Hanncock language - 2011 Flashcards
How much of the general population are psychopaths?
1%
What is a psychopath?
individuals who exhibit abnormally high levels of selfishness and seemingly lack a conscience
What is an outline of the inspiration for study?
Computerised analysis of language produced by psychiatric patients
What was found from the background study?
Fewer words pertaining to:
- optimism
- basic cognitive function
- references to the future
- communication with others
Who were the two researchers who had previous work into the language of psychopaths?
1) Cleckley (1976)
2) Williamson (1993)
Who is Cleckley (1976) ?
A researcher who observed, through CASE STUDIES, that the discourse of psychopaths was more likely to include tangential and incoherent quality than non-psychopaths
Who is Williamson (1993) ?
A researcher who analysed the narratives of psychopaths and non-psychopaths and found that the former used more contractionary and logically inconsistent statements
What was used to analyse language?
Statistical test analysis tools
What is measured through these tools?
- instrumental nature
- unique material and socioemotional needs
- emotional deficit
What was the aim of the study?
To examine if language of psychopaths reflected (as predicted) a predatory world view, unique socioemotional needs, and poverty of affect
What was the false aim of the study?
how well convicts can remember their crimes (memory)
What research method was used?
Self-report - interview
What type of interview was used?
semi-structured / open ended
What is a strength of using a semi-structured interview?
Allows participants to expand on answers due to follow up questions - making finding the reasons for behaviour easier yet there is also a form of structure allowing answers to be gathered effectively
What’s a weakness of using a semi-structured interview?
- lacks validity as it is harder to compare responses
- less controlled
- high risk of bias
What interview technique was used?
Step-Wise Interview technique
What does the Step-Wise interview allow?
experimenters to gather as much detail as possible
What is a weakness of using a self-report method?
Social desirability
What type of data was collected?
Qualitative and Quantitative
What is an example of the data that was collected?
language
What is a weakness of the amount of qualitative data that was collected?
- the audio-taped narratives were too detailed and varied to allow direct comparison
How was quantitative data gathered?
transcription and analysis
How was psychopathy measured?
Personality Checklist revised (PCL-R)
Who created the PCL-R?
Robert HARE
What happened after the interviews?
Narratives were TRANSCRIBED as close to verbatim through content analysis using the W-matrix and DAL
What was the sample?
52 males from Canadian correctional facility
What were the conviction rates?
16% (8) = first degree murder
64% (32) = second degree murder
20% (10) = manslaughter
What was the psychopath to non-psychopath ratio?
14:38
What was the mean age and the range of the age of convicts?
Mean age was 20.8
Range was 14-50
What are the 5 evaluation points of the sample?
- culture bias (ethnocentric)
- gender bias (androcentric)
- only a specific type of person (volunteer)
- social desirability (self-report)
- small sample (not rep. = not gen.)
How were participants acquired?
Volunteered
What are strengths of a self-selected sample?
- less chance of attrition (dropping out)
What are the weaknesses of a self-selected sample?
- only attracts a certain type of person - therefore less representative - cannot be generalised
What did the two groups not differ on (Psychopaths vs. Non-Psychopaths)?
- age
- amount of time since homicide was committed
What was the first step of the procedure?
Potential participants were asked if they would be interested in taking part in a research study
What was the first stage for those who were interested?
Were asked to complete the PCL-R
What is the PCL-R?
Psychopathy Checklist- Revised
What’s a strength of the PCL-R?
- universal = more valid and reliable
What is involved in the PCL-R?
- 20 criteria (rated from 0-2)
- maximum score of 40
- 25+ = Psychopath
Who conducted the PCL-R?
extensively trained prison psychologists who were trained in the coding of the PCL-R
How long were the interviews?
25 minutes
How is the procedure unethical?
Participants were deceived on the aim of the study - they were told it was about memory and how well inmates can recall their homicides
What is a strength of the interview?
Verbally explained so that participants can ask questions and understand what they have to do properly
How was the interview recorded?
Audio-taped
What were participants asked to do in the interview?
Describe their homicide in as much detail as possible
Who were participants interviewed by?
two senior psychology graduate students and one research assistant
What is important to note about the interviewers?
they were blind to the psychopathy scores
What is the Wmatrix?
a text analysis tool which compares part of speech to analyse semantic concepts
What is the DAL?
analyses tone of words
What are some results found by the Wmatrix?
psychopaths used approx. twice as many words in relation to basic physiological needs such as eating compared to the controls who focused on social needs such as family
What are some results from the DAL?
psychopaths physiologically distanced themselves from their homicide
What are the results regarding word use?
- psychopaths used roughly 2,200 words and non-psychopaths used roughly 2,500 words
- psychopaths used more past tense verbs such as ‘stabbed’
What are some conclusions of the study?
- Psychopaths are more likely than non-psychopaths to describe a cause and effect relationship when describing their murders
- Psychopaths linguistically frame their homicide as more in the past through using psychologically distant terms
What are some conclusions about psychopaths and language use?
1- tend to view their crimes as the logical outcome of a plan
2- more likely to focus on their own physiological needs
3- less emotional and positive in their speech
4- emotionally detached from their crimes
What are the ethical issues considered in this study?
- full confidentiality was maintained
- full informed consent (volunteer)
- debriefed verbally at the end of the interview
