Erscheinungsformen und Ursachen von Amoktaten aus kriminologischer,forensisch-psychiatrischer und forensisch-psychologischer Sicht

Cases of running amok are intentional, accomplished and attempted multiple homicides by which mass murder is generally carried out by a single offender, motivated by anger, hate and revenge, attacking defined or randomly selected victims. The offender intends to become famous and in many cases commits suicide after the attack. Young offenders up to the age of 24 years old differ from the heterogeneous group of adults. Within a core group of young offenders personality disorders and behavioral problems are the main cause of the attacks. A quiet, reclusive and always somewhat strange loner has a deep feeling of alienation, feels offended and disregarded, identifies with perpetrators and stages the crime as revenge for subjectively experienced insults. Schizotypal, paranoid and narcissistic aspects dominate. The offenders are not characterized by patterns of impulsive, aggressive or dissocial behavior.     

Reduced prefrontal and increased subcortical brain functioning assessed using positron emission tomography in predatory and affective murderers

There appear to be no brain imaging studies investigating which brain mechanisms subserve affective, impulsive violence versus planned, predatory violence. It was hypothesized that affectively violent offenders would have lower prefrontal activity, higher subcortical activity, and reduced prefrontal/subcortical ratios relative to controls, while predatory violent offenders would show relatively normal brain functioning. Glucose metabolism was assessed using positron emission tomography in 41 comparisons, 15 predatory murderers, and nine affective murderers in left and right hemisphere prefrontal (medial and lateral) and subcortical (amygdala, midbrain, hippocampus, and thalamus) regions. Affective murderers relative to comparisons had lower left and right prefrontal functioning, higher right hemisphere subcortical functioning, and lower right hemisphere prefrontal/subcortical ratios. In contrast, predatory murderers had prefrontal functioning that was more equivalent to comparisons, while also having excessively high right subcortical activity. Results support the hypothesis that emotional, unplanned impulsive murderers are less able to regulate and control aggressive impulses generated from subcortical structures due to deficient prefrontal regulation. It is hypothesized that excessive subcortical activity predisposes to aggressive behaviour, but that while predatory murderers have sufficiently good prefrontal functioning to regulate these aggressive impulses, the affective murderers lack such prefrontal control over emotion regulation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The accuracy of risk assessment instruments in the prediction of impulsive versus predatory aggression

Actuarial violence risk assessments, many of which include the construct of psychopathy, have been shown to be superior to clinical judgment in the prediction of long-term risk of community violence and recidivism. While these instruments initially appeared to provide similarly accurate judgments of risk of institutional aggression, recent research has indicated that such assessments may be less robust in this setting. One explanation may lie in the types of aggression most frequently observed in each setting. Impulsive (or reactive/affective) is the type of physical aggression most commonly exhibited in psychiatric facilities. This research examines the relationship between risk assessments and aggression in an inpatient forensic setting, with such aggression categorized as impulsive, predatory or psychotic aggression. Consistent with previous research, impulsive aggression was the most frequent type observed (58%). Anger (as measured by the Novaco Anger Scale) and clinical issues (as measured by the HCR-20) were most associated with impulsive aggression, with AUC values of .73 and .71 respectively. In contrast, anger and psychopathy (as measured by the PCL-R) were more associated with predatory aggression, with AUC values of .95 and .84 respectively. Psychotic symptoms were highly associated with psychotically motivated aggression (AUC = .90). These results suggest that traditional violence risk assessments may have limited utility in predicting aggression in an institutional setting and that psychiatric symptoms and heightened affect are more relevant. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Affective individual differences and startle reflex modulation

Potentiation of startle has been demonstrated in experimentally produced aversive emotional states, and clinical reports suggest that potentiated startle may be associated with fear or anxiety. To test the generalizability of startle potentiation across a variety of emotional states as well as its sensitivity to individual differences in fearfulness, the acoustic startle response of 17 high- and 15 low-fear adult subjects was assessed during fear, anger, joy, sadness, pleasant relaxation, and neutral imagery. Startle responses were larger in all aversive affective states than during pleasant imagery. This effect was enhanced among high fear subjects, although followup testing indicated that other affective individual differences (depression and anger) may also be related to increased potentiation of startle in negative affect. Startle latency was reduced during high- rather than low-arousal imagery but was unaffected by emotional valence.     

