The differential association between alexithymia and primary versus secondary psychopathy

An externally oriented style of thinking as a moderator of responses to affective films in women

“…The present findings of low responsivity in high scorers on the externally-oriented thinking factor during processing of information related to empathy, a social-or moralrelated emotion, corresponds nicely to the concept of primary psychopathy (Lander et al, 2012). A primary psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized by a low tenderness, a lack of empathy, emotional depth, and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, deceptiveness, and feigning emotions.…”

“…For example, the alexithymia factor of externally-oriented thinking (EOT) should not be much present in depressed patients with perseverative rumination as a main central mechanism of the disorder development (Davydov, Stewart, Ritchie, & Chaudieu, 2012;Papageorgiou & Wells, 2004;Robinson & Alloy, 2003). However, it should be more frequently found in persons with the 'psychopathic personality', who may utilize this mechanism to detach their mind/behavior from external events and to demonstrate shallow (limited) emotions in high arousal surroundings (Lander, Lutz-Zois, Rye, & Goodnight, 2012). We consider that this conceptualization may give a possibility for researchers to utilize wider cross-references between results obtained in clinical groups and results obtained in "healthy/high functioning" populations like students if objectives of studies are mainly related to the alexithymia's mechanisms.…”

“…The EOT dimension of the alexithymia construct is also positively (Lander et al, 2012) related to primary psychopathy or conditions characterized by impression management (other-deception or manipulation of responses in order to appear as socially desirable; (Kroner & Forth, 1995)), emotional detachment, low tenderness, and lack of empathy. Since our previous study showed significant correlations between subjective (self-rating) and objective (physiological) responses to the present films with moral (empathic or antipathic) content, we expected that the predicted alexithymia's moderation effects on arousal changes in the present study ('decoupling' of the subjective and objective responses to two different, arousal-boosting ['avoidance'] and arousal-damping ['approach'], film clips) would be mainly related to higher scores on the EOT component of the alexithymia construct.…”

Psychopathy and suicide: The mediating effects of emotional and behavioral dysregulation

“…Secondary psychopathy's association with emotion dysregulation is often inferred indirectly based on positive correlations with constructs related to emotion dysregulation, like impulsivity (Poythress & Hall, 2011), negative emotionality (Hicks & Patrick, 2006), and externalizing disorders (Blonigen, Hicks, Krueger, Patrick, & Iacono, 2005). Furthermore, emotion dysregulation is also present in several psychiatric conditions closely associated with secondary psychopathy, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD; Skeem et al, 2003) and alexithymia (Lander, Lutz-Zois, Rye, & Goodnight, 2012). The emotional deficits related to the inability to process and understand self/other emotional states are equally indicative of BPD, alexithymia, and psychopathy (Jonason & Krause, 2013;Kroner & Forth, 1995).…”

Treating Psychopaths Fairly

“…Importantly, certain features of the psychopath's disorder may impede her ability to convey this suffering in self-reports. These features include fleeting affects and difficulties processing and employing emotional language (Blair, Mitchell, and Blair 2005;Kiehl 2006;Lander, Lutz-Zois, Rye, and Goodnight 2012). While not infrequent, the psychopath's bouts of frustration and severe anger tend to be short-lived and thus generally do not resonate with her for long.…”