Research on Psychopathy: A Personal Disorder
comparative Essay
2850 words
Psychopathy is an extremely complex subcategory of a specific personality disorder. This disorder has been researched since approximately the 18th century. Modern technology in science can detect psychopathy by examining the human brain using different techniques. This technology can and should be used to prevent violence in the world today.
Research of the brain abnormalities in psychopaths have been traced back to the 1800’s when an Italian psychiatrist and criminologist Cesare Lombroso stated that all of the mental functions in one’s brain are localized in different parts of the brain. Lombroso generalized the idea that one is born with a “criminal mind”. The criminal mind can be classified by “deformations of their skulls”. (Weber et al. 3) Lombroso’s theory of this has been discounted however; the idea of the “criminal mind” attracted attention to scientists. Curiosity arose in the research of the psychopathic brain when the case of Phineas Gage occurred in 1848. Phineas was a 25 year old man who worked as a railway worker. An iron rod went straight through his skull which damaged his prefrontal cortex. He suffered from severe brain damage, however survived the incident. This accident caused a significant change in Phineas’s personality. It did not affect his memory, intelligence, speech or motor functions, however after the accident his attitude changed whereas he became ill natured and disdainful. It also affected his ability to make decisions. Before the incident, his personality was described as kind and even tempered. (qtd. in O’Driscoll & Leach, 1998). Phineas Gage’s accident was the first aspect of evidence that prefrontal cortex damage in the brain can change different aspects of personality traits and affect socia...
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.... This concluded that those with psychopathy react to the pain much less than those who do not have psychopathic tendencies.
With all of the advanced technology that scientists have to monitor the brain and its activities, it is crucial that psychopathic tests are done everyday to lower the risk of violent crimes such as murder and rape. Every one sees a doctor annually for their physicals and it isn’t a bad idea to have some of this specific testing done to monitor the brains of patients. Those who have careers in the FBI, the police department, any medical field positions, and many other careers should be tested using the PCL-SV to ensure healthy brains. Although there are less than 1% of psychopaths in the general population, mandatory testing on such people may decrease the amount of violent and heinous crimes that are committed each day in the world today.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that psychopathy is an extremely complex subcategory of a specific personality disorder, which has been researched since approximately the 18th century. modern technology can detect it by examining the human brain using different techniques.
- Explains that lombroso's theory of the "criminal mind" has been discounted, but the case of phineas gage in 1848 was the first evidence that prefrontal cortex damage in the brain can change different aspects of personality traits.
- Compares the somatic marker hypothesis of damasio and the violence inhibition mechanism of blair.
- Explains that psychopathy is a subtype of an additional personality disorder known as aspd.
- Explains that psychopathy is characterized by the excessive lack of grey matter in the anterior rostral prefrontal cortex and temporal poles of the brain.
- Explains that psychopaths act in cold blood because of the lack of empathy and are considerate to what they want and/or need. this brain disorder is common among drug dealers, spouse and child abusers, gang members, and cult leaders.
- Explains that raine and colleagues (2004) have studied two different kinds of psychopaths: the unsuccessful and the successful. the hippocampus in the brain is essential for long term memory.
- Explains that psychopaths tend to commit violent crimes at an earlier age. once released from jail, their probability of committing more criminal activities is high. jack abbott stabbed an innocent man to death.
- Explains that sociopaths are hereditary and passed down from genes, whereas a psychopath is more of an affect of environmental situations.
- Explains that damage to the frontal cortex is associated with aggressive behavior since the case of phineas gage.
- Explains that the hare psychopathy checklist (pcl) and the psychopathy checklist-revised are considered the "gold standard" for measuring psychopathic behavior.
- Explains the procedures approved by new jersey department of corrections, the new york university institutional review board (irb) and nyu special committee on prison research.
- Explains that mri is the most affective procedure in determining whether a person suffers from psychopathy, but there are other studies and procedures to decipher this.
- Explains that slapping the patient's hands to localize brain regions involving pain was used to determine whether or not an individual suffers from psychopathy.
- Recommends that psychopathic tests be done every day to lower the risk of violent crimes such as murder and rape. those who have careers in the fbi, the police department, or any medical field positions should be tested using the pcl-sv.
Related
- explanatory
- analytical
- comparative
- Psychopathy: Personality Disorderexplanatory essayPsychopathy “Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want.
In this essay, the author
- Describes psychopathy as a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior, which society views as pejorative.
