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PSYC 2400 > Chapter 11: Psychopaths > Flashcards

Chapter 11: Psychopaths Flashcards

1
Q

psychopathy

A

a personality disorder defined by a collection of interpersonal, affective, and behavioural characteristics, including manipulation, lack of remorse or empathy, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviours

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2
Q

Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

A

a 20-item rating scale that uses a semi-structured interview and a review of file information to assess interpersonal, affective, and behavioural features of psychopathy

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3
Q

what is the most popular rater-based method of assessing psychopathy in adults?

A

PCL-R

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4
Q

Interpersonal aspects of psychopathy

A

grandiosity, manipulativeness

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5
Q

Affective aspects of psychopathy

A

lack of remorse, shallow emotions

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6
Q

Behavioural aspects of psychopathy

A

impulsivity, antisocial acts

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7
Q

2 correlated factors of the PCL-R

A
  1. The combination of interpersonal and affective traits
  2. A combination of unstable and socially deviant traits
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8
Q

factor 1 of the PCL-R is associated with ___

A

instrumental violence, emotional-processing deficits, dropping out of treatment, and poor treatment response

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9
Q

factor 2 of the PCL-R is associated with ___

A

reoffending, substance abuse, lack of education, and poor family background

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10
Q

3 pronged model of psychopathy

A
  1. Arrogant and deceitful interpersonal style
  2. Deficient affective experience
  3. Impulsive and irresponsible behavioural style
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11
Q

4th proposed factor of psychopathy

A

antisocial items

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12
Q

Advantages of self-report measures

A
  • They can measure attitudes and emotions that are not easily observed by others
  • They are easy to administer
  • You don’t have to worry about integrated reliability
  • Some questionnaires include measures of faking good or bad
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13
Q

Challenges of self-report measures

A
  • Psychopaths often lie
  • Psychopaths may not have sufficient insight to accurately assess their traits
  • It will be difficult for psychopaths to report on specific emotions if they have not experienced those emotions
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14
Q

Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PRI-R)

A
  • A 154-item self-report inventory designed to measure psychopathic traits in offender and community samples
  • Measures fearless dominance and self-centred impulsivity
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15
Q

Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP)

A

a 58-item self-report scale that measures boldness, meanness, and disinhibition

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16
Q

Antisocial personality disorder (APD)

A

a personality disorder characterized by a history of behaviour in which the rights of others are violated

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17
Q

sociopathy

A

a label used to describe a person whose psychopathic traits are assumed to be due to environmental factors

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18
Q

antisocial personality disorder vs. psychopathy

A
  • Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy overlap
  • Nearly all psychopathic offenders meet the diagnostic criteria for APD, but most offenders diagnosed with APD are not psychopaths
  • 60-80% of adult offenders in prison have APD, but only 10-25% are psychopaths
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19
Q

Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV)

A

a 12-item version of the PCL-R that takes less time to administer and places less emphasis on criminal behaviour for scoring

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20
Q

prevalence of psychopathy in the community

A

Psychopathy is very rare in the general population (approximately 0.6 %)

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21
Q

prevalence of psychopathy by gender

A

Females consistently score lower than males on the PCL: SV

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22
Q

Babiak, 2000 psychopaths in organizations study

A

investigated companies undergoing dramatic organizational change. He found that employees with many psychopathic features were at the root of some of the company’s problems

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23
Q

Babiak et al., 2010 psychopaths in the corporate world study

A

assessed psychopathic traits in corporate professionals. They found that the professionals with psychopathic traits were less likely to be team players, had poorer management skills, and had poorer performance appraisals than professionals with few psychopathic traits. However, the more psychopathic professionals were more creative, engaged in more strategic thinking, and had stronger communication skills than the less psychopathic professionals

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24
Q

Boddy, 2014 psychopaths in the white-collar world study

A

senior-white collar employees in Britain reported more conflict, counterproductive work behaviours, and negative emotions if they had a psychopathic manager

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25
Q

Neumann et al., 2012 psychopaths in the community study

A

used a short form of the SRP to measure psychopathic traits in 33,000 people across the world. They found that males scored higher than females, with lifestyle traits being most prevalent and antisocial traits being least prevalent. There were variations in psychopathic traits, suggesting that cultural factors play a role in how psychopathic traits are expressed

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26
Q

Smith et al., 2014 general knowledge about psychopathy study

A

asked U.S. citizens called in for jury duty to provide examples of psychopathic individuals in society, to indicate where they got information about psychopathy and to identify features of psychopathy. They found that the majority of participants identified serial, mass murders, or fictional characters. The most common source of information about psychopathy came from movies and TV. many participants had an accurate understanding of the range of psychopathic traits, but some described symptoms of psychosis

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27
Q

Eight characteristics of male psychopaths in heterosexual relationships

A

1.Talking the victim into victimization
2. Lying
3. Economic abuse
4. Emotional abuse/psychological torture
5. Multiple infidelities
6. Isolation and coercion
7. Assault
8. Mistreatment of children

