Psychopathy

1. Psychopathy The Evolution of the ”Bad Seed”

2. What is Psychopathy? • Personality disorder, characterized by • Callousness • Lack of empathy • Self-centredness • Remorselessness • Persistent antisocial behaviour • “Against” society, social norms

3. Psychopathy Checklist-Revised • Measures criminal psychopathy • 20 items, scores range from 0-40 • Items include glibness & superficiality; impulsive behaviour; lack of remorse; early behaviour problems • Two-factor structure • Selfish, callous, & remorseless use of others • Chronically unstable & antisocial lifestyle Hare (1991)

4. Two Case Examples • John Wayne Gacy was a contractor, Junior Chamber of Commerce “Man of the Year,” Pogo the Clown, and raped and murdered 32 young boys • Kenneth Bianchi was one of the “Hillside Stranglers,” who raped, tortured, and murdered 12 women, & fooled experts into believing had had multiple personality disorder Hare (1996)

5. Historical Perspectives (1) • Pinel: Manie sans délire • Construed psychopathy as “moral insanity” • Began the “mad or bad” debate • Cleckley’s Mask of Sanity • Most influential of the classical texts • Described the syndrome of psychopathy and gave the impetus for the research that followed

6. Historical Perspectives (2) • Psychopathy vs. Antisocial Personality Disorder • Considerable overlap between constructs • APD is over-inclusive • If scored similarly, they correlate highly • Psychopathy vs. Sociopathy • Psychopathy is not synonymous with psychosis • “Sociopathy” differs with regard to etiological underpinnings

7. Theories of Etiology • Developmental delay • EEG pattern similarity between psychopaths and normal adults • Early brain damage or dysfunction • Primarily to frontal lobes • Poor socialization and psychological trauma • Poverty, emotional instability, inconsistent punishment, abuse

8. Evolutionary Theories • Adaptationist perspective on psychopathy • Not a result of pathology, but an adaptive strategy (obligate genetic causes) • Antisocial behaviour is maintained in the population through frequency-dependent selection • Taxometric analyses reveal discrete classes • “Genetic Dregs” hypothesis (Figueredo, 2002)

9. Recent Research (1) • Psychopathy is related to a general tendency to deceive, not just in sexual arenas (Seto et al, 1997) • MAOA polymorphism moderates antisocial behaviour in maltreated adolescents (Caspi et al, 2002) • Antisociality is correlated with earlier sexual experiences; unrelated to neuro-developmental insults (Krupp, 2001)

10. Recent Research (2) • Two-path model Neuro-developmental Insults Antisocial Parents Criminal Violence Psychopathy Harris, Rice, & Lalumière (2001)

11. Risk Assessment • Canada is at the forefront of risk assessment research • PCL-R, LSI, VRAG, VRS • Psychopathy appears to be an important predictor of recidivism • Considerable debate surrounding • Clinical judgment • “Static” vs. “dynamic” factors

12. Therapy? • Most therapeutic intervention has been unsuccessful with psychopaths • Therapeutic community had an iatrogenic effect in one study (Harris et al., 1991)! • The model of psychopathological behaviour is problematic; rather, psychopathy appears to be a life-history strategy • Perhaps most appropriate therapy will focus on self-interest of psychopaths

13. The Wrap-Up • The construct of psychopathy defined • Historical perspectives • Etiological theories • Psychopathy as a frequency-dependent, life-history strategy • Recent evolutionarily-relevant research • Risk assessment and therapy

14. Things to Come • Pedophilia • Definitional and practical issues • Etiology • WHR and pedophilic sexual preference • Implications