The development of psychopathy

Abstract

The current review focuses on the construct of psychopathy, conceptualized as a clinical entity that is fundamentally distinct from a heterogeneous collection of syndromes encompassed by the term 'conduct disorder'. We will provide an account of the development of psychopathy at multiple levels: ultimate causal (the genetic or social primary cause), molecular, neural, cognitive and behavioral. The following main claims will be made: (1) that there is a stronger genetic as opposed to social ultimate cause to this disorder. The types of social causes proposed (e.g., childhood sexual/physical abuse) should elevate emotional responsiveness, not lead to the specific form of reduced responsiveness seen in psychopathy; (2) The genetic influence leads to the emotional dysfunction that is the core of psychopathy; (3) The genetic influence at the molecular level remains unknown. However, it appears to impact the functional integrity of the amygdala and orbital/ventrolateral frontal cortex (and possibly additional systems); (4) Disruption within these two neural systems leads to impairment in the ability to form stimulus-reinforcement associations and to alter stimulus-response associations as a function of contingency change. These impairments disrupt the impact of standard socialization techniques and increase the risk for frustration-induced reactive aggression respectively.

Sensitivity to parenting in adolescents with callous/unemotional traits: Observational and experimental findings.

“…It may be that deficits in recognizing fear and empathy in adolescents with CU traits resulted in greater anger/irritability in the problem-solving setting because of the increased frustration resulting from negotiating and resolving a problem. Related to this explanation is the finding of increased frustration-induced reactive aggression in individuals with CU (Blair, Peschardt, Budhani, Mitchell, & Pine, 2006). Alternatively, it may be that the problem-solving interaction was particularly effective at evoking proactive, strategic anger in CU adolescents in order to shape the direction of the problemsolving discussion.…”

Punishment and psychopathy: a case-control functional MRI investigation of reinforcement learning in violent antisocial personality disordered men

“…11,16,17 The failure to use punishment information to signal inappropriate behaviour is thought to be the primary defi cit in psychopathy, and emerges early in childhood. 18 Reversal learning tasks examine the ability to adjust behaviour to changes in reinforcement contingency. Studies of healthy adults and adults with brain lesions have identifi ed a neural network recruited during reversal learning.…”

Can a Laboratory Measure of Emotional Processing Enhance the Statistical Prediction of Aggression and Delinquency in Detained Adolescents with Callous-unemotional Traits?

“…As a result of these findings, deficits in the processing of emotional stimuli, and in particular the processing of emotionally distressing stimuli, have played a major role in many recent etiological theories of psychopathic traits in adults (Blair et al 2006;Patrick 2006) and CU traits in children and adolescents (Frick and Morris 2004;Frick 2006). For example, many theories have suggested that moral emotions develop through a conditioning process involving repeated pairings of the child's transgressions and the parent's affective response (Kochanska 1993).…”