Aberrant neural processing of moral violations in criminal psychopaths

A defining characteristic of psychopathy is the willingness to intentionally commit moral transgressions against others without guilt or remorse. Despite this "moral insensitivity," the behavioral and neural correlates of moral decision-making in psychopathy have not been well studied. To address this issue, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record hemodynamic activity in 72 incarcerated male adults, stratified into psychopathic (n = 16) and nonpsychopathic (n = 16) groups based on scores from the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (R. D. Hare, 2003), while they made decisions regarding the severity of moral violations of pictures that did or did not depict moral situations. Consistent with hypotheses, an analysis of brain activity during the evaluation of pictures depicting moral violations in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths showed atypical activity in several regions involved in moral decision-making. This included reduced moral/nonmoral picture distinctions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior temporal cortex in psychopaths relative to nonpsychopaths. In a separate analysis, the association between severity of moral violation ratings and brain activity across participants was compared in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths. Results revealed a positive association between amygdala activity and severity ratings that was greater in nonpsychopaths than psychopaths, and a negative association between posterior temporal activity and severity ratings that was greater in psychopaths than nonpsychopaths. These results reveal potential neural underpinnings of moral insensitivity in psychopathy and are discussed with reference to neurobiological models of morality and psychopathy.     

In cold blood: characteristics of criminal homicides as a function of psychopathy

This study investigated the relationship between psychopathy and the characteristics of criminal homicides committed by a sample of 125 Canadian offenders. It was hypothesized that the homicides committed by psychopathic offenders would be more likely to be primarily instrumental (i.e., associated with premeditation, motivated by an external goal, and not preceded by a potent affective reaction) or "cold-blooded" in nature, whereas homicides committed by nonpsychopaths often would be "crimes of passion" associated with a high level of impulsivity/reactivity and emotionality. The results confirmed these predictions; homicides committed by psychopathic offenders were significantly more instrumental than homicides by nonpsychopaths. Nearly all (93.3%) of the homicides by psychopaths were primarily instrumental in nature compared with 48.4% of the homicides by nonpsychopaths.     

Juvenile psychopathy and judicial decision making: an empirical analysis of an ethical dilemma

In the burgeoning juvenile psychopathy literature, there is a debate on whether it is appropriate to apply this construct to youths. Some have suggested that labeling children/adolescents as psychopathic might result in negative consequences, such as being recommended for more restrictive placements. However, the scant evidence is equivocal. This study provides additional insights on this issue by assessing judicial perceptions and recommendations to a hypothetical case. Results indicate that psychopathy influenced perceptions of amenability (eta = .12) and dangerousness (eta = .25), and recommendations for placement (eta = .11). More specifically, youth who were both labeled as psychopathic and ascribed psychopathic traits were viewed as less amenable to treatment and more dangerous and were more likely to be recommended for a restrictive placement than youth who were neither labeled nor described as such. The effect of psychopathy on placement recommendations, however, was not significant after controlling for perceptions of dangerous. This suggests that the influence of psychopathy on judicial restrictiveness may operate through the perceived dangerousness of the youth.     

Gender as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Early Separation from Parents and Psychopathic Traits in a Sample of At-Risk Adolescents

This study examined the relationship between early separation from parents and psychopathic traits in a diverse Asian community sample of at-risk adolescents. Specifically, we tested whether gender could moderate this relationship. Data on 113 at-risk adolescents were provided by their parents who participated in this study. These adolescents were between the ages of 11 and 16 years (M = 14.35; SD = 1.10). Parents provided ratings on psychopathic traits with respect to their adolescent and they also provided information on demographic variables, psychosocial and familial information. Results showed that gender moderated the link between early separation from parents and adolescent psychopathy. As hypothesized, boys who experienced early separation from parents were associated with significantly higher levels of psychopathic traits compared with boys who did not experience early separation from parents. Girls who experienced and who did not experience early separation from parents had levels of psychopathic traits that were not significantly different from each other. These findings suggest that boys appear to be more vulnerable to the negative effects of early separation from parents and early emotional parental deprivation. There are important implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners with respect to attempting to ameliorate the negative trajectory associated with psychopathy. It is critical to pay attention to and work with children and adolescents, especially boys, who have had early disruption to parental caregiving arrangements. Additionally, it is equally important to work with to-be adoptive or foster parents on how to handle and support potentially emotionally damaged children.     

