Psychopathy Flashcards
Psychopath
Personality disorder comprised of distinct clusters of emotional, interpersonal & behavioural characteristics
Characterised by disregard for social rules & rights of others
Not regarded as diagnosable personality disorder in DSM
Overlap with ASPD
Early 20th century
Kraeplin (1904)- proposed idea of psychopathic personalities, idea of both criminals & pathological liars
Cleckly (1941)- listed 16 traits & was influential in defining psychopathy as we know it
Karpman (1941)- proposed 2 types, primary & secondary psychopath
Modern day
Hare- foremost expert
Conducted 100s of studies
Created psychopathy checklist- most widely used tool for assessing psychopathy
Prevalence
1% in gen pop
10-30% of offenders
44% of killers of police are psychopaths
90% of serial killers are psychopaths
Psychopathy checklist
Devised in 70s by Hare
20 items determined in interview & supporting case file info
Scored on 3-point scale (not present, partial evidence, definitely present)
Max score is 40
Cut off for being psychopath is 30 in USA & 25 in UK
Due to cultural differences- not confusing superficial charm of UK with psychopathy
What does PLC-R tell us?
Factor 1 (affective traits)- superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, manipulative, lack of remorse or guilt, emotionally shallow, lack of empathy, irresponsibility
Factor 2 (social deviance)- need for stimulation, parasitic lifestyle, lack of realistic long-term goals, impulsivity, poor behaviour control, early behavioural problems, juvenile delinquency, criminal versatility
Many short-term relationships & promiscuity
David Cooke
Believes that antisocial traits are a consequence rather than symptom of psychopathy
3 factor model
Lifestyle factor- need for stimulation, impulsivity etc
4 factor model
Antisocial
Better at predicting violence
Evaluation (extra info)
- Debate over whether criminality is at core of psychopathy or simply downward correlate
- Cooke argues that PCL-R items related to criminality should be removed- would ensure PCL-R corresponds more closely Cleckley’s conceptualisation of psychopathy
- Cooke came up with 3-factor model by deleting criminality items from PCL-R & findings from 3 factors underlined the measure- concentrates on psychopathy in terms of personality & dispositions
3 types of psychopath- Mokrso et al (2015)
Using 4 PCL-R facets, found 3 types of psychopath
Manipulating psychopath- use people, in business/politics, low on antisocial traits
Aggressive psychopath- antisocial, more violent
Sociopath- high on antisocial traits, but low on affective, secondary psychopathy, ASPD
Psychology of psychopaths
Don’t experience emotions like us
Hare (1968)- don’t fear oncoming punishment
Williamson et al (1991)- show no differences in brain activity when processing emotional words compared to neutral words
Blair et al (1997)- less responsive to distressing images than controls- lack ability to emphasise with others
Psychopathic brain
Deficits in brain regions
Such as amygdala & prefrontal cortex
Psychopathy & violence (application)
Major predictor for violent offending
3x more likely to offend
4x more likely to violently offend
Factor 2 related to both general & violent offending
Hare et al (2000)- high PCL-R scorers had 82% re-conviction rate (38% violent), low scorers had 40% re-conviction rate (4% violent)
Psychopathy & homicide (application)
Hakkanen-Nyholm (2009)
Psychopathic murderers tend to have multiple victims, stranger victims, male victims, leave scene of crime & deny responsibility
More likely to engage in instrumental homicide compared to non-psycho murderers
