This study was designed to examine the hypothesis that criminal psychopaths differ from criminal nonpsychopaths in their ability to over-focus attention on certain kinds of stimuli. For the purposes of this study, the concept of over-focussing was operationalized to mean the ability to process stimuli more quickly or efficiently by making use of one or more attentional mechanisms for selecting among locations or stimuli. A second aim of the study was to identify the component processes contributing to this more efficient selection. Five experiments were run to assess several different components of attention contributing to selection of stimuli in a variety of paradigms. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed covert orienting of attention across the visual field using both peripherally presented physical cues and centrally presented symbolic cues to prime locations in visual space. Three dissociable components of attention were assessed in this paradigm. Experiments 3-5 were designed to assess the efficiency of processing a target item in the presence of a distractor item. Four additional dissociable components of selective attention were measured in these three studies. The results supported the hypothesis that psychopaths can over-focus attention, but the groups were differentiated by only one of the component processes measured. In Experiments 1 and 2 endogenous orienting of attention was greater for psychopaths than for nonpsychopaths. In these paradigms endogenous facilitation controlled the allocation of attention to cued locations, and the subsequent speeding of reaction time to targets presented at those locations, when the cue was symbolic or predictive, but not when it involved a physical change of energy at the cued location. This strategic allocation of attention probably resulted from the predictive validity (approximately 68% valid) of the cue in relation to the target. Other component processes failed to differentiate the groups. These included measures of exogenous orienting and inhibition of return in experiments 1 and 2, and measures of interference due to a distracting stimulus, habituation of interference, attenuation of interference due to spatial displacement of the distractor, and negative priming in experiments 3-5. The difference in covert orienting was replicated in experiments 1 and 2 in two groups of criminals who also failed to demonstrate any abnormalities in a variety of other processes involved in attention. It was concluded that psychopaths differ from nonpsychopaths specifically in their strategic allocation of attention in situations of moderate uncertainty, but show no other abnormalities in the component processes that control attention. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Both researchers and clinicians, especially those working in criminal populations, have long suggested that psychopathy (or antisocial personality disorder) and schizophrenia are associated on an etiological or on some other level (e.g., Eysenck and Eysenck, 1976, 1978). Others (Hare, 1984; Hare and Harpur, 1986; Raine, 1985) argue that psychopathy is not associated (or even negatively associated) with other psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. To evaluate these competing positions concerning the psychopathy-schizophrenia association, 80 male prisoners remanded to a forensic psychiatric institute for assessment of their fitness to stand trial were diagnosed using both the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL; Hare, 1980, 1985a) and DSM-III Axis I and II criteria. In addition, clinical global ratings and self-report inventories were used to measure the strength of psychopathy- and schizophrenia-related traits. The results indicated that: a) although diagnoses of psychopathy (according to PCL criteria) did not have perfect specificity with respect to schizophrenia-related clinical diagnoses, the overlap was small, and the PCL scales were either not associated or negatively associated with these disorders; b) diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder (APD, according to DSM-III criteria) were generally not associated with schizophrenia-related disorders, but had lower clinical specificity than did the PCL criteria with respect to both schizophrenia-related and other psychiatric disorders; c) there was no association between psychopathy- and schizophrenia-related clinical ratings; d) psychopathy and APD diagnoses and clinical ratings were not related to scores on other standard rating scales of the severity of psychiatric symptomatology; and e) there was no difference between schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic subjects in the strength of psychopathy-related traits, and no difference between psychopaths and nonpsychopaths (or APD versus non-APD subjects) in the strength of schizophrenia-related traits. As well, self-report measures related to psychopathy and schizophrenia did not correlate with each other, or with clinical ratings of the two disorders. The results are interpreted as supporting the view that psychopathy is not positively associated with schizophrenia or with psychiatric disorder in general. The practical utility of various techniques for assessing psychopathy in forensic psychiatric populations is also discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) represents a controversial diagnoses which has gone through many revisions over the past 25 years and is scheduled to be revised again for the DSM IV. A comprehensive survey was composed of APD criteria from the DSM II, DSM III, DSM III-R, PCL-R, Psychopathic Personality Disorder, and Dyssocial Personality Disorder. The survey was completed by 321 forensic psychiatrists based on which criteria they believed to be the most prototypical of antisocial personality. The results identified four factors: irresponsibility, unstable self image, and unstable relationships; manipulation and lack of guilt; aggressive behavior; and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. A diagnostic set composed of the most prototypical criteria was proposed for the DSM IV diagnosis of APD.

A review of the construct of psychopathy suggested that procedures for assessing the disorder should take into account its two-facet structure, its chronicity, its association with criminality, and its association with deceitfulness. A review of the five most popular assessment procedures currently in use indicated that none of them was completely satisfactory; the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) appeared to be superior to the other measures in most respects, but it was not well-suited for use outside of forensic settings. It was therefore decided to develop anew scale, based on the PCL-R, that would be suitable for both forensic and nonforensic settings. Pilot testing resulted in a 12-item symptom construct rating scale, named the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV). The PCL:SV was validated in 11 samples (N = 586) from forensic/nonpsychiatric, forensic/psychiatric, civil/psychiatric, and civil/nonpsychiatric settings. Results indicated that the PCL:SV had good internal consistency, interrater reliability, and temporal stability. The scale also appeared to have a two-factor structure, at least in samples with an appreciable base rate of psychopathy. The PCL:SV was highly correlated with other psychopathy-related measures, including the PCL-R, antisocial personality disorder symptom counts, and several self-report scales. It also had a pattern of convergent and discriminant validities that was consistent with both theory and previous research that used the PCL-R. It was concluded that the PCL:SV holds considerable promise as a measure of psychopathy; areas requiring further research were identified.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 50 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-37).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed Oct. 10, 2007). PDF text: viii, 75, p. : ill. UMI publication number: AAT 3259074. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

A review of the construct of psychopathy suggested that procedures for assessing the disorder should take into account its two-facet structure, its chronicity, its association with criminality, and its association with deceitfulness. A review of the five most popular assessment procedures currently in use indicated that none of them was completely satisfactory; the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) appeared to be superior to the other measures in most respects, but it was not well-suited for use outside of forensic settings. It was therefore decided to develop anew scale, based on the PCL-R, that would be suitable for both forensic and nonforensic settings. Pilot testing resulted in a 12-item symptom construct rating scale, named the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV). The PCL:SV was validated in 11 samples (N = 586) from forensic/nonpsychiatric, forensic/psychiatric, civil/psychiatric, and civil/nonpsychiatric settings. Results indicated that the PCL:SV had good internal consistency, interrater reliability, and temporal stability. The scale also appeared to have a two-factor structure, at least in samples with an appreciable base rate of psychopathy. The PCL:SV was highly correlated with other psychopathy-related measures, including the PCL-R, antisocial personality disorder symptom counts, and several self-report scales. It also had a pattern of convergent and discriminant validities that was consistent with both theory and previous research that used the PCL-R. It was concluded that the PCL:SV holds considerable promise as a measure of psychopathy; areas requiring further research were identified. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.