The interplay of attention and emotion: top-down attention modulates amygdala activation in psychopathy

Psychopathic behavior has long been attributed to a fundamental deficit in fear that arises from impaired amygdala function. Growing evidence has demonstrated that fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and other psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by focus of attention, but to date, no work on adult psychopathy has examined attentional modulation of the amygdala or concomitant recruitment of relevant attention-related circuitry. Consistent with previous FPS findings, here we report that psychopathy-related differences in amygdala activation appear and disappear as a function of goal-directed attention. Specifically, decreased amygdala activity was observed in psychopathic offenders only when attention was engaged in an alternative goal-relevant task prior to presenting threat-relevant information. Under this condition, psychopaths also exhibited greater activation in selective-attention regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) than did nonpsychopaths, and this increased LPFC activation mediated psychopathy’s association with decreased amygdala activation. In contrast, when explicitly attending to threat, amygdala activation did not differ in psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. This pattern of amygdala activation highlights the potential role of LPFC in mediating the failure of psychopathic individuals to process fear and other important information when it is peripheral to the primary focus of goal-directed attention.     

Adult Bullying and Primary and Secondary Psychopathic Traits: Insights from a Community Sample

This study aimed to: (a) comprehend the relationship between primary and secondary psychopathy variants and bullying behaviors in adults; (b) to test for mediation effects of the experiences of victimization in strengthening the bonds between bullying and psychopathy; and (c) to explore how far gender and psychopathic variants predict bullying. Results showed that psychopathy (both primary and secondary) and gender (male) significantly predicted bullying perpetrator behaviors. These same predictors were also significant in explaining total involvement with bullying; primary psychopathy displayed, however, better explanatory power. Being a victim of bullying also mediated the relationship between psychopathic variants and bullying perpetrating. The magnitude of the correlations between bullying and both psychopathic variants detected in this study were bigger than the average reported in studies with children and adolescents, which could inform about greater severity of these behaviors in adult life. Specifically, findings from regression analyses suggest that components of cold-blooded psychopathy could be driving the engagement of this sample with aggressive behaviors. Implications of these findings, along with limitations and directions for further research are discussed.     

Assessment of Psychopathic Traits in Singaporean Adolescents: Validation of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD)

There is little knowledge available concerning psychopathic traits in Asian adolescents; a lack of a suitable measurement instrument for assessing psychopathy in Asian societies may account for this. This study aimed to validate a widely used scale in the West — the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) — in Singaporean school-based and at-risk adolescents. Using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study examined the two-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative/impulsive traits and callous-unemotional traits) and three-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative traits, impulsivity, and callous-unemotional traits) models of the APSD in 1027 school-based and 113 at-risk adolescents. School samples are adolescents from three secondary schools, while at-risk samples are adolescents who manifest different types of delinquent behaviors and are either placed in more structured settings or need closer supervision although they have not violated the law. Gender invariance was further tested in the school-based sample by conducting a multigroup CFA. The convergent validity of the APSD was also investigated in the school-based sample. For the school-based adolescents, the APSD revealed that the three-factor model provided a superior fit over the two-factor model and the factorial invariance across gender. Significant relationships between the three dimensions of the APSD and aggression and delinquency support the convergent validity of the APSD. As for the at-risk adolescents, both the two- and three-factor models were acceptable, but the two-factor model was preferred as it was parsimonious and it aligned with the conceptualized characteristics of psychopathic traits. Findings suggest that the APSD is a reliable and sound instrument for measuring psychopathic traits in Asian school-based and at-risk adolescents.     

