Personality and crime II Flashcards
Eysenck’s PEN model
Extraversion vs Introversion
- high extroversion = low levels of cortical arousal
Neuroticism vs Emotional stability
- high levels of neuroticism = excessive activity of the autonomic nervous system.
Psychoticism
- A tendency towards psychotic/sociopathic behaviour
psychoticism
Eysenck later added a third personality dimension – Psychoticism (P) (remains poorly defined).
- Originally conceived as a vulnerability to psychoses but later defined as similar to psychopathy.
- a certain recklessness, sensation-seeking
- a disregard for common sense or conventions
- a degree in inappropriate emotional expression
- lack of empathy and feeling for others
- “tough mindedness” and aggression
- preference for solitude
High P is related to offending particularly with crimes involving hostility towards other people.
Eysenck’s theory and criminal behaviour
see notes
Eysenck’s theory and crime
Eysenck acknowledged various limitations to his theory:
- The theory is not applicable to all crime and all criminals
- The emphasis on classical and operant conditioning does not include other types of learning.
- There may be other personality traits important to criminal behaviour.
Nonetheless the theory is important given its emphasis on the interaction between hereditary, biological and environmental influences on child development.
- Eysenck always acknowledged the importance of the environment on the development of personality and delinquent behaviour
other factors associated with criminal behaviour
Alcohol Drug addiction Childhood neglect and/or abuse Parenting Poverty Unemployment Anti Social Personality Disorder Psychopathy Cognitive and Biological factors Criminal Justice System Policing Legislation – changes over time Societal responses – often related to media ‘crusades’ Sentencing Policies Juries
labelling
Lewis and Appleby (1988)
- Investigated the effect of receiving a personality diagnosis on the way patients are perceived by psychiatrists.
- Mentioning a personality disorder diagnosis had a powerful and negative effect on clinicians views.
- Vital that personality disorder concepts refer to real entities.
personality disorders and crime
Lewis and Appleby (1988) showed that just the mention of a personality disorder diagnosis had a powerful effect on clinicians’ views.
- The stigma and discrimination that can result from being diagnosed with a PD or other psychological disorder shows the importance of evidence based diagnosis.
- This is further highlighted because there is a lot of evidence suggesting relationships between some PDs and some criminal behaviour.
- E.g. Stone, M. H. (2007).
are people with a personality disorder dangerous?
40% in prison diagnosed with PD
The majority of people diagnosed with a personality disorder are not dangerous or violent.
- More likely to be dangerous to themselves
Occasions when violence does occur tend to involve people diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD).
- Psychopathy is a concept related to APD. People with a diagnosis of psychopathy may be more likely to be violent.
- Related but not the same
- Childhood (severe) trauma (in most people diagnosed and in prison) may lead to difficulties with emotional regulation, impulsivity and empathy, which may lead to violence or anti-social behaviour and also underlie personality disorder.
diagnostic criteria - APD and associated PDs
DSM-5 retains the original 10 personality disorders but includes a hybrid dimensional-categorical (looks at traits as well) model in an Appendix – need more research on traits
Psychopathy is not one of the listed 10 PDs but a measure of psychopathy is included in the hybrid model. To be used alongside diagnostic criteria for APD.
Diagnostic criteria for APD includes Psychopath
Definition of APD is related to psychopathy.
Dyssocial personality disorder (DPD) – listed with APD in DSM-5.
Another term used to describe psychopathy:
- Dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) – more descriptive than psychopathy.
Overlap between the diagnostic categories suggests the terms APD, DPD and Psychopathy might be used interchangeably.
- This has implications for perceptions of justice.
Other research(USA) suggests that diagnostic labels do have a significant impact on perceptions of criminal defendants.
Edens and Cox (2012) examined the prevalence and impact of the labels psychopathy, sociopathy, and APD in capital murder cases. They surveyed defense team members at a law conference.
- When asked to estimate the effects of any of these three labels on trial outcome, respondents most frequently responded “considerable” or “extensive”
diagnostic criteria - APD and associated PDs - Filone, S., Strohmaier, H., Murphy, M., & DeMatteo, D. (2014).
These authors emphasise how the potential stigma associated with diagnostic labels is of particular importance in the courtroom.
Juror perceptions of these labels could have a substantial impact on sentencing recommendations for defendants.
This study examined how diagnostic labels might affect jury members’ sentencing recommendations and perceptions of the defendant (USA).
Participants read vignettes in which diagnostic labels (antisocial PD, dyssocial PD, psychopathy) and crime type (white collar – wealthy crimes – usually get away with it/violent crime) were manipulated
- Blue-collar – usually in prison – less-wealthy – “ordinary people”
diagnostic labels and their influence
Contrary to hypotheses, diagnostic label did not consistently impact sentencing recommendations or perceptions of the defendant.
were generally more influenced by crime type than diagnosis-participants perceived white collar offenders more negatively than violent offenders,
The diagnostic label was most influential on recidivism ratings and participants’ perceptions of violent offenders across all conditions.
