CRIM 103 - FINAL REVIEW QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS
What is a psychopath? - Answers - Refers to a pattern of psychological, interpersonal,
and neurophysiological features of an individual that distinguishes them from the
general population.
What are some of the 20 psychopathic traits identified by Robert Hare (1991)? -
Answers - -Glibness and superficiality
-Grandiose sense of self-worth
-High need for stimulation/prone to boredom
-Lack of remorse or guilt
-Callous, lack of empathy
-Promiscuous sexual behaviour
-Early behaviour problems
-Impulsivity
-Failure to accept responsibility for acions
What are the characteristics of psychopaths? - Answers - -Intelligent, superficially
charming and likeable, witty, verbally skilled
-Lack symptoms of excessive worry, anxiety, psychotic thinking; most do not exhibit
disabling mental disorders
-Egocentric and selfish
-Usually likeable but do not easily keep close friends
-Unreliable, irresponsible, and unpredictable
-If caught, may readily admit guilt and may enjoy the shock reactions
-Instrumental aggression
What is the essential feature of a person with antisocial personality disorder? - Answers
- A history of continuous behaviour in which the rights of others are violated.
-Person must be at least 18 years old and with a history of some symptoms of conduct
disorder before age 15
-The definition of APD is narrow than psychopathy because it restricts the definitions to
behaviour indicators, while psychopathy includes emotional, neurological, and cognitive
aspects
To be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, an individual must exhibit three of
which behaviour patterns? - Answers - -Failure to conform to social norms or the
criminal law, as shown by frequent behaviour that could result in being arrested
-Irritability and unusual aggressiveness, as indicated by repeatedly getting into physical
fights or committing assaults
,-Consistent irresponsibility, such as a poor work history or not honouring financial
obligations
-Impulsivity or lack of planning ahead
-Deceitfulness, such as frequent lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal
profit or pleasure
-Reckless disregard for the safety of others or self
-A lack of remorse or guilt for wrongdoings, as indicated by being indifferent to or easily
rationalizing away behaviour that may have hurt someone else
In 1970, Hare proposed that three categories of psychopaths? - Answers - 1. Primary
Psychopath: Is considered a true psychopath and has distinguishing psychological,
emotional, cognitive, and biological differences that are unlike the general or criminal
population
2. Secondary Psychopath: Commits antisocial or violent acts as a result of severe
emotional problems or inner conflicts. They may be more emotionally unstable,
impulsive, aggressive, and violent than primary psychopaths
3. Dyssocial Psychopath: Engages in aggressive, antisocial behaviour because they
have learned it from their families or peers
What is the PCL-R? - Answers - It assesses the affective, interpersonal, behavioural,
and social deviance elements of psychopathy using a range of sources including self-
reports, observations of behaviour, and information obtained from parents, family
members, friends, and arrest and court records
-Clinicians rate patients as either having or not having each of the 20 traits
-Ratings for each trait made on a 3-point scale
-Score of 30 or above indicates psychopathy; below 21 non-psychopaths
What is the dimensional model of psychopathy? - Answers - Contends that all humans
possess characteristics of psychopathy to some degree.