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28
Q

psychopathy and law enforcement

A
  • Psychopathy is one of the greatest challenges in law enforcement
  • Psychopaths engage in higher rates of crime, including violent offences
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29
Q

psychopathy in police officer killers

A

Almost half of the killers of police officers had personality and behavioural features consistent with psychopathy

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30
Q

manifestations of impulsivity

A

Impulsivity can be manifested at the crime scene by injury pattern to the victim, choice of weapon, and the time and location of the crime

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31
Q

manifestations of charm and manipulation

A

Charm and manipulation can be manifested at the crime scene by using a con to minimize the threat they pose when approaching a victim

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32
Q

what behaviours are psychopaths more likely to engage in during an interrogation?

A
  • Try to outwit the interrogator
  • Enjoy being the focus of attention
  • Attempt to control the interrogation
  • Will not be followed by bluffs
  • Attempt to shock
33
Q

Suggestions for interviewing a psychopathic suspect

A
  • Ensure case familiarity
  • Convey experience and confidence
  • Show liking or admiration
  • Avoid criticism
  • Avoid conveying emotions
34
Q

Rice et al., 1992 psychopathy intervention program study

A

investigated the effects of an intensive therapeutic treatment program on violent psychopathic and nonpsychopathic forensic psychiatric patients. They found that treatment was associated with a reduction in violent recidivism among non-psychopaths but an increase in violent recidivism among psychopaths

35
Q

Reasons why a treatment may not work

A
  • The use of an inappropriate treatment
  • Problems in implementing the treatment
36
Q

Sewall & Olver, 201 psychopathy intervention in sex offenders study

A

found that psychopathic sex offenders who stayed in treatment and showed positive treatment gains were less likely to violently re-offend. The affective deficits facet of psychopathy was most strongly related to dropping out of treatment.

37
Q

Olver et al., 2013 effective psychopathy treatments study

A

found that treatment is effective at reducing violent reoffending in psychopaths. The most effective treatment programs for offenders with psychopathic traits are those that are intensive, target the criminogenic needs of the offender, and use a cognitive behavioural approach

38
Q

Criminogenic needs

A

risk factors that are related to why an offender engages in criminal behaviour

39
Q

Current assumption in youth psychopathy

A

psychopathy does not suddenly appear in adulthood but instead gradually develops from various environmental and biological antecedents

40
Q

Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD)

A

observer rating scale to assess psychopathic traits in children

41
Q

3 factors of the APSD

A
  1. Callous-unemotional factor
  2. Impulsivity factor
  3. Narcissism factor
42
Q

Hare Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PLC: YV)

A

a rating scale designed to measure psychopathic traits in adolescents

43
Q

Edens et al., 2005 psychopathy and support of the death penalty study

A

found that mock jurors were more likely to support the death penalty for a psychopathic defendant than for a psychotic or non-disordered defendant

44
Q

Edens et al., 2003 psychopathy and support of the death penalty in youth study

A

presented mock jurors with two versions of a modified newspaper clipping about a 16-year-old facing the death penalty: one where he was described as having psychopathic traits, and the other where he was remorseful. They found that mock jurors presented with the psychopathic traits version were more likely to support the death penalty and to be less supportive of the defendant receiving intervention in prison. Jurors were also less likely to support the death penalty for juveniles than for adults

45
Q

Edens et al., 2013 capital punishment and psychopathy study

A

found that Texas undergraduates were more likely to support capital punishment if the defendant was described as being psychopathic. The one trait that was most strongly associated with capital punishment was a lack of remorse.

46
Q

Blais & Forth, 2013 impacts of being labelled a psychopath study

A

investigated the potential influence of a diagnosis vs. conduct disorder vs. no diagnosis on mock undergraduate jurors in Canada. Defendants described as psychopaths were rated as less credible compared to other defendants. Defendants described as diagnosed with conduct disorder/antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy were more likely to be found guilty and were rated as a higher risk for future violence and recidivism. Neither age nor sex of the defendant influenced mock jurors’ ratings

47
Q

stability of psychopathic traits in youth

A

There is a moderate level of stability of psychopathic traits in youth

48
Q

prevalence of psychopathic traits in youth

A

Psychopathic traits are very low in community youth

49
Q

unemotional dimension of the APSD and outcomes study

A

Boys who score high on the callous/unemotional dimension of the APSD have more police contacts, more conduct problems, and are more likely to have a parent with APD than are children who score low on this dimension

50
Q

Adolescents with psychopathic traits are more likely to _____

A
  • become involved in criminal behaviours at an earlier age
  • engage in more violence in institutions and the community
  • are at a higher risk of reoffending once released
51
Q

PCL: YV in female offenders

A

Some research has questioned the validity of the PCL: YV to predict violence in adolescent female offenders

52
Q

is youth psychopathy responsive to interventions?

