Impulsive Antisociality Research Articles

Attentional impulsivity accounts for the association of antisociality with craving and mental health problems in incarcerated individuals with substance dependence

PurposePrisoners with substance use disorder (SUD) are at risk of mental health problems. Given the common co-occurring of psychopathic traits with SUDs, probably because of underlying impulsive traits (Ellingson et al., 2018), this study aims to examine the relation between psychopathy (impulsive antisociality and fearless dominance) and the functioning of incarcerated individuals with SUD. The authors investigated whether impulsivity (motor, nonplanning and attentional) can account for the relationship between one psychopathy facet (impulsive antisociality) and craving and mental health problems.Design/methodology/approachThe authors assessed self-reported impulsivity, psychopathy, craving and mental health problems in 121 male incarcerated individuals with SUD and calculated cross-sectional linear regression analyses and mediation models.FindingsImpulsive antisociality was positively related to all impulsivity facets, craving and mental health problems. Attentional impulsivity mediated the relationship of impulsive antisociality with craving and mental health problems. Fearless dominance was related to lower attentional and nonplanning impulsivity, craving and mental health problems.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies should investigate these relations in longitudinal studies and evaluate tailored approaches, for example, mindfulness interventions.Practical implicationsInterventions to reduce craving and improve mental health might be important for those who display self-centered, antisocial behavior but are less relevant for those with fearless, dominant interpersonal behavior. Addressing attentional impulsivity may be of special interest in this regard.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first to investigate the mediating role of different impulsivity facets for the association of impulsive antisociality with craving and with mental health problems in incarcerated individuals with SUD.

The Role of Social Value Orientation in Chinese Adolescents' Moral Emotion Attribution.

Previous studies have explored the role of cognitive factors and sympathy in children's development of moral emotion attribution, but the effect of personal dispositional factors on adolescents' moral emotion expectancy has been neglected. In this study, we address this issue by testing adolescents' moral emotion attribution with different social value orientation (SVO). Eight hundred and eighty Chinese adolescents were classified into proselfs, prosocials and mixed types in SVO and asked to indicate their moral emotions in four moral contexts (prosocial, antisocial, failing to act prosocially (FAP) and resisting antisocial impulse (RAI)). The findings revealed an obvious contextual effect in adolescents' moral emotion attribution and the effect depends on SVO. Prosocials evaluated more positively than proselfs and mixed types in the prosocial and RAI contexts, but proselfs evaluated more positively than prosocials and mixed types in the antisocial and FAP contexts. The findings indicate that individual differences of adolescents' moral emotion attribution have roots in their social value orientation, and suggest the role of dispositional factors in the processing of moral emotion.

The influence of psychopathic traits and strategic harshness on point gain and cooperation rate in the Prisoner's Dilemma

In a sample of 158 undergraduates, we investigated social cooperation in the fearless dominance (FD) and impulsive antisociality (IA) factors of psychopathy using iterated Prisoner's Dilemma games with eight computer opponents that employed strategies varying in harshness/leniency. We analyzed rates of cooperation during each game, participants' total points gained, and the difference in points earned between participant and opponent (competitive point gain) both in the experiment overall and in subsequent trials after cooperation or defection choices as well as after participant or computer choices. IA correlated with reduced competitive point gain, whereas FD correlated with greater competitive point gains in the very lenient condition but reduced total point gains in the harsh conditions. In subsequent trial analyses, FD correlated with greater competitive point gain in response to participants' own choices. In contrast, after any cooperation on the previous trial, IA correlated positively with cooperation but negatively with competitive point gain.

What makes a "successful" psychopath? Longitudinal trajectories of offenders' antisocial behavior and impulse control as a function of psychopathy.

