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Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Humour and antisocial behaviour on the internet are under-researched. Online spaces have opened a gateway for new ways to express unrestrained humour (e.g., dark humour)...
Humour and antisocial behaviour on the internet are under-researched. Online spaces have opened a gateway for new ways to express unrestrained humour (e.g., dark humour) and ways to behave antisocially (e.g., online trolling). The tendencies and motivations of those engaging with such humour and behaviour are yet to be clearly established and understood. The present study aimed to fill this gap by exploring the interplay between dark humour, online trolling, and dark personality traits. Participants ( = 160) completed an online survey consisting of trait scales to assess the Dark Tetrad, dark humour, and online trolling, as well as two online trolling tasks (enjoyment and ability) and two dark humour meme tasks (enjoyment and ability). The results confirmed relationships between the Dark Tetrad and the dark humour trait, and several Dark Tetrad traits were related to the enjoyment of and ability to produce dark humour. Furthermore, dark humour and online trolling were closely related. The findings also revealed that online trolls did not enjoy being trolled but did enjoy trolling, and this ability to troll is underpinned by sadism. These findings illustrate the potential dark psychological motivations for using dark humour, demonstrate that online trolling is infused with darker forms of humour, and provide deeper insights into online trolls.
PubMed: 38920825
DOI: 10.3390/bs14060493 -
Child Abuse & Neglect Jun 2024Effective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a...
BACKGROUND
Effective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a distinguishing factor between perpetrators.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to analyse the distinctive psychopathological and criminological characteristics of contact sexual offenders with adult and minor victims.
PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING
The study involved 97 adult males who were serving a prison sentence in Spain for at least one contact sexual offence against an adult or a minor.
METHODS
Researchers gathered data on criminological variables concerning the offender, victim, and modus operandi from prison records and interviews. Participants completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) in a second session, and between-group differences were analysed.
RESULTS
Sex offenders with minor victims (SOMV) had significantly lower scores than sex offenders with adult victims (SOAV) on the Antisocial (r = -0.283, p = .005) and Sadistic (r = -0.209, p = .04) personality subscales, and on the Alcohol (r = -0.426, p < .001) and Drug dependence (r = -0.332, p = .001) syndrome subscales. SOAV were also more likely to use violence and/or intimidation, use a weapon, offend against female victims, offend against an intimate partner, commit their offences in public places, serve other ongoing prison sentences, and report a history of alcohol and substance abuse. SOMV were older and more likely to offend against family members.
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that there are key differences between SOAV and SOMV that should be considered in tailored prevention programmes for each subgroup of offenders.
PubMed: 38906041
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106896 -
Scientific Data Jun 2024The computational analysis of human personality has mainly focused on the Big Five personality theory, and the psychodynamic approach is almost nonexistent despite its...
The computational analysis of human personality has mainly focused on the Big Five personality theory, and the psychodynamic approach is almost nonexistent despite its rich theoretical grounding and relevance to various tasks. Here, we provide a data set of 4972 synthetic utterances corresponding with five personality dimensions described by the psychodynamic approach: depressive, obsessive, paranoid, narcissistic, and anti-social psychopathic. The utterances have been generated through AI with a deep theoretical orientation that motivated the design of prompts for GPT-4. The dataset has been validated through 14 tests, and it may be relevant for the computational study of human personality and the design of authentic persona in digital domains, from gaming to the artistic generation of movie characters.
Topics: Humans; Personality; Artificial Intelligence
PubMed: 38871736
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03488-6 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2024With the introduction of the new psychiatric diagnostic manuals, personality functioning has gained new prominence. Several studies have reported consistent findings...
INTRODUCTION
With the introduction of the new psychiatric diagnostic manuals, personality functioning has gained new prominence. Several studies have reported consistent findings that individual showing high levels of antisocial features are associated with alterations in interpersonal functioning domains such as empathy and mentalisation. The focus of the current study ( = 198) is to examine antisocial cognitions, as measured by the Scrambled Sentences Task (SST), and to what extent this approach can help to better understand the relationship between antisocial traits and personality functioning/empathy.
METHOD
We implemented a hypothesis-driven approach using logistic regression and a data-driven approach using machine learning to examine distinct but related measures of personality functioning as predictors of antisocial cognitions.
