Psychopathy is a psychological construct that describes chronic immoral and antisocial behavior.^[1] The term is often used interchangeably with sociopathy^[2]. Psychopathic personality disorders have been the most studied of any personality disorder. Today the term can legitimately be used in two ways. One is in the legal sense, "psychopathic personality disorder" under the Mental Health Act 1983 of the UK. The other use is as a severe form of the antisocial or dissocial personality disorder as exclusively defined by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R).^[3] The term "psychopathy" is often confused with psychotic disorders. It is estimated that approximately 1% of the general population are psychopaths. They are overrepresented in prison systems, politics, law enforcement agencies, and law firms, and in the media.^[4][5][6] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a handbook for mental health professionals that lists different categories of mental disorder and the criteria for diagnosing them, according to the publishing organization the American Psychiatric Association. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ... Psychological science redirects here. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a personality disorder which is often characterised by antisocial and impulsive behaviour. ... The Mental Health Act 1983 (1983 c. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ... In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... Psychosis is a psychiatric classification for a mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. ...

History

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Interest in the psychopathic personality pattern goes back to colonial times. Back then, a person with a mental illness such as psychopathy would be reasoned as a subject of demonic possession. It also goes back to Theophrastus ^[7]. In 1801, Philippe Pinel described patients who were mentally unimpaired but nonetheless engaged in impulsive and self-defeating acts. He saw them as la folie raisonnante ("insane without delirium") meaning that they fully understood the irrationality of their behavior but continued with it anyway. Pinel was one of the last to study psychopathic personalities without including a moral judgment in his diagnosis. By the turn of the century Maudsley had begun writing about the moral imbecile, and was arguing that such individuals could not be rehabilitated by the correctional system.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Personality may refer to: // Personality psychology, a branch of psychology which studies personality and individual differences Personality development, the study of human personality development over time Personality disorders, a class of mental disorders that is characterized by long-lasting rigid patterns of thought and actions. ... Demonic possession, in supernatural belief systems, is a form of spiritual possession whereby certain malevolent extra-dimensional entities, demons, gain control over a mortal persons body, which is then used for an evil or destructive purpose. ... Theophrastus (Greek Θεόφραστος, 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Henry Maudsley (1835–1918) was a pioneering English psychiatrist. ...

Maudsley included the psychopath's immunity to the reformational effects of punishment, owing to their refusal to anticipate further failure, and punishment. In 1904, Emil Kraepelin described four types of personalities similar to the antisocial personality disorder. By 1915 he had identified them as defective in either affect or volition, dividing the types further into categories only some of which correspond to the current descriptions of antisocial.^[8] 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... Emil Kraepelin (February 15, 1856–October 7, 1926) was a German psychiatrist who attempted to create a synthesis of the hundreds of mental disorders classified by the 19th century, grouping diseases together based on classification of common patterns of symptoms, rather than by simple similarity of major symptoms in the... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Look up Volition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Hare and psychopathy

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

In contemporary research, psychopathy has been most frequently operationalized by Dr. Robert D. Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The checklist assesses both interpersonal and affective components as well as lifestyle and antisocial deficits. However, the research results cannot be easily extrapolated to the clinical diagnoses of dissocial personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder. A sample research finding is that between 50% and 80% of prisoners in England and Wales meet the diagnostic criteria of dissocial personality disorder, but only 15% would be predicted to be psychopathic as measured by the PCL-R. Therefore, the findings drawn from psychopathy research have not yet been shown to be relevant as an aid to diagnosis and treatment of dissocial or antisocial personality disorders.^[9] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... Dr. Robert D. Hare is a researcher renowned in the field of criminal psychology. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ...

Hare's items

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

The following findings are for research purposes only, and are not used in clinical diagnosis. These items cover the affective, interpersonal, and behavioral features. Each item is rated on a score from 0 to 2. The sum total determines the extent of a person's psychopathy^[3] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ...