Psychopathy is a considerable risk factor for violent behavior. However, many psychopathic individuals refrain from antisocial and criminal acts. The mechanisms underlying the formation of this "successful" phenotype are uncertain. We tested a compensatory model of "successful" psychopathy, which posits that relatively "successful" psychopathic individuals develop greater conscientious traits that serve to inhibit their heightened antisocial impulses. To test this model, we examined the 7-year longitudinal Research on Pathways to Desistance study of 1,354 adjudicated adolescents. Higher initial psychopathy was associated with steeper increases in general inhibitory control and the inhibition of aggression over time. This effect was magnified among "successful" offenders (i.e., those who reoffended less). These findings support our compensatory model, suggesting that psychopathic individuals who develop greater self-regulatory control over their antisocial impulses become relatively more "successful" than their less regulated counterparts. Moreover, our results speak of the importance of the five-factor model for understanding psychopathy and the crucial role of conscientiousness in the form that psychopathic individuals take. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Reducing the Overlap Between Machiavellianism and Subclinical Psychopathy: The M7 and P7 Scales

Machiavellianism (Mach) and subclinical psychopathy are two widely studied antagonistic personality traits with distinct theoretical conceptualizations. Mach is conceptualized by strategic deviousness, cynicism, and pragmatic morality, whereas subclinical psychopathy is conceptualized by impulsive antisocial tendencies, callousness, and rule-breaking. However, existing measures of the two traits are typically highly correlated and have very similar nomological networks. Notably, even though psychopathy scales should be more strongly positively associated with antisocial impulsivity and more strongly negatively associated with conscientiousness than Mach scales, existing Mach and psychopathy scales tend to be similarly related to these constructs. We created a new Mach scale, the M7, and a new psychopathy scale, the P7, by selecting items from existing Mach and psychopathy scales on the basis of the correlations of these items with antisocial impulsivity and conscientiousness. Across three studies (combined N = 4,607), the M7 and P7 showed acceptable to good psychometric properties in terms of closeness to unidimensionality, measurement precision, temporal stability, measurement invariance across language and gender groups, and convergent and discriminant validity (nomological network, self-other agreement, and interpersonal perceptions in group interactions). Most importantly, the new scales assess clearly distinct latent traits that are more in line with their theoretical conceptualizations than established scales are.

Supplemental Material for What Makes a “Successful” Psychopath? Longitudinal Trajectories of Offenders’ Antisocial Behavior and Impulse Control as a Function of Psychopathy

Supplemental Material for What Makes a “Successful” Psychopath? Longitudinal Trajectories of Offenders’ Antisocial Behavior and Impulse Control as a Function of Psychopathy

Psychopathy, impulsivity, and personality structure

It has been suggested that impulsivity is a core feature of psychopathy. However, certain findings in the research literature do not seem to mesh with this notion and suggest that primary and secondary variants of psychopathy may differ in their manifestation of impulsivity-related features. We carried out a correlational analysis and group comparisons on a sample of 106 non-criminal females. Variables that were measured include the Fearless Dominance (PPI-FD) and Impulsive Antisociality (PPI-IA) factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI); The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised, short version (EPQ-R-S); The Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I7) and Dickman's Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity Scales (FI/DI). The results presented a remarkably clear personality structure, supporting the notion that the PPI has two orthogonal facets revealing different patterns of association with impulsivity, and that these comprise different intercorrelated factors (PPI-FD, Venturesomeness, Extraversion, and FI, which form one intercorrelated factor; and PPI-IA, Impulsivity, Neuroticism, and DI, which form a second intercorrelated factor), suggesting that the personality structure revealed in this study is a gestalt.

Review Study-Gene Influence on Hazardous Criminal Behaviors

Increased criminality over the globe has led researchers to focus on the various happenings of criminal behavior. The scientific rationale for reduced control of inhibiting antisocial impulses and aggressive behavior, that goes with a variant of the relevant gene such as MAO-A is underactive prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The current study explores past reviews regarding gene expression in criminal behavior. The purpose of this study is to develop an awareness of gene expression in criminal behavior. A literature review conducted using electronic databases for this study, reviewing 30 articles from the year 1970 to 2018. The articles reviewed focused on genetic variation in human aggression, MAOA genotype, and aggression, MAOA promoter activity, a gene (MAOA) predicting behavioral aggression. The study concludes that although MAOA is a promoter of various activity variations, in MAOA can lead to hazardous criminal behaviour. The depth of understanding in this area would bring insights into professionals to rehabilitate criminals on a humanitarian base. The current study suggests there are limited studies in this area, especially in developing countries, thus the government and non-governmental agencies should encourage more researches in this area, which would bring more insight into this area.