Differentiating stranger murders: profiling offender characteristics from behavioral styles.

The literature on "offender profiling" suggests that different "styles" of homicide will reflect differences in the background characteristics of the offender. To test this suggestion, hypotheses were drawn from studies of aggression to propose that murder crime scenes would reveal stylistic distinctions in the role of the aggression in the offense. It was further hypothesized that these distinctions would be clearest for those crime scene indicators that reflect the instrument (cognitive) actions that shape the offense rather than the more expressive (impulsive and emotional) components. Hypotheses about associated offender characteristics were also deduced on the assumption that the murder scene theme revealed the killers' typical styles of interpersonal transaction. To test these hypotheses MDS analyses were carried out on the crime scene and offender characteristics derived from 82 single offender, single victim stranger homicides. A multivariate structure resulted, including all three hypothesized styles, allowing 65% of the cases to be assigned to unique styles and a further 36% to be assigned to appropriate hybrids. Offender characteristics related in the anticipated way to the different crime scene styles, providing a basis for law enforcement inferences about offenders in stranger murders.     

Understanding violence: Does psychoanalytic thinking matter?

A coherent psychoanalytic theory of violence has been hindered by the very few psychoanalysts who have actually worked with violent patients, by political allegiance to certain psychoanalytic schools of thought, a naïve belief that all violence is typically not intentional, but rather a problem of impulse control, and the lack of understanding of recent neurobiological findings concerning aggression. Although intensive psychoanalytic treatment is usually not appropriate for violent individuals, the authors assert that a comprehensive understanding of violent behavior from a psychoanalytic perspective is of relevance for all mental health practitioners interested in the nature of human aggression. Actual violence is informed by bodily enactments and regressions to primitive subjective states; the effects of trauma on representation and symbolic functioning; the demarcation between affective and predatory violence; and understanding how all of our mental processes, including cognitions, wishes, memories, unconscious phantasies, ego-defenses, and object relations, are originally rooted in the body. The authors review the historical psychoanalytic literature on violence and critique contemporary psychoanalytic theorizing regarding the etiology of violent behavior in the light of some neurobiological research findings. They conclude with treatment recommendations for those clinicians whose patients have been violent toward others.     

Are the interpersonal and identity disturbances in the borderline personality disorder criteria linked to the traits of affective instability and impulsivity?

This study examines the degree to which two putative biologically influenced personality traits, affective instability and impulsive aggression, are associated with some of the interpersonal and intrapsychic disturbances of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and with choice of defense mechanism. In a sample of 152 personality disorder patients, affective instability and impulsive aggression were measured. Defense mechanisms were assessed in 140 of these patients using the Defensive Style Questionnaire (DSQ). The correlations between the traits of affective instability and impulsive aggression and the eight DSM-III-R criteria for borderline personality disorder and 20 DSQ defenses were examined. Affective instability was significantly correlated with the DSM-III-R criteria of identity disturbance, chronic emptiness or boredom, inappropriate anger, suicidality, and the affective instability criteria. It also was associated with the defenses of splitting, projection, acting out, passive aggression, undoing, and autistic fantasy. Impulsive aggression was related to unstable interpersonal relationships, inappropriate anger and impulsiveness and with the defense of acting out. It was negatively correlated with the defenses of suppression and reaction formation. A number of the interpersonal and experiential disturbances and defense mechanisms that are features of BPD are associated with the traits of affective instability and impulsive aggression among patients with personality disorders.     

