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Sante Mentale Au Quebec 2016Researchers have long acknowledged heterogeneity among persons who exhibit antisocial and violent behaviours. The study of psychopathic personality or psychopathy can... (Review)
Review
Researchers have long acknowledged heterogeneity among persons who exhibit antisocial and violent behaviours. The study of psychopathic personality or psychopathy can help elucidate this heterogeneity through examination of the different facets that constitute this disorder. In particular, the distinct correlates of the interpersonal-affective traits (Factor 1) and the impulsive-antisocial traits (Factor 2) of psychopathy suggest at least two possible pathways to antisocial behaviours. Building on basic studies in cognitive and affective neuroscience, we provide a focused, non-comprehensive review of work identifying the biopsychological mechanisms involved in these two pathways, with special attention to studies using event-related potential (ERP) methods. In specific, a series of studies are discussed which examined affective and cognitive processes that may distinguish offenders high on psychopathic traits from other offenders, with emphasis on alterations in emotion-cognition interactions related to each factor of psychopathy. The set of findings reviewed highlight a central conclusion: Factor 1 represents a pathway involving reduced emotional responding, exacerbated by attentional abnormalities, that make for a more deliberate and emotionally insensitive offender profile. In contrast, Factor 2 characterizes a pathway marked by emotional and behavioural dysregulation and cognitive control dysfunctions, particularly in emotional contexts. Implications for identifying etiological processes and the further understanding of antisocial and violent behaviours are discussed.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Cognition; Emotions; Humans; Neuropsychiatry
PubMed: 27570952
DOI: No ID Found -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Feb 2018The ability to accurately predict violence and other forms of serious antisocial behavior would provide important societal benefits, and there is substantial enthusiasm... (Review)
Review
The ability to accurately predict violence and other forms of serious antisocial behavior would provide important societal benefits, and there is substantial enthusiasm for the potential predictive accuracy of neuroimaging techniques. Here, we review the current status of violence prediction using actuarial and clinical methods, and assess the current state of neuroprediction. We then outline several questions that need to be addressed by future studies of neuroprediction if neuroimaging and other neuroscientific markers are to be successfully translated into public policy.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Humans; Neurosciences; Violence
PubMed: 29183655
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.11.003 -
Journal of the American Academy of... Apr 2010
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Child Behavior; Child Behavior Disorders; Humans
PubMed: 20410721
DOI: No ID Found -
Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience 2014Psychopathy is a mental disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial... (Review)
Review
Psychopathy is a mental disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behavior. Accumulating research suggests that psychopathy follows a developmental trajectory with strong genetic influences, and which precipitates deleterious effects on widespread functional networks, particularly within paralimbic regions of the brain. While traditional therapeutic interventions commonly administered in prisons and forensic institutions have been notoriously ineffective at combating these outcomes, alternative strategies informed by an understanding of these specific neuropsychological obstacles to healthy development, and which target younger individuals with nascent symptoms of psychopathy are more promising. Here we review recent neurobehavioral and neuroimaging literature that informs our understanding of the brain systems compromised in psychopathy, and apply these data to a broader understanding of its developmental course, ultimately promoting more proactive intervention strategies profiting from adaptive neuroplasticity in youth.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Emotions; Empathy; Humans
PubMed: 23542910
DOI: 10.3233/RNN-139001 -
Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria (Sao... 2017To investigate the unique contribution of narcissism and impulsivity, in addition to callous-unemotional (CU) traits, in explaining concurrent prosocial and antisocial...
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the unique contribution of narcissism and impulsivity, in addition to callous-unemotional (CU) traits, in explaining concurrent prosocial and antisocial behavior.
METHOD:
Two hundred and forty-nine schoolchildren (53% female; age 9-12 years) completed the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD). Two statistical models were tested, predicting conduct problems (CP) and prosocial behavior (PB). In the first one, CU traits and gender were entered into the equation. The second model added narcissism and impulsivity.
RESULTS:
Gender, narcissism and impulsivity, but not CU, were statistically significant predictors of CP in the second model (F3,226 = 45.07, p < 0.001, R2 = 43.7%; betas: gender = -0.20, narcissism = 0.29, impulsivity = 0.36, CU = 0.06). PB was significantly predicted by all domains except gender (F3,226 = 42.57, p < 0.001, R2 = 42.4%; betas: gender = 0.08, narcissism = -0.16, impulsivity = -0.23, CU = -0.41).
CONCLUSION:
Our results confirmed that CU traits refer to a distinct manifestation of psychopathy in youth, but we also found that narcissism and impulsivity are equally important when predicting CP. Previous reports of sex differences on APSD and SDQ domains were also corroborated.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Child Behavior Disorders; Conduct Disorder; Female; Health Surveys; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; London; Male; Narcissism; Sex Factors
PubMed: 28813114
DOI: 10.1590/1516-4446-2016-2143 -
Psychological Science May 2018Drawing on psychological and sociological theories of crime causation, we tested the hypothesis that genetic risk for low educational attainment (assessed via a...
Drawing on psychological and sociological theories of crime causation, we tested the hypothesis that genetic risk for low educational attainment (assessed via a genome-wide polygenic score) is associated with criminal offending. We further tested hypotheses of how polygenic risk relates to the development of antisocial behavior from childhood through adulthood. Across the Dunedin and Environmental Risk (E-Risk) birth cohorts of individuals growing up 20 years and 20,000 kilometers apart, education polygenic scores predicted risk of a criminal record with modest effects. Polygenic risk manifested during primary schooling in lower cognitive abilities, lower self-control, academic difficulties, and truancy, and it was associated with a life-course-persistent pattern of antisocial behavior that onsets in childhood and persists into adulthood. Crime is central in the nature-nurture debate, and findings reported here demonstrate how molecular-genetic discoveries can be incorporated into established theories of antisocial behavior. They also suggest that improving school experiences might prevent genetic influences on crime from unfolding.