Factor1: Aggressive narcissism

1. Glibness / superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning / manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow
7. Callous / lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
9. Promiscuous sexual behavior

Factor2: Socially deviant lifestyle

1. Need for stimulation / proneness to boredom
2. Parasitic lifestyle
3. Poor behavioral control
4. Lack of realistic, long-term goals
5. Impulsivity
6. Irresponsibility
7. Juvenile delinquency
8. Early behavior problems
9. Many short-term marital relationships
10. Revocation of conditional release

Traits not correlated with either factor

1. Many short-term marital relationships
2. Promiscuous sexual behavior
3. Criminal versatility

In practice, mental health professional rarely treat psychopathic personality disorders as they are considered untreatable and no interventions have proved to be effective. In England and Wales the diagnosis of dissocial personality disorder is grounds for detention in secure psychiatric hospitals under the Mental Health Act if they have committed serious crimes, but since such individuals are disruptive for other patients and not responsive to treatment this alternative to prison is not often used.^[10] For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called, at various places and times, mental hospital or mental ward, historically often asylum, lunatic asylum, or madhouse), is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... The Mental Health Act 1983 (1983 c. ...

Because an individual's scores may have important consequences for his or her future the potential for harm if the test is used or administered incorrectly, is considerable, so that the test should only be considered valid if administered by a suitably qualified and experienced clinician under controlled conditions. ^[11][12]

Hare wants the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to list psychopathy as a unique disorder, saying that psychopathy has no precise equivalent^[11] in either the DSM-IV-TR, where it is most strongly correlated with the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, or the ICD-10, which has a partly similar condition called dissocial personality disorder. Both organisations view the terms as synonymous. But only a minority of what Hare and his followers would diagnose as psychopaths who are in institutions are violent offenders.^[13][14] The manipulative skills of some of the others are valued for providing audacious leadership.^[15] It is argued that psychopathy is adaptive in a highly competitive environment, because it gets results for both the individual and the corporations^[16][17][18] or, often small political sects that they represent.^[19] However, these individuals will often cause long-term harm, both to their co-workers and the organization as a whole, due their manipulative, deceitful, abusive, and often fraudulent behaviour.^[20] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a handbook for mental health professionals that lists different categories of mental disorder and the criteria for diagnosing them, according to the publishing organization the American Psychiatric Association. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a handbook for mental health professionals that lists different categories of mental disorder and the criteria for diagnosing them, according to the publishing organization the American Psychiatric Association. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ...

Hare describes people he calls psychopaths as "intraspecies predators^[21][22] who use charm, manipulation, intimidation, sex and violence^[23][24][25] to control others and to satisfy their own selfish needs. Lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without guilt or remorse".^[12] "What is missing, in other words, are the very qualities that allow a human being to live in social harmony."^[26] The word manipulation can refer to: Joint manipulation Social influence Sleight of hand tricks in magic or XCM. Abuse Advertising Brainwashing Charisma Fraud Indoctrination Love bombing Machiavellianism Media manipulation Mind control Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) Propaganda Social psychology Puppeteer Photo manipulation Categories: | | ... Intimidation is generally used in the meaning of criminal threatening. ... It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ...

PCL-R Factors

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Early factor analysis of the PCL-R indicated that it consisted of two factors. ^[27] Factor 1 capture traits dealing with the interpersonal and affective deficits of psychopathy (e.g. shallow affect, superficial charm, manipulativeness, lack of empathy) whereas Factor 2 dealt with symptoms relating to anti-social behaviour (e.g. criminal versatility, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, poor behaviour controls, juvenile delinquency).^[27] The two factors have been found by those following this theory to display different correlates. Factor 1 has been correlated with narcissitic personality disorder^[27], low anxiety^[27], low empathy ^[28], low stress reaction ^[29] and low suicide risk^[29] but high scores on scales of achievement^[29] and well-being^[29]. In contrast, Factor 2 was found to be related to anti-social personality disorder^[27], social deviance^[27], sensation seeking^[27], low socio-economic status ^[27] and high risk of suicide ^[29]. The two factors are nonetheless highly correlated^[27] and there are strong indications that they do result from a single underlying disorder.^[30] However, research has failed to replicate the two-factor model in female samples. ^[31] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... Factor analysis is a statistical method used to explain variability among observed random variables in terms of fewer unobserved random variables called factors. ...

