An Integrative Perspective on Psychopathy
Chase Moyer
A conceptual framework for an observable phenomenon is frequently a useful tool in
understanding that phenomenon. In psychopathology, we have several models for examining
how an abnormality comes to be. The diathesis-stress model conceptualizes a person’s genetic
endowment as a propensity toward an abnormality and sufficient stressors in life as activating
agents. The psychopath has a genetic variant of the MAOA gene that is sex-linked and inherited
from the mother. This gene is present in a percentage of the normal population, but is activated
for psychopathy by stressors in an individual’s life. This helps to explain the prevalence of male
psychopaths over female psychopaths and why psychopathy is expressed in a small portion of
the overall population. This nice neat package doesn’t offer a satisfactory explanation for how
this abnormality actually emerges in the environs of the “real world.”
Why are some people exposed to more stressors for psychopathy than others? Are there
additional explanations for the predominance of males in the psychopath population? How does
a psychopath’s brain differ from the brains of the general populace? Does the great variance in
environments between individuals contribute to the manifestation of psychopathy? The diathesisstress model is simply insufficient in providing answers to these questions. An integrative
approach which makes use of the diathesis-stress model, but continues beyond its limitations is
necessary to more fully explain psychopathy.
The MAOA gene variant is not only linked to psychopathy it is also more generally
connected with increased aggression. This additional aggression increases the likelihood that the
potential psychopaths will engage in aggressive and risky behavior. This in turn increases the
probability that the particular stressors which could “activate” the psychopathy will be
experienced. Fallon describes the in utero future psychopath as “bathed” in serotonin. The infant
is awash in this neurotransmitter from a mother who may need the inhibiting effects of serotonin
due to a lifestyle that is mired in conflict, anxiety, and aggression. This overabundance of
serotonin early in a person’s development may diminish that individual’s reaction to its
inhibiting effects. The individual has a genetic predisposition toward aggression which increases
the need to respond aggressively to situations the aggression created. The normal effects of
serotonin in moderating the aggressive behavior will likely be ineffective as this individual has
already developed a very high tolerance for the neurotransmitter.
We have already seen that the effects of the environment, of the mother, can alter how a
brain is affected by neurotransmitters. Insel, Scanlan, Champoux, and Suomi’s experiment with
rhesus monkey’s demonstrated that those monkeys with control of their environment acted with
anger and aggression when given an excitatory drug similar to the excitatory neurotransmitters.
In this way, a psychopath might have a internal locus of control achieved by aggression which in
turn encourages an aggressive response when subjected to stress. The equalizing effects of the
inhibitors will be diminished further increasing the likelihood of aggression in the future. Further
the psychosocial environment of psychopaths may develop the aggressive tendencies in a violent
direction. Growing up in an environment where violence is imitated for esteem or survival would
provide an outlet for a psychopath to engage in normally marginalized behavior in a socially
acceptable manner. An environment could foster this by encouraging aggressive anger in football
practice, in a pre-secondary educational setting where the “bully” is popular, in a blighted urban
area where gang life and violent acquisition of territory for narcotics distribution is normative, or
even in a war zone where violence and vigilance are necessary components for a family’s
survival. Fallon discusses how a particularly severe emotional trauma needs to occur at a younge
age for the person to become a psychopath. The life styles that greatly encourage violence are
also the lifestyles that create an increased risk of a severe childhood trauma. Greenough,
Withers, and Wallace showed that radical structural changes to the brain can occur quite quickly
at a very young age in mammals (rats). These types of major brain changes may account for
Fallon’s insistency and any sort of empathy which would help negate the disposition toward
aggression. These factors coalate into a parasitic environmental model in which factors leading
to psychopathy “feed” off of each other and increase the emergence of the abnormality in
individuals.