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Introduction
Psychopathy, otherwise known as Psychopathic Personality Disorder (PPD), has been the most studied personality disorder with much literature and research conducted in an attempt to understand it (Hesse, 2009). There is a perception that psychopaths are noticeable within our society, that they fit a certain stereotype. This however, is incorrect. Psychopaths are characterised by their ability to be charming, agreeable, have above average intelligence and above all, lie with extreme conviction (Freedman, Verdun-Jones, 2010). Each of these hallmark traits of a psychopath can make them look just like you or I on the surface which is shown throughout history. Infamous psychopaths such as Charles Manson, Jeffery Palmer, (girl one), etc, may have looked normal enough on the surface, yet each committed crimes and held thoughts within themselves that are unconscionable to nonpsychopathic individuals. Robert Hare designed the most commonly used measure to test for psychopathic traits in individuals and is still used today, with various additions to test for such traits in children (PCL- Youth Version) and as a screening measure (PCL: Screening Version) (Hare & Neumann, 2009).
What is Psychopathy?
In his 1982 works Cleckley, a significant player in the field, defined psychopathy as a psychological construct that describes chronic immoral and antisocial behaviour, a lack of consciousness, and the ability to lie and deceive without feeling guilt or discomfort (Hesse, 2009). According to Bishopp and Hare (2008), psychopaths are impulsive sensation seekers with a range of defining features. Such key features include superficial charm, absence of nervousness which would suggest low anxiety, unreliability, intelligence, and most significant of all, psychopaths lack empathy and remorse. Another key feature of psychopaths is their inability to learn from experience which, most troubling of all, means they do not respond to punishment (Bishopp & Hare). In part, this is due to psychopaths failing to accept responsibility for their actions and their lack of remorse (Freedman & Verdun-Jones, 2010). Other key features of psychopaths which often makes them appear like any other normal person, is their agreeableness and their ability to lie and be extremely convincing (Freedman, Verdun-Jones, 2010). Psychopaths are considered as sane individuals in the mental health community according to Freedman and Verdun-Jones (2010). The basis for this being that psychopaths have an accurate sense of reality and appear to be rational and aware of their actions. Because of this, psychopathy is considered independent from any mental disorder. Also because psychopathy reflects innate dispositions as opposed to resulting from reactions to trauma or extreme dispositions as is the case in other forms of disorder (Bishopp & Hare, 2008).
Motivation and emotion/Textbook/Emotion/Psychopathy The Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R) was developed by Robert Hare and is the most commonly used measure of psychopathic behaviour (Hesse, 2009) and is used to measure psychopathic traits in individuals. The PCL-R is a rating scale comprised of 20 items, each pertaining to a different trait or symptom of psychopathy (Cooke, Hart, Hare & Michie, 1999). The rating scale is a 3-point scale based on 0= doesnt apply, 1= item applies somewhat, and 2= item definitely applies (Cooke, Hart, Hare & Michie, 1999). The scores are totalled ranging from 0-40, reflecting how strongly the person matches the traits of a prototypical psychopathic person (Hare and Neumann, 2009). A score of 30 or higher is most often used as the cut off score to diagnose psychopathy (Cooke, et al, 1999). The 20 items on this scale come under two factors. Factor 1 pertains to the affective and interpersonal features of psychopathy and is labelled Selfish, Callous, and Remorseless use of others. Factor 2 pertains to the social deviance features of psychopathy and is labelled Chronically Unstable and Antisocial Lifestyle (Cooke, et al, 2009).
Interpersonal Factor
Glib, superficially charming Callous, manipulative Pathological lying Grandiose sense of self-worth
Affective Factor
Lack of remorse of guilt Shallow affect Callous, lacking empathy Failure to accept responsibility
Lifestyle Factor
Stimulation seeking Impulsive Irresponsible Parasitic lifestyle Lack of realistic goals
Antisocial Factor
Poor behavioural controls Early behaviour problems Juvenile delinquency Revocation of conditional release Criminal versatility
Motivation and emotion/Textbook/Emotion/Psychopathy identifying it being expressed by others. Research has found that psychopaths have difficulty identifying fear and sadness in other people although, interestingly, they can recognise happy facial expressions. This also applies to the psychopathic individual, that is, they can both experience happiness themselves and recognise that emotion in others, however they cannot experience, nor can they recognise fear (Freedman & Verdun-Jones, 2010).
