NCJ Number
57513
Date Published
1978
Length
14 pages
Annotation
OVERVIEWS OF SUBJECT SELECTION METHODS IN PSYCHOPATHY RESEARCH AND OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL THEORY AND STUDIES ON PSYCHOPATHY, PARTICULARLY ITS AUTONOMIC CORRELATES, ARE PRESENTED.
Abstract
TO SELECT PSYCHOPATHIC SUBJECTS, RESEARCHERS HAVE USED GLOBAL ASSESSMENTS (DETERMINATIONS BY CLINICIANS OF THE EXTENT TO WHICH A SUBJECT FITS AN ACCEPTED PSYCHOPATHIC PATTERN), DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH CRITERIA (ASSESSMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC CRITERIA--BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN CHILDHOOD, POOR OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE, REPEATED ANTISOCIAL ACTS, AND EVIDENCE OF IMPAIRED CAPACITY TO SUSTAIN RELATIONSHIPS), BEHAVIOR-RATING SCALES; AND SELF-REPORT INSTRUMENTS (E.G., THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY). A COMPARISON OF GLOBAL AND CRITERIA-SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOUND THAT THE LATTER MAY NOT BE PARTICULARLY USEFUL IN DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN PSYCHOPATHIC AND NONPSYCHOPATHIC OFFENDERS. THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN MAJOR PROBLEMS IN USING SELF-REPORT INSTRUMENTS WITH PSYCHOPATHS. ELECTROCORTICAL RESEARCH WITH PSYCHOPATHS HAS HAD METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND HAS BEEN INCONCLUSIVE, ALTHOUGH WELL CONTROLLED ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDIES HAVE FOUND CONSISTENT BRAIN-WAVE ABNORMALITIES IN HYPERACTIVE CHILDREN, WHOSE DISORDER IS CONCEPTUALLY SIMILAR TO PSYCHOPATHY. MOST RESEARCH ON THE AUTONOMIC CORRELATES OF PSYCHOPATHY HAS INVOLVED ELECTRODERMAL (SKIN CONDUCTANCE) AND CARDIOVASCULAR (HEART BEAT) ACTIVITY. THE MAJOR FINDING HAS BEEN THAT PSYCHOPATHS HAVE UNUSUALLY LOW ELECTRODERMAL AND UNUSUALLY HIGH CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSE IN ANTICIPATION OF AVERSIVE STIMULI. THIS SUGGESTS THE PRESENCE IN PSYCHOPATHS OF A MECHANISM THAT PRECLUDES THEIR AVOIDANCE OF SITUATIONS THAT MOST PEOPLE, HAVING RECEIVED THE APPROPRIATE PREMONITORY CUES AND BENEFITED FROM THE MEDIATING EFFECTS OF ANTICIPATORY FEAR, AVOID. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS INCLUDED. (LKM)