Psychopathy and Anger rumination in gangs

Question 1

What is anger management treatment?

Answer 1

Event
Appraisal
Emotion
The event is appraised and the emotional response is the consequence
Anger can be inappropriate when the person doesn’t wish you harm, even if the individual is to blame
Patients in this treatment consider the cognitive aspects of anger

Question 2

How do psychopaths do in anger management treatments?

Answer 2

Recruit violent people onto the program but sometimes people’s problem isn’t
their management with anger
Psychopaths can act violently not because of their anger but maybe in order to achieve their goals e.g. obtain goals

Question 3

What are cognitive self change programmes?

Answer 3

Offender are taught skills on how to report their feelings and thoughts
Thinking patterns are identified
Offenders try to adopt new ways of thinking
A relapse prevention plan is practised
Offender is released back into the community with support

Question 4

How do psychopaths cope in group treatments? Is treatment for aggressive psychopaths successful overall?

Answer 4

Psychopaths show reduced criminal behaviour in treatment, although we aren’t sure about lower reoffending rates
Psychopathy doesn’t always lead to criminal behaviour
Psychopaths in group treatment are resistant

Question 5

What is psychopathy?

Answer 5

Disagreement about its causes, definitions, characteristics and development
Mental disorder involving anti-social behaviour
Low empathy and remorse
impulsive and egotistical characteristics

Question 6

What are the requirements for psychopathy using the diagnostic tool Hare PCL-R?

Answer 6

Factor 1: interpersonal/affective such as superficial charm, manipulative, lack of remorse, grandiose sense of self worth, lack empathy, promiscuous sexual behaviour

Factor 2: social deviance such as need for stimulation, poor behavioural control, impulsivity, irresponsible, juvenile delinquency, marital relationships are short lived

Question 7

Are psychopathy and sociopathy the same?

Answer 7

Psychopathy: innate, biological based. No remorse, guilt, empathy

Sociopathy: caused by environmental factors like poverty/neglect/exposure to violence. Lack empathy/guilt/remorse but may feel attached to some individuals

Question 8

What factors can be used to predict psychopathy behaviour in individuals?

Answer 8

Low resting heart rate
Frontal deficits in the brain
Early health factors (birth implications, physical anomalies, malnutrition)

Question 9

How can lower heart rate predict psychopathy?

Answer 9

Predicts violent anti-social behaviour in youth. As well as in men and women.
It is heritable, children of criminal parents have low resting heart rates
In research, anti-social and aggressive individuals have lower resting heart rates, even after controlling for other variables like weight, height, alcohol use, IQ
Interact with physiological factors: boys with lower heart rates are more likely to be offenders if they have a bad relationship with their parents or come from a large family

Question 10

Deficits in what regions can cause psychopathy behaviour?

Answer 10

Prefrontal cortex in the brain is responsible for many higher-level functions, including social behaviours and self control
Brain images show psychopathy offenders have functional deficits to the anterior region of the frontal lobe

Question 11

How do these brain deficits cause psychopathy?

Answer 11

Less able to reason and make appropriate choices in risky situations, which can be related to impulsivity
Antisocial group show poor fear conditioning which suggests they are less responsive to punishment, including that which is needed for socialization
Might lead to seeking arousal and stimulation, which is provided by aggressive and risky contexts

Question 12

What early health factors can cause psychopathy?

Answer 12

Early health problems lead to damage and underdevelopment of the pre-frontal cortex
Damage and underdevelopment leads to anti-social and aggressive behaviours, this can lead to impulsivity and risk taking

Question 13

What does it mean to be desensitized to violence? How can this cause violent offending behaviour?

Answer 13

Decrease in psychological and physiological reactions to witnessing and engaging in aggression and violence
More exposure to violence can cause people to become desensitized, when this is paired with practising aggression, the individual becomes capable of more extreme acts over time

Question 14

What is displaced aggression?

Answer 14

Aggressive action directed (displaced) towards a person or object that is NOT the original source of the provocation or negative effect

Question 15

What is triggered displaced aggression?

Answer 15

Disproportionate levels of aggression directed at an individual who provides a minor provocation, as a function of a prior provocation

Question 16

Who are the victims of displaced aggression and triggered displaced aggression?

Answer 16

Innocent people
Those who haven’t provoked in a manner that justifies that level of retaliation

Question 17

What 3 situations can set the context for displaced aggression?

Answer 17

1. The provoking situation has an immaterial source (e.g. economy is bad)
2. The source of the provocation leaves before you retaliate (e.g. vandals damage your car and disappear before they are caught)
3. The provocateur has power over you (e.g. a boss believes you’re stupid)

Question 18

How could these 3 situations cause people to respond aggressively?

Answer 18

Influences their perceptions and reactions to subsequent events, and increase the chances of venting or over-reacting to what are normally just mild annoyance

Question 19

What factors can increase the chance of rumination?

Answer 19

Non-normative behaviours can bring an individual into conflict with others, including authority figures. This leads to more aversive events that may prime them for aggression

Social environments that produce maladaptive behaviours and lifestyles may also produce more negative affect overall, which also primes aggressive responding

Question 20

What is anger rumination?

Answer 20

Self-focused attention
Towards one’s thoughts and feelings and their causes
Provocation-focused thought

Question 21

Are gang members more likely to ruminate? Why?

Answer 21

Gang members ruminate more than non-gang members because persons who perceive anger as useful may be more likely to ruminate
Rumination maintains negative affect and cognitive representations of provoking events, this keeps people primed for aggressive responding

Question 22

What was the method for the anger rumination study?

Answer 22

310 adolescent students
186 male
125 female
3 schools in London
Complete questionnaire
Age ranged from 14+ to 16 years old

Question 23

What questionnaires were the participants tested on in the anger rumination study?

Answer 23

1. Aggression subscale of the displaced aggression questionnaire
2. Angry rumination scale to test angry afterthoughts and angry memories
3. Aggression questionnaire to test trait physical aggression, trait hostility and trait anger
4. 5 items from Caprara’s irritability questionnaire
5. 5 additional items about displacing aggression to siblings/friends/members of family

Participants rated themselves on 3 statements (I have friends that belong to a gang, I consider myself as belonging to a gang and I spend time with people belong in a gang) from 1 (disagree)-5 (very agree)

Question 24

What were the results for the anger rumination study?

Answer 24

Correlations among anger affiliation, trait aggression, trait hostility, irritability, displaced aggression, gender and trait anger

Question 25

What can be concluded from this study about anger rumination and gang affiliation?

Answer 25

Affiliation with gangs is positively related to rumination and displacing aggression to others
Aggression towards others is not only related to individual differences and gang norms but also by a tendency to ruminate about aversive events
Rumination mediates the relation between gang affiliation and displaced aggression