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Psychopathy is associated with several behavioral and psychophysiological deficits. Lynam (2002) has argued that the use of an overarching conceptualization of psychopathy can provide a parsimonious explanation of psychopathic pathology. The current study examined relations between tasks used to explore psychopathic pathology and dimensions from the Five Factor Model of personality. Undergraduate participants completed the NEO PI-R, the BART, a go/no-go task, an emotional morph task, and provided physiological responses to stimuli. While hypothesized relations to FFM psychopathy composites were generally unsupported, other interesting relations to traits were identified. Results indicated that hypoarousal to negative stimuli was negatively related to pan-impulsivity. Maladaptive risk taking was positively related to panimpulsivity and high self-directed negative affect. Response modulation deficits were negatively related to pan-impulsivity, low self-directed negative affect, and facets of openness. Deficits in empathic responding were positively related to other-directed negative affect and self-directed negative affect, and negatively related to pan-impulsivity and interpersonal assertiveness. Although it remains unclear whether the failure to support hypotheses was related to the study variables or population, results indicate that the FFM can provide additional information with regard to what deficit tasks assess.

This study explored psychopathic personality traits among a non-criminal, college undergraduate sample. Much research has been done on conceptualizing the construct of psychopathy, but this work has been conducted primarily with incarcerated individuals using a structured interview, The Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003). The goal of the current study was to assess psychopathic traits among non-criminal individuals using The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale - Version Four (SRP-IV; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, in press), and compare how SRP-IV scores were associated with a well recognized semi-structured interview for psychopathy, The Psychopathy Checklist – Screening Version (PCL: SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). The study also examined whether psychopathic personality traits could be predicted using a measure of normal-range personality, based on the five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990), and a measure developed by Loevinger (1976) related to ego development. Five-Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF; Mullins-Sweat, Jamerson, Samuel, Olson, & Widiger, 2006) scores and Total Protocol Ratings (TPR score) on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) were used to predict psychopathy scores. Correlations of SRP-IV scores and PCL: SV scores with FFMRF scores and WUSCT TPR scores were also examined for their uniformity. As predicted, there were significant, negative correlations between FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientious, and SRP-IV scores, as well as significant, negative correlations between WUSCT TPR scores and SRP-IV scores. These correlations ranged from small to strong for both SRP-IV overall scores and for SRP-IV factor scores (i.e., Interpersonal Manipulation, Callous Affect, Erratic Lifestyle, and Criminal Tendencies). Additionally, FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores significantly predicted SRP-IV scores. FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and WUSCT TPR scores, were the strongest predictors of SRP-IV scores. Similar results were found when FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores predicted SRP-IV factor scores. Results also indicated Agreeableness and Conscientious explained an additional 24% of the variance in psychopathy scores, after controlling for WUSCT TPR scores. Conversely, WUSCT TPR scores explained an additional 5% of the variance in psychopathy scores after controlling for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Finally, as predicted, the differences in correlations between psychopathy scores (i.e., PCL: SV, SRP-IV), and Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and WUSCT TPR scores were not statistically significant providing evidence that correlates of psychopathic traits can be measured among non-criminal individuals using a self-report measure, the SRP-IV, and that these findings are concordant with those based on a standardized structured assessment for psychopathy. Limitations of the study, implications, and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

This study analyzed the relationship between the OF functioning of 100 incarcerated male offenders and their psychopathy symptoms. The study's rejected hypothesis had predicted a significant relationship between measures of OF functioning and the Defective Affective Experience (DAE) and Impulsive and Irresponsible Behavioral Style (IIB) factors of the Cooke and Michie (2001) three-factor model of psychopathy. Regression analysis failed to demonstrate a relationship between OF functioning and the DAE and IIB factors. Group differences on OF functioning were not demonstrated between participants in the upper and lower quartiles of a summed DAE and IIB factor score. A general role for OF functioning in criminal behavior was suggested as two OF measures accounted for 14.9% of the variance of criminal convictions.