- Explains that psychopathy was first written about by psychiatrist philippe pinel in the early 19th century. hervey cleckley wrote 'the mask of sanity' which is considered as the cornerstone of the study of psychopaths.
- Explains that the amygdala is involved in aversive conditioning and instrumental learning and is responsible for all the processes that, when impaired, produce the same functional impairments displayed by psychopaths.
- Explains that the amygdala and ofc are implicated in psychopathic pathology. dr. craig and his colleagues studied the connectivity between the two brain regions involved in psychopathy.
- Explains that the term psychopath is synonymous with terms like serial killer and rapist, but the characteristics that define it do not necessarily imply or involve criminal behavior.
- Explains that a psychopathic personality is prone to criminal behavior because of their underdeveloped super-ego, which removes them from empathy and remorse.
- Explains that psychopaths are goal-oriented and driven by self gain. they are more proactive, predatory, and purposeful, with a desired external goal being the driving force.
- Explains that psychopathy has a complex relationship with sexual offense where despite its association with various types, its relationship to overall sexual offending has been found to be weak.
- Distinguishes between primary and secondary psychopathy. primary psychopaths engage in antisocial behavior as a result of genetic or biological predispositions that occur during infancy.
- Explains that secondary psychopaths pass through the developmental stages needed to form human attachments and show more anxiety, empathy, and guilt than their primary counterparts. their antisocial behavior cannot be narrowed down to one psychological phenomenon.
- Analyzes how cleckley preempted the current research into the multiple factors of psychopathy and noted that not all psychopaths exhibit antisocial behavior.
- Explains that a number of professionals who are ceos, doctors, lawyers, politicians exhibit similar scores to psychopaths on scales of histrionic, narcissistic, and compulsive personality disorder.
- Explains lykken's theory that psychopaths are merely individuals with low fear quotients who can perceive most other emotions but not fear.
- Explains that psychopathy is relevant to law enforcement, corrections, courts, and others working in related fields. psychopaths make conscious decisions to commit crimes, yet their choices may have been predetermined in early infancy.
- Explains that psychopathy is a powerful predictor of violent recidivism and dangerousness. understanding psychopaths and their personality and behavioral traits allows authorities to design strategies that more likely will work with them.
2102 wordsRead More - The Multiplexity Of Psychopathyexplanatory essayAt the forefront of absurdity is the question of mentality. For many years, scientists have studied the minds of psychopaths, examining the various aspects of psychopathy. They have conducted and analyzed research of the numerous bodily and mental processes, most of which relate to one another in seemingly complex ways. The multiplexity of psychopathy is so immense that, for the sake of this paper, it will analyze four of its most prominent factors – childhood-environmental, neurological, physiological, and psychological – and attempt to show the interlockings of these groups in the creation of a psychopath.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that mentality is at the forefront of absurdity. scientists have studied the minds of psychopaths, examining the numerous bodily and mental processes, most of which relate to one another in seemingly complex ways.
- Explains that psychopathy is one of the most dangerous disorders a human can acquire, both for themselves and the sake of others.
- Explains that children with psychopathic and antisocial-like tendencies display callous-unemotional behaviors throughout childhood and adolescence.
- Explains that when children are ineffectively raised and suffer maltreatment, their risk of acquiring psychopathy significantly increases. punishment that is too harsh or punished for reason not related to behavior increases a child's callous-unemotional traits.
- Explains that children from unstable homes develop unhealthy behaviors that affect their ability to form and maintain relationships with others.
- Explains that attachment to an abusive parent or caregiver contributes to the narcissistic personality of psychopaths. childhood abuse and neglect can have significant impacts on a child and make them more susceptible to developing psychopathy.
- Explains that damage to the ventromedial region of the prefrontal cortex before 16 months has been shown to significantly increase a person’s chance of developing psychopathic tendencies.
- Explains that psychopaths have an under-reactive autonomic nervous system, which coincides with theories that emphasize insensitivity to punishment or reduced capacity for fear in psychopathy.
- Opines that the most important approach to psychopathy is the psychological one. many things, psychologically, are learned in early life and can have grave impacts on a child when they become adults.
