Forensic Psychology Exam 3 (Part 1)

Psychopathy

A personality disorder characterized by long-standing emotional, interpersonal, and behavioral deficits that cause significant harm or distress (mostly to other people).

Is psychopathy a controversial mental disorder?

Yes, it is HIGHLY controversial that is the source of considerable debate and confusion.

Topic and Controversies of Psychopathy

How are psychopaths portrayed by the media?

What do laypersons think psychopaths are like?

What does science tell us about psychopathy?

Can YOU tell how psychopathic someone is?

Does the mental health field agree on what are the core features of this disease?

Fictional Psychopaths

"Silence of the Lambs"

"A Clockwork Orange"

"Dexter"

"Bronson"

'Real" Psychopaths (Least Evil)

1) Those who kill in self defense and do not show psychopathic tendencies

2) Jealous lovers who, though egocentric or immature, are not psychopathic.

3) Willing companions of killers: aberrant personality-- probably impulse-ridden, with antisocial traits.

'Real' Psychopaths (Most Evil)

20) Torture murderers with torture as the primary motive but in psychotic personalities.

21) Psychopaths preoccupied with torture in the extreme, but not known to have committed murder.

23) Psychopathic torture- murders, with torture their primary motive.

Does DSM list psychopathy?

No. Closet is Anti-Personality Disorder.

Personality disorders are different from psychopathy because...

They have lack of insight into the personality dysfunction that they have.

Psychopaths look...

quite normal and rarely experience/show distress in what is going on.

Quantify how bad or psychopathic people are....

key features to how to operationalize it; blurry psychiatric symptoms with moral symptoms of people.

Highest rated psychopathic president

LB Johnson, 35th President.

Laypersons Prototypes of Psychopathy

Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson.

First Word Used to Describe Psychopath

72%- Mental Disorder ("Crazy", "Insane")

23%- Criminal Behavior ("Antisocial", "Serial Murderer")

5%- Evil ("Evil")

Who do you Think of as Being a Psychopath?

most think of a known SERIAL KILLER, or fictional killer, personalized response, some had not response.

Psychopathy has very ________ associations. (Phone Survey)

Negative. Were given characteristics instead of having to think of them.

Other key features of a Psychopath based on Helfgott U.S. phone survey:

Evil (66%)

Monster (64%)

Morally Bankrupt (49%)

Genius (34%)

Key feature of Psychopaths?

Intelligence and social skills

Criminality

Psychopathic Personality Disorder

Dominance (Domain)

Self (Domain)

Emotional (Domain)

Attachment (Domain)

Behavioral (Domain)

Cognitive (Domain)

Cognitive Domain

are usually rated the lowest

Dominance Domain

is often rated high

Layperson Prototypical Ratings

Manipulative

Lacks Remorse

Delusional Beliefs

Self-Centered

Self-Justifying

Domineering

Your CAPP Ratings

Effective and dominance most highly

Cognitive not as much

Fairly consistent

How Much Do We Like Psychopaths?

-281 student ratings of 40 forms of mental disorder

-Rated worse for pedophilia

-Don't see anti-personality traits as positive

"Death to the Psychopath" Cavadino (1998)

"The concept of "psychopathic disorder" is descended from the franker description "moral insanity". Arguably, the more modern term is simply a prime example of moralism masquerading as medical science. Perhaps we should strip away the mask completely, and for the term "psychopath", substitute the word..." BASTARD

Subtypes

Predominantly INADEQUATE Psychopath (Useless bastard)

Predominantly AGGRESSIVE Psychopath (Sloppy bastard)

Sloppy= bad-tempered or hostile

Hervey Cleckley-The Mask of Sanity (1941)

gave his idea of what psychiatric patients are "really like". seemed completely normal.

Hervey Cleckley- "Semantic Dementia"

moral insanity; idea that people could act normal, but underneath are emotionally dead.

Robert Hare- "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us"

Developed a checklist that quantified these traits so you could measure and do studies on the them (BIGGEST contribution)

Primarily in prison settings.

Cleckley's 16 Criteria for Identifying Psychopathy: (1-5)

-Lack of remorse and shame

-Untruthfulness and insincerity

-Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity to love

-General poverty in major affective reactions

-Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations

Cleckley's 16 Criteria for Identifying Psychopathy: (6-8) Atypical

-Superficial charm and good intelligence

-Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking

-Absence of nervousness or psychoneurotic manifestations (Never gets upset about things normal people would be upset about)

Cleckley's 16 Criteria for Identifying Psychopathy: (9-13)

-Poor judgement and failure to learn by experience

-Specific loss of insight

-Unreliability

-Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior

-Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drinks and sometimes without

Cleckley's 16 Criteria for Identifying Psychopathy: (14-16)

-Suicide threats rarely carried out

-Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated

-Failure to follow any life plan

The Psychopathy Checklist is used....

almost exclusively to assess individuals already involved in the criminal justice system.

Psychopathy Checklist.

-Extensive file/collateral data are required to score 20 items (0-2)

-Conducting a life history interview is preferred as well.