The usefulness of self‐reported psychopathy‐like traits in the study of antisocial behaviour among non‐referred adolescents

The present study addresses the question of whether it is possible to use a self‐report measure of psychopathic traits on non‐referred youth samples to identify a subgroup of problematic youths who are particularly problematic and different from other problem youths. A large sample of eighth‐grade, non‐referred adolescents, and their parents were assessed. Results showed that the adolescents exhibiting a low‐socialized psychopathy‐like personality constellation had a more frequent, violent, and versatile conduct‐problem profile than other low‐socialized and well socialized adolescents. The psychopathy‐like adolescents also differed from other poorly socialized adolescents in ways that suggested that their etiological background was different from adolescents with non‐psychopathy‐like conduct problems. We conclude that self‐report measures can indeed be useful for research purposes in subtyping youths with conduct problems. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability and predictors of psychopathic traits from mid‐adolescence through early adulthood

High levels of psychopathic traits in youth are associated with multiple negative outcomes including substance misuse, aggressive behavior, and criminality. Evidence regarding stability of psychopathic traits is contradictory. No previous study has examined long‐term stability of psychopathic traits assessed with validated clinical measures. The present study examined the stability of psychopathic traits from mid‐adolescence to early adulthood and explored adolescent factors that predicted psychopathic traits five years later. The sample included 99 women and 81 men who had consulted a clinic for substance misuse in adolescence. At an average age of 16.8 years, the adolescents were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) and five years later using the PCL‐Revised (PCL‐R). Additionally, extensive clinical assessments of the adolescents and their parents were completed in mid‐adolescence. Among both females and males, moderate to high rank‐order stability was observed for total PCL and facet scores. Among both females and males, there was a decrease in the mean total PCL score, interpersonal facet score, affective facet score, and lifestyle facet score. However, the great majority of females and males showed no change in psychopathy scores over the five‐year period as indicated by the Reliable Change Index. Despite the measures of multiple family and individual factors in adolescence, only aggressive behavior and male sex predicted PCL‐R total scores in early adulthood after taking account of PCL:YV scores. Taken together, these results from a sample who engaged in antisocial behavior in adolescence suggest that factors promoting high psychopathy scores act early in life.     

„Psychopathy“ im Kindes- und Jugendalter

The term psychopathy is defined as a severe personality pathology, which is characterized by extreme aggressive, antisocial and violent behavior as well as affective and interpersonal deficits. In recent years, research into the construct of psychopathy has often focused on the incidence and detection of such pathologies in children and adolescents. In this context, a point of interest is to explore the course and stability of psychopathic personality dimensions throughout youth. Results demonstrate clear evidence for the occurrence of personality traits characteristic for psychopathy in early childhood and adulthood, which facilitates early detection with the aid of age-specific diagnostic instruments.The distinct correlation between psychopathy and severe, repeated and largely treatment refractory violence, which results in substantial public damage, calls for further research in children and adolescents in order to define the construct of psychopathy more precisely, to further illuminate underlying pathologies and consequently develop more specific typologies and effective treatment strategies. To that end, it is of particular importance to correctly capture dimensional factors of psychopathy in youth and to examine their stability throughout stages of adolescent development.     

Is there a psychopathic element in adolescent drinking? A longitudinal study

While previous studies have examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and alcohol use in adolescents, limited empirical investigations of the longitudinal bidirectional effects of psychopathic traits and alcohol use have been conducted for this age-group. The purpose of the present study was to examine the longitudinal associations among adolescent’s psychopathic traits and their alcohol use, in order to illustrate the directional causal relationship between the two constructs, taking into account demographic effects. Participants were 334 adolescents from Cyprus. The participants responded to self-report questionnaires in two consecutive measurements within a six-month interval. Data were analyzed with cross-lagged structural equation modelling. Results indicated that the Dependence alcohol symptoms in Time 1 were significant predictors of the Interpersonal dimension of psychopathy in T2, and the Behavioural dimension of psychopathy in T1 was a significant predictor of Dependence alcohol symptoms in T2, regardless of previous levels of psychopathy and alcohol use, gender and age effects. Implications for research are discussed.     