Mental health and drug use severity: the role of substance P, neuropeptide Y, self-reported childhood history of trauma, parental bonding and current resiliency

Background Many risk factors lead to opioid use and drug-related problems. One of the challenges to understand behavioural factors, drug problems and psychopathology is to identify biological markers that are suitable for research on broad substance abuse and dependence involving human participants. Aims The study has examined the relationships between the self-reported childhood history of trauma, parental bonding, psychopathology, impulsivity, current resiliency, two neuropeptides, possible markers of behaviour and emotion regulation, and severity of drug-related problems. Methods One hundred and sixty-seven individuals with a history of opioid use completed questionnaires. Serum neuropeptide Y (NPY) and substance P (SP) levels were analysed. Moderating and mediating relationships between variables were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results Antisocial features, depression, impulsivity, SP, NPY, emotional neglect and resilience are associated with severity of drug-related problems. SP is associated with antisocial personality traits. Conclusions The novelty of this study is the proposed possible link between biochemical markers, antisocial features and behavioural and emotional regulation. Serum NPY and SP levels have a potential to be used as a biomarker in opioid users before and in the treatment process to account for interactions between biological vulnerabilities and childhood risk factors in predicting behavioural adjustment and more severe drug-related problems.

Psychopathy, the Big Five and empathy as predictors of violence in a forensic sample of substance abusers

It is widely recognized that substance abuse increases the general risk of delinquency and violent offenses in particular. Substance-related disorders are the primary cause of offenders being sentenced to mandatory treatment in forensic psychiatry. However, instead of a mono-causal link between addiction and violence, additional risk factors must be assumed. The current study examined the relations between psychopathy, empathy and general personality traits and their role in statistically predicting violent crimes of substance-abusing offenders. The sample consisted of 164 male and female forensic inpatients with substance-related disorders. They were administered the German versions of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-R), the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (SPF). The psychopathy factor Impulsive Antisociality (IA) emerged as a positive statistical predictor of violent offenses, while Fearless Dominance (FD) served as a negative predictor. The Big Five factors and empathy domains failed to statistically predict violence, despite showing significant correlations with the psychopathy factors. Hence, substance-abusing violent offenders display a distinct pattern of personality characteristics with IA being associated with high Neuroticism, low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness, as well as high Personal Distress and low Perspective Taking. IA therefore reflects a maladaptive trait that is overrepresented in forensic settings.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

Reviewed by: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White Karen Coats White, Kiersten The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. Delacorte, 2018 [304p] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-525-57797-3 $28.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-525-57794-2 $24.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-525-57795-9 $11.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 By situating Elizabeth Lavenza, the orphaned ward of the Frankenstein family who later weds the doctor, at the heart of this retelling of Mary Shelley's tale, White moves the locus of power to a teenage girl, as Shelley herself was. In White's account, Elizabeth is rescued out of an abusive situation by Victor's mother to be a companion for a son she has already learned to fear. Young Victor is clearly a sociopath, but Elizabeth, rather than being a moral compass that would reorient his conscience, is herself a master strategist. She teaches him tricks she herself deploys to ensure her continued presence in the Frankenstein household, namely, how to soothe situations and cover over antisocial impulses with the right kind of words and smiles. [End Page 99] Unable to truly love her, Victor nonetheless becomes dependent on Elizabeth as well as wildly possessive; Elizabeth, for her part, believes that she needs to keep his worst instincts and habits from being discovered if she wants to secure her financial future. When she seeks him out in Ingolstadt, she uncovers the gruesome truth of what he has accomplished and inadvertently sets his creation free, and here the tale, while mostly adhering to the events of the original plot, changes Victor and Elizabeth's motivations and sources completely. Shelley herself appears as Mary, a bookseller who becomes an ally of Elizabeth, and poor Henry Clerval … well, to reveal his fate would spoil an ingenious twist. While most readers will have at least some familiarity with the cultural mythology of Frankenstein, those who know the original more intimately will appreciate this most fully; nonetheless, anyone who enjoys psychologically dark feminist fiction will find this compelling. KC Copyright © 2018 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Psychopathy in the Medical Emergency Department.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder representing an admixture of a fearless and dominant temperament with an impulsive and antisocial orientation. A sample of 1,026 participants in the waiting room of the medical emergency department of a city hospital exhibited levels of fearless dominance similar to university undergraduates and federal inmates; their levels of impulsive antisociality fell between those of federal and state inmates. Both psychopathy factors were correlated with male gender, younger age, and more frequent average alcohol consumption. Fearless dominance was associated with agentic success (e.g., being employed, higher household income), fewer psychological problems, and less use of psychotropic medications, including anxiolytics. Impulsive antisociality was negatively related to both agentic and communal (e.g., ever being married) success and positively correlated with substance use and self-reported bipolar, ADHD, and psychotic psychiatric conditions. Further, only impulsive antisociality was associated with presenting to the emergency department for physical injury or psychological disturbance.

