Mediating role of attenuated physiological arousal on the association between psychopathic traits and fairness norm violation

Takahiro Osumi

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-54676-z

Abstract

The low-fear model of primary psychopathy has been supported by empirical findings such as attenuated physiological arousal in anticipation of threatening stimuli. The somatic marker hypothesis proposes that salient changes in the bodily state are processed as signals of whether a situation is good or bad and guide an individual to avoid potential adverse consequences. The present study aimed to elucidate the role that attenuated physiological arousal plays in the relationship between primary psychopathy and fairness norm violations both under the threat of punishment and under no potential for punishment. Primary psychopathy was associated with an attenuated skin conductance response prior to the choice of unfair monetary offers to another person, regardless of the potential for punishment. Attenuated skin conductance mediated the association between primary psychopathy and the choice of an unfair offer, especially in the no-punishment condition. However, in the punishment condition, primary psychopathy significantly predicted the choice of unfair offers even after controlling for the magnitude of skin conductance. The bodily response may have only a marginal effect on interpersonal decision-making under a threat of punishment. The present results suggest that the low-fear account of social norm violations as a function of primary psychopathy should be re-discussed.

Highlights

The low-fear model of primary psychopathy has been supported by empirical findings such as attenuated physiological arousal in anticipation of threatening stimuli
According to the fact that anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR) are increased with greater variance in immediate reward and punishment[17], attenuated physiological arousal may serve as a bridge between primary psychopathy and increased decisions that carry a risk for receiving a high degree of punishment and a chance for gaining a high reward
Because high unfair offers are more likely to be associated to higher potentials for punishment than low and medium unfair offers, only the frequency of high unfair offers was used as a dependent variable in a hierarchical linear model (HLM)[38]

Summary

Introduction

The low-fear model of primary psychopathy has been supported by empirical findings such as attenuated physiological arousal in anticipation of threatening stimuli. In support of Lykken’s low-fear model, individuals who score high in primary psychopathy in both incarcerated and community populations exhibit a reduced skin conductance response (SCR) selectively to aversive events, such as viewing unpleasant pictures[7] and listening to unpleasant sounds[8,9] They are less physiologically aroused by conditioned stimuli during fear conditioning tasks[5,10,11] and in anticipation of aversive stimuli[8]. According to Damasio[13], salient changes in somatic and autonomic activities spontaneously guide an individual to avoid threatening or risky environmental stimuli since bodily responses are processed as a signal of whether a situation is good or bad This somatic marker hypothesis (SMH) is based on findings from laboratory studies using the Iowa gambling task (IGT), in which participants choose a card from four decks that are divided into two disadvantageous decks and two advantageous decks based on different amounts of monetary gain/loss and probability[14]. The UG may be useful for investigating the sensitivity to anticipated punishment during social interactions

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