The Dark Side of Personality - Psychopathy

Flashcards about the dark side of personality - psychopathy, based on lecture notes.

According to Cleckley (1941), what are the features of psychopathy?

Superficial charm & good intelligence, absence of delusions, lack of anxiety, unreliability, untruthfulness and insincerity, lack of remorse and shame, inadequately motivated antisocial behaviour, failure to learn by experience, ego centricity and incapacity for love, lack of affect, lack of self reflection, unresponsiveness in interpersonal relations, suicide threats not carried out, impersonal sex life, trivial, failure to follow any life plan.

In what year was the Psychopathy Checklist (Hare) created?

1985.

Is psychopathy now considered a dimensional or categorical construct?

Dimensional.

According to Lykken (1948), how would you define primary psychopathy?

Specific mental disease…having in particular a virtual absence of any redeeming social interaction.

What are the characteristics of primary psychopathy?

Personality and affective aspects of psychopathy: Pathological lying, manipulation, lack of remorse, premeditated behaviour, callousness.

What are the characteristics of secondary psychopathy?

Lifestyle and behavioral features of psychopathy: Parasitic lifestyle, impulsiveness, reactively violent, antisocial behavior.

According to Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, SP is related to what system?

Strong BAS.

According to the low-fear model of psychopathy, what brain regions are deficient?

Deficient amygdala, paralimbic system, & orbito-frontal cortex (neural regions associated with fear and emotion processing).

What are children with CU traits like?

Children with CU traits – more pervasive and less treatable – failure of moral socialisation.

How does psychopathy develop?

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (in children).

What are some characteristics of a 'successful' psychopath?

Psychopaths are charming, lack of anxiety, and articulate, but also guiltless, callous and self centered (Lilienfeld et al., 2015) – happy to deceive people.

In what ways is narcissism better for you?

Sociable; confident in social situations; entertaining (on first encounter).

Psychopathy is an evolutionary adaptation? What 'cheater' strategy is employed?

Resources and mates through cheating.

What are the sex similarities in primary psychopathy?

Fear and emotion processing deficits, low empathy, resiliency against adverse life experiences, fewer substance abuse problems, low anxiety, less agreeableness, callousness.

What are some sex differences in psychopathy - in women?

Less likely to engage in either proactive or reactive violence – will use indirect or relational aggression instead.

What is a controversy with the 2-factor model (Skeem, Cooke & Michie)?

What is measured by the PCL-R has replaced psychopathy as a construct.

How is psychopathy diagnosed - according to the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R)?

Score of >25 is concerning, >30 = psychopathy. Av score in general population is 5.

How does psychopathy correlate with crime?

Key predictor in violent offending. Factor 2 is more predictive (unstable antisocial lifestyle) than Factor 1 (Affective and Interpersonal).

According to Olver & Wong (2006), what is the interaction effect between sexual deviance and psychopathy?

Interaction effect between sexual deviance and psychopathy indicating psychopathy could potentiate sexual recidivism.

According to Kiehl (2005), how should the legal system treat psychopaths?

The legal system should treat psychopaths like people with very low IQs who are not fully responsible for their actions because psychopaths have low emotional IQ… Maybe as a society we shouldn’t be executing you because you have this (brain) difference.

What is the role of the amygdala in psychopathy?

The amygdala is involved in processing emotions and fear, and its deficiency is associated with the emotional deficits seen in psychopathy.

What is the relationship between psychopathy and impulsivity?

Impulsivity is a characteristic of secondary psychopathy, indicating a lack of planning and forethought in behavior.

How does the development of CU traits affect future behavior?

The presence of callous-unemotional traits in children is linked to an increased risk of later antisocial and delinquent behavior.

What is the significance of the lack of remorse in psychopaths?

The lack of remorse is a key feature of psychopathy and affects interpersonal relationships, allowing for manipulative and exploitative behavior.

Can psychopathy be treated?

While treatment options exist, psychopathy is generally considered difficult to treat, especially in individuals with strong CU traits