Psychopathy

Question 1

Psychopath (3 types)

Answer 1

A person who demonstrates a discernible cluster of psychological, interpersonal, and neurophysiological features that distinguish them from the general population.
Primary: true psychopaths which display traits of both factor 1 and 2 and score very high on the PCLR. <1% of the population.
Secondary: Display severe emotional problems and psychological disturbances
Dysocial: learned behaviour from subculture

Question 2

Boldness factor

Answer 2

An interpersonal style that is characterized by fearlessness, and being relatively immune to stress and anxiety and being successful at negotiating social interactions to achieve a desired goal.

Question 3

Meanness factor

Answer 3

Appear deficient in empathy, show a disdain and lack of close attachments with others, rebelliousness, excitement seeking, exploititiveness, and empowerment through cruelty.

Question 4

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 4

A DSM Diagnosis. The pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of rights of others.
-Failure to obey laws
-Lying for gain or amusement
-Impulsive behaviour
-Irritability, aggression
-Irresponsibility
-Lack of remorse
-At least the age of 18 with conduct disorder present before age of 15

Question 5

Factor 1a

Answer 5

-Glibness/superficial
-Grandiose sense of worth
-Pathological lying
-Conning/manipulative

Question 6

Factor 2

Answer 6

-Need for stimulation
-Parasitic lifestyle
-Lack of realistic long-term goals
-Impulsivity
-Irresponsible

Question 7

Affective 2B

Answer 7

-Lack of remorse
-Shallow affect
-Callous manner
-Failure to accept responsibility

Question 8

Antisocial

Answer 8

-Poor behavioural controls
-Early behavioural problems
-Juvenile delinquency
-Revocation of conditional release
-Criminal versatility

Question 9

PCL-R

Answer 9

Measurement of psychopathy that contains 20 items with a total score of 40, very hard to meet. Measure on a scale from 0-2.
-People from 22-24 points have a higher degree of recidivity
-Best incredible predictable actuality for recidivism
-Scoring high on F1 increase F2.

Question 10

Independent factors

Answer 10

Do not have a functional difference, just cannot categorize nicely.
-promiscuous sexual behaviour
-Short-term marital problems

Question 11

Issues of the PCL-R

Answer 11

-have conceptual and measurement issue when deciding between categorical and dimensional measurement
-Categorical states there are 0 risk factors, and you are not considered a psychopath unless you have 30 points. Abuse/rejection does not make you more or less likely to qualify as a psychopath. Treatment under this model does not work
-Dimensional looks at psychopathy as a dimension and it is an extension of APD. Relies on self-report of a general population which may be subject to pathological lying and manipulation, it is unreliable in this sense.

Question 12

Conduct disorder

Answer 12

-Diagnosis before the age of 10
-Accompanying ADHD
-Unstable parenting
-Inconsistent punishment

Question 13

Behavioural characteristics

Answer 13

-superficial charm
-above average IQ
-Friendly and outgoing
-display many surface level interests
-verbally skillful

Question 14

Suicide and Psychopathy

Answer 14

-Commit suicide under intolerable and desperate situations
-Aggressive and impulsive inmates
-Complex and multi-faceted

Question 15

Traits of psychopaths

Answer 15

-Selfish
-Flat affect
-Inability to gain or give affection
-Little contact with family
-Egocentricity
-Disregard for truth
-Unreliable, irresponsible, and unpredictable
-Lack of remorse or guilt
-Stimulation seeking

Question 16

Criminal psychopath

Answer 16

-Less than 1% of the population
-15-20% of the prison population
Actuarial assessment important

Question 17

Criticisms of the PCL-R

Answer 17

-Might not discriminate between non-criminal/criminal psychopaths
-Big difference between criminal and antisocial behaviour

Question 18

Juvenile

Answer 18

-Changing developmental patterns across the lifespan
-Some features may be normal adolescent development
-Coping mechanism in situations of abuse
-Self-fulfilling prophecy effect

Question 19

Treatment for psychopathy

Answer 19

Psychopaths tend to respond to positive reinforcement that is resource rich and constrained. Cannot really train emotional empathy.

Question 20

CNS and psychopathy

Answer 20

Hemispheric asymmetry and deficits may explain an emotional paradox. Inconsistency between thoughts and feelings, rely less on the left side oft he brain overall and more on the right only when tasks are meant to engage the left side.

Question 21

Critiques to observations of CNS functioning

Answer 21

-Maybe simply don’t care
-Emotional processing tasks made better psychopaths.
-Underactivation of the amygdala

Question 22

PNS and psychopathy

Answer 22

-Less responsive, and lower arousal to stress
-If under responsive, impedes avoidance learning of an aversive stimuli. However, if given adrenaline, can learn.
-Physiological arousal of the heart will spike and then drop immediately, respond very well to stress.