A study of judgment in the psychopathic personality

What’s wrong? Moral understanding in psychopathic offenders

“…It is also consistent with early work showing that females high in psychopathy provided deviant responses to a moral dilemma questionnaire under free response conditions, but not when the questionnaire obeyed a multiple choice format (Simon et al, 1951). Indeed, at least one study utilizing a free response format found that psychopathic participants achieved higher scores than controls on Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment scale, somewhat reminiscent of Blair’s finding that they rated both moral and conventional acts as wrong (Link et al, 1977).…”

“…The notion that psychopathic moral reasoning abilities may be effectively normal has some empirical footing (Aharoni et al, 2012; Cima, Tonnaer, & Hauser, 2010; Link, Sherer, & Byrne, 1977; Simon, Holzenberg, & Unger, 1951; for a review, see Borg & Sinnott-Armstrong, 2013). Therefore, deeper scrutiny into the MCT methods is warranted.…”

Can psychopathic offenders discern moral wrongs? A new look at the moral/conventional distinction.

“…Subsequent research confirmed the hypothesis that individuals with psychopathy understand right and wrong but that this knowledge does not guide their conduct. For instance, a pioneering study on adult females showed that psychopathic participants provided similar responses to controls on a moral dilemma questionnaire that obeyed a multiple-choice format, but they provided normatively deviant responses to the same questionnaire when it followed a free-response format (Simon et al, 1951). The authors concluded that females with psychopathy can accurately identify moral norms but they nonetheless fail to utilize this knowledge when doing so would compete with immediate, personal goals.…”

“…One line of evidence derives from early studies in psychopathy noted above (Link et al, 1977; Simon et al, 1951). More recently, research using a moral dilemmas task showed that a psychopathic sample, like healthy adults, judged “personal” harms (i.e.…”

Distinct neuronal patterns of positive and negative moral processing in psychopathy

“…Initial clinical observations confirmed that immoral behaviors are more common among psychopaths than non-psychopaths (Cleckley, 1976). However, the literature is mixed as to whether or not psychopaths can correctly make moral judgments; experimental studies have found that psychopaths usually do not differ from non-psychopaths on tasks in which they classify stimuli as morally right or wrong (Aharoni, Sinnott-Armstrong, & Kiehl, 2012; Cima, Tonnaer, & Hauser, 2010; Glenn, Raine, & Schug, 2009; Harenski, Harenski, Shane, & Kiehl, 2010; O’Kane, Fawcett, & Blackburn, 1996; Simon, Holzberg, & Unger, 1951), although psychopaths do make more utilitarian moral judgments (Blair, 1995; Koenigs, Kruepke, Zeier, & Newman, 2012; Young, Koenigs, Kruepke, & Newman, 2012). Despite the similar capacities for moral judgment, psychopaths do show different patterns of brain engagement than nonpsychopaths when processing moral stimuli (Glenn, Raine, & Schug, 2009; Harenski, Edwards, Harenski, & Kiehl, 2014; Harenski et al, 2010).…”