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Section 7. Psychology
Section 7. Psychology
Koshkina Ekaterina Nikolaevna, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, MSc in Criminology and Criminal Psychology E-mail: [email protected]
Psychopathy subtypes and psychopathic violence
Abstract: This article analyses two main subtypes of psychopathy and its characteristic traits that allow to differ them from each other. Following that, the existence of more specific subtypes of psychopathy and sociopathy is argued on the basis of the recent researches. Also, the inclination of psychopaths and sociopaths to various kinds of violence is examined.
Keywords: psychopathy, sociopathy, psychopathic violence, psychopathy subtypes.
Psychopathy is still regarded as a subtype of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) despite the fact that ASPD is so common among criminals of various sorts that “almost any offender in a correctional setting is hypothetically entitled to a diagnosis of ASPD” [17, 149], but are all of them psychopaths? What about psychopaths in noncriminal populations who never break a single law? Are they psychopaths? If so, are they not as aggressive as criminal psychopaths are? And if they are, why they are not behind bars or locked up in mental hospitals? Perhaps, the best answer to these questions is that there is more than one subtype of psychopathy, and however many of them exist in reality, they all are different in many aspects, including their aggressive behaviour and characteristic traits, and, owing to that, can be distinguished from each other.
For this purpose, Robert Hare created Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The current edition of this test lists four factors. The factors 1a and 1b are correlated with narcissistic personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder, extraversion and personality traits of psychopathy, and the factors 2a and 2b are correlated to antisocial personality disorder and criminality, anger and impulsive violence. On the ground of this scale, Lykken [8] stated that psychopathy is one of two different subtypes of ASPD, and the second one is sociopathy. He supposed that psychopath are impulsive, risk-seeking and incapable to adopt social norms whereas sociopaths are temperamentally stable and affected by negative social factors like poverty and dysfunctional families. Cleckley [2] remarked about sociopaths that “the true difference between them and those who continually go to jail or to psychiatric hospital is that they keep up a far better and more consistent outward appearance of being normal”. Then it was found by Herve and Hare [7] that there is “a very low base rate of manipulative psychopaths in a recent sample of offenders”; however, plenty of primarily psychopaths “may be abundant in psychiatric samples”.
So, in accordance with one of two key conceptions of psychopathy subtypes that is focused on “how the individuals with phenotypically similar symptoms differ etiologically” [14, 177], people with psychopathic personalities may be divided into two groups — ‘primary (impulsive or antisocial) psychopaths’, who are pure psychopaths in fact, and ‘secondary (symptomatic or narcissistic) psychopaths’, who are sociopaths. Each group has its own basic traits (table 1).
Table 1. - Subtypes of psychopathy and its basic traits
Type of psychopathy Basic traits
Primarily (psychopaths) Temperamentally stable Risk-seeking behaviour Incapable to adopt social norms Dominance Arrogance Overt narcissism (grandiosity) Affective deficit
Secondarily (sociopaths) Highly impulsive Dysphoric Hostile Perfectly socialized Covert narcissism (vulnerability) Lack of self-confidence
The second conception revolves around “describing phenotypical differences among individuals with psychopathic traits by referencing comorbid traits of other personality disorder” [14, 177] and includes two major theories. The first of them concentrates on “recurring patterns of overlap between psychopathic and other traits” [14, 177], and is represented by Murphy and Vess’s four subtypes of psychopathy based on DSM-V’s Cluster B personality disorders. Murphy and Vess [12] discovered by their clinical observations that psychopathy may be “distinguished, based on prominent comorbid features of other ‘dramatic’ and ‘erratic’ Cluster
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Psychopathy subtypes and psychopathic violence
B personality disorders”. For example, ‘the sadistic subtype’ is notable for its “assaultiveness and pleasure derived by from the suffering of others”; ‘the narcissistic subtype’, — for its “features of grandiosity, entitlement, callous disregard of others”; ‘the antisocial subtype’, — for its “impulsivity, stimulation seeking and socially deviant behaviour”, and ‘the borderline subtype’ — for its “affective instability and selfdestruction” [14, 177].
