Reconsidering the Low-Fear Explanation for Primary Psychopathy

Newman, Joseph P.; Brinkley, Chad A.

doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0803_14

Cited by 54 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…However, despite strong evidence for a link between reduced BIS/anxiety and primary psychopathy in the literature (Newman & Brinkley, 1997;Corr, 2010), Hare and Neumann (2008) argue that psychopathy is only weakly related to reduced anxiety and more associated with a lack of fear. Nevertheless, they emphasised that investigating the interactive roles of both fear and anxiety may help to explain specific deficits associated with psychopathy.…”

Section: The Distinction Between Fear and Anxiety In P And Primary Psmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lower levels of anxiety have been regarded as a key feature of psychopathy (Lykken, 1957;Newman & Brinkley, 1997) and the prominent 'lack of fear' hypothesis assumes that psychopaths' lack of fear results in their inability to learn following punishment (Fowles, 1980). Moreover, more recent studies show that the punishment processing deficit is associated with primary psychopathy (Sutton, Vitale & Newman, 2002), whilst secondary psychopathy is linked to higher levels of anxiety and punishment sensitivity (see Skeem et al, 2003 for review).…”

Section: Linking Primary and Secondary Psychopathic Deficits To Psychmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of Gray’s revised RST in the P–psychopathy continuum: The relationships of Psychoticism with a lack of fear and anxiety, and increased impulsivity

Heym¹,

Lawrence²

2010

Personality and Individual Differences

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Gray's revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST; Gray & McNaughton, 2000) may play a role in explaining deficits in Psychoticism (P) and psychopathy (Corr, 2010). In this paper, we examine the relationships of P with anxiety, fear, impulsivity and reward reactivity in normal populations to assess whether these associations mirror the hypothesized role of RST motivations in psychopathy. Two hundred and twelve participants completed measures of Psychoticism, impulsivity and rRST motivations (BIS-anxiety, FFFS-fear and BAS). BIS-anxiety mediated the association of P with FFFS-fear and BAS-fun seeking. An exploratory factor analysis distinguished between trait impulsivity (P, impulsivity and BIS) and reward reactivity (BAS-reward responsiveness and BAS-drive). Subsequent moderation analyses showed that whilst neither BIS nor BAS moderated the P-impulsivity link, the association between P and impulsivity was more pronounced in individuals with raised levels of FFFS-fear. Findings are discussed in terms of the roles of fear versus anxiety and impulsivity versus reward reactivity in the P-psychopathy continuum. The manuscript addresses the role of Gray's revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory as underlying mechanism in the Psychoticism-psychopathy continuum. The manuscript reports the examination of the relationships of Psychoticism (P) with (i) anxiety and fear; and (ii) impulsivity and reward reactivity in normal populations to assess whether these associations mirror the hypothesized role of the RST motivations in primary and secondary psychopathy. Our data show that P is associated with reduced fear (FFFS) and anxiety (BIS) akin to primary psychopathy and support the key role of BIS as a potential mechanism for P and primary psychopathy associated punishment insensitivity. Secondly, the manuscript distinguishes between trait impulsivity and reward reactivity (BAS) and shows that P and impulsivity are linked to a deficit in behavioural inhibition (BIS) as opposed to reward reactivity (BAS). Thirdly, the data show that P-related impulsivity is more pronounced in individuals with raised levels of punishment sensitivity akin to secondary psychopathy. These associations of Psychoticism with the revised RST have to our knowledge not been shown before.We argue that the associations support Eysenck's continuity hypothesis for Psychoticism and Psychopathy as well as the role of the revised RST as underlying mechanisms in P and potentially psychopathy. Moreover, we emphasize the importance of distinguishing between anxiety and fear as well as impulsivity and reward reactivity in personality, specifically psychopathy research. We believe this manuscript makes some interesting contribution to the existing RST literature, the Eysenckian model of personality, specifically P, as well as the conceptualization of psychopathy.Please send any correspondence to the above address. We are looking forward to hearing from you.Yours sincerely, Nadja Heym and Claire Lawrence Cover Letter and Word CountDear Professor Corr, ...