Problem Anger in Psychotherapy: An Emotion-Focused Perspective on Hate, Rage, and Rejecting Anger

This paper explores applies emotion-focused theory, for the first time, to the emotions of hate, rage, and destructive anger. The general case formulation proposed in this paper is that these emotions are always an elaboration of secondary anger. The body of the paper describes three clinical case formulations. First, problem anger is described in terms of an individual’s self-criticism. Second, we present a form of secondary anger, in which hostility and rage are reactive feelings to avoid more vulnerable (primary) experiences. An unfortunate example of this is has been described as a common underlying process in domestic violence. A alternate manifestation of secondary anger results from the deterioration of what may have initially been adaptive anger; thus, excessive arousal and the loss of meaning or focus that one’s anger embodied also leads to rage or destructive anger. Finally, the experience and expression of hate is described as a primary maladaptive and/or instrumental anger. This appears in-session particularly among those with certain personality disorders. The paper highlights implications for research and practice.     

The Influence of Affective States on Cognitive Broadening/Narrowing: Considering the Importance of Motivational Intensity

Decades of research suggested that positive affective states broaden cognitive processes, whereas negative affective states narrow cognitive processes. More recent research suggests, however, that these conclusions may be premature. These past experiments often compared positive affects low in motivational intensity with negative affects high in motivational intensity. These past experiments, therefore, may have confounded affective valence with motivational intensity. Recent evidence suggests that motivational intensity rather than affective valence influences cognitive broadening/narrowing. That is, affective states of low motivational intensity (e.g., sadness, postgoal positive affect) broaden cognition, whereas affective states of high motivational intensity (e.g., disgust, pregoal positive affect) narrow cognition. We posit that narrowing occurs during affective states of high motivational intensity to aid organisms in acquiring desirable objects or avoiding aversive ones. In contrast, broadening occurs during affective states of low motivational intensity to open organisms to new opportunities.     

Psychopathic traits and men’s anger response to interpersonal conflict: A pilot study

Psychopathy is associated with emotional dysfunction that impedes the experience of emotions such as fear and sadness and has been purported to facilitate violent behavior. However, findings relative to the association between psychopathy and anger have not been reliably substantiated. Theorists have proposed that psychopathy predisposes one to experience greater frustration and anger, whereas other experts have suggested that there is no convincing evidence for this assertion. In the present study, we tested the relationship between psychopathy subfactors and anger subsequent to conflict or non-conflict interactions. Sixty-eight collegiate-men completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and read vignettes depicting either a conflict or non-conflict scenario and were asked to imagine themselves in the situation. Following presentation of the vignettes, participants completed a lexical-decision-task assessing affective states. Results indicated that the psychopathy subfactors demonstrated strong differential associations, where Factor 1 showed negative and Factor 2 showed positive association with anger activation in response to interpersonal conflict. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of anger as a facilitator of violence in some psychopathic individuals.     

A comparative analysis of North American adolescent and adult mass murderers

Thirty adult mass murderers and 34 adolescent mass murderers in North America are compared on both offender and offense variables to delineate similarities and differences. Findings indicate a plethora of psychiatric disturbances and odd/reclusive and acting-out personality traits. Predisposing factors include a fascination with weapons and war among many of the adolescents and the development of a "warrior mentality" in most of the adults. Precipitating factors indicate a major rejection or loss in the hours or days preceding the mass murder. Results are interpreted through the lens of threat assessment for targeted violence (Borum, Fein, Vossekuil, & Bergland 1999), recognizing that a fact-based, dynamic behavioral approach is most useful for mitigating risk of such an extremely low-base-rate violent crime.     

Acute exercise suppresses judgments of facial emotion intensity

The ability to recognize others’ facial expressions is critical to the social communication of affective states. The present work examined how transient states of high physiological arousal during aerobic exercise influence recognizing and rating morphed facial expressions. Participants exercised at either a low or high work rate. While exercising and then during cool-down and rest periods, participants performed a version of the morphed faces task that involved animated faces changing into or away from five target affective states (happy, surprise, sadness, anger, and disgust); they were asked to stop the animation when the face first corresponded to a target state, and rate its emotional intensity. Results demonstrated no differences in animation stop data, but overall lower ratings of perceived emotion intensity during high versus low work rate exercise; these effects dissipated through cool-down and rest periods. Results highlight important interactions between physiological states and processing emotional information.     