The second theory is connected with “psychodynamic personality organization” [14, 177], and represented by Mil-lon and Davis’s ten subtypes of psychopathy that are similar to Murphy and Vess’s four subtypes, but much more detailed and specific (table 2). Also, Meloy and Gaccono [10] presented the case study of the ‘psychotic psychopath’, which corresponds to the description of the ‘schizoid psychopath’ made by F. J. Kall-man in 1938 and, along with other researches, indirectly proves that “psychopathy may share some common affective deficit
It remains unknown what exactly provokes the development of psychopathic traits, but psychopathic aggression may be the logical result of “early reward for such behaviour” or try of “gaining attention through” it [9, 11], or else the only way to communicate with the world, which an individual has been taught by violent environment. McCord and McCord [9] marked that “the normal person has learned to react to frustration with constructive action, the psychopath characteristically react to frustration with fury”. Several researchers established that there is “a strong link between the psychopathic traits and aggressive behaviour” [13, 481]. Hare and Jutai [4] ascertained that “adult psychopathic offenders had been charged with violent crimes about twice as often as nonpsychopaths”, and Serin and Amos [16] confirmed in their research that “psychopaths were about five times more likely that non-psychopaths to engage in violent recidivism within 5 years of their release from prison”. Thus, as Porter and Woodworth [13] wrote, “it is clear that psychopaths are a highly aggressive group simply from examining the sheer number
with schizophrenia spectrum disorders” [14, 178]. Blackburn [1] in turn found secondarily psychopaths having “predominantly borderline personalities”. Additionally, “there is some evidence that borderline personality disorder is more strongly associated with PLC-R factor 2 that the emotionally detachment of factor 1” [14, 178]. Hare [19] discovered that “the narcissistic personality disorder was more strongly associated with PLC-R factor 1 than with factor 2”, and, according to Millon and Davis [11], “narcissism may mark either a unique subtype of psychopathy or primarily psychopathy per se”. Besides, Raine [15] revealed “a ‘subgroup’ with mid-high range scores on the PLC-R who manifested ‘borderline-schizotypal’ personality characteristics” related to PLC-R factor 2 “items that referenced an impulsive, unstable lifestyle”. Thereby, some subtypes of two main psychopathy types may be marked out based on their characteristics, which normally have many in common with personality disorders of the same name.
of violent crimes they have perpetrated”. It should be mentioned that psychopaths are “more likely to have engaged in physical and alcohol-related violence” [18, 209-210].
Widiger and Trull [18] supposed that “low IQ combined with high psychopathy produced the greatest number of convictions for crimes of violence, but high IQ combined with psychopathy was predictive of weapon-related behaviour”. According to Porter and Woodworth [13], psychopathic violence is more ‘instrumental’ and ‘offensive’ than ‘reactive’ and “defensive’. Hart and Dempster [5] specified that psychopathic behaviour in committing crimes may be “best described as ‘impulsively instrumental’” because it tends to be difficult for most psychopaths to control themselves, and their “uninhibited search for pleasure often clashes with the restriction of the society” [9, 11], so they use force to get what they want whatever it is at any cost. However, psychopathic violence is “very different from that of other offenders” [13, 490], and usually motivated by sadistic needs, revenge or retribution in heavily drinking condition and, as a rule, premeditated, well-planned,
Table 2. - The subtypes of two main types of psychopathy
Type of psychopathy Subtype Basic traits
Primarily (psychopaths) Schizoid Psychotic Unstable lifestyle Emotional detachment Features of schizophrenia
Antisocial Impulsivity Stimulation seeking Socially deviant behaviour
Secondarily (sociopaths) Borderline Affective instability Self-destruction Hostile reactivity
Narcissistic Selfish Entitlement Callous disregard of others Defensive and sensitive to ego threat
Sadistic Assaultiveness Pleasure deprived from the suffering of others
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Section 7. Psychology
and calculated in sober condition. Supposedly, “psychopaths more often perpetrate armed robberies or hostage taking” [13, 482] and are probable to have “a history of assault, kidnapping, vandalism, murders and rapes” [18, 209].