Recent statistical analysis using confirmatory factor analysis by Cooke and Michie ^[32] indicated a three-factor structure, with those items from factor 2 strictly relating to anti-social behaviour (criminal versatility, juvenile delinquency, revocation of conditional release, early behavioural problems and poor behavioural controls) removed from the final model. The remain items divided into three factors: Arrogant and Deceitful Interpersonal Style, Deficient Affective Experience and Impulsive and Irresponsible Behavioural Style ^[32]. In the most recent edition of the PCL-R, Hare adds a fourth Antisocial behaviour factor, consisting of those Factor 2 items excluded in the previous model ^[33]. Again, these models are presumed to be hierarchical with a single unified psychopathy disorder underlying the distinct but correlated factors.^[34]

Diagnostic criteria and PCL-R assessment

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised

Hare's PCL-R has allowed for a differentiation between individuals with psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (APD). Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ...

In contemporary research and clinical psychiatric practice, the American Psychiatric Association use the DSM and European doctors use the ICD-10 and will use the term antisocial personality disorder. Psychopathy is most commonly assessed by those who subscribe to a separate idea of psychopathy with the PCL-R (Hare, 1991), which is a clinical rating scale with 20 items. Each of the items in the PCL-R is scored on a three-point (0, 1, 2) scale according to two factors. PCL-R Factor 2 is associated with reactive anger, anxiety, increased risk of suicide, criminality, and impulsive violence. PCL-R Factor 1, in contrast, is associated with extroversion and positive affect. Factor 1, the so-called core personality traits of psychopathy, may even be beneficial for the psychopath (in terms of nondeviant social functioning). A psychopath will score high on both factors, whereas someone with APD will score high only on Factor 2.^[35] Due to the epidemic of medical errors, readers are cautioned to be aware that the American Psychiatric Association isnt immune to this. ... As a three-letter acronym or abbreviation DSM or dsm can mean several things: // DSM (company), an international chemicals company based in the Netherlands Dependency Structure Matrix Deputy Stage Manager Design Structure Matrix The IATA airport code for Des Moines International Airport in Des Moines, Iowa, United States and issometimes... A European is primarily a person who was born into one of the countries within the continent of Europe. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) is a detailed description of known diseases and injuries. ...

Both case history and a semi-structured interview are used in the analysis.

Legal definition (Sexual predators)

Psychopathy has quite separate legal and judicial definitions that should not be confused with the medical definition. The American Psychiatric Association is vigorously opposing any non-medical or legal definition of what purports to be a medical condition "without regard for scientific and clinical knowledge".^[36] Various states and nations have at various times enacted laws specific to dealing with psychopaths. In the United States approximately twenty states currently have provisions for the involuntary civil commitment for sex offenders or sexual predators, under Sexually violent predator acts, avoiding the use of the term "psychopath". These statutes and provisions are controversial and are being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court as a violation of a person's Fourteenth Amendment rights.^[37] (See Foucha v. Louisiana for an example.^[38]) This article is about law in society. ... The judiciary, also referred to as the judicature, consists of justices, judges and magistrates among other types of adjudicators. ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Involuntary commitment is the practice of using legal means or forms as part of a mental health law to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward without their informed consent, against their will or over their protests. ... This article is about the criminal term. ... The term sexual predator is used pejoratively about a person who is seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual intercourse in a metaphorically predatory manner. ... Some U.S. states have laws which give a special status for criminals designated as sexually violent predators, which allows these offenders to be held in prison after their sentence is complete if they are considered to be a risk to the public. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Amendment XIV in the National Archives The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Amendment XIV) is one of the post-Civil War amendments (known as the Reconstruction Amendments), first intended to secure rights for former slaves. ...

• Washington State Legislature ^[39] defines a "Psychopathic personality" to mean "the existence in any person of such hereditary, congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional rather than the intellectual field and manifested by anomalies of such character as to render satisfactory social adjustment of such person difficult or impossible".^[37] The same statute defines the "Sexual psychopath" as "any person who is affected in a form of psychoneurosis or in a form of psychopathic personality, which form predisposes such person to the commission of sexual offenses in a degree constituting him a menace to the health or safety of others" for prison sentencing purposes in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981.^[39]

• California enacted a psychopathic offender law in 1939, since greatly outmodeled and revised. ^[40] that defined a psychopath solely in terms of offenders with a predisposition "to the commission of sexual offenses against children." A 1941 law^[41] attempted to further clarify this to the point where anyone examined and found to be psychopathic was to be committed to a state hospital and anyone else was to be sentenced by the courts. However, these laws were enacted years before the American Psychiatric Association began publishing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which is used today for diagnosis and does not include "psychopathic offender". Hence, these laws are of historical interest only.
• In the United Kingdom, "Psychopathic Disorder" is legally defined in the Mental Health Act (UK)^[42] as, "a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned."

