CONFLICT AND LEARNING THEORY ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOPATHIC BEHAVIOR

• NCJ Number: 55621
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (JANUARY 1965) Pages: 12-19
• Author(s): R D HARE
• Date Published: 1965
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: National Council on Crime and Delinquency Research Ctr
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A TENTATIVE CONFLICT MODEL OF PSYCHOPATHIC BEHAVIOR IS OUTLINED BASED ON DEVELOPMENTS IN LEARNING THEORY AND ON AN APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT THEORY OF BEHAVIOR ADVANCED BY MILLER (1959).

Abstract

IN MILLER'S SYSTEM, THE TENDENCY TO APPROACH OR AVOID AN AMBIVALENT GOAL IS INVERSELY RELATED TO THE DISTANCE OF THE ORGANISM FROM THE GOAL. THE NEARER THE GOAL, THE STRONGER IS THE TENDENCY TO APPROACH OR AVOID IT; THE RATE OF INCREASE IS GREATER FOR THE TENDENCY TO AVOID. WHILE MOST OF THE EXPERIMENTS BY MILLER AND HIS COLLEAGUES HAVE BEEN CONCERNED WITH THE STRENGTH OF APPROACH AND AVOIDANCE TENDENCIES AS A FUNCTION OF SPACIAL DISTANCE FROM A GOAL, THE DEFINITION OF DISTANCE CAN BE EXTENDED TO APPLY TO ANY SITUATION IN WHICH THE SUBJECT CAN BE SAID TO BE COMING NEARER TO A GOAL IN SPACE, TIME, OR SOME DIMENSION OF QUALITATIVE OR CULTURALLY DEFINED SIMILARITY OF CUES. THIS EXTENSION TO SIMILARITY AND TEMPORAL CONTIGUITY CAN BE CONSIDERED IN TERMS OF HYPOTHESIZED GRADIENTS OF THE TENDENCY TO APPROACH AND AVOID AN AMBIVALENT GOAL. IT IS ARGUED THAT THE GRADIENT OF AVOIDANCE TENDENCIES IS STEEPER AND OF LOWER HEIGHT FOR THE PSYCHOPATH THAN FOR THE NORMAL PERSON, AND THAT THIS ACCOUNTS FOR AT LEAST CERTAIN ASPECTS OF PSYCHOPATHIC BEHAVIOR. SINCE THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION IS PROBABLY PARTIALLY DEPENDENT UPON THE CAPACITY TO GENERALIZE AVOIDANCE TECHNIQUES, THE PSYCHOPATH'S RELATIVE FAILURE TO BECOME SOCIALIZED MAY BE FUNCTIONALLY RELATED TO THIS POSTULATED STEEP GENERALIZATION GRADIENT. ALSO, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE STEEPNESS OF THE PROPOSED GRADIENT IS RELATED TO THE ABILITY TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN VALUES ALONG THE RELEVANT DIMENSION. IT MAY BE THAT THE PSYCHOPATH GENERALIZES ACQUIRED FEAR RESPONSES AND AVOIDANCE TENDENCIES POORLY BECAUSE OF A DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD LOWER THAN THAT OF NORMAL PERSONS (I.E., PSYCHOPATHS DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN SIMILAR SITUATIONS BETTER). GRAPHIC DATA ARE INCLUDED. REFERENCES ARE FOOTNOTED. (KBL)