Inverted social reward: associations between psychopathic traits and self-report and experimental measures of social reward.

Lucy Foulkes,Essi Viding,Eamon J. McCrory,Craig S. Neumann,Stephen D. Ginsberg

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106000

Lucy Foulkes, Essi Viding + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106000

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Aug 27, 2014
Citations: 103	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University College London, University of North Texas

Abstract

Individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits tend to undervalue long-term, affiliative relationships, but it remains unclear what motivates them to engage in social interactions at all. Their experience of social reward may provide an important clue. In Study 1 of this paper, a large sample of participants (N = 505) completed a measure of psychopathic traits (Self-Report Psychopathy Scale Short-Form) and a measure of social reward value (Social Reward Questionnaire) to explore what aspects of social reward are associated with psychopathic traits. In Study 2 (N = 110), the same measures were administered to a new group of participants along with two experimental tasks investigating monetary and social reward value. Psychopathic traits were found to be positively correlated with the enjoyment of callous treatment of others and negatively associated with the enjoyment of positive social interactions. This indicates a pattern of ‘inverted’ social reward in which being cruel is enjoyable and being kind is not. Interpersonal psychopathic traits were also positively associated with the difference between mean reaction times (RTs) in the monetary and social experimental reward tasks; individuals with high levels of these traits responded comparatively faster to social than monetary reward. We speculate that this may be because social approval/admiration has particular value for these individuals, who have a tendency to use and manipulate others. Together, these studies provide evidence that the self-serving and cruel social behaviour seen in psychopathy may in part be explained by what these individuals find rewarding.

Highlights

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by lack of empathy, shallow affect and callous treatment of other people, as well as impulsivity and a greater propensity towards criminal behaviour [1]
All psychopathy scores were positively associated with the Negative Social Potency subscale of the Social Reward Questionnaire (SRQ) and negatively associated with the Prosocial Interactions subscale
There was a positive association between Interpersonal psychopathic traits and enjoyment of Admiration

Summary

Introduction

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by lack of empathy, shallow affect and callous treatment of other people, as well as impulsivity and a greater propensity towards criminal behaviour [1]. Social reward can be defined as the motivational and pleasurable aspects of our interactions with other people, and interpersonal kindness and closeness is a fundamental social reward for most people [10,11]. It appears that individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits do not place equal importance on affiliative, long-term friendships and relationships [4]. Instead they favour friends who can increase their access to sexual mates or provide protection [12] and prefer one-night stands to committed relationships [13]. Evidence from experimental tasks shows that individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits are less likely to cooperate with and help others [5,8,9] Together, this evidence suggests that, for individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits, affiliative and prosocial behaviour towards others may be less rewarding than it is for typical individuals [6]

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