The mangled butterfly: Rorschach results from 45 violent psychopaths

Abstract

Participants were 45 violent California male prison inmates scoring 30 or more on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003). Inmates were evaluated using Rorschach and neuropsychological test data. The participants' intellectual functioning was within the low-average range and displayed a lack of flexibility. Rorschach data were not suggestive of chronic narcissism and anger as in other psychopathic samples. This group resembled Exner's normative sample of high Lambda adults. Consistent with previous studies, psychopaths demonstrated poor emotional modulation, diminished reality testing, little interest in people, and virtually no attachment capacity. Most utilized a simplistic, avoidant, and concrete style. This appeared to be consistent with the concrete thinking and fragmentation attributed to the criminal personality. Concrete thinking is based upon literal interpretations of events. Fragmentation is associated with attitudes that are situation specific and self-serving.

Under the Surface

“…From the field of developmental psychology, we know that interpersonal and affective functioning is “tightly knitted.” Attachment figures represent the child’s most secure emotional base (Brisch, 2002), and some researchers have argued that attachment pathology might serve as an “index of emotional regulation” (Babcock, Jacobson, Gottman, & Yerington, 2000, cited in Meloy, 2003). Recent studies (Franks, Sreenivasan, Spray, & Kirkish, 2009; Young, Justice, & Edberg, 2010) have demonstrated poor emotional modulation and low attachment capacity in male prison inmates scoring above the cutoff for severe psychopathy. As a consequence, observations of callousness (trait level) and difficulties with affect regulation (state level) could indicate attachment pathology at the heart of psychopathy.…”

Padrões normativos do Psicodiagnóstico de Rorschach em adolescentes de 12 a 14 anos

“…Ao se tentar circunscrever esta ampla gama de investigações internacionais sobre o Método de Rorschach, acrescentou-se a palavra-chave "Adolescente" ao levantamento bibliográfico previamente realizado, por se tratar do foco do presente trabalho. Nesta nova pesquisa, o número de estudos encontrados se restringiu a 43, sendo 13 deles realizados com adolescentes que apresentavam algum transtorno mental (Ilonen et al, 2010;Kernier, Canouï, Golse, 2010;Bram, 2010;Balotti et al, 2009;Franks et al, 2009;Rothschild, Lacoua & Stein, 2009;Klinteberg, Johansson & Gacono, 2008;Kochinski et al, 2008;Rothschild et al 2008;Kimhy et al, 2007;Blatt, Besser, Ford, 2007;Grava et al, 2006;McGrath et al, 2005) e os demais trabalhos versavam sobre temas diversos desta etapa do desenvolvimento. Uma vez que a complexidade deste período de desenvolvimento pode ser disparadora para múltiplos focos de investigação científica, o pequeno número de trabalhos identificados na literatura científica internacional, indexada nesta reconhecida base de dados, sugere reduzido investimento sobre o processo de adolescência a partir do Psicodiagnóstico de Rorschach, método este capaz de acessar variáveis relevantes do processo de formação da personalidade.…”

The Rorschach and Violent Crime

“…In addition, forensic psychological assessment requires use of collateral information, such as interviews with informants, medical and criminal records, and behavioral observation. Ideally, forensic psychological assessment is multimethod and evidence-based (Gacono et al, 2008;Hopwood & Bornstein, 2014).…”