violence

Question 1

what is most important when considering violence?

Answer 1

has to be intentional

actual, attempted, or threatened physical harm that is deliberate and non-consenting, includes fear-inducing behaviour

Question 2

how can violence be seen as a choice?

Answer 2

the proximal cause of violence is a decision to act violently
the decision is influenced by a host of biological, psychological and social factors

Question 3

what are examples of factors that can lead to violence?

Answer 3

neurological insult, hormonal abnormality (personal factors)
psychosis, personality disorder (psychological)
exposure to violent models, attitudes that condone violence (social)

Question 4

what are the 2 types of violence?

Answer 4

1. instrumental/proactive: external motivator (revenge, power, money), not emotionally driven, planned, premeditated, arousal is coincidental
2. affective/reactive: emotionally-driven, high arousal, triggers easy to identify (physiological symptoms, faulty thinking) lack of self-control

Question 5

what is the general aggression model (Anderson & Bushman)

Answer 5

1. inputs can be a person or a situation
2. routes: the three states are affect, cognition, or arousal
3. outcomes: the results are appraisal and decision process which can lead to a)thoughtful action or b)impulsive action which both result in a social encounter

Question 6

what is psychopathy

Answer 6

a personality disorder characterized by: an arrogant, deceitful interpersonal style, efficient affective experiences, impulsive and irresponsible behaviours, early onset&diverse antisocial behaviours

Question 7

what are the 4 facets of the PCL-R?

Answer 7

facet 1: interpersonal–> glib, superficial, grandiose, lying, manipulative
facet 2: affective–>lack of remorse, shallow effect, lack of empathy, not responsible
facet 3: lifestyle–>needs stimulation, parasitic lifestyle, lack of goals, impulsivity, irresponsible
facet 4: antisocial–> poor. behavioural controls, early behavioural problems, delinquency, conditional release, criminal versatility

Question 8

what are the 4 theories of psychopathy?

Answer 8

1. brain damage/structural anomalies: e.g. prefrontal cortex
2. complex brain structures
3. increased activation for negative emotional stimuli and decreased activation for positive emotional stimuli (Kiehl et al.)
4. overall volume reductions (Raine et al.), important for decison-making and impulse control

Question 9

brain structures involved in psychopathy (2)

Answer 9

1. Striatum: involved in voluntary movement, decision-making and processing rewards, increased volume in psychopaths, reward-oriented-less affected by consequences
2. amygdala/hippocampus: part of the emotion/memory centre, less blood flow/less processing of emotional stimuli, less affected by fear
   such as brain damage, structural anomalies

Question 10

startle reflex

Partick et al. 1993

Answer 10

• reflex occurs when something unexpected occurs its magnified if person is in negative emotional state or feeling threatened, but reduced if in a positive state
• presented startle probes of positive, neutral and unpleasant objects, psychopaths
• non-psychopaths increased blinking when they were shown unpleasant pictures but psychopaths did not increase

Question 11

interaction model

Answer 11

individual is born with a certain predisposition (determined by genetics) and through interaction with environmental factors (e.g. neglect/abuse) psychopathic traits develop

Question 12

affective mimicry (Jones, 2014)

Answer 12

to be successful at manipulation others, one must be able to: read cues of vulnerability in others, avoid detection by appearing to be socially trustworthy, and display a range of emotions even if not felt

Question 13

perceptions of victim vulnerability (Grayson & Stein, 1981)

Answer 13

a persons manner of walking as a cue (gait)

Question 14

Book (2013), Ritchie (2018), Wheeler(2009) et al study on perceiving how a victim walks

Answer 14

students and incarcerated people have a higher psychopaths score associated with greater accuracy in perceiving walker’s vulnerability
-incarcerated people with higher factor 1 scores more likely to report using gait cues (book et al)

Question 15

fear-enjoyment hypothesis (Hosker-field et al., 2016)

Answer 15

people with psychopathic traits show fewer negative responses to fearful stimuli

• show heightened positive responses to fearful stimuli
• have positivity bias in processing fearful expressions in others

Question 16

outcomes of reactive and instrumental violence between psychopaths and non-psychopaths (Woodworth & Porter, 2002)

Answer 16

individuals with lower PCL-R scores committed reactive homicide (72%) vs. instrumental homicide (28%) and individuals with high PCL-R scores committed reactive homicide (7%) vs. instrumental homicide (93%)

Question 17

Psychopaths and treatment (Rice, Harris &Cormier, 1992)

Answer 17

Untreated Non-psychopaths 40% violent recidivism vs treated 20%
Treated psychopaths actually end up recidivating more violently than those who don’t receive treatment

Question 18

Practice question: imagine that you are a treatment provider in a max-security prison. one fo your clients scores a 38 on the PCL-R. Using the RNR, explain how you would treat this individual.

Answer 18

two component model (Wong 2015) look at factor 1 (interpersonal /affective) and factor 2 (lifestyle/antisocial)
Specific responsivity: treatment motivation, treatment retention
Criminogenic needs: treatment as usual, cognition/actions
-because psychopaths are resistant to traditional treatment modalities