Don't Make Me Angry! A Psychophysiological Examination of the Anger–Performance Relationship in Intermediate and Elite Fencers

We aimed to identify the effect of state-anger on precision, speed, and power components of performance during fencing attacks. We conducted a laboratory-based, single-case research experiment to test the fine motor task performance of two experienced and two elite-level fencers under two emotional states: anger and emotion-neutral. We assessed anger via psychophysiological and self-report measures, and we induced anger via a brief imagery intervention. Through the use of an innovative design, which included multiple measures of change, we showed that anger had a consistent negative effect on precision but an inconsistent relationship with response time and muscle activity. The current research design and protocol offer a novel and in-depth method for examining the specific relationships between affective states, emotions, and the complexities that underpin performance. The specific effects of anger on performance were multifarious, complex, and inconsistent. Nonetheless, the results tend to indicate that anger facilitates reaction time and debilitates performance, and these effects were clearer for the most elite performers. The effects of anger on performance are clearly complex, so it would be rather premature to make any suggestions for future practice at this point. Nonetheless, the clearer findings with the elite fencers indicate that researchers will likely yield the most fruitful insights by examining the effects of emotion of performance in elite performers.     

The King of Norway: negative individuation,the hero myth and psychopathic narcissism in extreme violence and the life of Anders Behring Breivik

The paper discusses negative individuation and the hero myth as developmental concepts. It is suggested that in negative individuation healthy psychological development is hindered and goes astray. Aggression then becomes the central psychic system. Repressed anger is the core element in psychopathic narcissism (Diamond) and malignant narcissism (Kernberg). Both Diamond and Kernberg extend narcissistic personality structure to antisocial, psychopathic personality in an effort to better understand extreme violence. According to Freud, love (libido) and hate (the death drive) are the major motivational systems in the human psyche. In contrast to Freud, Jung sees libido as a life force in general, not simply as a sexual drive. Jung writes about evil and the shadow but does not present a comprehensive theory of the negative development of an individual's life. The concept of negative individuation connects the shadow and the death drive with psychopathology, psychiatry and psychotherapy. In this paper, I explore these concepts in the light of contemporary affect theory according to Kernberg. I also ask how ideology is tied to extreme violence and how it is possible that narcissistic personality structures can lead to such radically different outcomes as were manifested in the lives of Anders Behring Breivik and Steve Jobs.     

Brief anger interventions with offenders may be ineffective: A replication and extension

Anger-management interventions are widely delivered in the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems. Whilst previous research has generally supported the thesis that anger management is an effective intervention for anger problems in general there remains a need to determine its effectiveness with offender populations. This paper reports the results of a controlled outcome study of a 20 h anger-management program offered to offenders. Those receiving treatment showed improvements in their knowledge about anger, but showed little change on measures of anger and anger expression when compared to waiting-list controls. Scores on measures of treatment readiness and level of need for treatment were however, correlated with post-treatment improvement. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment and selection of appropriate participants for offender anger-management programs.     

Affective Induction and Creative Thinking

Three studies explored the relation between affect and production of creative divergent thinking, assessed with the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural TTCT). In the first study, general, positive, and negative affect, assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) were compared with creative production. In the second study, 2 affective states—happiness and sadness—were induced by means of 2 film sets, and creative production under these 2 conditions was compared. In the third study, using masked facial feedback, 2 affective states were induced: happiness—by requesting participants to hold a pencil in their teeth—and anger—by holding it with their lips—and creative production under both induced affects, as well as with a previous noninduced affect, was compared. In general terms, the results of all 3 studies show that positive affect, both general positive affect and the happy affect induced in the two experimental manipulations, increased the production of creative divergent thinking. Negative affect had no impact on the production of creative divergent thinking, neither general negative affect nor the experimentally induced affects of sadness and anger. In masked induction, the induced positive affect improved creative production, compared to the noninduced control situation; in contrast, the induced negative affect presented no differences in creative production, compared to its previous noninduced condition.     