705 wordsRead More - The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Usanalytical essayDr. Robert D. Hare’s Without a Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (1993), was intriguing yet frightening to read from the beginning. The purpose of the book was evident by the title; it conveyed insightful information to the reader about the characteristics of psychopathic individuals who walk among us. Hare (1993) also provided the reader with insight on how to detect individuals whom may have malicious intent with prospective individuals, what type of individuals are more than likely to be victimized, and brought forth interesting theories that support the notion that psychopathic individuals are mentally disturbed. Throughout the forthcoming paragraphs, an aim to describe in greater detail the ideas brought forth by the author will be discussed.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hare's book, without a conscience: the disturbing world of the psychopaths among us, conveyed insightful information about the characteristics of psychopathic individuals who walk among us.
- Analyzes hare's questions about psychopaths and the mentally ill, including whether psychopathy is a biological predisposition, or is it acquired.
- Explains that psychopathic individuals are divided into emotional and behavioral qualities. emotional traits include portraying oneself in a charming and likable manner, egocentricity, lack of guilt and empathy, deceit and manipulation, and shallow emotions.
- Opines that not all individuals who are likable and charming or who have to a varying degree any of the additional symptoms, should be classified as psychopaths. hare gathered the emotional and behavioral traits previously discussed and integrated them to create the psychopathy checklist.
- Analyzes hare's distinction between psychopathy and mental illness and concludes the terms should not be used synonymously.
- Explains hare's misconception of using the terms psychopath and sociopath interchangeably. they conclude that there are many factors contributing to the development of psychopathy.
- Explains that society's rules and regulations are placed to keep order among individuals. according to hare, abiding to the rules that are deemed socially acceptable creates an "inner policemen".
- Concludes that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, which contributes to the development of psychopathic tendencies.
916 wordsRead More - Psyopaths In The Amygdalacomparative essayTo begin with, the purpose of the first experiment was to uncover which brain areas are associated with abnormal emotional processing and the subsequent disturbed social interactions that follow. The total amount of participants after excluding 2 due to artifacts was 12 right handed males. The control group was composed of 6 healthy males who had no history of neuropsychiatric problems, a mean age of 28.8, and standard deviation of 4.14. The experimental group was composed of 6 psychopathic individuals who were convicted criminals and taken from a high security psychiatric ward with a mean age of 33, and a standard deviation of 8. The researchers measured psychopathy by using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R [that measured psychopathy on a scale of 0-40]). They used the Positive and Negative Affect schedule (PANAS) to assess global affect states before conducting the experim...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that diversity across cultures differs remarkably when it comes to social norms, but among all these different cultures lies one similarity: psychopaths.
- Explains the purpose of the first experiment to uncover which brain areas are associated with abnormal emotional processing and the subsequent disturbed social interactions that follow.
- Explains that the experiment was conducted by showing positive, neutral, and negative emotionally loaded pictures from the international standardized affective picture system (iaps) to the participants.
- Explains that psychopaths showed increased activation bilaterally in the fusiform, parietal, and cerebellar hemispheres when comparing results of the positive and negative picture series.
- Concludes that psychopaths display abnormal activation patterns in emotion-related brain areas responsible for antagonistic function.
- Explains that the following study characterized psychopathy with features such as glibness, superficiality, lack of empathy, guilt and remorse. researchers are still trying to uncover the etiology of this mental illness.
- Explains that the participants were right handed, had no history of mental illness, and spoke english as their first language. they used the pcl-r to assess psychopathy.
- Explains that the experiment consisted of 8 trials for each stimulus (negative or neutral), each trial had three sequential phases (encoding, rehearsal, and storage).
- Explains that there were no group differences when it came to accuracy of the task, which meant that all groups were actively engaged in it.
- Explains kiehl et al.'s findings that processing of affective stimuli is associated with less limbic activation in criminal psychopaths than in non-psychopathic and control participants. limitations for this study include a small sample size.
- Explains that the last study used a different type of stimuli to explore affective processing in psychopathic individuals. they used event-related fmri to compare psychopaths viewing expressions of positive emotion (happy faces) and expression of distress (fearful faces).
- Explains the experimental task consisted of two 6 minute trials using fmri, using fearful faces and happy faces of different intensities.
- Compares the responses of the healthy and psychopathic groups in the facial fear experiment trials.
- Explains that the psychopathic group showed significant reduced activation for fearful faces in areas responsible for processing facial emotion compared to the control group.
- Concludes that the three experiments successfully found relationships between decreased activity in affect processing brain areas and psychopathic behavior.
2408 wordsRead More - Analysis Of Inside The Mind Of A Psychopathanalytical essayAt work, Joshua Boren was a well-respected law enforcement officer, often referred to as a big "teddy bear."
