Psychopathic traits and self-conscious emotions: What is the role of perspective taking ability?

Understanding Social Judgments of and Proclivities to Commit Upskirting

Against a backdrop of legislative change that sees the taking of private sexual images underneath the clothing of a non-consenting other being made a criminal offence - upskirting - there is a need to understand the public's judgments of and motivations to perpetrate said behavior. In this study (N = 490), we investigated whether judgments of upskirting differed as a function of the sex of the person who was upskirted (male, female) and their perceived attractiveness (attractive, unattractive), as well as how variation in voyeuristic interest, belief in a just world, and dark personality traits predicted judgments of and proclivity to engage in upskirting. We consistently observed more lenient judgments of upskirting behavior when the person who was upskirted was attractive and male, with such judgements predicted by older age across all conditions. Moreover, proclivity to engage in upskirting was predicted by past voyeuristic behaviors, higher psychopathic personality, and being male and of older age. We discuss our findings in the context of needing to qualitatively understand the rationale underpinning these judgments, combating barriers to disclose victimization, and practitioner implications.

Psychopathic personality traits stress immunity and social potency moderate the relationship between emotional competence and cognitive functions in depression

Background

Psychopathic personality traits (PPT) and depression have both been shown to worsen emotional and cognitive functions. Moreover, PPT and depression share similar underlying neuronal circuits tapping into the emotional and cognitive domains. However, little is known about the influence of PPT on emotion and cognition in individuals with depression.

Objectives

This study aimed to examine the correlative relationships and moderating role of PPT in the association between emotional competence and cognitive functions in individuals with depression.

Methods

Data from 373 individuals diagnosed with depression (158 males, 215 females) were examined within a cohort study. Subjects filled out validated questionnaires surveying PPT and emotional competences. Furthermore, a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was administered.

Results

Correlation analyses revealed a significant positive association between emotional competence and cognitive functions. Further, negative associations between emotional competence and the PPT "Blame Externalisation" and "Careless Nonplanfulness," as well as positive associations with psychopathic "Social Potency" and "Stress Immunity" were found. Moderation analyses indicated a significant positive influence of psychopathic "Stress Immunity" and "Social Influence" on the relationship between emotional competence and cognitive functions.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the importance of integrating PPT in depression research. Considering PPT in depression treatment could also facilitate the therapeutic process by identifying individual traits as resilience-strengthening or potentially harmful factors for depressive symptomatology. This study represents a stepping stone for further research regarding the role of personality traits in psychiatric disorders and their treatment.

The Characteristics and Benefits of Disclosing Personal Experiences in Prison: A Study of the Writing Paradigm

The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics and benefits of writing about personal experiences in prison. A variation of the classic writing paradigm was proposed to a sample of 93 male inmates in southern Italian prisons. Participants were left to write on any personal experience related to their condition and time in prison in 4 daily sessions. Measures of subjective well-being were collected across the sessions. Transcripts were analyzed through sentiment analysis. Cognitive and executive functioning indices (i.e., general cognitive abilities, working memory capacity, inhibition, and shifting) are included as covariates in our analyses on the evolution of well-being measures. Results showed that participants’ well-being improved across the sessions, independent of the emotional valence of the disclosed experience. This effect was partly modulated by the participant’s measure of working memory capacity. After an initial simplification, narrative productions appeared to increase their length and complexity. Our results support the idea that emotional disclosure in our sample of inmates contributes to social integration. Results encourage the adoption of writing procedures, as they are inexpensive and effective in supporting prisoners’ adjustment to prison life. Supplemental materials are available at https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/ajp/media/a_study_on_the_writing_paradigm/index.htm