The effects of psychopathic traits on fear of pain, anxiety, and stress

The relationship between psychopathy and internalizing behaviours, such as fear of pain, anxiety, and stress, is highly debated due to conflicting results found across a wide array of studies. We hypothesized a negative relationship between higher display of Fearless Dominance and fear of pain, anxiety, and stress as well as a positive relationship between higher display of Impulsive Antisociality and the aforementioned variables. Using community participants (N=529), we found weak to moderate negative correlations between Fearless Dominance and all measures of fear of pain, anxiety, and stress in both genders.While a correlation between Impulsive Antisociality and pain catastrophization was only observed in males, weak to moderate positive relationships were found when correlated with measures of anxiety and stress in both genders. Overall, these results highlight the importance of taking psychopathy subtypes and genders into account when conducting statistical analyses for psychopathy-related research. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Differences in current psychological and physiological subclinical stress levels in forensic patients with psychopathic personality traits

Stress and its associations with psychopathic traits have been widely studied. However, recent research suggests the distinction between psychological and physiological symptoms of subclinical stress experience. Possible differences regarding these two dimensions of stress and their relations to psychopathy factors have not been investigated yet. Hence, this is the first study on psychological and physiological subclinical stress levels of forensic patients with psychopathic personality traits. We expected to find distinct associations between stress dimensions and psychopathy factors. Therefore, we examined 164 forensic patients with a substance use disorder regarding their psychopathy scores and current stress levels, using the Psychopathy Personality Inventory (PPI) and the Subclinical Stress Questionnaire (SSQ). Our results indicate that only the experience of psychological stress and not physiological stress is predicted by psychopathy. More precisely, the psychopathy factor “Impulsive Antisociality” is a positive predictor of subclinical psychological stress symptoms, while the factor “Fearless Dominance” is a negative predictor. Thereby, gender has an influence as females are more likely to experience psychological and physiological stress. In conclusion, these results imply that forensic patients scoring high on the psychopathy factor “Impulsive Antisociality” experience high levels of psychological distress. This is in line with previous findings describing Impulsive Antisociality as a generally maladaptive trait manifesting in low adaptability and insufficient coping strategies.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Free, connected, and meaningful: Free will beliefs promote meaningfulness through belongingness

Previous research suggests that belief in free will helps to inhibit anti-social impulses. As a result, belief in free will enables the creation of and participation in society. Consistently, we propose that belief in free will is associated with a sense of belongingness. As previous research indicates that belongingness is a source of meaning in life, we predicted that belief in free will in turn facilitates increased meaningfulness via feelings of belongingness. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two preliminary, small-scale studies and a large-scale study using individual difference data. As expected, in Study 1, the positive association be'tween free will beliefs and meaningfulness was mediated by feelings of belongingness. In Study 2, this effect emerged using alternative measures of free will belief and belongingness, adding to the findings' reliability and validity. In Study 3, these effects were again replicated with a large sample of participants using separate and composite measures of free will belief and belongingness. Finally, we conducted multiple group comparisons and meta-analyses. These confirmed that the proposed correlations and indirect effects were significant and consistent across studies. Our findings provide important understandings of the functions and consequences of free will beliefs.

Attributes of True and Deceptive Statements Made in Evaluations of Criminal Defendants

ABSTRACTCourt-ordered psychological evaluations of criminal defendants generally include two types: mental status (competence or sanity) versus risk assessment. When defendants are deceptive in mental status evaluations, lies of commission, in which symptoms of psychopathology are feigned (malingering), are most likely. When defendants are deceptive in risk assessments, lies of omission, in which antisocial impulses are concealed or denied, are most likely. Four research conditions, consisting of the true and false statements of two men accused of sex offenses and two men claiming an insanity defense, were rated by participants on a test of truthfulness containing eight items derived from Criterion-Based Content Analysis and Reality Monitoring. All items, as well as the collective test score, significantly differentiated between true and false statements. Further, the lie of commission was rated as significantly more false than the lie of omission, and a confession was rated as more truthful than a true statement involving only exculpatory information, which is in accordance with the theory of cognitive load. Factor analyses provided support for the construct validity of the test of truthfulness and two subscales. Further, the data suggests that statements judged true are characterized by the presence of attributes of truthfulness, while statements judged false are characterized by the absence of attributes of truthfulness along with the presence of attributes of untruthfulness.