RESULTS
Antisocial cognitions were associated with low interpersonal functioning as expected, but only when not adjusting for antisocial traits, which accounted for almost all the association. The data-driven analysis revealed that individual items assessing empathic concern in personality functioning scales (as opposed to the whole scores) explained low antisocial cognitions even when adjusting for antisocial traits.
DISCUSSION
Antisocial cognitions appear to be associated to two distinct traits, the antisocial and a specific type of personality functioning. This finding is discussed in terms of the possible distinction between two motivational forces: to harm others/prioritize one's advantage, and to help suffering others.
PubMed: 38863611
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1377177 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2024Writing involves the activation of different processing modes than reading comprehension, and therefore the level of activation varies depending on the moment and the...
ABSTRACT
Writing involves the activation of different processing modes than reading comprehension, and therefore the level of activation varies depending on the moment and the task.
OBJECTIVES
to analyze the profiles in terms of the proposed coding from the PROESC in terms of personality disorders [Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) with drugs possession and consumption crimes (DPCC) and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)] with gender violence crimes (GVC) in the prisoners.
DESIGN
The sample was composed of 194 men. The participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 (ASPD; DPCC) consisted of 81 men, and Group 2 (OCPD; GVC) consisted of 113 men.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
They completed the Demographic, Offense, and Behavioral Interview in Institutions, the International Personality Disorders Examination (IPDE), and Writing Processes Evaluation Battery (PROESC).
RESULTS
Group 2 made more mistake than Group 1 in narratives tasks.
CONCLUSION
Participants know phoneme-grapheme correspondence rules, language disturbances of a reiterative and persistent nature may appear in those who show compulsive behavior.
PubMed: 38855649
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1391463 -
BMC Psychology May 2024Callous-unemotional traits are associated with the development of severe behavior problems, delinquency, and psychopathy. Previous studies have repeatedly shown that CU...
BACKGROUND
Callous-unemotional traits are associated with the development of severe behavior problems, delinquency, and psychopathy. Previous studies have repeatedly shown that CU traits may be present as early as preschool age, and they have consistently used the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) to assess CU traits in children and adolescents. A three-factor structure for the ICU has been widely endorsed.
METHOD
The aim of our study is to compare the three-factor structure of the ICU in different age groups (preschool, middle childhood, early, and late adolescence) and to test for measurement invariance in a German sample of N = 2368 children and adolescents (M = 11.76 years; SD = 3.72).
RESULTS
The results of our study indicate configural measurement invariance, suggesting that the ICU has the same structure in all age groups but with different meanings, parameters, and mean values in the groups.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, the ICU cannot be applied in the same way to children and adolescents of different age groups, which emphasizes the need for a more differentiated assessment.
Topics: Humans; Germany; Male; Female; Child; Adolescent; Child, Preschool; Personality Inventory; Psychometrics; Age Factors; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Empathy; Emotions; Conduct Disorder
PubMed: 38802970
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-01789-4 -
Scientific Reports May 2024There is an ongoing debate about anxiety deficits in psychopathy and their possible impact on individual behavior. Data on actual anxiety- and threat-related behavior...
There is an ongoing debate about anxiety deficits in psychopathy and their possible impact on individual behavior. Data on actual anxiety- and threat-related behavior associated with psychopathy is still limited. We performed a mixed reality study using the elevated plus-maze (EPM) in a non-clinical sample (N = 160) to test anxiety-related behavior in relation to psychopathic personality traits measured through the Brief Questionnaire of Psychopathic Personality Traits (FPP). The psychopathy sum score correlated significantly with all measures of anxiety-related behavior on the EPM. Sensation seeking, but not general levels of acrophobia was moreover associated with psychopathic traits. Multivariate analyses revealed that the subscales Fearlessness and Lack of Empathy of the FPP predicted anxious behavior. Our findings are the first to demonstrate the relationship between psychopathic traits and actual behavior in an anxiety-inducing environment. This supports the low-anxiety hypothesis in psychopathy research. Implications for potentially harmful or risky behavior are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Male; Anxiety; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Female; Adult; Young Adult; Surveys and Questionnaires; Adolescent; Middle Aged
PubMed: 38782995
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62438-9 -
Scientific Reports May 2024Research into relationships between victim-generated content, abuse received, and observer characteristics when considering Twitter abuse has been limited to male...