Sensitive and tolerant raters differ in their magnitude estimates of extremely violent behaviors

A 2007 study indicated severity of violence of several behaviors can be rated consistently, such that an individual's average rating across the behaviors can serve as a measure of sensitivity to violence. However, violence-sensitive and violence-tolerant raters in that study gave similar high scale ratings of severity of violence for extremely violent behaviors such as murder and stabbing. In the present study an open-ended magnitude estimation response scale was used by 27 participants to examine impressions of the severity of violence of 38 behaviors. There was a positive correlation between estimates of severity for extreme physical violence and estimates for lower severity of violence. This result indicates that the earlier finding of apparent equivalence of sensitive and tolerant individuals did not signify agreement about extremely violent behaviors but was a ceiling effect arising from the closed-ended response scale used. Violence-sensitive and violence-tolerant individuals seem to have different attitudes toward all types of violence.     

Associations among early abuse, dissociation, and psychopathy in an offender sample

Theorists have postulated that some variants of psychopathy result from childhood abuse and neglect. Dissociative symptoms are also thought to arise from abuse. To date, the conjoint associations among abuse, dissociation, and psychopathy have not been examined systematically. Some have hypothesized that abuse relates primarily to the affective symptoms of psychopathy, with dissociative experiences mediating this relationship. Others have suggested that abuse more directly affects the impulsive lifestyle features of psychopathy. The authors used structural equation modeling to examine these hypotheses in a sample of 615 male offenders who had completed a retrospective self-report measure of childhood abuse, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and R. D. Hare's (2003) Psychopathy Checklist--Revised. Abuse exerted no direct or indirect effect on the core interpersonal and affective features of psychopathy but was directly related to the facet of psychopathy associated with an impulsive and irresponsible lifestyle. Implications for psychopathy subtypes are discussed.     

Serial murder and the case of Aileen Wuornos: attachment theory, psychopathy, and predatory aggression

The extant research on female homicide has yet to offer any systematic assessment of why women murder serially. Part of the explanation is attributed to existing literature focusing on justifiable and excusable homicide, or women who kill their abusive partners because they have been battered, fear that their lives are in danger, or are otherwise victimized. Thus, predatory homicide perpetrated by women has not received extensive attention in the relevant literature. This article aims to address this deficiency by providing a detailed case study analysis of Aileen Wuornos, a convicted serial murderer executed at Broward Correctional Institution in Pembroke Pines, FL, on October 9, 2002. By linking the literature on attachment theory with the research on psychopathy and predatory aggression, this article argues that Aileen Wuornos was a cold blooded and calculated killer: a serial offender responsible for her delinquent and criminal behavior. Generalizing from the case of Aileen Wuornos, several tentative recommendations are proposed as linked to clinical and forensic prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as future research on women, psychopathy, and predatory serial homicide.     

Aggression: Functions and control in social systems

This paper summarizes major research achievements concerning the understanding and control of aggression and destructive violence, seen in the contexts of evolution (both biological and cultural) and systems theory. Agonistic behavior, defined as behavior functional in situations of conflict between species mates, most probably evolved out of the function of defensive behavior but has since acquired a variety of other adaptive functions as well as the potential for destructive dysfunction. Recent research demonstrates the importance of culture in regulating human agonistic behavior, directing it toward either useful functions or destructive violence. Among advanced industrial nations, the United States has the most severe problems with violence as measured by homicide and murder rates. Similar but more extreme variation can be found among tribal societies. It is through cultural change that the available scientific information concerning improved methods for directing agonistic behavior into positive and beneficial channels must be achieved. Therefore, major emphasis should be placed on research dealing with human cultural evolution. The science of bringing about desirable social change is still in its infancy.