Hancock (Individual Differences)

Question 1

Hancock Aim

Answer 1

To examine the language characteristics of psychopaths when describing their violent crimes on 3 major characteristics

Question 2

Research Method

Answer 2

Quasi Experiment
IV = psychopath or not
DV = language characteristics: instrumental language, hierarchy of needs and emotional expression

Question 3

Hancock Sample

Answer 3

52 male murderers in prison in Canadian prison. All participants had admitted to their crimes. Researchers measured psychopathy using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; researchers classified 14 as psychopaths and 38 as non psychopaths

Question 4

Hancock Procedure

Answer 4

Procedure Stage 1:
Psychopathy was measured using the PCL-R characterised by 20 criterion. 30 is the cut off point for a clinical diagnosis of psychopathy but for research 25 is considered acceptable. For 39 of the men, this was conducted by a. trained prison psychologist and for the other 13 assessments were not available so a trained researcher completed these.

Procedure Stage 2:
In an interview, participants were asked to describe their homicide in as much detail as possible. It lasted 25 mins and was led by 2 senior psychology graduates and one research student who were blind to the psychopathy scores.

Procedure Stage 3 (Matrix):
The body of the speech produced by the psychopaths was brought together and analysed as one. The Matrix compares speech, tags part of speech and uses context to help

Procedure Stage 3 (DAL)L
Dictionary of Affect in Language, software that analyses emotionless properties of language, scores pleasantness and intensity of emotional language for each participant statement

Question 5

Hancock Hypotheses

Answer 5

Hypothesis 1:
Psychopaths will use more explanatory and casually framed language concerning their criminal actions

Hypothesis 2:
Psychopaths narratives about their crimes would contain more semantic references to physiological needs such as money, sex and food and fewer semantic categories that reflect higher level needs such as love and family

Hypothesis 3:
Psychopaths would produce fewer and less intense emotional words, more disfluencies and use language that reflects psychological distancing from and a lack of current personal responsibility for the crime

Question 6

Hancock Hypothesis Findings

Answer 6

Hypothesis 1:
Psychopaths produced significantly more subordinating conjunctions then non-psychopaths which suggests a more casual view

Hypothesis 2:
Psychopaths used more words connected to basic needs than non-psychopaths. Non-psychopaths used significantly more words connected to higher needs

Hypothesis 3:
Psychopaths used 33% more disinfluencies than non-psychopaths. Psychopaths used a significantly high % verbs in the past tense. Negative correlation between interpersonal and affective deficits and both the pleasantness and intensity of emotional language used by the part