Psychopathy Flashcards
Instrumental (proactive) violence
Violence that is pursued with a clearly defined goal or that is planned (more likely)
Goal or reward
Response modulation hypothesis
Hyperfocus on reward
Sham Emotions
Display of emotions not actually felt
reactive violence
perpetrated out of emotion
prompted by provocation and negative affect; escape a threat
(majority of violence)
Age and Psychopathy
Do not burnout like nonviolent criminals
psychopathic violence
Reactively instrumental violence (a blend of both types)
Based on emotions, but thought out for callousness
Psychopaths
More likely to victimize strangers
What is psychopathy?
A neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behavior.
Sexual psychopaths
More likely to commit rape due to increased levels of callousness and depravity
Psychopathy in the CJS
A strong predictor of violence
Psychopathic characteristics
Glibness and superficial charm
grandiose sense of self-worth
pathological lying, conning, and manipulativeness
lack of remorse and guilt, shallow affect, callous lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility for one’s actions
Effect of psychopathy on social skills
impacts one’s ability to interact and maintain relationships with other people.
Language issues
Don’t understand nuance, difficulty following meaning of emotions in words
can’t process or use semantics, gravitate towards emotional words –> negative associations
“understand the words to the music, but don’t feel the beat”
Cognitive and Learning Deficits
difficulty learning from their mistakes
(passive avoidance learning)
hypersensitive to rewards
Oddly perform better on Stroop tests
Manifestations of Psychopathy
(Biology)
structural differences in the brain
activity differences in the brain
the occipital lobe is the most used (parked car revving the engine)