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Section: The Distinction Between Fear and Anxiety In P And Primary Psmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Linking Primary and Secondary Psychopathic Deficits To Psychmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of Gray’s revised RST in the P–psychopathy continuum: The relationships of Psychoticism with a lack of fear and anxiety, and increased impulsivity

Heym¹,

Lawrence²

2010

Personality and Individual Differences

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“…Studies have shown that psychopathic individuals display attentional deficits, such as reduced interference on Stroop-like tasks (Hiatt, et al, 2004) and reduced physiological reactivity to irrelevant auditory stimuli (Jutai, et al, 1987). There is also some evidence of executive dysfunction in criminal psychopathic individuals, such as poor behavioural inhibition (Newman & Brinkley, 1997) and set-shifting (Bagshaw et al, 2014), with research suggesting this is primarily associated with elevated levels of secondary psychopathy. Conversely, there is some research that suggests that noncriminal psychopathy (Ishikawa, Raine, Lencz, Bihrle, & Lacasse, 2001) and/or higher levels of primary psychopathy are actually associated with superior executive functioning (Hansen, Johnsen, Thornton, Waage, & Thayer, 2007;Sellbom & Verona, 2007).…”

Section: Psychopathy and Cognitive Deficitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Response Modulation Hypothesis proposed by Newman and colleagues (Lorenz & Newman, 2002;Newman & Brinkley, 1997;Newman & Lorenz, 2003;Patterson & Newman, 1993) suggests that the behavioural and affective impairments currently observed in psychopathy can be attributed to dysfunctional information processing. More specifically, they suggest that psychopathy is associated with a deficit in shifting response set to accommodate peripheral information.…”

Section: The Response Modulation Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the attentional abnormalities, there is also accumulating evidence of executive dysfunction in criminal psychopathic individuals, such as poor behavioural inhibition (Newman & Brinkley, 1997), difficulties planning a sequence of events (Lapierre, Braun, & Hodgins, 1995;Pham et al, 2003), difficulties changing response strategies to changing environmental contingencies (Ishikawa et al, 2001), and poor decision-making .…”

Section: Background To Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychopath Next Door: How Similar Are They to Those Behind Bars? Criminality, Executive Functioning, and Emotion Processing in 'Noncriminal' Psychopathy

Adam¹

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Fearless but anxious? A systematic review on the utility of fear and anxiety levels to classify subtypes of psychopathy

Hofmann

Schneider

Mokros

2021

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Psychopathic traits have been linked to anomalies in experiencing fear and anxiety. It remains unclear, however, to what extent fear and anxiety levels are useful parameters to effectively distinguish between subtypes of psychopathy. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate whether different psychopathic phenotypes (primary and secondary psychopathy) can be delineated based on fear/anxiety levels. To investigate associations between psychopathic traits and conscious experiences of fear and/or anxiety a systematic qualitative review of studies was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines. Seventeen studies were included in the review. We found some evidence for attenuated fear/anxiety levels in primary psychopathy. In secondary psychopathy, the experience of fear/anxiety seemed rather intact. Moreover, primary psychopathy might be associated with a more positive appraisal of the conscious feeling of fear. We reason that consciously experienced fear and anxiety are distinctly related to primary and secondary psychopathy. Due to a lack of consistent and comprehensive operationalizations of fear and anxiety, however, conclusions about their potential to differentiate psychopathic subtypes should be drawn with caution.

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Reconsidering the Low-Fear Explanation for Primary Psychopathy

Cited by 54 publications

References 30 publications

The role of Gray’s revised RST in the P–psychopathy continuum: The relationships of Psychoticism with a lack of fear and anxiety, and increased impulsivity

The role of Gray’s revised RST in the P–psychopathy continuum: The relationships of Psychoticism with a lack of fear and anxiety, and increased impulsivity

The Psychopath Next Door: How Similar Are They to Those Behind Bars? Criminality, Executive Functioning, and Emotion Processing in 'Noncriminal' Psychopathy

Fearless but anxious? A systematic review on the utility of fear and anxiety levels to classify subtypes of psychopathy

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