Individuals labelled with psychopathy tended to be perceived as higher risk than those labelled with APD or DPD.
psychopathy
The term Psychopathy was originally coined by Cleckley in his book, The Mask of Sanity (1941).
It describes people who are:
- Superficially charming, of average or above average intelligence, unable to feel shame or remorse, egocentric, deceitful, highly manipulative, impulsive and can engage in extreme acts of violence including murder.
Cleckley (1976) – psychopaths offend without apparent purpose, show no remorse, are loyal to nobody and have a propensity to indulge in perverse sexual and harmful behaviour.
Robert Hare (1980s onward) developed and extended Cleckley’s work.
Hare studied incarcerated male psychopaths and developed the list of features of psychopathy identified by Cleckley.
- Hare also described how the psychopaths’ lack of empathy and conscience can make them more able in areas such as business and politics although recklessness reduces their success (Hare, 1993) – because they don’t care
psychopathy - Cleckley (1976)
In the USA over 90% of sexual and serial killers are diagnosed as psychopaths.
Individuals with psychopathy commit half of all serious (violent) crime (Hare, 1993)
But note, there are an estimated 3 million psychopaths in USA –vastly more in number than are incarcerated for murder. They generally do not commit murder but do devastate the lives and finances of those around them (Hare, 1993) – in order to look after themselves
psychopathy - Hare (1986)
developed a screening instrument for the identification of psychopathy – PCL.
Psychopathy is now most commonly assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) developed and revised by Robert Hare (1991; 2003)
- More detailed than psychoticism measure
psychopathy - PCL-R
The PCL-R measures two major clusters of symptoms:
Cluster 1:
- Emotional detachment and interpersonal traits including incapacity for fear and empathy, superficial charm, shallow emotions and callous attitudes towards others.
Cluster 2:
- Unstable, antisocial and impulsive lifestyle includes behaviours such as being impulsive, having poor self-control, early onset of behavioural problems and a strong need for excitement.
- Where APD sits
psychological traits
Factor One – Emotional detachment, interpersonal & affective characteristics
Glibness or superficial charm
Grandiose sense of self-worth
Egocentricity
Pathological lying and deception
Conning, manipulative
Lack of sincerity
Lack of remorse or guilt
Callous/lack of empathy
behavioural factors
Factor Two – Impulsive, antisocial & unstable lifestyle characteristics
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
Early behaviour problems
- Lack of realistic, long-term goals
- Impulsivity
- Irresponsibility
Juvenile delinquency
Parasitic lifestyle
Irresponsible behaviour as a parent – also experienced behav
Many types of offence
psychopathy and APD
related but there are important differences:
- Psychopathy describes people who are superficially charming and intelligent but who are also callous, deceitful, unable to feel remorse or empathy for others, impulsive, fearless and lacking in guilt or shame.
- The Antisocial Personality designation emphasises observable behaviours such as lying, criminal behaviour and conflicts with authority.
The main distinctions between Psychopathy and ASPD lie in the emotional and interpersonal traits of Cluster 1 which typically define psychopathy.
- Cluster 2 traits are more typical of ASPD which emphasises observable behaviours such as chronic lying and repeated criminal behaviour.
- Psychopaths also display Cluster 2 traits along with the dominant Cluster 1 traits.
- Many extreme psychopaths will also meet the diagnostic criteria for APD but not all people with APD are psychopaths.
- Estimates from 10% - 30% of people with APD meet the criteria for psychopathy. (e.g., Hare, 1986).
psychopathy and criminal behaviour
Psychopathy is strongly correlated with criminality:
- High levels of psychopathy in adolescents is a predictor of risk for violence in early adulthood and later (Gretton, Hare and Catchpole, 2004).
- Reviews of the evidence indicate that psychopaths are four times as likely to violently re-offend after release from custody compared with non-psychopath offenders (e.g., Hare et al., 2000, 2003).
- Recidivist offending – likely to re-offend within a year or 2
Psychopaths who murder are more likely to commit cold-blooded murder for reasons of gain (e.g., premeditated to get money) than non-psychopathic murderers (Woodsworth & Porter, 2002).
Psychopaths minimise the premeditated and instrumental aspects of their crime and portray it as more reactive than indicated by police crime reports. This might reflect attempts to charm and manipulate people (Porter & Woodsworth, 2006).
APD and criminal behaviour
APD is also strongly correlated with criminal behaviour:
- People with APD disorder commit the most crimes but psychopaths commit a disproportionate excess of crimes due to the life-long nature of psychopathy and recidivism.
- Psychopathy is resistant to treatment – considered untreatable by many (e.g., Cleckley, 1976; Wong, 2000).