Nevertheless, Porter and Woodworth [13] noted that “there is much variation in the types and amount of aggression committed by different psychopaths” and specified that, for instance, “some psychopaths, especially, ‘white-collar’ or ‘corporate psychopaths’, seem to rarely use physical aggression”. Evidently, it is connected to intelligence since “more intelligent psychopaths may be less inclined to use aggression
because they can use their cognitive resources such as conning and manipulation to devise non-violent means”, and, therefore, “less likely to wind up in prison” [13, 490]. Porter and Woodworth [13] hypothesised that “successful psychopaths may have been more likely to use premeditated, instrumental violence that their counterparts”. Normally, primarily psychopathy means by ‘successful psychopaths’, so, in some way, all the types of crimes usually committed by psychopaths may be conditionally split between two main types of psychopathy as well as types of used violence and types of aggression (table 3).
Table 3. - Aggressive and violent behaviours are peculiar to two main types of psychopathy
Type of psychopathy Violence Type of aggression Crimes to commit
Primarily (psychopaths) Weapon-related violence Premeditated Well-planned Calculated Instrumental Armed robberies Kidnapping Hostage-taking
Secondarily (sociopaths) Physical and alcohol-related violence Sadism Retribution Vengeance Impulsively instrumental Rape Vandalism Assault
Summing up, it is evident that, at least, two main subtypes of psychopathy — psychopathy and sociopathy — exist. In the use of the PLC-R for identifying basic psychopathy, secondarily psychopathy displays itself through factors 1a and 1b correlated with narcissistic personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. The factors 2a and 2b, which are correlated to antisocial personality disorder, violent and criminal inclinations, indicate primarily psychopathy. Therefore, if primarily psychopathy may be considered as a subtype of ASDP or some indirectly related disorder, then secondarily psychopathy is something different, more close to borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
Based on these two main subtypes, more specific psychopathy subtypes, at least five, can be marked out because it was proven by recent researches that there is a recurring overlap between psychopathic traits and traits of other personality disorders, including psychotic ones. Academic researchers also established the strong connection between psychopathic traits and aggressive behaviour. For example, psychopaths are more likely to engage with psychical and alcohol-related behaviour. Nevertheless, primarily psychopaths and secondarily psychopaths do not share the ways of being violent and commit the different types of crimes by different reasons for different results.
References:
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Matveeva Tatyana Mihajlovna, a senior lecturer in social work, psychology and social rights of the Russian State social University in Anapa of the Krasnodar region E-mail: [email protected]
Formation in consciousness of youth of need for preservation of moral health
Abstract: In article, questions of formation of moral health of youth in modern conditions are considered. Preservation problems in consciousness of youth of requirement of moral health are considered.
Keywords: moral health, consciousness, system of values, requirement, spiritual crisis, education, humanization.
Матвеева Татьяна Михайловна, старший преподаватель кафедры социальной работы, психологии и социального права, Филиал «Российского государственного социального университета», г. Анапа, Краснодарский край E-mail: [email protected]
Формирование в сознании молодежи потребности в сохранении нравственного здоровья
Аннотация: В статье рассматриваются вопросы формирования нравственного здоровья молодежи в современных условиях. Рассматриваются проблемы сохранения в сознании молодежи потребности нравственного здоровья.
Ключевые слова: нравственное здоровье, сознание, система ценностей, потребность, духовный кризис, образование, гуманизация.
Нестабильность социально-экономической ситуации в стране, экономический и духовный кризис общества привели к заметной девальвации у молодежи духовнонравственных ценностей, дезадаптации в новых условиях, снижению значимости здоровья и жизни. Современное общество лишилось духовных и моральных эталонов.
Сведенными к минимальному количеству оказались духовно-нравственные и воспитательные функции деятельной системы образования. Следствием стало то, что система ценностных установок, свойственных групповому сознанию во многом носит деструктивный характер с точки зрения становления личности, семьи и страны.
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