A

Youth psychopathy may be more responsive to interventions

53
Q

Caldwell et al., 2006 youth psychopathy interventions study

A

compared the treatment outcomes of youth who were given intensive treatment at a juvenile treatment centre for psychopathy and those who were given treatment at a juvenile correction centre. Youth who were released from the correctional centre violently reoffended at twice the rate in a two-year follow-up as compared with the youth receiving intensive treatment at the treatment centre

54
Q

Dads et al., 2014 parental affection and psychopathy study

A

observed mothers interacting with their children and measured eye contact and affection. Found that children with high levels of CU traits were more likely to reject affection from their mothers and have low levels of eye contact

55
Q

Dads et al., 2014 study takeaway

A

children with CU traits may fail to attend to the eyes of their parents, which leads to problems with the development of empathy and conscience

56
Q

Parent-child interaction therapy

A

an intervention that focuses on increasing the parent-child relationship using positive reinforcements and teaching positive parenting strategies

57
Q

impact of parent-child interaction therapy

A

Parents reported they were very satisfied with the program and there were decreased child conduct problems and increases in empathy

58
Q

how do researchers study the nature-nurture debate?

A
  • In research designed to tease apart the nature-nurture debate, researchers try to hold either genes or the environment constant
  • Ex. comparing identical twins raised in different environments and biological and adoptive siblings living in the same environment
59
Q

genetic influence on PPI subscales

A

Genetic influences account for 29-59% of the variance for each of the different PPI subscales

60
Q

genetic influence on psychopathy

A

A recent U.S. study found that genetic influences explain 69% of the variance in psychopathy scores

61
Q

prospective longitudinal studies

A

study a group of young children and follow them into adulthood, measuring family background variables and psychopathic traits

62
Q

strengths of prospective longitudinal studies

A

allow researchers to avoid retrospective bias and establish causal order

63
Q

retrospective bias

A

the tendency to reconstruct past events so that they are consistent with an individual’s current beliefs

64
Q

parental care in psychopathic individuals

A

Retrospective studies show that psychopathic individuals report lower levels of parental care

65
Q

The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

A

a 40-year prospective study of antisocial behaviour of 411 boys. They found that the best predictors of adult psychopathy were having a criminal father or mother, being a son whose father was uninvolved with him, having a low family income, coming from a disrupted family, and experiencing physical neglect

66
Q

Weiler & Wisdom, 1996 abuse and PCL-R study

A

found that children who had been abused had slightly higher modified PCL-R scores as compared with the control sample.

67
Q

conclusion of nature-nurture research in psychopathy

A

Current research shows that there are multiple developmental pathways to the development of psychopathy

68
Q

2 main theories of psychopathy

A

Response modulation deficit theory & emotional deficit theory

69
Q

Response modulation deficit theory

A

A theory that suggests psychopaths fail to use contextual cues that are peripheral to a dominant response set to modulate their behaviour

70
Q

what theory has been used to explain why psychopaths fail to learn to avoid punishment?

A

Response modulation deficit theory

71
Q

emotional deficit theory

A

Proposes that psychopaths have a deficit in the experience of certain emotions that guide prosocial behaviour and inhibit deviance

72
Q

lexical-decision task

A

A task used in cognitive and linguistic experiments that measures how fast people classify stimuli as words or nonwords

73
Q

Williamson et al., 1991 lexical-decision task in psychopaths study

A

administered a lexical-decision task to psychopathics and nonpsychopathic offenders. In this task, emotional and neutral words and nonwords. were presented briefly on a screen and participants indicated as quickly as possible whether what was on the screen was a word. When the word was emotional, non-psychopaths were able to do this task faster than if the word was neutral. However, psychopaths failed to show a normal, faster reaction time to emotional words. In addition, the study found that psychopaths’ brainwave activity did not differentiate between emotional and neutral words.

74
Q

what theory does the Williamson lexical-decision study support?

A

emotional deficit theory

75
Q

Blair et al., 2005 recognizing emotions in psychopathic children study

A

asked children to identify the emotions in neutral words spoken with intonations conveying happiness, disgust, anger, sadness, and fear. Boys with many psychopathic traits were impaired at recognizing fearful vocal affect

76
Q

Patrick et al., 1993 startle reflexes in psychopaths study

A

compared startle reflexes of psychopathic and nonpsychopathic sexual offenders to slides of positive, neutral, and negative stimuli. The startle-elicited blinks of nonpsycho- pathic offenders were smaller when watching positive slides, moderate when watching neutral slides, and enhanced when watching negative slides. In contrast, the psychopathic offenders’ startle-elicited blink did not differ in magnitude across the different types of slides

77
Q

amygdala

A

Part of the limbic centre of the brain, which regulates the expression of emotion and emotional memory

78
Q

amygdala dysfunction theory of psychopathy

A

Some researchers propose an amygdala dysfunction theory of psychopathy, which argues that a dysfunction in the amygdala is responsible for psychopaths’ blunted emotional reactions

PSYC 2400 (20 decks)

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