Forensic Psychology - Sam's Notes (Test 2)

Question 1

Who developed the PCL-R? What is it

Answer 1

Robert Hare

- tool validated for diagnosing psychopathy

Question 2

What was the other name Robert Hare used to call psychopaths? why?

Answer 2

intraspecies predators

• they seek vulnerable victims to use for their own benefit
• satisfy selfish needs by preying on others

Question 3

what did Benjamin Rush say about people who would later be called psychopaths

Answer 3

they didn’t understand morals
- considered it an illness
“Moral Derangement”

Question 4

What did James Cowler Prichard say about ppl who would later be called psychopaths

Answer 4

they had madness without confusion of the mind

• moral insanity

Question 5

what did Phillipe Pinel consider ppl who would later be called psychopaths?

Answer 5

Manie sans delire

Question 6

who was Harvey Cleckley? What did he do?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Who wrote the book “Without Conscience” in 1993?

What was it about?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What people did Robert Hare do studies on that were important in the forensic field, specifically for psychopathy

Answer 8

coordinated research with corrections Canada, so he was able to do studies in prisions with immates

Question 9

Sociopath vs psychopath

Answer 9

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)

Question 10

How many factors do you need to have to be diagnosed with APD

Answer 10

you need at least three to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder

Question 11

APD vs psychopathy in prisons

Answer 11

APD (60-80%)
Psychopathy - subset within APD (10-25%)

Psychopaths are diagnosed with APD

people with APD are not necessarily diagnosed as psychopaths

Question 12

describe the PCL-R

Answer 12

 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

Question 13

what is the gold standard for psychopathy dianoses

Answer 13

PCL-R

Question 14

explain the study by Wilson, Demetrioff, & Porter (2008)

Answer 14

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)

Question 15

can we use the PCL-R to assess any person?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

what goes on during the PCL-R

Answer 16

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

Question 17

what is needed to do a PCL-R

Answer 17

rating booklet
manual
training through the Hare institute

Question 18

in the PCL-R what characteristics are diagnosed in the following colors:

Blue
Red
Black

Answer 18

Blue - promiscuous sexual behaviour, short-term marital relationship

Red - intrapersonal, selfish, callousness

Black - behavioural deviance (most correlated with APD

Question 19

prevalence of psychopathy

Answer 19

1% of general population

in a 2009 self report = 0.6% prevalence (but self-report for psychopaths is not reliable since they lie)

Question 20

What happeed in the study by 2002 - meta analysis

Answer 20

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

Question 21

what did Salekin say about Rice et al study?

Answer 21

there was only a 3% improvement once they took control 20% improvement into account

Question 22

explain the Polascheck (2014) study which looked at Oak Ridge and Rice et al

Answer 22

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

Question 23

why aren’t we still studying psychopaths in the forensic system here in Canada?

Answer 23

studies were coordinated with corrections Canada, had an agreement but then the government changed and that deal fell through