Research into relationships between victim-generated content, abuse received, and observer characteristics when considering Twitter abuse has been limited to male victims. We evaluated participant perceptions of female celebrity victims and abuse received on Twitter. We used a 3 (Initial Tweet Valence; negative, neutral, positive) × 2 (Abuse Volume; low, high) repeated measures design and online survey method. Participants were shown tweets generated by six female celebrities, counterbalanced such that each participant saw each celebrity in one Valence-Volume condition. Stimuli were presented across six 'lists' such that celebrity 'victims' could be rotated across Valence-Volume pairings. Participants rated-per target stimulus-the level of blame attributable to the victim and the perceived severity of the incident. Furthermore, participants were asked to complete a Dark Tetrad scale-measuring their Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sadism. Analyses determined that victim-blaming was influenced by victim Initial Tweet Valence (greater victim-blaming associated with more-negative content) and observer Machiavellianism. Perceived severity was influenced by victim Initial Tweet Valence, Volume of Abuse received, and observer Machiavellianism. Results were consistent with previous research involving male celebrity victims. Further research is needed to understand the contributions of participants' hostile and benevolent sexism, as well as the role of victim attractiveness.
Topics: Humans; Social Media; Female; Adult; Famous Persons; Male; Machiavellianism; Young Adult; Crime Victims; Surveys and Questionnaires; Narcissism; Social Perception; Antisocial Personality Disorder
PubMed: 38769333
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62273-y -
Neuropsychobiology 2024Dual diagnosis in individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUDs) presents a mental health challenge marked by an increased susceptibility to disabling morbidities and...
Dysregulation of Plasma Growth Factors and Chemokines in Cocaine Use Disorder: Implications for Dual Diagnosis with Schizophrenia and Antisocial Personality Disorder in an Exploratory Study.
INTRODUCTION
Dual diagnosis in individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUDs) presents a mental health challenge marked by an increased susceptibility to disabling morbidities and premature mortality. Despite extensive research on depression and anxiety, other prevalent comorbidities, such as psychotic and personality disorders, have received less attention. This study explores inflammation-related mediators as potential biomarkers for CUD and dual diagnosis with schizophrenia (SCZ) or antisocial personality disorder (APD).
METHODS
This exploratory study included 95 participants, comprising 40 healthy subjects and 55 abstinent patients with CUD. Lifetime CUD was diagnosed either as single diagnosis (CUD group, N = 25) or as a dual diagnosis (DD group. N = 30) with SCZ (CUD+SCZ subgroup) or APD (CUD+APD subgroup). Participants were clinically assessed, and the plasma concentrations of growth factors (i.e., G-CSF, BDNF, and VEGF-A) and chemokines (i.e., CCL11/eotaxin-1, CCL2/MCP-1, and CXCL12/SDF-1) were determined and log(10)-transformed for analysis.
RESULTS
Growth factors and chemokines were dysregulated by CUD and psychiatric diagnoses. Specifically, patients in the CUD group exhibited significantly lower concentrations of G-CSF and CCL11/eotaxin-1 than the control group. In contrast, the DD group showed significantly higher concentrations of all analytes than both the CUD and control groups. Additionally, no differences in these analytes were observed between the CUD+SCZ and CUD+APD subgroups within the DD group. Regarding cocaine-related variables, significant associations were identified in the CUD group: an inverse correlation between the age at first cocaine use and the concentrations of BDNF and CCL2/MCP-1; and a positive correlation between the duration of the cocaine abstinence and the concentrations of BDNF and CCL11/eotaxin-1. Lastly, a logistic regression model incorporating all these analytes demonstrated high discriminatory power in distinguishing patients with CUD alone from those with dual diagnosis.
CONCLUSIONS
Individuals with dual diagnosis of CUD exhibit elevated concentrations of growth factors and chemokines, distinguishing them from those with CUD alone. It is unclear whether the differences in these inflammatory mediators are specific to the presence of SCZ and APD. The study highlights potential biomarkers and associations, providing valuable insights into the intricate interplay of CUD and psychiatric disorders to enhance clinical diagnosis and therapeutics.
Topics: Humans; Male; Cocaine-Related Disorders; Adult; Schizophrenia; Female; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Chemokines; Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Biomarkers; Middle Aged; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; Chemokine CCL2
PubMed: 38768577
DOI: 10.1159/000536265