Socioeconomic Status and Psychopathic Traits in a Community Sample of Youth

The current study aims to address socioeconomic status (SES) as a moderating variable between psychopathic traits and conduct problems in a sample of 2432 Dutch adolescents (M_age?=?14.50 years, SD?=?1.67, 56% male). Both family and neighborhood SES were measured, with income as a proxy for the level of SES. There were small but significant positive correlations between the behavioral and interpersonal dimensions of psychopathy and family SES, a small but significant negative correlation between the affective dimension and neighborhood SES, and a small and significant positive correlation between neighborhood SES and the behavioral dimension of psychopathy. Results further showed that the relations between youth psychopathic traits were moderated by neither family SES nor neighborhood SES. The results suggest that the relations between psychopathic traits and conduct problems are equally strong for lower and higher SES youth. Taken together, these findings warrant the conclusions that SES does not play a role as a moderator in the relation between psychopathy and conduct problems.     

Social exclusion mediates the relationship between psychopathy and aggressive humor style in noninstitutionalized young adults

Previous research indicates a positive relationship between psychopathy and various negative humor styles. The purpose of the present study was to investigate social exclusion as a possible mediator of the association between psychopathy and negative humor styles in noninstitutionalized young adults. One hundred and thirty-nine university students participated by responding to questionnaires that assess psychopathy, the experience of exclusion from friends, and four humor styles (self-enhancing, affiliative, aggressive, and self-defeating). There was a significant positive association between psychopathy, social exclusion, and aggressive styles of humor, and a negative association between psychopathy and affiliative styles of humor. Moreover, the results of a mediation analysis indicated that the association between psychopathy and aggressive humor style is completely explained by the experience of social exclusion. These results suggest that high psychopathic participants who are socially excluded use an aggressive humor style more often than low psychopathic individuals. The present study provides further insights into the role played by social environmental factors in the links between psychopathy and associated interpersonal characteristics.     

Emotional processing in psychopathic personality

Emotional‐processing deficits may be one of the characteristic features of impaired affect in individuals with psychopathy. These include shallowness and profound lack of remorse or empathy. Performances on standardized emotion discrimination tasks and mood induction tasks were compared between 17 patients with antisocial personality disorder (DSM‐IV) and 17 nonpsychopaths. Subjects with psychopathic personality demonstrated poorer performance on emotion‐discrimination tasks compared with controls. However, higher scores on factor “emotional detachment” of the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL‐R) were associated with better discrimination ability. Subjective ratings were comparable between groups during mood induction. Although the findings support the hypothesis of a significant association between impaired emotional processing and psychopathy, they also suggest a relationship between emotional discrimination and the core personality features of psychopathy. Aggr. Behav. 28:394–400, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Brain potentials implicate temporal lobe abnormalities in criminal psychopaths

Psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in attention and orienting. However, few studies have examined the neural systems underlying these processes. To address this issue, the authors recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while 80 incarcerated men, classified as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003), completed an auditory oddball task. Consistent with hypotheses, processing of targets elicited larger frontocentral negativities (N550) in psychopaths than in nonpsychopaths. Psychopaths also showed an enlarged N2 and reduced P3 during target detection. Similar ERP modulations have been reported in patients with amygdala and temporal lobe damage. The data are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that psychopathy may be related to dysfunction of the paralimbic system--a system that includes parts of the temporal and frontal lobes.     

The Hannibal Lecter Myth: Psychopathy and Verbal Intelligence in the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study

Due to the intriguing nature of the psychopathy construct, it is not surprising that psychopathic characters would appear in popular culture. At times, media portrayals of psychopathic personality are consistent with scholarly research, others times they are not. In the case of Hannibal Lecter, the psychopathic killer was framed as an individual with superior intelligence—an omnibus intelligence that enhanced his ability to manipulative and victimize others. Contrary to this popular conception and based on data from 840 cases selected from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, ordinary least squares and ordered logistic regression models showed inverse relationships between verbal intelligence and psychopathy for eight of twelve items of the disorder in this exploratory study. Due to the uniqueness of the MacArthur sample and concern about generalizeability, further research on verbal intelligence and psychopathy is recommended.     