-Recent research and arguments lend support to the dimensional model, with
psychopathy believed to exist on a continuum rather than as a dichotomy
When expert ratings of psychopathy on the PCL-R were used in a factor analysis, what
two behavioural factors emerged? - Answers - Factor 1: Reflects the interpersonal and
emotional components of psychopathy, and includes items measuring shallow affect,
remorselessness, callousness, selfishness, and manipulation
Factor 2: Focuses on a socially deviant lifestyle, characterized by poor planning,
impulsiveness, an excessive need for stimulation, being easily bored, and lacking
realistic goals
-Factor 1 is superior at identifying psychopathy in general, but factor 2 is better at
predicting general recidivism and violent recidivism
, With respect to the four-factor position, Hare and Neumann (2006) recommended what
four dimensions? - Answers - 1. Interpersonal: An arrogant and deceptive interpersonal
style, which includes a grandiose sense of self-worth, glibness, superficial charm,
pathological lying, conning, manipulation, and deceitfulness
2. Lifestyle: An impulsive and irresponsible behaviour style, including failure to think
before acting, a lack of long-term goals, stimulation seeking, unsatisfactory work habits,
and a parasitic lifestyle such as living off of others
3. Affective: A deficient affective experience characterized by low remorse, low guilt, a
weak conscience, absence of anxiety, fearlessness, callousness, little empathy, and
failure to accept responsibility for one's actions
4. Antisocial: A history of early behavioural problems and juvenile delinquency, ongoing
poor behavioural controls, criminal versatility, and revocation of conditional release for
those who are sentenced to custody
What are the environmental factors of psychopathy? - Answers - -May be that a child
born with psychological predispositions, who is exposed to environmental factors such
as inconsistent parenting, early emotional or physical abuse, peer rejection, etc. may
develop conduct problems and psychopathic tendencies
-Marshall and Cooke (1999) found that psychopaths were more likely to have
experienced family difficulties such as parental neglect, abuse, or indifference, and were
more likely to report negative school experiences
-David Farrington (2005) did 40-year study of 400 8-10 year olds; found that physical
neglect, poor parental supervision, a disrupted family, a large family size, a convicted
parent, a depressed mother, low father involvement, and poverty predicted psychopathy
scores
What are the neurophysiological factors of psychopathy? - Answers - -Hare proposed
abnormal imbalance between the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain, in language
processing and in emotional or arousal states
-Dysfunction in the frontal lobe; prefrontal damage or defects in frontal lobe processing
-Amygdala may be responsible for frontal lobe dysnfunction; lower amygdala activity
and emotional processing
-Under-aroused cerebral cortex may lead to sensation-seeking; deficiency in reticular
activating system (RAS), which activates the cerebral cortex and keeps it alert
What are four conclusions from research on the autonomic nervous systems of
psychopaths? - Answers - 1. Psychopaths are both autonomically and cortically under-
aroused, under rest conditions and some specific stress conditions. They exhibit low
levels of fear and anxiety
2. Because psychopaths lack the necessary emotional responses, they are deficient in
avoidance learning. If psychopaths do not experience fear and anxiety like the general
population, they do not try to avoid potential negative consequences like pain or prison
because they do not fear them
ANSWERS
What is a psychopath? - Answers - Refers to a pattern of psychological, interpersonal,
and neurophysiological features of an individual that distinguishes them from the
general population.
What are some of the 20 psychopathic traits identified by Robert Hare (1991)? -
Answers - -Glibness and superficiality
-Grandiose sense of self-worth
-High need for stimulation/prone to boredom
-Lack of remorse or guilt
-Callous, lack of empathy
-Promiscuous sexual behaviour
-Early behaviour problems
-Impulsivity
-Failure to accept responsibility for acions
What are the characteristics of psychopaths? - Answers - -Intelligent, superficially
charming and likeable, witty, verbally skilled
-Lack symptoms of excessive worry, anxiety, psychotic thinking; most do not exhibit
disabling mental disorders
-Egocentric and selfish
-Usually likeable but do not easily keep close friends
-Unreliable, irresponsible, and unpredictable
-If caught, may readily admit guilt and may enjoy the shock reactions
-Instrumental aggression
What is the essential feature of a person with antisocial personality disorder? - Answers
- A history of continuous behaviour in which the rights of others are violated.