According to Jay Ziskin any diagnosis that does not appear in DSM III is not a formal diagnoses for legal uses, as shown in a quote from Coping with Psychiatric and Psychological Testimony Vol II by Jay Ziskin which is a book for attorneys to shoot down psychiatric testimony in the United States. This article is about the U.S. state. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a handbook for mental health professionals that lists different categories of mental disorder and the criteria for diagnosing them, according to the publishing organization the American Psychiatric Association. ...

One should note whether the report contains a formal diagnosis......Those that do not are weakened......One can usually spot a formal diagnosis by the presence of a code number, usually a three-digit number, sometimes with additional digits ... although in some cases, psychiatrists will state what turns out to be a formal diagnosis without using the code numbers. Where there is a formal diagnosis, one should check to see if it is one of those listed in the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM-III). .......the lawyer ... should check the manual for the elements required for making that diagnosis and then check to see if the report describes those elements.....If there is a diagnosis, but it is not from DSM-III, this is a matter to be questioned as there is only one official diagnositic classification system and it is DSM-III.^[43] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. ...

Subtypes of psychopathy

The Primary–Secondary distinction

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Primary psychopathy was defined by those following this theory as the root disorder in patients diagnosed with it, whereas secondary psychopathy was defined as an aspect of another psychiatric disorder or social circumstances.^[44] Today, primary psychopaths are considered to have mostly Factor 1 traits from the PCL-R (arrogance, callousness, manipulativeness, lying) whereas secondary psychopaths have a majority of Factor 2 traits (impulsivity, boredom proneness, irresponsibility, lack of long-term goals).^[45]Secondary psychopaths show normal to above-normal physiological responses to (perceived) potential threats. Their crimes tend to be unplanned and impulsive with little thought of the consequences.^[46] Including to those using this theory, this type have hot tempers and are prone to reactive aggression. They experience normal to above-normal levels of anxiety but are nevertheless highly stimulus seeking and have trouble tolerating boredom. Their lifestyle may lead to depression and even suicide. In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... Disorder may refer to : Disease, an abnormality of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress (see also: types of disorders) Chaos, unpredictability and in the metaphysical sense, it is the opposite of law and order Entropy, a state function of a thermodynamic system Lawlessness, a lack of...

Mealey uses the term "primary psychopathy" to differentiate between psychopathy that is biological in origin and "secondary psychopathy" that results from a combination of genetic and environmental influences.^[47] Lykken prefers sociopathy to describe the latter.

Sellbom and Ben-Porath (2005) describe the distinction succinctly:

Some people who engage in violent behavior possess psychopathic personality traits, such as callousness, grandiosity, and fearlessness, and presumably engage in such conduct because they care little about others. Others are impulsive and experience considerable anger, anxiety, and distress and may commit violent acts as a reaction to negative emotions, which are sometimes referred to as "crimes of passion." Indeed, the distinction between primary and secondary psychopathy (including so-called neurotic psychopathy) has long been noted in the psychopathy literature (Karpman, 1947; Lykken, 1995).^[48]

This distinction closely resembles the distinction between instrumental and impulsive/reactive crime/violence in the field of criminology. Criminology is the scientific study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. ...

Joseph P. Newman et al, who use this concept of psychopathy, have validated David T. Lykken's conceptualization of psychopathy subtypes in relation to Gray's behavioral activation system and behavioral inhibition system.^[49] Newman et al. found measures of primary psychopathy to be negatively correlated with Gray's behavioral inhibition system, a construct intended to measure behavioral inhibition from cues of punishment or nonreward.^[49] In contrast, measures of secondary psychopathy to be positively correlated with Gray's behavioral activation system, a construct intended to measure sensitivity to cues of behavioral approach.^[49]

Relationship to other terms

Relationship to sociopathy

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

The difference between sociopathy and psychopathy, according to Hare, may "reflect the user's views on the origins and determinates of the disorder."^[50] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ...

