Hancock Flashcards
What is the background for Hancock’s study?
Porter et al- Found that in the Canadian parole system psychopath offenders were approx. 2.5 times more likely to be successful in parole applications that non psychopaths. But Williamson (1993) found that psychopathic language might actually be less cohesive.
What was the aim of Hancock’s study?
To test how crime narratives differ between psychopaths and non-psychopathic murderers. Psychopathic speech was analysed of an instrumental or predatory world view, unique socio-emotional needs and a poverty of effect.
What was the sample in HANCOCK’s study?
14 psychopathic and 38 non-psychopathic male models who were imprisoned in Canadian correctional facilities. All of the 52 ps had admitted their crime and volunteered for the study. The 2 criminals did not differ on age, and their overall mean age at the time of their current homicide was 28.9 years.
Briefly explain the procedure of Hancock’s study
each p was briefed on the aims and procedures. the offenders were asked to describe their offence in as much detail as possible while being taped. The interviews were about 25 min each. Used a standardised procedure (step-wise interview) which facilitated open-ended questioning. The interviewers were 2 psychology graduates and one research assistant.
How was psychopathy determined in Hancock’s study
PCL-R.
Wmatrix linguistic analysis tool was used to examine parts of speech and semantic content, while the Dictionary of Affect and language (DAL) tool was used to examine the emotional characteristics of the narratives.
State 3 results of Hancock’s study
-Instrumental language analysis showed that psychopaths were more likely to describe their homicide using subordinating conjunctions (1.82% of words in the psychopath corpora compared to 1.54% in control.)
-Crime narratives of the psychopaths emphasised more basic needs including food, sex and shelter. Compared to control that focused on higher level social needs such as: meaningful relationships and spirituality.
-Psychopaths used less positive or emotionally intense language. More instances of callousness and lack of empathy.
-33% more disfluencies from psychopaths such as um and erm
What were the conclusion given for Hancock’s study?
Psychopaths: Describe powerful emotional events in a rational but more primitive way compared to others.-Tend to view their crimes as the logical outcome of a plan.
-Are more likely to focus on their own basic physiological needs.
- Are less emotional + less positive in their speech.
-Are more emotionally detached from their crimes.
Describe the method used by Hancock et al.
A self-report was used which involved face-to-face individual interviews which was audio taped. Ps were prompted by interviews, using a standardised procedure known as the ‘step-wise interview’ which facilitates open-ended questions.
From the study by Hancock et al, explain what is meant by a psychopath.
The term psychopaths is used to describe individual with a distinctive combination of cognitive social and emotional characteristics. They exhibit a reduced capacity from moral responsibility. In the study there was 14 psychopaths who were Canadian correctional facilities who had committed homicide.
Outline one way in which Hancock et al analysed the use if language by ps in their study.
Psychopathy checklist- Revised (PCL-R) which was used to assess the ps against 20 different criteria’s. The clinical diagnostic tool measured affective traits and impulsive antisocial traits to give individuals a score out of 40 (30 or above is the cut off for diagnosing psychopaths)
Suggest one reason why the study by Hancoj et al may be considerd to have an ethnocentric bias.
Due to them all being from the Canadian correctional facility
What is a strength and weakness of the method used in Hancock’ study?
A strength is that it can gather large amounts of information at one time,
However a weakness is that it can be quite time consuming.
From the study by Hancock et al into the language of psychopaths, outline one feature that the researchers expected to find in the language used by psychopaths.
That psychopath offenders would give detailed verbal accounts that exhibit high levels of selfishness and a lack of conscience, BUT also hold a skilled conversation due to their ability to lie and manipulate.
From Hancocks’s study, identify 2 quantitative findings.
Psychopaths language was sig less fluent thab controls, with 33% more disfluencies (such as ‘um’ and ‘uh’)
Psychopaths were more likely to describe their homicide using subordinating conjunctions (1.82% words in the psychopath corpora compared to 1.54% of words in the control corpora.
From Hancock’s study give 2 ways the tests were controlled/standardised.
The interviewers were all ‘blind’ to the psychopathy scores of the ps.
An inter-rather reliability check was conducted on the PCL-R scores by having a trained graduate student re-code 10 randomly selected files.