-Person must be at least 18 years old and with a history of some symptoms of conduct
disorder before age 15
-The definition of APD is narrow than psychopathy because it restricts the definitions to
behaviour indicators, while psychopathy includes emotional, neurological, and cognitive
aspects
To be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, an individual must exhibit three of
which behaviour patterns? - Answers - -Failure to conform to social norms or the
criminal law, as shown by frequent behaviour that could result in being arrested
-Irritability and unusual aggressiveness, as indicated by repeatedly getting into physical
fights or committing assaults
,-Consistent irresponsibility, such as a poor work history or not honouring financial
obligations
-Impulsivity or lack of planning ahead
-Deceitfulness, such as frequent lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal
profit or pleasure
-Reckless disregard for the safety of others or self
-A lack of remorse or guilt for wrongdoings, as indicated by being indifferent to or easily
rationalizing away behaviour that may have hurt someone else
In 1970, Hare proposed that three categories of psychopaths? - Answers - 1. Primary
Psychopath: Is considered a true psychopath and has distinguishing psychological,
emotional, cognitive, and biological differences that are unlike the general or criminal
population
2. Secondary Psychopath: Commits antisocial or violent acts as a result of severe
emotional problems or inner conflicts. They may be more emotionally unstable,
impulsive, aggressive, and violent than primary psychopaths
3. Dyssocial Psychopath: Engages in aggressive, antisocial behaviour because they
have learned it from their families or peers
What is the PCL-R? - Answers - It assesses the affective, interpersonal, behavioural,
and social deviance elements of psychopathy using a range of sources including self-
reports, observations of behaviour, and information obtained from parents, family
members, friends, and arrest and court records
-Clinicians rate patients as either having or not having each of the 20 traits
-Ratings for each trait made on a 3-point scale
-Score of 30 or above indicates psychopathy; below 21 non-psychopaths
What is the dimensional model of psychopathy? - Answers - Contends that all humans
possess characteristics of psychopathy to some degree.
-Recent research and arguments lend support to the dimensional model, with
psychopathy believed to exist on a continuum rather than as a dichotomy
When expert ratings of psychopathy on the PCL-R were used in a factor analysis, what
two behavioural factors emerged? - Answers - Factor 1: Reflects the interpersonal and
emotional components of psychopathy, and includes items measuring shallow affect,
remorselessness, callousness, selfishness, and manipulation
Factor 2: Focuses on a socially deviant lifestyle, characterized by poor planning,
impulsiveness, an excessive need for stimulation, being easily bored, and lacking
realistic goals
-Factor 1 is superior at identifying psychopathy in general, but factor 2 is better at
predicting general recidivism and violent recidivism
, With respect to the four-factor position, Hare and Neumann (2006) recommended what
four dimensions? - Answers - 1. Interpersonal: An arrogant and deceptive interpersonal
style, which includes a grandiose sense of self-worth, glibness, superficial charm,
pathological lying, conning, manipulation, and deceitfulness
2. Lifestyle: An impulsive and irresponsible behaviour style, including failure to think
before acting, a lack of long-term goals, stimulation seeking, unsatisfactory work habits,
and a parasitic lifestyle such as living off of others
3. Affective: A deficient affective experience characterized by low remorse, low guilt, a
weak conscience, absence of anxiety, fearlessness, callousness, little empathy, and
failure to accept responsibility for one's actions
4. Antisocial: A history of early behavioural problems and juvenile delinquency, ongoing
poor behavioural controls, criminal versatility, and revocation of conditional release for
those who are sentenced to custody
What are the environmental factors of psychopathy? - Answers - -May be that a child
born with psychological predispositions, who is exposed to environmental factors such
as inconsistent parenting, early emotional or physical abuse, peer rejection, etc. may
develop conduct problems and psychopathic tendencies
-Marshall and Cooke (1999) found that psychopaths were more likely to have
experienced family difficulties such as parental neglect, abuse, or indifference, and were
more likely to report negative school experiences
-David Farrington (2005) did 40-year study of 400 8-10 year olds; found that physical
neglect, poor parental supervision, a disrupted family, a large family size, a convicted
parent, a depressed mother, low father involvement, and poverty predicted psychopathy
scores
What are the neurophysiological factors of psychopathy? - Answers - -Hare proposed
abnormal imbalance between the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain, in language
processing and in emotional or arousal states
-Dysfunction in the frontal lobe; prefrontal damage or defects in frontal lobe processing
-Amygdala may be responsible for frontal lobe dysnfunction; lower amygdala activity
and emotional processing
-Under-aroused cerebral cortex may lead to sensation-seeking; deficiency in reticular
activating system (RAS), which activates the cerebral cortex and keeps it alert
What are four conclusions from research on the autonomic nervous systems of
psychopaths? - Answers - 1. Psychopaths are both autonomically and cortically under-
aroused, under rest conditions and some specific stress conditions. They exhibit low
levels of fear and anxiety
2. Because psychopaths lack the necessary emotional responses, they are deficient in
avoidance learning. If psychopaths do not experience fear and anxiety like the general
population, they do not try to avoid potential negative consequences like pain or prison
because they do not fear them