- Psychopaths are not only resistant to treatment but attempt to manipulate the therapeutic situation to their advantage.
examples of UK serial killers who are designated psychopaths
Ian Brady – child murderer and Myra Hindley an accomplice but not considered a psychopath. Convicted of three ‘Moors Murders’ in 1966. Died in jail despite numerous appeals.
Fred West (committed suicide) and Rose West, convicted in 1995 of murdering 10 young women at their home in Gloucester. Among them was their eldest daughter.
Robert Black abducted and killed four girls aged 5-11 between 1982 and 1986, dumping their bodies hundreds of miles from their homes. There remains a question mark as to whether he was also culpable for Genette Tate’s disappearance in 1972. He died in jail in 2016.
Donald Neilson, 72, the Black Panther, locked up in 1976 for killing 3 people.
Jeremy Bamber, 47, convicted in 1986 of killing his parents, sister and her two sons.
Dennis Nilsen, 63, killed at least 16 men and boys. Was locked up in 1983.
John Duffy, 50, the Railway Rapist, killed three women, jailed 1988.
Steve Wright, 50, the Suffolk Strangler, jailed in 2008 for killing 5 women.
personality disorders at work - making headlines
Psychopathic traits and success in the work place
- Article written by George Monbiot published in the Guardian on 08/11/11.
- “The 1% are the very best destroyers ofwealth the world has ever seen. Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That’s why we’re nearly bankrupt.”
- Board & Fritzon (2005) “Disordered personalities at work”.
- Daniel Kahneman. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Allen Lane.
psychopathy in the work place
Board & Fritzon (2005) “Disordered personalities at work”.
Rejected the current categorical classification systems of PDs and instead used a dimensional perspective to compare PD traits across three groups.
- Particularly interested in those personality traits most closely associated with psychopathic PD.
- Compared personality traits between several hundred male forensic (criminal) and psychiatric patients at Broadmoor high-security hospital with “normal” male senior business managers (n39).
- Dimensional assessment tool and interviews: The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Scales (MMPI-PD) which contain DSM criteria for personality disorders.
psychopathy in the work place - Board and Fritzon (2005)
Results confirmed the presence of aspects of PD in the senior business manager sample, the most prominent of which are among those most associated with the ‘emotional components’ of psychopathic PD.
- Compared to the three patient samples, the senior business manager group was more likely to demonstrate the traits associated with histrionic PD, and equally likely to demonstrate the traits associated with narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive PDs.
At a descriptive level results translate as: managers more likely to be:
- Histrionic: superficial charm, insincerity, egocentricity, manipulativeness.
- Narcissistic: grandiosity, lack of empathy, exploitativeness, independence.
- Obsessive-compulsive: perfectionism, excessive devotion to work, rigidity, stubbornness, and dictatorial tendencies.
Board and Fritzon (2005) suggest that some traits associated with PDs can emerge in some individuals as successful characteristics in some situations such as being successful at work.
- It seems that some traits such as being able to charm and manipulate people might be useful traits in business.
- Similar to the points made by Hare (1993) but he emphasised that recklessness might prevent success.
The results provide persuasive evidence for the continuous distribution of personality traits and its pathology and as such support a dimensional conception of personality alongside a categorical approach.
- Which is conceptualised in the hybrid model of personality disorders presented in Appendix 3 of DSM-5.
the dark triad of personality
The constructs of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy are commonly referred to as the Dark Triad of personality (Paulhus & Williams, 2002).
All three are related to criminal behaviour but also behaviours such as scholastic cheating (social behaviour).
narcissists
characterized by a sense of entitlement, grandiosity and a sense of superiority over others (Raskin & Terry, 1988).
- They are arrogant, self-centred, self-enhancing and interpersonally aversive (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001; Paulhus, 1998).
machiavellianism
characterized by cynicism, amorality, and a belief in the utility of manipulating others (Christie & Geis, 1970).
- Research indicates that individuals high on the Machiavellianism trait exploit a range of deceitful tactics to achieve their goals (see Jones & Paulhus, 2009; McHoskey, 2001).
dark triad - Williams et al. (2010)
Authors report findings from three studies examining a wide range of personality predictors of self-reported cheating in undergraduate students in British Colombia.
Measures included the Big Five personality traits along with Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy
All three studies found that significant predictors included the Dark Triad as well as low agreeableness and low conscientiousness.
Only psychopathy remained significant in a multiple regression.
note that their use of the term psychopathy does not imply clinical or forensic levels.
- The mean scores on measures of psychopathy in college students are substantially lower than those in clinical/forensic samples (Forth et al., (1996); Paulhus, Nathanson, & Williams cited in Williams et al, 2010).
Nonetheless, approximately 3% of students still qualified for a clinical diagnosis of psychopathy