Disassembling Faking Personality – Towards a Deeper Understanding of the Ability to Fake Personality in Questionnaires and its Covariates

Neuropsychological studies of psychopathy have yielded inconsistent findings with respect to executive functions (EF). This may be due to heterogeneity of psychopathy, with some studies using performance-based tests showing a stronger association between EF and Antisocial-Impulsivity (AI) than Fearless-Dominance (FD) traits. Variability in findings may also be due to limited ecological validity of performance-based tests of EF. In this present study, we evaluated the relationship between AI and FD psychopathy traits and subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Participants were 524 healthy adults who completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult (BRIEF-A). Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted accounting for demographic characteristics and mood. Results revealed that more severe AI and FD were both associated with worse inhibitory control. More severe AI was also related to difficulty monitoring the effect of one's behavior on others and keeping organized. More severe FD was related to better emotional control and cognitive flexibility. These findings indicate that psychopathy traits are associated with subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Although FD and AI showed some differences with respect to their association with EF, impulsivity appears to be a more general feature of psychopathy.

Psychopathy traits are associated with self-report rating of executive functions in the everyday life of healthy adults

Neuropsychological studies of psychopathy have yielded inconsistent findings with respect to executive functions (EF). This may be due to heterogeneity of psychopathy, with some studies using performance-based tests showing a stronger association between EF and Antisocial-Impulsivity (AI) than Fearless-Dominance (FD) traits. Variability in findings may also be due to limited ecological validity of performance-based tests of EF. In this present study, we evaluated the relationship between AI and FD psychopathy traits and subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Participants were 524 healthy adults who completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult (BRIEF-A). Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted accounting for demographic characteristics and mood. Results revealed that more severe AI and FD were both associated with worse inhibitory control. More severe AI was also related to difficulty monitoring the effect of one's behavior on others and keeping organized. More severe FD was related to better emotional control and cognitive flexibility. These findings indicate that psychopathy traits are associated with subjective ratings of EF in everyday life. Although FD and AI showed some differences with respect to their association with EF, impulsivity appears to be a more general feature of psychopathy.

Impulsive antisociality and executive control problems: evidence from go/no-go and stop-signal tasks

<b>Background</b><br /> People with impulsive-antisocial traits may engage in unplanned behaviors that reduce their efficiency and may even result in harm to self and others. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive control functions and impulsive antisociality, as assessed with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI). Using go/no-go and stop-signal paradigms, we examined whether healthy participants with high impulsive-antisocial traits would show delayed response inhibition and error monitoring deficits when compared to those reporting low levels of impulsive antisociality.<br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure</b><br /> A total of 26 participants were recruited from different Warsaw universities based on the Impulsive Antisociality subscale scores of the PPI. Subjects scoring in the first quartile were assigned to the low and those with a score in the fourth quartile were selected for the high impulsivity group. All participants were tested with go/no-go and stop-signal tasks that were executed in a random order.<br /> <br /> <b>Results</b><br /> Higher levels of impulsive-antisocial traits were associated with poorer executive control. In particular, high impulsive-antisocial individuals demonstrated reduced post-error slowing in response to go stimuli following an error and took longer to respond to the stop signal than the control group. The two groups did not differ in their performance accuracy.<br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions</b><br /> The study extends previous findings regarding the relationship between impulsivity and executive control showing that non-clinical impulsive antisociality results in decreased conflict detection ability and delayed response inhibition. These problems may result in reduced executive effectiveness in everyday life situations.

William Hazlitt, Liber Amoris, and the Imagination

In 1823, William Hazlitt published his erotic memoir, Liber Amoris, and a polemic against royalism, “On the Spirit of Monarchy.” This essay assesses the sadomasochistic nature of the royalist imagination in “Monarchy” and the psychological violence of Liber Amoris in order to illuminate Hazlitt's theory of the imagination, which, I demonstrate, posited that the expansive imagination, though driven by antisocial impulse, as a regulating force that enables sociability in a society held together by print culture.