Research on the various subtypes of aggression has documented differences in the experience of anger and the expression of angry aggression. Mixed proactive and reactive aggressive individuals exhibit reactive aggression but, unlike reactive aggressive individuals, fail to exhibit angry expressions or physiological arousal. Similar to the proactive group, individuals with psychopathic traits have been found to exhibit emotional underreactivity, and physiological underarousal, while still exhibiting reactive aggression. The present study examined 85 boys (ages 13 to 18) from a detention center. Three groups of aggressive boys were identified via cluster analysis based on the self-report of types of aggressive behavior: a primarily reactive aggressive group (n=29), a mixed reactive and proactive group (n=16), and a low aggressive group (n=40). The three groups were compared on aggressive responding (during a computerized provocation task with low and high provocation trials), on callous and unemotional traits (CU) and on psychophysiological indices of emotional reactivity. All aggressive groups showed greater aggressive responding to high provocation than to low provocation. The mixed aggressive group showed high aggressive responding across all provocation levels, including the no provocation condition, while the reactive aggressive group only showed high levels similar to the mixed aggressive group during low provocation. Unexpectedly, the reactive and mixed aggressive groups reported higher levels of CU traits than the other group. Although the groups did not differ on psychophysiological activity/reactivity, higher levels of CU traits were related to lower skin conductance responses to provocation. Thus, the contribution of high and low CU traits in the three groups to psychophysiological activity/reactivity was examined. Interestingly, the low and mixed aggressive groups who were high on CU traits had lower sympathetic arousal (indexed by skin conductance) and lower sympathetic reactivity to provocation. Thus, the mixed aggressive group showed a general disconnect between their angry aggression (on the provocation task) and their sympathetic reactivity to provocation. However, this was true only if they also showed high rates of CU traits. These results suggest that interventions targeted toward individuals who exhibit particular subtypes of aggression may be more beneficial if the presence of CU traits is also considered.

Adolescents commit nearly one-fifth of the sex crimes each year. Among those offenders exists a group of adolescent sex offenders with callous and unemotional (CU) traits who seem to show a more severe pattern of sexual offending. The current study attempts to test the importance of these traits by comparing adolescent sex offenders high or low on CU traits based on victim and offense characteristics, and offending history. A sample of 150 detained adolescents with a current sexual offense conviction were assessed through self-report, clinical interview, and file review. Results indicated that after controlling for a history of antisocial behaviors, the high CU group was more likely to have a greater number of victims, use more violence with victims, and engage in more offense planning than the low CU group. The high CU group was also more likely to offend against both strangers and family.

The current study was an investigation of the effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) for improving the mental health, behavioral, and legal outcomes for justice-involved adolescents. A primary focus of the investigation was on whether Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits moderated the effects of treatment and whether therapists tailored the intervention to youths with these traits. The sample was 134 youths (15.34 years) who had been arrested and referred to a community mental health center for treatment by trained FFT therapists. Results indicated modest improvement over the course of treatment in the youths' emotional and behavioral functioning. CU traits were found to moderate treatment effects, wherein CU traits were associated with greater emotional and behavioral dysfunction prior to treatment, as well as greater improvement after treatment. However, CU traits also predicted greater self-reported, but not official reports, of delinquency at follow-up. Furthermore, results indicated some evidence for diverging treatment processes for youth with and without CU traits. Specifically, differences in response to changes in negative parenting varied between youth high and low on CU traits for some measures of emotional and behavioral functioning. Overall, FFT was found to be a promising treatment approach, but significant limitations in its effectiveness were also documented.