David T. Lykken proposes that psychopathy and sociopathy are two distinct kinds of antisocial personality disorder. He holds that psychopaths are born with temperamental differences such as impulsivity, cortical underarousal, and fearlessness that lead them to risk-seeking behavior and an inability to internalize social norms. Sociopaths, on the other hand, he believes to have relatively normal temperaments; their personality disorder being more an effect of negative sociological factors like parental neglect, delinquent peers, poverty, and extremely low or extremely high intelligence. Both personality disorders are, of course, the result of an interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental factors, but psychopathy leans towards the hereditary whereas sociopathy tends towards the environmental.^[45] David T. Lykken (born 18 June 1928) is a behavioral geneticist and Emiritus professor at the University of Minnesota. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ... It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ... A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found. ...

Relationship to Antisocial personality disorder

Main article: Antisocial personality disorder

The criteria for the Antisocial Personality Disorder were derived from the Research Diagnositic Criteria developed by Spitzer, Endicott and Robbins (1978). There was concern in the development of DSM-IV that there was too much emphasis on research data and not enough on the more traditional psychopathic traits such as a lack of empathy, superficial charm, and inflated self appraisal. Field trial data indicated that some of these traits of psychopathy derived from the Psychopathy Checklist developed by Hare et al., 1992, were difficult to assess reliably and thus were not included. Lack of remorse is an example. The antisocial person may express guilt or remorse or offer excuses and rationalizations. However, a history of criminal acts in itself suggests little remorse or guilt.^[51] Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. ...

The American Psychiatric Association removed the word "psychopathy" or "psychopathic", and started using the term "Antisocial Personality" to cover the disorder in DSM-II.^[52]

The World Health Organization's stance in its ICD-10 refers to psychopathy, sociopathy, antisocial personality, asocial personality, and amoral personality as synonyms for dissocial personality disorder. Further, the DSM was meant as a diagnostic guide, and the term psychopath best fit the criteria met for antisocial personality disorder. WHO redirects here. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ...

Research findings

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

The prototypical psychopath has deficits or deviances in several areas: interpersonal relationships, emotion, and self-control. Psychopaths lack a sense of guilt or remorse for any harm they may have caused others, instead rationalizing the behavior, blaming someone else, or denying it outright.^[53] Psychopaths also lack empathy towards others in general, resulting in tactlessness, insensitivity, and contemptuousness. All of this belies their tendency to make a good, likable first impression. Psychopaths have a superficial charm about them, enabled by a willingness to say anything without concern for accuracy or truth. In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... In the contexts of sociology and of popular culture, the concept of interpersonal relationships involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. ... People feel remorse when reflecting on their actions that they believe are wrong. ... Rational may be: the adjective for the state of rationality acting according to the philosophical principles of rationalism a mathematical term for certain numbers; the rational numbers the software company Rational Software; now owned by IBM, and formerly Rational Software Corporation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which...

This extends into their pathological lying and willingness to con and manipulate others for personal gain or amusement. The prototypical psychopath's emotions are described as a shallow affect, meaning their overall way of relating is characterized by mere displays of friendliness and other emotion for personal gain; the displayed emotion need not correlate with felt emotion, in other words. In psychology, affect display or affective display is a subjects externally displayed affect. ...

Shallow affect also describes the psychopath's tendency for genuine emotion to be short lived and egocentric with an overall cold demeanor. Their behavior is impulsive and irresponsible, often failing to keep a job or defaulting on debts.^[53] For other uses, see Debt (disambiguation). ...

Most research studies of psychopaths have taken place among prison populations. This remains a limitation on its applicability to a general population.

