Chapter 11 Psychopaths Flashcards
Psychopathy
Psychopathy: A personality disorder defined by a collection of interpersonal, affective, and behavioural characteristics, including manipulation, lack of remorse or empathy, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviours
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- A personality disorder characterized by a history of behaviours in which the rights of others are violated
- Need to display three or more symptoms
- Repeatedly engage in criminal activity
- Deceitfulness - Irresponsibility
- Impulsivity - Lack of remorse
- Irritability - Reckless behaviours
Antisocial Personality Disorder 2
- Almost all psychopaths can be classified as having APD
- Most offenders diagnosed with APD are not psychopaths
- APD, psychopathy, and sociopathy are used interchangeably
- They are related but distinct constructs
Psychopathy and Criminal Cases
- Court cases with testimony about psychopathy resulted in more severe dispositions (DeMateo & Edens, 2006; Walsh & Walsh, 2006)
- PCL-R scores were used in death-penalty sentencing
- Psychopathy does not meet the insanity defense (psychopaths know the difference between right and wrong)
Psychopathy and Violence
- Psychopaths make up a small proportion of the population but account for a large proportion of all crime committed
- Psychopaths:
- Start their criminal careers younger
- Persist longer and commit a greater variety of crime
- Engage in more violent crime
- More likely to reoffend
Psychopathy and Violence (2)
In cases of murder, psychopaths have multiple victims, stranger victims, male victims, left the scene of the crime, and deny responsibility (Häkkänen-Nyholm, 2009)
Psychopathic homicide offenders are more likely to engage in instrumental homicide as compared to nonpsychopathic homicide offenders (Woodworth & Porter, 2002)
Psychopathy and Violence (3)
Psychopathic violence is more likely to be:
- Predatory
- Instrumental
- Callous
- Calculated
- Not reactive in nature
- Target strangers
- Vindictive or opportunistic
Psychopaths in the Community
- Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Screening Version (PCL-SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995) is used to assess psychopathy in community samples
- Coid, Yang, Ullrich, Roberts, and Hare (2009)
- 71% of the sample scored 0
- Psychopathy is rare in the community
Psychopaths in the Community (2)
- Not all psychopaths are violent offenders
- Babiak, Neumann, and Hare (2010) found 5% of their sample of corporate professionals met the criteria for psychopathy
- Psychopathic professionals tend to have:
- Poor management and performance appraisals
- Better creativity
- Stronger communication skills
- Less likely to be team players
Psychopaths and Victims
Kirkman (2005) identified characteristics of nonincarcerated psychopaths in heterosexual relationships. He found that women:
- Were talked into being victims
- Were lied to
- Were economically abused
- Emotionally abuse
- The men had multiple infidelities
- Were isolated
- Their children were mistreated
Psychopathy and Sexual Violence
- Psychopathy is weakly associated with sexual offenses
- Brown and Forth (1997) report that psychopathy was related to number of previous violent offenses, but not related to previous sexual offenses
- Offenders who commit sexual homicide score higher on psychopathy
Psychopathy and Sexual Violence (2)
- Mixed sexual offenders (assault both adults and children) are the second most psychopathic offenders
- Compared to other sex offenders, child molesters have the lowest psychopathy scores
- Psychopathic sexual offenders are more likely to be vindictive and opportunistic, whereas, nonpsychopathic rapists are more likely to report feeling anxious (Brown & Forth, 1997)
Psychopathy and Treatment
Rice, Harris, and Cormier (1992) examined the effects of treatment with psychopaths. Violent recidivism rates were:
- Untreated nonpsychopaths = 39%
- Treated nonpsychopaths = 22%
- Untreated psychopaths = 55%
- Treated psychopaths = 77%
Caution is required when interpreting such result. It could be that treatment to date just has not worked with psychopaths
Psychopathy and Treatment (Sex Offenders)
Olver and Wong (2009) found that psychopathic sex offenders who remained in treatment showed positive gains and were less likely to reoffend
Psychopathy in Youth
Two ways to assess psychopathic traits in youth:
- Antisocial Process Screening Device: Observer rating scale to assess psychopathic traits in children (Frick & Hare, 2003)
- Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version: Scale designed to measure psychopathic traits in adolescents (Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003)