Thesis advisor: Thomas O'Hare / Psychopathy has received a marked increase in attention in the research literature over the past 2 decades since the validation and standardization of assessment tools designed to measure this construct, particularly the Psychopathy Checklist-measures (Hare, 1991/2003; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995; and Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003). Psychopathy has been identified as the best single predictor of violence among adult offenders (Hart, 1998). Such findings have led some to conclude that "psychopathy is the most important psychological construct for policy and practice in the criminal justice system" (Harris, Skilling, & Rice, 2001). Despite the overwhelming evidence of substantial societal and individual costs attributable to this disorder, little is known about psychosocial precursors of psychopathy. This study examines risk factors related to the development of psychopathy, as measured by the PCL:SV, in a sample of 446 psychiatric patients using structural equation modeling (SEM). The final SEM includes five predictor variables measuring early-life physical abuse, paternal antisocial behavior, and cognitive ability. Severe physical abuse (&beta; = 0.17, <italic>p</italic> = .043), biological father's alcohol abuse history (&beta; = .16, <italic>p</italic> =.004), biological father's arrest history (&beta; = 0.13, <italic>p</italic> = .02), and the subject's cognitive ability (&beta; = -0.18, <italic>p</italic> < .001) were found predictive of psychopathy in this sample. Post hoc analyses comparing male and female subjects, and black and white subjects, indicate different causal pathways in the development of psychopathy among these groups. Future research designed to assess these potentially different causal pathways are recommended. Implications to clinical theory, practice, and policy are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

The Dark Triad constructs – Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism – are typically associated with socially aversive behaviours, including insensitivity and exploitation. Despite this, individuals high in Dark Triad traits can be successful and popular outside of clinical and forensic contexts. Research suggests that individuals susceptible to exploitation possess traits signalling vulnerability, and Dark Triad individuals are adept at identifying these when choosing victims. Language is also known to reveal traces of Dark Triad characteristics. This project examined patterns of interpersonal perception among Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, with the aim to highlight similarities and differences across the three traits. Three studies explored these traits and the ways they manifest in social contexts. Study 1 investigated the extent to which perceptions of individuals high in Dark Triad traits accurately correspond to personality, emotional attributes, and vulnerability within their targets for manipulation. The cues they use for their judgements were considered. Participants who completed Dark Triad measures watched four video clips of dyadic interactions. Results indicated that Dark Triad individuals demonstrated a negative–other bias, whereby they generally perceived all targets as being vulnerable. Study 2 examined the characteristics of individuals who seemingly condone and abet Dark Triad individuals. Results showed that predictors of vulnerability included low extraversion, low conscientiousness, high neuroticism, and high agreeableness. The vignette method was used to elicit perceptions towards Dark Triad behaviours. Response styles on Likert-type statements and open-ended questions between high and low vulnerability groups differed significantly; the less vulnerable were more derogatory whereas the more vulnerable were less harsh. Study 3 qualitatively assessed language as a marker of Dark Triad traits using text analysis. Case studies of individuals high on the Dark Triad scales revealed that their linguistic patterns were consistent with their respective theoretical conceptions. This mixed methods research established that the Dark Triad traits do not uniformly entail the same behavioural outcomes. It also highlighted the importance of the interactive context between the destructive and the susceptible, through which researchers can devise strategies to help organisations better manage such individuals.

Psychopathic personality traits have been found to be associated with a variety of emotional deficits, including poor facial expression recognition, and reduced capacity to experience empathy. However, research has yielded conflicting results. This study investigated the relationship between psychopathic personality traits, facial emotion recognition, as well as empathy, in a community sample (n = 127), identified as having either low or elevated levels of psychopathic traits. Facial expression recognition was measured using the Hexagon task, which contains morphed facial expressions with two levels of expressivity. Psychopathic traits were assessed using the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, and empathy was measured with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Individuals with elevated psychopathic traits did not display lower accuracy in facial expression recognition compared to the low psychopathic traits group, rather the reverse was found.  Weak to strong negative correlations were found between psychopathic traits and empathy. Zero to weak correlations was found between psychopathic traits and expression recognition, as well as between empathy and expression recognition. The results are compared with similar studies, and implications for the study of psychopathy and emotion recognition are discussed.