Psychopathy
The Evolution of the
”Bad Seed”
What is Psychopathy?
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Personality disorder, characterized by
 Callousness
 Lack of empathy
 Self-centredness
 Remorselessness
Persistent antisocial behaviour
 “Against” society, social norms
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised
Measures criminal psychopathy
 20 items, scores range from 0-40
 Items include glibness & superficiality;
impulsive behaviour; lack of remorse; early
behaviour problems
 Two-factor structure
 Selfish, callous, & remorseless use of
others
 Chronically unstable & antisocial lifestyle

Hare (1991)
Two Case Examples
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John Wayne Gacy was a
contractor, Junior Chamber of
Commerce “Man of the Year,”
Pogo the Clown, and raped
and murdered 32 young boys
Kenneth Bianchi was one of
the “Hillside Stranglers,” who
raped, tortured, and
murdered 12 women, &
fooled experts into believing
had had multiple personality
disorder
Hare (1996)
Historical Perspectives (1)
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Pinel: Manie sans délire
 Construed psychopathy as “moral insanity”
 Began the “mad or bad” debate
Cleckley’s Mask of Sanity
 Most influential of the classical texts
 Described the syndrome of psychopathy
and gave the impetus for the research that
followed
Historical Perspectives (2)
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Psychopathy vs. Antisocial Personality
Disorder
 Considerable overlap between constructs
 APD is over-inclusive
 If scored similarly, they correlate highly
Psychopathy vs. Sociopathy
 Psychopathy is not synonymous with
psychosis
 “Sociopathy” differs with regard to
etiological underpinnings
Theories of Etiology

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Developmental delay
 EEG pattern similarity between
psychopaths and normal adults
Early brain damage or dysfunction
 Primarily to frontal lobes
Poor socialization and psychological trauma
 Poverty, emotional instability, inconsistent
punishment, abuse
Evolutionary Theories
Adaptationist perspective on psychopathy
 Not a result of pathology, but an adaptive
strategy (obligate genetic causes)
 Antisocial behaviour is maintained in the
population through frequency-dependent
selection
 Taxometric analyses reveal discrete classes
 “Genetic Dregs” hypothesis (Figueredo, 2002)

Recent Research (1)
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Psychopathy is related to a general tendency
to deceive, not just in sexual arenas (Seto et
al, 1997)
MAOA polymorphism moderates antisocial
behaviour in maltreated adolescents (Caspi et
al, 2002)
Antisociality is correlated with earlier sexual
experiences; unrelated to neurodevelopmental insults (Krupp, 2001)
Recent Research (2)

Two-path model
Neurodevelopmental
Insults
Antisocial
Parents
Criminal
Violence
Psychopathy
Harris, Rice, & Lalumière (2001)
Risk Assessment

Canada is at the forefront of risk assessment
research
 PCL-R, LSI, VRAG, VRS
 Psychopathy appears to be an important
predictor of recidivism
 Considerable debate surrounding
 Clinical judgment
 “Static” vs. “dynamic” factors
Therapy?
Most therapeutic intervention has been
unsuccessful with psychopaths
 Therapeutic community had an iatrogenic
effect in one study (Harris et al., 1991)!
 The model of psychopathological behaviour is
problematic; rather, psychopathy appears to
be a life-history strategy
 Perhaps most appropriate therapy will focus
on self-interest of psychopaths

The Wrap-Up
The construct of psychopathy defined
 Historical perspectives
 Etiological theories
 Psychopathy as a frequency-dependent, lifehistory strategy
 Recent evolutionarily-relevant research
 Risk assessment and therapy

Things to Come
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Pedophilia
 Definitional and practical issues
 Etiology
 WHR and pedophilic sexual preference
 Implications