It has been shown that punishment and behavior modification techniques do not improve the behavior of what Hare and other followers of this theory call a psychopath. They have been regularly observed to respond to both by becoming more cunning and hiding their behavior better. It has been suggested by them that traditional therapeutic approaches actually make psychopaths if not worse, then far more adept at manipulating others and concealing their behavior. They are generally considered to be not only incurable but also untreatable.^[54] Look up Therapy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Psychopaths also have a markedly distorted sense of the potential consequences of their actions, not only for others, but also for themselves. They do not, for example, deeply recognize the risk of being caught, disbelieved or injured as a result of their behaviour.^{[citation needed]}

Relation to sex offenders

No clinical definition of psychopathy indicates that psychopaths are especially prone to commit sexually-oriented murders, and scientific studies do not suggest that a large proportion of psychopaths have committed these crimes.^[55][56] Although some claim a large proportion of such offenders have been classified as psychopathic, this evidence comes from single, unrepeated research study using the Rorschach Inkblot Test, an invalid test for psychopathy and for sex offenders^[57], references not considering psychopathy ^[58], and studies concerning sexual homocide, a somewhat different population that the general class of sex offenders.^[59] and not from meta studies combining repeatable results. A lust murder is a homicide in which the offender searches for erotic satisfaction by taking away the victims life. ... A black outline of the first of the ten cards in the Rorschach inkblot test. ...

Childhood precursors

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Psychopathy is not normally diagnosed in children or adolescents, and some jurisdictions explicitly forbid diagnosing psychopathy and similar personality disorders in minors. Psychopathic tendencies can sometimes be recognized in childhood or early adolescence and, if recognised, are diagnosed as conduct disorder. It must be stressed that not all children diagnosed with conduct disorder grow up to be psychopaths, or even disordered at all, but these childhood signs are found in significantly higher proportions in psychopaths than in the general population. Conduct disorder, as well as a related disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, can sometimes develop into adult psychopathy. However, conduct disorder "fails to capture the emotional, cognitive and interpersonality traits - egocentricity, lack of remorse, empathy or guilt - that are so important in the diagnosis of psychopathy."^[60] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... In psychiatry, conduct disorder is a pattern of repetitive behavior where the rights of others or the social norms are violated. ... Oppositional defiant disorder is a controversial psychiatric category listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders where it is described as an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures that goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behavior. ...

Children showing strong psychopathic precursors often appear immune to punishment; nothing seems to modify their undesirable behavior. Consequently parents usually give up, and the behavior worsens.^[61]

The following childhood indicators are to be seen not as to the type of behavior, but as to its relentless and unvarying occurrence. Not all must be present concurrently, but at least a number of them need to be present over a period of years^{[citation needed]}:

• An extended period of bedwetting past the preschool years that is not due to any medical problem.
• Cruelty to animals beyond an angry outburst.
• Firesetting and other vandalism. Not to be confused with playing with matches, which is not uncommon for preschoolers. This is the deliberate setting of destructive fires with utter disregard for the property and lives of others.
• Lying, often without discernible objectives, extending beyond a child's normal impulse not to be punished. Lies that are so extensive that it is often impossible to know lies from truth.
• Theft and truancy.
• Aggression to peers, not necessarily physical, which can include getting others into trouble or a campaign of psychological torment.

The three indicators—bedwetting, cruelty to animals and firestarting, known as the MacDonald triad—were first described by J.M. MacDonald as indicators of psychopathy.^[62] Though the relevance of these indicators to serial murder etiology has since been called into question, they are considered irrelevant to psychopathy. Bedwetting (or nocturnal enuresis or sleepwetting) is involuntary urination while asleep after the age at which bladder control would normally be anticipated. ... Cruelty to animals refers to the treatment or standards of care that cause unwarranted or unnecessary suffering or harm to animals. ... Property damage caused by fire Pyromania is an obsession with fire and starting fires in an intentional fashion. ... Bedwetting (or enuresis) is involuntary urination while asleep in bed. ... Cruelty to animals refers to the treatment or standards of care that cause unwarranted or unnecessary suffering or harm to animals. ... Property damage caused by fire Pyromania is an obsession with fire and starting fires in an intentional fashion. ... The MacDonald triad are three major personality traits in children that are said to be warning signs for the tendency to become a serial killer. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... This article is about the medical term. ...

