Two Approaches to Parsing the Heterogeneity of Psychopathy.

Abstract

Individuals identified as psychopathic using Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist‐Revised (PCL‐R) are of interest to forensic psychologists because of the high risk that they will engage in antisocial behavior (Hart, 1998). Existing crime data suggest that the PCL‐R is a measure with great clinical utility, but evidence concerning the etiology of the PCL‐R psychopath is less consistent. We propose that one potential source of the inconsistent evidence is that psychopathy is a construct, like mental retardation, that is etiologically heterogeneous. We suggest that the development of effective clinical interventions will require psychologists to (a) question the assumption that psychopathy is an etiologically homogeneous entity, (b) identify etiologically distinct variants of psychopathy for study, and (c) specify etiological mechanisms that may suggest tangible treatment targets. We discuss two complementary strategies for identifying etiological variants of psychopathy: (a) using general personality theory to identify specific psychopathic traits for study and (b) isolating specific bio‐psychological mechanisms that possess the potential to explain specific psychopathic syndromes.

Deficient Behavioral Inhibition and Anomalous Selective Attention in a Community Sample of Adolescents with Psychopathic Traits and Low-Anxiety Traits

“…In addition, the present results replicate findings obtained with severe psychopathic offenders despite our use of a representative community sample and a median split on the ASPD, thus supporting the reliability of the findings. The fact that the predictions of the response modulation model apply to a relatively specific group of individuals is consistent with the field's current emphasis on parsing the heterogeneity of disinhibitory psychopathology (e.g., Brinkley et al, 2004;Hicks, Markon, Patrick, Krueger, & Newman, in press) and will increase our understanding of the specific processes contributing to the disinhibition of particular groups of individuals.…”

“…Therefore, a deficit in executive inhibitory processes would be expected to increase a person's vulnerability to distracting information and result in greater rather than less interference. Conversely, consistent with the proposal that low-anxious, psychopathic individuals are characterized by response modulation deficits, the performance exhibited by these individuals on the PW task suggests a failure of automatic inhibitory processes.An emphasis on parsing the heterogeneity of inhibitory processes associated with disinhibited behavior problems requires a similar focus on parsing the heterogeneity of disinhibited groups (Brinkley, Newman, Widiger, & Lynam, 2004). For instance, research suggests that the association between psychopathy and deficient response modulation is relatively specific to a subgroup of Caucasian psychopathic offenders with low levels of anxiety as assessed by the Welsh Anxiety Scale.…”

“…An emphasis on parsing the heterogeneity of inhibitory processes associated with disinhibited behavior problems requires a similar focus on parsing the heterogeneity of disinhibited groups (Brinkley, Newman, Widiger, & Lynam, 2004). For instance, research suggests that the association between psychopathy and deficient response modulation is relatively specific to a subgroup of Caucasian psychopathic offenders with low levels of anxiety as assessed by the Welsh Anxiety Scale.…”

Psychopathy and trait emotional intelligence

“…Because the PCL-R does not assess these factors, we supplemented PCL-R scores with measures of neuroticism, intelligence, and psychosis to assess primary psychopathy (cf. Brinkley et al, 2004). Welsh, 1956)-The WAS is a 39-item self-report true-false instrument that assesses neurotic anxiety, but also relates to measures of depression and negative affect (see Gray, 1991).…”

“…Classic descriptions of psychopathy (Cleckley, 1976) hold that primary or true psychopathy is incompatible with high levels of neurotic anxiety, yet many individuals with high PCL-R scores report high levels of neurotic anxiety (Schmitt & Newman, 1999). Thus, Newman and colleagues test hypotheses about primary psychopathy by comparing low-anxious psychopathic individuals to nonpsychopathic individuals with correspondingly low levels of anxiety (Brinkley, Newman, Widiger & Lynam, 2004). Consequently, hypotheses generated by the RM model will be tested by comparing lowanxious psychopathic individuals to low-anxious nonpsychopathic controls.…”