The validity of the Antisocial Process Screening Device as a self-report measure of psychopathy in adolescent offenders

There is a growing interest in the assessment of adolescent psychopathy to enable early treatment and intervention. Recently, a self-report measure has been developed to assess psychopathic traits in adolescents. The Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), a self-report measure of psychopathic traits, and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV), a clinical rating scale, were administered to a sample of 100 incarcerated male adolescent offenders to assess the concurrent validity of the APSD. Results indicated that the APSD had limited concurrent validity with respect to the PCL:YV and that there appears to be a method effect in the measurement of psychopathy. Thus, it appears the APSD did not assess psychopathy in a manner parallel to that of the PCL:YV.     

Psychopathic traits in adolescent offenders: an evaluation of criminal history, clinical, and psychosocial correlates

Although a large body of research has established the relevance of psychopathy to adult offenders, its relevance to adolescent offenders is far less clear. The current study evaluated the clinical, psychosocial and criminal correlates of psychopathic traits in a sample of 226 male and female incarcerated adolescent offenders. According to an 18-item version of the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL-YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003), only 9.4% exhibited a high level of psychopathic traits (PCL-YV>/=25). Consistent with past research, higher PCL-YV scores were positively associated with self-reported delinquency and aggressive behavior and were unrelated to emotional difficulties. Although higher PCL-YV scores were associated with the experience of physical abuse, the only psychosocial factor to predict PCL-YV scores was a history of non-parental living arrangements (e.g. foster care). In terms of criminality, a violent/versatile criminal history was positively associated with psychopathic traits. However, PCL-YV scores were unrelated to participants' official criminal records for total, non-violent, violent, and technical violation convictions. In conclusion, the data partially support the construct validity of psychopathy with adolescent offenders, but some inconsistencies with prior adult and adolescent psychopathy research were evident. These issues are discussed.     

Investigating the Components of Psychopathic Traits in Youth Offenders

Despite widespread acceptance of the importance of psychopathic traits in youth, the relative importance of different components of psychopathy remains controversial. This study was conducted to examine whether the interpersonal and lifestyle facets of psychopathy as measured with a valid clinical measure of psychopathic traits contribute to predicting relevant external criteria on top of the contributions of the affective facet. To address this issue, we conducted multiple regressions predicting antisocial behavior, exposure to violence, and psychopathology in a sample of 225 incarcerated adolescents. Results indicated that ratings on the affective component of psychopathy were important in helping to explain variance in many of the external criterion variables but that ratings on the interpersonal and lifestyle facets also helped to explain unique variance in a range of criteria including violent and non-violent crime, exposure to violence, impulsivity, and anger expression. These studies suggest that multiple components of psychopathy are likely to be important both in predicting real world outcomes and in understanding mechanisms involved in the development and manifestation of these traits.     

Psychopathy: A psychobiological perspective

After critically examining the concept of psychopathy and reviewing the major existing theories of psychopathy in the light of a psychobiological conception of abnormal behaviour (Öhman, 1981), this paper attempts to present an integrated, psychobiological model of psychopathy. Essentially this analyses psychopathy in terms of the predisposing influences, the triggering environmental events which initiate psychopathic behaviour, and the neurophsychological mechanisms which mediate it. It is suggested that individuals who show chronic antisocial behaviour, conforming to the North American term ‘sociopath’, may demonstrate a maturational deficit but do not necessarily show a psychopathic personality disorder. The latter is said to be characterised, at a personality trait level, by high Impulsiveness and Psychopathy (Blackburn, 1982 a, b), reflecting interactive deficits in goal direction and affect. At a dynamic (state) level, a psychopathic personality disorder is said to be characterised by a lack of coping, reflecting either, in the case of the secondary psychopath, a deficit in primary appraisal, (over-perception of threat), or in the case of the primary psychopath, a deficit in secondary appraisal (low perceived control over aversive environmental events). It is further suggested that a genetic predisposition to social withdrawal and exposure to an uncontrollably aversive early environment may interact to predispose an individual to develop a psychopathic personality disorder in adulthood.