The question of whether young children with early indicators of psychopathy respond poorly to intervention compared to conduct disordered children without these traits has only recently been examined in controlled clinical research. The findings from this one research finding is consistent with broader colloquial evidence - pointing to poor treatment outcomes.^[63]

Discrete vs. continuous dimension

Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

As part of the larger debate on whether personality disorders are distinct from normal personality or extremes on various dimensions of normal personality is the debate on whether psychopathy represents something "qualitatively different" from normal personality or a "continuous dimension" shading from normality into severely psychopathic. Early taxonometric analysis from Harris and colleagues^[64] indicated that a discrete category may underlie psychopathy, however this was only found for the behavioural Factor 2 items, indicating that this analysis may be related to Anti-social Personality Disorder rather than psychopathy per se. Marcus, John, and Edens more recently performed a series of statistical analysis on previously attained PCL–R and PPI scores and concluded that psychopathy may best be conceptualized as having a "dimensional latent structure" like depression.^[65] In contemporary research and clinical practice, Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the psycho-diagnostic tool most commonly used to assess Psychopathy. ... On the Threshold of Eternity. ...

In contrast, the PCL–R sets a score of 30 out of 40 for North American male inmates as its cut-off point for a diagnosis of psychopathy, however this is an abitrary cut-off and should not be taken to reflect any sort of underlying structure for the disorder. North American redirects here. ...

Perceptual/emotional recognition deficits

In a 2002 study, David Kosson and Yana Suchy, et al. asked psychopathic inmates to name the emotion expressed on each of 30 faces; compared to controls, psychopaths had a significantly lower rate of accuracy in recognizing disgusted facial affect but a higher rate of accuracy in recognizing anger. Additionally, when "conditions designed to minimize the involvement of left-hemispheric mechanisms" (i.e. sadness) were used, psychopaths had more difficulty accurately identifying emotions. This study did not replicate Blaire, et al. (1997)'s findings that psychopaths are specifically less sensitive to nonverbal cues of fear or distress.^[66]

In a 2002 experiment, Blair, Mitchell, et al. used the Vocal Affect Recognition Test to measure psychopaths' recognition of the emotional intonation given to connotatively neutral words. Psychopaths tended to make more recognition errors than controls with a particularly high rate of error for sad and fearful vocal affect.^[67]

A 2004 experiment tested the hypothesis of overselective attention in psychopaths using two forms of the Stroop color-word and picture-word tasks: with color/picture and word separated and with color/picture and word together. They found that in the separated Stroop tasks, psychopaths performed significantly worse than controls; however, on standard Stroop tasks, psychopaths performed equally well as controls. Demonstration Say the color of these words as fast as you can: According to the Stroop effect, the first set of colors would have had a faster reaction time. ...

When split into low-anxious and high-anxious groups, low-anxious psychopaths and low-anxious controls showed less interference on the separated Stroop tasks than their high-anxious counterparts; for low-anxious psychopaths, interference was very nearly zero. They conclude that the inability to integrate contextual cues depends on the cues' relationship to "the deliberately attended, goal-relevant information."^[68]

See also

• Dissocial personality disorder
• Oppositional defiant disorder
• Sadistic personality disorder

Oppositional defiant disorder is a controversial psychiatric category listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders where it is described as an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures that goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behavior. ... Sadistic personality disorder was never formally admitted into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); nevertheless, some researchers and theorists continue to use its criteria. ...

References

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Further reading

The pioneer of the research of psychopathy was Dr. Hervey Cleckley who released in 1941 a book called The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. ... Dr. Robert D. Hare is a researcher renowned in the field of criminal psychology. ... Dr. Robert D. Hare is a researcher renowned in the field of criminal psychology. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

Look up Psychopathy in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Without Conscience Official web site for Dr. Robert Hare
• Malatesti, L, Psychopathy in Psychiatry and Philosophy: An Annotated Bibliography
• O'Connor, T, Antisocial Personality, Sociopathy and Psychopathy
• RCMP Gazette Vol. 66, Issue 3 2004, The psychopathic offender
• Understanding The Psychopath: (Key Definitions & Research)
• The Paradox of Psychopathy (uses DSM diagnostic categories of Antisocial personality disorder)
• Managing Dangerious People with Severe Personality Disorder
• Malignant Narcissism vs. Psychopathy