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes dr. hare's book, without conscious: the disturbing world of psychopaths among us.
- Analyzes how sexism is prevalent in our society, and the modern attempt of humor at the expense of women.
- Explains that joshua boren was a well-respected law enforcement officer who shot and killed his wife, two children, mother-in-law and himself.
- Analyzes how joshua and his wife exchanged aggressive texts on the day of the shooting. kelly called out joshua on rape and abuse, threatening to remove the children from him.
- Analyzes how the book, without conscious studies have shown that the normal criminal treatment options tend to make psychopathy worse, but phycologists have not come up with a foolproof program to reduce the devastating effect psychopaths have on society.
- Analyzes how sexist entitlement complexes combined with a lack of conscious (psychopathy/sociopathy) creates serial killers as opposed to just users and criminals.
1296 wordsRead More - Psychopaths and the Future of Humanityanalytical essayI first encountered the idea of a psychopath in Thomas Harris' thriller, the Silence of Lambs. Hannibal Lecter was deeply fascinating, and all the more frightening because he didn't look like a grotesque monster, a violent & bloodthirsty beast. Instead, it's a charming and intelligent character with a doctorate in psychology. His possible existence forced me to reflect, and sound the depths of darkness within. However, psychopaths remained only a curiosity until this quarter, when I encountered the idea of psychopaths again in the works of moral philosophers.
In this essay, the author
- Summarizes the main arguments of nichols and kenneth regarding the danger that psychopaths pose to moral reasoning.
- Analyzes nichols' argument that psychopaths support sentimentalism, rather than empirical rationalism. kenneth's argument is that philosophers get carried away with the implications of the data and overstate their case.
- Analyzes the psychopathy checklist developed by psychiatrist robert hare, which predicts that about one percent of the population fits the profile of psychopath.
- Proposes an eliminative materialism that does away with all spooky notions that have steadily contributed to the dustbin of history.
1460 wordsRead More - Rearing in Sociopathic Tendenciesanalytical essayPatrick, Christopher. "Deconstructing Psychopathy." Book Review Essays. Vol. 8. Taylor & Francis, 1997. 244-51. JSTOR. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how psychology experts began studying bundy's behavior and the causes of his sociopathic tendencies after his execution.
- Explains that sociopaths are irresponsible, impulsive, and egocentric. they are infamous for their "inordinate" amounts of crime.
- Explains that most psychology experts agree that sociopathic tendencies are a result of nurture. christopher patrick believes that fatherless rearing is the major cause of crime.
- Analyzes how socialization reflects how a child conforms to the norms of humanity. heritable traits are not reasonable in explaining sociopathy.
- Argues that sociopathic tendencies are largely caused by how a child is reared, or nurtured. patrick agrees that people with heritable traits can socialize, not become sociopaths, given the right rearing environment.
- Citesdohrenwend, bruce, and mealey, linda. "sociobiology of sociopathy: an integrated evolutionary model."
989 wordsRead More - criminal psycopathyexplanatory essayPsychopaths have been around since the dawn of man we just never really knew what to label these certain individuals. But now with the rise of technology we have begun to understand psychopathic behavior and what traits you need to have to be labeled a “Psychopath”. It all started with the founding father of modern psychiatry Philippe Pinel. In 1801 Pinel had a group of patients in which he believed had “insanity without delirium”. He then went on to believe that these individuals who had no known intellectual issues but rather antisocial defects as well as very cruel type behavior.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how the rise of technology has helped us understand psychopathic behavior and what traits you need to have to be labeled a "psychopath".
- Explains that psychosis and psychopathy are similar in a sense, but different. they differ in that they suffer from hallucinations, disordered thoughts, and antisocial behavior problems.
- Explains that evidence for psychopathy has been found in literary, historical, political, and religious texts, as well as cross-culturally.
- Explains that birnbaum believed that antisocial behaviors rarely stemmed from constitutional flaws in the individuals character. the problem that arose from having sociopathy was that too many individuals fall under those characteristics.
- Explains how hare proposed a scheme that outlined three main catagories of psychopaths: primary, secondary, and dissocial.
- Explains that hervey clekly fealt was a necessary main feature of superficial charm mixed with average to above average intelligence. psychopaths impress individuals by being overly friendly, persuasive, and likeable.
- Explains that psychopathy is a well-known subject when it comes to criminal behavior. the general public, law enforcement, and media associate psychopaths with certain behaviors.
