Psychopath

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Psychopathy is characterised by “antisocial, impulsive, manipulative, and callous behavior” and was long considered a mental disorder. Today, many of the defining features of psychopathy fall under the diagnostic criteria of Antisocial Personality Disorder in the DSM-5. Psychopathy has been primarily examined in the criminal justice system, and is a robust predictor of criminal behavior, recidivism, violent behavior, and sexual aggression[1]. These features can be quantified by various psychometric tests including:

  • Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R)
  • Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM)
  • Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA)

Cause

In neuroscience it is thought that psychopathy is related to a dysfunction in the amygdala[2][3][4]. This is a part of the brain which regulates emotions[5].

References

  1. Henning, J., Wygant, D., & Barnes, P. (2014). Mapping the Darkness and Finding the Light: DSM-5 and Assessment of the “Corporate Psychopath”. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(1), 144-148. doi:10.1111/iops.12123
  2. Weber, S., Habel, U., Amunts, K., & Schneider, F. (2008). Structural brain abnormalities in psychopaths a review. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 26(1), 7–28.
  3. Anderson, N. E., & Kiehl, K. A. (2012). The psychopath magnetized: Insights from brain imaging. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 52–60.
  4. Blair, R. (2008). The amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex: Functional contributions and dysfunction in psychopathy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1503), 2557–2565.
  5. Fallon, J. (2013). The psychopath inside: A neuroscientist’s personal journey into the dark side of the brain. New York: Penguin.

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