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
Psychopathy & sex offenders (application)
Associated with severe forms of sexual violence
Mixed sex offenders are highly psychotic
Compared to other sex offenders, child molesters have lowest psychopathy scores
Psychopathic sexual murderers uses excess violence & more sadistic acts
Psychopathy moderates fantasy-behaviour link in non-offenders
Does psychopathy = criminality
Related to but not same as
Issues regarding construct & measurement of psychopathy
Antisocial behaviour indicates presence of psychopathy, but psychopathy predicts antisocial behaviour
Circular argument
3% in companies are psychopaths- not criminals
Psychopathic children
Mary Bell displayed classic symptoms of psychopathy
Chauhan et al (2007)- psychopath label led to students rating juveniles as more dangerous, clinicians stating they were less open to treatment, developmental experts focusing on both label & related traits in decision making
Boccacini et al (2008)- psychopath label led mock jurors to believe juvenile defendants were more risky & deserved harsher punishment compared to juveniles described as meeting diagnostic criteria for psychopathy
