Hancock Flashcards
Hancock aim
To examine language characteristics of psychopaths when describing violent crimes
Hancock sample
- Male murderers from Canada
All admitted to their crime of murder
Hancock sampling method
Volunteer sampling
= consent
Hancock procedure
All men completed the PCLR to assess who was to be classed as a psychopath and non-psychopath
The cut-off point for clinical diagnosis of psychopathy is a score of 30 or above out of 40 however, in the study, anyone who scored 25 or above was classified psycho path
All researchers were blind to the psychopathy scores of the offenders
Participants were asked to describe the homicide offence in as much detail as possible. From beginning to end, these were transcripted.
Hancock how many ps were categorised as a psychopath
14 = psychopath
38 = non psychopath
Hancock WMATRIX
And compares parts of speech and analyses, semantic concepts contained in the psychopath and control body of speech. It classifies words into categories and recognises subordinating. Conjunctions also takes into account grammar and sentence structure.
Hancock dictionary of affect in language
Picks up on emotional language and tone, and assigned a score of pleasantness and intensity of emotional language
Hancock results
Psychopaths used twice as many words related to basic physiological needs such as eating
non-psychopaths used more language relating to social needs
Suggest psychopaths are more interested in material needs
Psychos used more subordinating conjunctions - because, since, so that
And more disfluencies
And more past tense (shows detachment)
Hancock - psychopaths used …..% more disfluencies
33%
This is impression to management, which means they are taking time to describe appropriately
Hancock -psychopaths used more…
Past tense verbs, which increased psychological distancing and a lack of personal responsibility