Neurobiological Processing
The lack of emotion psychopaths display has been argued to be a result of neurobiological deficits. Gao, Glenn, Raine, Schug and Yang (2009) discuss research which suggests deficits in the prefrontal cortex or in the amygdala are the main neurobiological areas that are associated with psychopathic-like traits. It is suggested reduced grey matter volume in the prefrontal cortex is associated with poor decision-making, emotional dysregulation, and impaired moral judgment in psychopathic people (Gao, Glenn, Raine, Schug & Yang, 2009). In terms of lack of remorse, it is suggested this could be due to deficits in the amygdala (Gao, Glenn, Raine, Schug & Yang, 2009). Cantani, Craig, Daley, Deely, Fahy, Kanaan, Latham, McGuire, Murphy and Picchioni (2009) suggest this effect of amygdala dysfunction is supported by research in which psychopaths performance in tasks sensitive to amygdala damage reflects that dysfunction. This research also suggests that amygdala volume is significantly reduced in psychopaths, as well as decreased brain activity in those areas controlled by the amydala during various learning and emotive tasks (Cantani, et al, 2009). In support of reduced amygdala activity being the core deficit in psychopathy Glenn, Raine and Schug (2009) suggest there is a strong association between the four factors of psychopathy and reduced activity in the amygdala, particularly during emotional moral decision making. Further research indicates the reduction in amygdala activity disrupts moral decision making in psychopaths and, as a result, making them unable to identify distress etc. in other individuals (Glenn, Raine and Schug, 2009). As a result of this disruption to amygdala functioning, psychopathic individuals may be undeterred from conning and manipulating others, making impulsive, irresponsible decisions, and engaging in criminal behavior without feeling guilt or remorse, all key characteristics of psychopathy (Glenn, Raine and Schug, 2009).
Theories of Psychopathy
Response Modulation Hypothesis (RMH)
According to the RMH, a failure to process the meaning of information they consider unimportant in terms of its effect on them personally, could explain psychopathic individuals impulsivity, poor passive avoidance, and emotion-processing deficits (Lorenz and Newman, 2002). Glass and Newman (2009) state that the based on RMH, psychopathic individuals can display normal emotional responses when it is their primary attentional focus, that is, when it relates to them specifically. In contrast, when faced with information that is secondary to their primary attentional focus, psychopathic individuals have difficulty processing this affective information, suggestibly because in the latter, they are not the focus (Glass and Newman, 2009). Response modulation is defined by Lorenz and Newman (2002) as a brief and highly automatic shift of attention that enables individuals to monitor and, if relevant, use information that is peripheral to their dominant response set (i.e., deliberate focus of attention). According to Lorenz and Newman (2002), RMH is evident in such situations as when the psychopathic individual is avoiding punishment, a primary task as it directly affects them, and thus they display appropriate responses. In contrast, when attention needs to be on processing secondary information, that is, does not directly affect them, psychopathic individuals experience performance deficits (Lorenz and Newman, 2002).
References
Baskin-Sommers, A. R., Curtin, J. J., MacCoon, D. G., Newman, J. P. and Wallace, J. F. (2009). Clarifying the factors that undermine behavioral inhibition system functioning in psychopathy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 229234. Bishopp, D., and Hare, R. D. (2008). A multidimensional scaling analysis of the Hare PCL-R: Unfolding the structure of psychopathy. Psychology, Crime & Law, 14, 117-132. Catani, M., Craig, M. C., Daly, E., Deeley, Q., Fahy, T., Kanaan, R., Latham, R., McGuire, P. K., Murphy, D. G. M. and Picchioni, M. (2009). Altered connections on the road to psychopathy. Molecular Psychiatry, 14, 946953. Cooke, D. J., Hare, R. D., Hart, S. D., and Michie, C. (1999). Evaluating the screening version of the Hare Psychopathy ChecklistRevised (PCL:SV): An item response theory analysis. Psychological Assessment, 1, 3-13. Fowles, D. C. (1980). The three arousal model: Implications of Grays two-factor learning theory for heart rate, electrodermal activity, and psychopathy. Psychophysiology, 17, 87104. Freedman, L. F. and Verdun-Jones, S. N. (2010). Blaming the parts instead of the person: Understanding and applying neurobiological factors associated with psychopathy. Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 29-53. Gao, Y., Glenn, A. L., Raine, A., Schug, R. A. and Yang, Y. (2009). The neurobiology of psychopathy: A neurodevelopmental perspective. Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 813-823. Glenn, A. L., Raine, A. and Schug, R. A. (2009). The neural correlates of moral decision-making in psychopathy. Molecular Psychiatry, 14, 56. Hare, R. D. and Neumann, C. S. (2009). Psychopathy: Assessment and forensic implications. Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 791-802. Hesse, M. (2009). Portrayal of psychopathy in the movies. International Review of Psychiatry, 21, 207212. Lorenz, A. R. and Newman, J. P. (2002). Deficient response modulation and emotion processing in low-anxious caucasian psychopathic offenders: Results from a lexical decision task. Emotion, 2, 91104.
References
[1] http:/ / screenr. com/ Psc
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