A four-factor model of psychopathy assessed via neural reinforcement sensitivity theory - Volume 9

Although differences in EEG activity have been documented in externalizing individuals compared to controls, much less is known about whether EEG abno…

Antagonistic traits in prison may be shaped by informal hierarchies and instrumental social exchange, yet the mechanisms linking Dark Triad dimensions and gender differences remain under-specified ...

This study examined how distinct dimensions of psychopathy shape behavioral, emotional, and physiological responses to social exclusion, a paradigm kn…

Could psychopathy be something we’ve just imagined because it’s convenient? Some experts believe so.

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

Psychopathic tendencies are associated with deficits in empathic responses that may underpin psychopathic individuals’ characteristic propensity for aggressive and antisocial behavior. Evidence suggests that distinct facets of psychopathy may be differentially associated with empathic responses to pain. We analyzed the association between psychopathy facets and self-reported ratings of the intensity of the pain in (a) the image, (b) the individual's own arousal, and (c) the valence of the image for stimuli depicting painful versus neutral facial expressions and hands in painful versus neutral situations. Overall, our findings highlighted that the three psychopathic traits are dissociated in the way they affect empathy to painful stimuli. Meanness was generally associated with reduced differentiation between ratings for painful and nonpainful stimuli, whereas boldness was associated with increased differentiation. Our findings also highlight the need for careful methodological considerations of the type of stimulus used in empathy research.

Psychopathy involves disruptions in affiliation and threat sensitivity, but these are hard to disentangle behaviorally. This preregistered study (independent sample Ns = 175 and 173) used clinical-for...

YouTube video by Big Think

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., low guilt, restricted empathy) are at high risk for disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) across...

Although conduct problems (CPs) are continuously distributed, little is known about how dimensional measures of CPs map onto brain structure. We there…

Increasing evidence from neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies points to structural, functional, and connectivity abnormalities in youths and ad…

Damage to the amygdala is associated with reduced empathic accuracy. However, Scheffer et al. show that patients with amygdala lesions are as motivated to

Empathy forms the basis of all human social interactions. Yet, most existing research neglects the social component of empathy and relies on questionnaires or artificial settings that fail to captu...

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - Psychophysiological reactivity has been a critical emphasis in the quest to understand the underlying mechanisms of psychopathy. The...

Although psychopathy has been widely studied within criminal justice contexts, its impact on society is rarely considered in public health contexts. Even so,...

IntroductionPsychopathic traits are characterized by pervasive emotional deficits, including diminished empathy and remorse, heightened impulsivity, and anti...

The Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis posits that individuals with elevated psychopathy traits experience fear-inducing stimuli less negatively and more posit…

This study longitudinally investigates how individual and environmental factors predict thrilling perceptions of criminal behavior using a sample of 1009 justice-involved youth (ages 15–21) who were f...

Background Callous–unemotional (CU) traits identify youth with more severe and chronic trajectories of conduct problems. However, the etiology of CU traits may be heterogeneous, undermining the sear...

Affective and interpersonal features of psychopathy are considered hallmarks of the disorder. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA), which is well suited for ex...

Introduction Recent evidence suggests that autonomic nervous system functioning can reflect individual differences in sensitivity to the environment, which in turn moderates the effects of family co...

Objective Psychopathy is associated with harmful behaviors in romantic relationships, but its causal effect on partner well-being remains elusive. Across two studies, we apply robust observational m...

Research has sought to understand the relationship among childhood maltreatment, maladaptive personality, and antisocial behaviors. However, most of the literature overlooks possible gender differences by using primarily male samples. The current study examined these relationships, focusing on the mediating role of personality dysfunction, in samples of women who are incarcerated (N = 200) and undergraduate students (N = 187). Correlations revealed moderate to strong associations among childhood trauma, personality psychopathology, and antisocial behavior (rs = .31-.66). The findings demonstrated a mediation pathway from childhood trauma to BPD (β = .37) and ASPD/psychopathy (βs = .25-.34) to antisocial behavior (βs = .35-.67). This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the associations among childhood trauma, personality psychopathology, and antisocial behavior. Additionally, it expands existing research by presenting a mediation model, demonstrating the role of personality dysfunction in mediating the relationship between childhood maltreatment and antisocial behavior in women.

Emerging evidence supports that primary and secondary callous-unemotional (CU) variants show distinct physiological correlates, though prior research …

Psychopathy is the confluence of antagonism toward others (meanness), fearless social dominance (boldness), and difficulty controlling impulses (disinhibition) and is at the root of many social woes. One factor associated with high levels of psychopathy in adulthood is a history of abuse and neglect in childhood. Although there are several studies on this topic, there is little research on the relative association of child abuse and neglect with psychopathy as measured using contemporary assessment instruments (i.e., incorporating indicators of meanness, boldness, and disinhibition). In this study, we address this issue by examining the influence of child abuse and neglect on a composite measurement of psychopathy in two samples (435 college students and 399 women and men recruited online) using a partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling. Results suggest that across both samples, childhood physical neglect is the strongest predictor of psychopathy in adulthood. However, the influence of other forms of abuse/neglect differs depending on both the sample and gender. These findings shed light on the developmental antecedents of psychopathy and have implications for future study and clinical intervention with people with high levels of psychopathy.

Low resting heart rate (RHR) is considered the best-replicated biological correlate for antisocial and conventional criminal behaviors, but there is l…

Attachment insecurity is associated with callous-unemotionality (CU), but few studies have considered whether specific dimensions of insecurity are differentially associated with CU. The first aim of ...

Three direct replication studies were conducted to investigate the association between psychopathy and self-construal. Participants were undergraduate college students who completed two comprehensive....

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of conduct disorder (CD) have mostly been limited to males. Here, we examined whether male and female youths with CD showed similar or distinct alteration...

Music is a powerful medium to study emotion recognition. However, findings are mixed regarding the proficiency of young children to detect emotion conveyed by music. Moreover, we lack knowledge about...

YouTube video by Suzanna D

The neural foundations of the Dark Triad (DT) personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—remain largely unexplored despite their profound impact on social behavior. Previous rese...

Psychopathy involves emotional deficits and affective processing difficulties, yet its relationship with emotional processing in incarcerated women remains underexplored. This study examines associ...