Individuals with dark traits have the ability but not the disposition to empathize

Kajonius, Petri; Björkman, Therese

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.109716

Cited by 38 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The authors concluded that persons with psychopathy do not have a total absence or incapacity to empathize with another person, but that brain mechanisms involved are not automatically activated in these individuals (see also Keysers and Gazzola, 2014 on the ability vs. propensity for empathy). That persons with psychopathic traits do not seem to have a total lack of empathy was also shown by a recent online survey study (Kajonius and Björkman, 2020). In this study, the authors investigated the disposition of empathy and the ability to empathize in persons scoring higher and lower on the Dark Triad personalities (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism).…”

Section: Functional Neuroimaging Studiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

The Empathic Brain of Psychopaths: From Social Science to Neuroscience in Empathy

Dongen

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Empathy is a crucial human ability, because of its importance to prosocial behavior, and for moral development. A deficit in empathic abilities, especially affective empathy, is thought to play an important role in psychopathic personality. Empathic abilities have traditionally been studied within the social and behavioral sciences using behavioral methods, but recent work in neuroscience has begun to elucidate the neural underpinnings of empathic processing in relation to psychopathy. In this review, current knowledge in the social neuroscience of empathy is discussed and a comprehensive view of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie empathy in psychopathic personality is provided. Furthermore, it will be argued that using classification based on overt behavior, we risk failing to identify important mechanisms involved in the psychopathology of psychopathy. In the last decade, there is a growing attention in combining knowledge from (neuro)biological research areas with psychology and psychiatry, to form a new basis for categorizing individuals. Recently, a converging framework has been put forward that applies such approach to antisocial individuals, including psychopathy. In this bio-cognitive approach, it is suggested to use information from different levels, to form latent categories on which individuals are grouped, that may better reflect underlying (neurobiological) dysfunctions. Subsequently, these newly defined latent categories may be more effective in guiding interventions and treatment. In conclusion, in my view, the future understanding of the social brain of psychopaths lies in studying the complex networks in the brain in combination with the use of other levels of information (e.g., genetics and cognition). Based on that, profiles of individuals can be formed that can be used to guide neurophysiological informed personalized treatment interventions that ultimately reduce violent transgressions in individuals with psychopathic traits.

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Section: Functional Neuroimaging Studiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

The Empathic Brain of Psychopaths: From Social Science to Neuroscience in Empathy

Dongen

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…The second limitation is the use of self-reporting methodology. Using only respondents as the source enhances the risk of reliability through error-inflating method variance (Kajonius and Björkman, 2020). Future studies may attempt to use an interview method to test the effects of individual and situational factors in the mechanisms of cyberbullying perpetration attitudes.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mediation Role of Moral Personality Between Childhood Psychological Abuse and Cyberbullying Perpetration Attitudes of College Students

et al. 2020

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Guided by social learning theory and general aggression model, this work aims to explore the impact of childhood psychological abuse on cyberbullying perpetration attitudes of college students and the mediating role of moral personality. Using stratified cluster random sampling method, 527 college students were tested by using the Childhood Psychological Abuse Scale, Moral Personality Adjective Evaluation Questionnaire for college students, and the revised Chinese version of Cyberbullying Attitude Questionnaire. Results: (1) Childhood psychological abuse was significantly positively correlated with cyberbullying perpetration attitudes and showed a significant negative correlation with positive moral personality traits. (2) Positive moral personality traits had a significant negative correlation with cyberbullying perpetration attitudes. (3) Positive moral personality traits had a significant mediating effect between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying attitudes of college students. The mediating effect accounted for 11.11% of the total effect.

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“…Concomitantly, psychopathic traits are associated with reduced responses in affective brain regions during moral processing despite apparent intact moral judgment ability (34,35). In parallel, a growing body of research has been showing a dissociation between affective and cognitive empathy impairments in individuals with high level of psychopathy (e.g., 30,[36][37][38]. Individuals with high levels of psychopathy seem to have intact cognitive empathy, i.e., are able to infer and describe what others feel, but show impairments in affective empathy, i.e., fail to resonate with others' feelings (30,(36)(37)(38).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In parallel, a growing body of research has been showing a dissociation between affective and cognitive empathy impairments in individuals with high level of psychopathy (e.g., 30,[36][37][38]. Individuals with high levels of psychopathy seem to have intact cognitive empathy, i.e., are able to infer and describe what others feel, but show impairments in affective empathy, i.e., fail to resonate with others' feelings (30,(36)(37)(38). The same pattern of dissociation between affective and cognitive empathic processes has been identified in children with high levels of CU traits (39)(40)(41).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate Anticipated Guilt and Wrongness Judgments to Everyday Moral Transgressions in Adolescents

et al. 2021

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Callous-unemotional (CU) traits observed during childhood and adolescence are thought to be precursors of psychopathic traits in adulthood. Adults with high levels of psychopathic traits typically present antisocial behavior. Such behavior can be indicative of atypical moral processing. Evidence suggests that moral dysfunction in these individuals may stem from a disruption of affective components of moral processing rather than from an inability to compute moral judgments per se. No study to date has tested if the dissociation between affective and cognitive dimensions of moral processing linked to psychopathic traits in adulthood is also linked to CU traits during development. Here, 47 typically developing adolescents with varying levels of CU traits completed a novel, animated cartoon task depicting everyday moral transgressions and indicated how they would feel in such situations and how morally wrong the situations were. Adolescents with higher CU traits reported reduced anticipated guilt and wrongness appraisals of the transgressions. However, our key finding was a significant interaction between CU traits and anticipated guilt in predicting wrongness judgments. The strength of the association between anticipated guilt and wrongness judgement was significantly weaker for those with higher levels of CU traits. This evidence extends our knowledge on the cognitive-affective processing deficits that may underlie moral dysfunction in youth who are at heightened risk for antisocial behavior and psychopathy in adulthood. Future longitudinal research is required to elucidate whether there is an increased dissociation between different components of moral processing from adolescence to adulthood for those with high psychopathic traits.

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Individuals with dark traits have the ability but not the disposition to empathize

Cited by 38 publications

References 37 publications

The Empathic Brain of Psychopaths: From Social Science to Neuroscience in Empathy

The Empathic Brain of Psychopaths: From Social Science to Neuroscience in Empathy

The Mediation Role of Moral Personality Between Childhood Psychological Abuse and Cyberbullying Perpetration Attitudes of College Students

Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate Anticipated Guilt and Wrongness Judgments to Everyday Moral Transgressions in Adolescents

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