Forensic Psychology - Sam's Notes (Test 2) Flashcards
Who developed the PCL-R? What is it
Robert Hare
- tool validated for diagnosing psychopathy
What was the other name Robert Hare used to call psychopaths? why?
intraspecies predators
- they seek vulnerable victims to use for their own benefit
- satisfy selfish needs by preying on others
what did Benjamin Rush say about people who would later be called psychopaths
they didn’t understand morals
- considered it an illness
“Moral Derangement”
What did James Cowler Prichard say about ppl who would later be called psychopaths
they had madness without confusion of the mind
- moral insanity
what did Phillipe Pinel consider ppl who would later be called psychopaths?
Manie sans delire
who was Harvey Cleckley? What did he do?
Psychologist
Wrote book “Mask of Insanity” which looked at case studies of people he believed were psychopathic. said they lacked neuroticism and were protected from mental disorders
Developed some for he first diagnostic criteria
was a psychiatrist in Ted Bundy trial - diagnosed him as a psychopath
Who wrote the book “Without Conscience” in 1993?
What was it about?
Robert Hare
He conceptualizes psychopathy as a personality disorder
Developed the first thoroughly verified diagnostic clinical measure of psychopathy
Provides training on who to assess psychopathy
What people did Robert Hare do studies on that were important in the forensic field, specifically for psychopathy
coordinated research with corrections Canada, so he was able to do studies in prisions with immates
Sociopath vs psychopath
there is not really a distinction between he two since there is no criteria for diagnosing sociopaths
however, the difference between the words is that trauma creates a sociopath while psychopaths are created by genes (genetic)
How many factors do you need to have to be diagnosed with APD
you need at least three to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder
APD vs psychopathy in prisons
APD (60-80%)
Psychopathy - subset within APD (10-25%)
Psychopaths are diagnosed with APD
people with APD are not necessarily diagnosed as psychopaths
describe the PCL-R
20 items, collected through interview and file review (identify if have always, sometimes, or never)
Scores range from 0 - 2 for each item, total scores 0-40
Scores > 30 indicate psychopathy
Allows for consistent diagnoses for clinical/research purposes
what is the gold standard for psychopathy dianoses
PCL-R
explain the study by Wilson, Demetrioff, & Porter (2008)
o Social memory experiment with undergraduates
o Shown picture and name of person, with successful or unsuccessful occupation, Sad or happy person
o Measured psychopathy
PCL-R measure amount of psychopathy (almost no one gets 0)
o Results: Memory for unhappy/ unsuccessful =most positively correlated with psychopathy scores (makes sense since they would be the best prey)
Happy/ unsuccessful is lowest score (not easy or useful)
can we use the PCL-R to assess any person?
yes, for measurement
BUT cannot use to diagnose females
and technically cannot use to diagnose someone who isn’t in a forensic facility
it is a rating scale for the assessment of male forensic population
what goes on during the PCL-R
sem-structured interview
- bring up questions as you see fit, overall structure of interview is usually followed
rating
- 0= don’t exhibit
- 1= maybe exhibits
- 2 = exhibits
what is needed to do a PCL-R
rating booklet
manual
training through the Hare institute
in the PCL-R what characteristics are diagnosed in the following colors:
Blue
Red
Black
Blue - promiscuous sexual behaviour, short-term marital relationship
Red - intrapersonal, selfish, callousness
Black - behavioural deviance (most correlated with APD
prevalence of psychopathy
1% of general population
in a 2009 self report = 0.6% prevalence (but self-report for psychopaths is not reliable since they lie)
What happeed in the study by 2002 - meta analysis
meta analysis of attempts to treat psychopathy - only 42 studies - improvement CBT 62% Psychoanalytic 59% CBT + insight - 86% Worst: therapeutic community & ECT
mean treatment - 62%
Control (over time reduction) = 20% improvement
=== 42% success
what did Salekin say about Rice et al study?
there was only a 3% improvement once they took control 20% improvement into account
explain the Polascheck (2014) study which looked at Oak Ridge and Rice et al
believed that degree of effectiveness of treatment if psychopaths was about the same as anyone else incarcerated
- just decreasing recidivism (tendency to reoffend), they can still commit non-prosecutable things, or non criminal no nos
why aren’t we still studying psychopaths in the forensic system here in Canada?
studies were coordinated with corrections Canada, had an agreement but then the government changed and that deal fell through