Topics: Academic Success; Adolescent; Adult; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Child, Preschool; Conduct Disorder; Criminals; Female; Genome-Wide Association Study; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Multifactorial Inheritance; New Zealand; Problem Behavior; Risk Factors; United Kingdom; Young Adult
PubMed: 29513605
DOI: 10.1177/0956797617744542 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Dec 2022Psychopathy is a personality construct that encompasses a constellation of traits reflecting emotional dysfunction and antisocial behavior. This constellation has... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Psychopathy is a personality construct that encompasses a constellation of traits reflecting emotional dysfunction and antisocial behavior. This constellation has consistently been linked to poor decision-making, often focused on personal and monetary gains at the others' expense. However, there remains a lack of a systematic examination of how psychopathy is related to the prospect of obtaining monetary gains as a function of social context. Therefore, we conducted a series of meta-analyses to elucidate these relationships. Our findings indicated that elevated levels of psychopathy are related to a reduced tendency to cooperate with others, and no difference in the extent to which knowledge of others' retaliation possibilities informs decision-making. However, the type of social economic decision-making game employed moderated the association between psychopathic traits and total gain obtained, suggesting that context plays a key role in moderating the link between psychopathic features and decision-making. These findings advance our understanding of psychopathy and open new avenues for research on adaptive and maladaptive social behavior in individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits.
Topics: Humans; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Personality
PubMed: 36403791
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104966 -
Clinical Psychology Review Dec 2011Women and girls' engagement in antisocial behavior represents a psychological issue of great concern given the radiating impact that women's antisociality can have on... (Review)
Review
Women and girls' engagement in antisocial behavior represents a psychological issue of great concern given the radiating impact that women's antisociality can have on individuals, families, and communities. Despite its importance and relevance for psychological science, this topic has received limited attention to date and no systematic review of risk factors exists. The present paper aims to systematically review the empirical literature informing risk factors relevant to women's antisocial behavior, with a focus on adolescence and adulthood. Primary aims are to 1) review empirical literatures on risk factors for female antisocial behavior across multiple levels of influence (e.g., person-level characteristics, risky family factors, and gender-salient contexts) and fields of study (e.g., psychology, sociology); 2) evaluate the relevance of each factor for female antisocial behavior; and 3) incorporate an analysis of how gender at both the individual and ecological levels shapes pathways to antisocial behavior in women and girls. We conclude that women's antisocial behavior is best-understood as being influenced by person-level or individual vulnerabilities, risky family factors, and exposure to gender-salient interpersonal contexts, and underscore the importance of examining women's antisocial behavior through an expanded lens that views gender as an individual level attribute as well as a social category that organizes the social context in ways that may promote engagement in antisocial behavior. Based on the present systematic review, an integrative pathway model is proposed toward the goal of synthesizing current knowledge and generating testable hypotheses for future research.
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Development; Adult; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Female; Humans; Male; Models, Psychological; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Social Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 22001339
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2011.09.002 -
Development and Psychopathology 2009Early antisocial behavior has its origins in childhood behavior problems, particularly those characterized by aggressive and destructive behavior. Deficits in... (Review)
Review
Early antisocial behavior has its origins in childhood behavior problems, particularly those characterized by aggressive and destructive behavior. Deficits in self-regulation across multiple domains of functioning, from the physiological to the cognitive, are associated with early behavior problems, and may place children at greater risk for the development of later antisocial behavior. Data are presented from a longitudinal study of early self-regulation and behavior problems, the RIGHT Track Research Project, demonstrating that children at greatest risk for early and persistent problem behavior display patterns of physiological and emotional regulation deficits early in life. Parenting behavior and functioning have also been examined as predictors of trajectories of early problem behavior, and some data support the interaction of parenting and self-regulation as significant predictors of patterns of problematic behavior and ongoing problems with the regulation of affect. Peer relationships also affect and are affected by early self-regulation skills, and both may play a role in academic performance and subsequent school success. These data provide evidence that the social contexts of early family and peer relationships are important moderators of the more proximal mechanism of self-regulation, and both types of processes, social and biobehavioral, are likely implicated in early antisocial tendencies. Implications of these findings on self-regulation and early behavior problems are discussed in terms of future research and treatment approaches.
Topics: Aggression; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Child, Preschool; Developmental Disabilities; Homeostasis; Humans; Social Adjustment; Social Behavior
PubMed: 19825259
DOI: 10.1017/S095457940999006X -
Development and Psychopathology Aug 2012An overview is provided of recent twin, molecular genetic, and magnetic resonance imaging studies that are helping to inform a model of developmental vulnerability to... (Review)
Review
An overview is provided of recent twin, molecular genetic, and magnetic resonance imaging studies that are helping to inform a model of developmental vulnerability to adult psychopathy. Although the current evidence base suggests that children with high levels of callous-unemotional traits are genetically and neurocognitively vulnerable to developing psychopathic and antisocial behaviors, existing research also clearly indicates that environmental influences play an important role. One potential implication is that interventions for children with antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits may need to be tailored to take into account their distinct pattern of neurocognitive vulnerability, as revealed by developmental neuroimaging studies. Specifically, interventions that pursue punishment-oriented or explicit empathy induction strategies may be less effective with this group of antisocial children. By contrast, preliminary evidence suggests that enhancing positive parenting and parental involvement, as well as applying consistent rewards may represent more promising intervention approaches.
Topics: Adult; Affect; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Conduct Disorder; Empathy; Guilt; Humans; Parenting; Personality Assessment
PubMed: 22781866
DOI: 10.1017/S095457941200048X