

What structural brain abnormalities are observed in individuals with psychopathy?

Answer 20

Reduced volume of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala, as well as increased and reduced volume of the dorsal and the ventral striatum and a large cavum septum pellucidum.

Question 21

What are some common findings in structural MRI studies using VBM?

Answer 21

Reduced grey matter volume across several cortical and subcortical regions, including frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital regions, in addition to the anterior and posterior cingulate, anterior and posterior insula, amygdala, hippocampus and the caudate and putamen.

Question 22

What is surface-based morphometry (SBM) and what has it revealed about psychopathy?

Answer 22

SBM examines cortical thickness, surface area, and gyrification. Studies have found reduced cortical thickness in the frontal and temporal lobes in individuals with psychopathy, and reduced gyrification in the middle cingulate cortex.

Question 23

What is the most commonly used measure to assess psychopathy in clinical and forensic settings?

Answer 23

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R).

Question 24

How is the PCL-R administered?

Answer 24

It is administered via a semistructured interview and review of collateral information and should be conducted by a suitably qualified and experienced clinician.

Question 25

Why is the PCL-R not based solely on interview information?

Answer 25

Individuals with psychopathic traits engage in impression management and lying.

Question 26

What is the typical PCL-R cut-off score for a diagnosis of psychopathy in North American male offenders?

Answer 26

A score of 30 or greater.

Question 27

Why should self-report measures not be used alone when assessing psychopathic traits?

Answer 27

Because individuals with psychopathic traits tend to engage in impression management or dissimulation.

Question 28

Which specifier was added to the DSM-5 and ICD-11 to differentiate between persons with conduct problem diagnoses?

Answer 28

‘with Limited Prosocial Emotions’, which only includes CU traits.

Question 29

What are some key cautions when using the term ‘psychopathy’ for children?

Answer 29

Given the negative connotations associated with the term and the evidence that these traits are highly changeable, clinicians should avoid using the term ‘psychopathy’ when referring to children and young people.

Question 30

What is one of the widely used measures to comprehensively assess CU traits in children?

Answer 30

The 24-item Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU), which exists in self-report, parent-report and teacher-report versions.

Question 31

What are some environmental risk factors for psychopathy?

Answer 31

Harsh, negative and low-warmth parenting, physical or emotional abuse and neglect, increased exposure to violence, lack of parental supervision, and gang involvement.

Question 32

What are some issues that affect the interpretation of neuroimaging studies?

Answer 32

These include the nature and size of the sample and control groups, the PCL-R cut-off score used, and the potential influence of demographic and clinical factors.

Question 33

What is a key consideration when designing treatments for psychopathy?

Answer 33

Treatments should target disturbances in biological and cognitive mechanisms relevant to the disorder.

Question 34

How does biofeedback work as a potential treatment approach for psychopathy?

Answer 34

It involves measuring physiological responses and relaying this information to the patient in real-time to allow them to willingly regulate internal states and behavior.

Question 35

Why is it important to consider the different variants of psychopathy when developing treatments?

Answer 35

Different variants likely have distinct underlying aetiologies, and therefore different mechanisms will have to be targeted using tailored techniques.

Question 36

What is one avenue for future research to reduce the harm caused by psychopathy?

Answer 36

Focus on the victims, including increasing the public’s awareness of who may be vulnerable and how those with psychopathy manipulate their victims.

Question 37

What is the focus of prevention efforts for psychopathy?

Answer 37

Family-based interventions that start early, as the brain and personality are more adaptable early in life, focusing on both parent or caregivers and the child.