- Explains that psychopaths lack most symptoms of thinking and severe depressions. psychologists do not consider psychology a mental disorder, but they do believe that it is biological basis.
- Explains that entertainment media illustrates psychopaths as inhumane individuals that enjoy to-do violence. however, traits and characteristic tendencies change for adults and teens, which puts them at different levels.
- Explains that psychopathy is one of the most important psychological constructs in the criminal justice system.
- Analyzes hare's view that they lack a normal sense of ethics and morality. they use instruments to intimidate their victims and violence to satisfy their needs.
- Explains that in 1992, the federal bureau of investigations found that nearly half of the incidents that occurred in jail where law enforcement died in the line of duty were caused by an inmate with psychopath tendencies.
- Explains that many psychopaths engage in violence because they see it as a form of revenge or just because of their evil tendencies.
- Explains that there have been many theories of what truly defines a criminal psychopath, some have evolved and progressed more than others.
1078 wordsRead More - Childhood Psychopathyanalytical essayIntroduction A child or an adolescent being diagnosed with psychopathy is a controversial concept and yet there are a number of studies that purport to assess psychopathic traits within these groups. This has stemmed from evidence that key symptoms of psychopathy (at least when looking into the histories of adult psychopathic patients) have been indicative of an early onset with symptoms beginning in childhood or early adolescence. (Johnstone & Cooke, 2004). Psychopathy, at least in adults, is a viable construct and is often indicative of criminality, violence, substance abuse and results in decidedly poorer responsivity to treatment and as such highlights the importance of recognizing these early symptoms and planning intervention and treatment strategies.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the dsm-iv-tr states that a person must be at least 18 years old to be diagnosed as psychopath, so it is appropriate to use "psychopathic-like traits" when referring to these populations.
- Explains that there are a number of indicators of psychopathy visible in children, such as hare, caspi, farrington, and moffit.
- Explains that the antisocial process screening device (apsd) and the childhood psychopathy scale (cps) are the most researched instruments for measuring psychopathy in the field.
- Evaluates the validity of the cu scale, stating that only one study has shown acceptable test-retest reliability of teacher ratings.
- Explains that the most recent version of the childhood psychopathy scale (cps) does not contain a scale assessing explicit antisocial behaviour but rather boredom susceptibility.
- Explains that there is relatively little literature on the treatment or intervention measures for children who present with psychopathic traits.
- Explains that caldwell et al's study looked into the treatment response of two groups of adolescents receiving traditional treatment in a juvenile correction institute and an intensive treatment program in the mendota juvenile treatment center.
- Argues that the development of psychopathy in children and adolescents is concerned about how appropriate it can be at a developmental level.
- Opines that more research is needed to look into psychopathic traits in children and adolescents as they are indicative of severe conduct problems later in life.
- Analyzes the research on psychopathy and psychopathic traits in children and adolescents, highlighting the need for early intervention and treatment strategies.
- Cites caldwell, skeem, salekin, & van rybroek, g (2006). treatment response of adolescent offenders with psychopathy: a 2-year follow-up.
2323 wordsRead More - Nature or Nurture for Determining Psychopathyexplanatory essayWhat is a psychopath? What type of person can be characterized by this and how do they come to be? But first before we can answer these questions we must first know what a psychopath is. Psychopaths are people suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviors; clinically it is a person who has a lack of what we would consider a conscience. Psychopaths are seen to suffer from a lack of empathy because of psychological, genetic and environmental factors. Scientists have many theories concerning psychopaths. Scientist do not have a definite clear cut answer on what is the cause for psychopathy but they have many ideas; nature and the nurture of the person. Nature is the genes that the person carries. The nurture of the person when they were a child is simply means how they were treated when they were growing up and/or how they were raised. Some scientists even consider it a possibility that it could be a mixture of the two.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that psychopaths are people suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviors. they suffer from a lack of empathy because of psychological, genetic and environmental factors.
- Explains that scientists consider nature as a reason for psychopathy because the way their brains are set up. in the movie the bad seed, the audience cannot help but think that it is in her genes to kill people
- Explains that with nurture being a reason for psychopaths, officials tend to turn to the parents first and see how the individual was treated.
- Opines that one can tell if someone is a psychopath by studying the individual's nature and nurture.
- Opines that nature and nurture form a dangerous psychopath, even though there are instances where nature was the only factor.
834 wordsRead More