The Dark Side of Personality Flashcards
(49 cards)
16 Features of Psychopathy~ Cleckley 1941
- Superficial charm and good intelligence
- Absence of delusions
- Lack of anxiety
- Unreliability
- Untruthfulness and insincerity
- Lack of remorse and shame
- Inadequately motivated antisocial behaviour
- Failure to earn by experience
- Ego centricity and incapacity for love
- Lack of affect
- Lack of self-reflection
- Unresponsiveness in interpersonal relation
- Suicide threats not carried out
- Impersonal sex life, trivial
- Failure to follow any life plan
Development of psycopathy as clinically defined as personality disorder
1952- sociopathic personality
2nd edition of DSM removed psychopathy and replace with ASPD
2012- DSM-V anti-social/ psychopathic disorder
1985- psychopathy checklist
1991- psychopathy checklist revised (PCI-R)- considered gold standard of diagnostic tool
Two factor model of psychopathy- Lykken (1948)
> Galvanised skin response test
> Anxiety levels differentiate psychopaths into two groups
Two factor model of psychopathy- primary psychopathy
“Specific mental disease…. having in particular a virtual absence of any redeeming social interaction”
Two factor model of psychopathy- secondary psychopathy
“Presence of psychoses and neuroses that have a strong antisocial or delinquent aspect”
Characteristics of primary psychopathy (PP)
Personality and affective aspects of psychopathy:
- Pathological lying
- Manipulation
- Lack of remorse
- Predetermined behavior
- Callousness
Characteristics of secondary psychopathy (SP)
Lifestyle and behavioural features of psychopathy:
- Parasitic lifestyle
- Impulsiveness
- Re actively violent
- Antisocial behaviour
Evidence for 2-factor model:
Primary psychopathy
> Inability to discriminate between pleasant and unpleasant sounds (Verona et al 2004)
> Poor perceptional processing of distracting stimuli- goal-focused (Zeier et al 2009)
> Reduced attention to emotion cues and ability to change mood (Malterer et al 2008)
Evidence for 2-factor model:
Secondary psychopathy
> Higher level of anxiety, depression and suicide idealisation (Vaughn et al 2009)
> Negative urgency- act impulsively to relieve currently experienced negative emotion (Anestis el al 2009)
> Borderline personality characteristics, poor interpersonal functioning mental disorders (Skeem et al, 2007)
Reinforcement sensitivity theory (Gray,1981)
Behavior inhibition system (BIS)
> Avoidance behaviour in response to threat and harm
Behavioral activation system (BAS)
> Regulates appetite behaviours, approach behaviours to reward and impulsivity
PP= weak BIS
SP= strong BAS
Response modulation theory (Newman and colleges)- Attentional processing deficit
Can’t attend to peripheral info that prevents threat and distress cues (or insufficient allocation of attentional resources)
Response modulation theory (Newman and colleges)-
Higher order cognitive processes mediate neural functioning
> Preservation in gambling task (Newman and Kosson, 1986)
> Can’t alter attention focus
> Impairment in rule learning and error monitoring (von Borries et al 2009)
Low fear model of psychopathy (Blair 2005, 2006)
Deficient amygdala, paralimbic system and orbitofrontal cortex (neural regions associated with fear and emotion processing)
What does Low fear model of psychopathy explain?
> Deficient aversive conditioning
> Recued automatic response and startle threat to anticipated threat
> Poor passive avoidance learning
PP- neurological and cognitive deficits leads to inadequate moral socialisation
Nuerobiolgocial characteristics of SP
> Deteriorated prefrontal cortex grey matter- bad decision making (Raine et al 2000
> Unequal balance of activity between PFC and subcortal regions
> Impulsive and not predetermined violence (raine et al 1998)
> Variours other neural regions
Neurotransmitters~ Serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR (Long allele version associated with PP)
- Attentional deficits
- Impaired aversive conditioning
- Perseveration
- May shape amygdala functioning (Glenn,2011)
- Neuronal hypoactivity
Serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR (Short allele associated with SP)
Associated with hypersensitive psychopaths such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse (Glenn, 2011)
How does psychopathy develop: callous unemotional (CU) traits (in children)
> Emerge from 2 years old
> Under strong genetic influence from 7-16 years (estimates 40%-78% heritability)
> Stability maintained genetically
> Children with CU traits- more pervasive and less treatable-failure of moral socialization
How does psychopathy develop~ CU traits pertain more to PP
> Less likely to make eye contact with their mother
> Have problems recognizing fearful body poses and faces
> Emotionally unresponsive to others’ distress
Less responsive to fearful eyes
Nature and Nurture
> CU traits may protect against adverse rearing environment
> Antisocial behavior (ASB) moderately influenced by genetics as well as shared and non-shared environmental factors
> Harsh parenting strongly related to ASB in children who are normal for CU traits
> CU traits promote high ASB and criminally beyond what would be expected by adverse parenting alone
> Gene X environment interactions (epigenetics) need to be considered (no longer nature vs nurture debate)
“Successful” psychopathy
Psychopaths are charming; lack anxiety, and articulate, but also guiltless, callous, and self-entered (Lilienfeld et al 2015)- happy to deceive people
“Successful” psychopathy~ Cleckley 1982
“The typical psychopath will seem particularly agreeable and make a distinctively positive impression when he is first encounted… indications of good sense and sound reasoning will emerge… normal and pleasant person is also one of high abilities”
Successful psychopathy as primary psychopathy
> Interpersonal aspects- positively associated with verbal IQ, fluid intelligence, creativity, practicality and analytical thinking
> Useful for navigating social situations
> Overrepresented in high-achieving professions (eg lawyers, managers etc)
> Levels of psychopathy higher in business studies students (Wilson and MCcarty 2011)
> “Business psychopathy” (Francis and Lilienfeld 2012)
Models of successful psychopaths
> Differential severity model
> Moderated expression model- protective factors eg good parenting and better higher-order thinking
> Differential configuration model- successful psychopaths higher in extraversion and conscientiousness and low levels of agreeableness and disinhibition
> Bond based on Yeo Thomas (WW1 special agent) “swashbuckling, charismatic, and daring” (Lilienfeld et al 2015)
