1
|
Velotti P, Bruno S, Rogier G, Beomonte Zobel S, Vacchino M, Garofalo C, Kosson DS. Psychopathy and Impairments in Emotion Regulation: A systematic review and Meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 2024; 113:102482. [PMID: 39173573 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2024] [Accepted: 08/12/2024] [Indexed: 08/24/2024]
Abstract
Considering the sparse but rapidly growing literature concerning the relationship between psychopathy and emotion regulation, taking stock of accumulating knowledge in a systematic review and meta-analysis of the existing results is needed. We performed a systematic search (up to May 30, 2024) following PRISMA guidelines of five scientific databases (PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science). Also, gray literature was searched. After removing the duplicates, a total of 8.786 records were screened, and 73 articles were selected based on the inclusion criteria used for systematic review. The meta-analytic procedure was performed on 55 identified studies consistent with the criteria adopted, which overall comprised 29.856 individuals. The current systematic and meta-analysis review has clarified the association between impairments of emotional regulation abilities and facets of psychopathy. More specifically, analyses indicated that emotional dysregulation is associated with overall levels of psychopathic traits, as well as with both the lifestyle and affective components of psychopathy, which suggests the utility of assessing these features when designing interventions focused on modulating negative emotional states and enhancing regulation of impulsive behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patrizia Velotti
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
| | - Serena Bruno
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - Guyonne Rogier
- Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Italy
| | - Sara Beomonte Zobel
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | | | - Carlo Garofalo
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Italy
| | - David S Kosson
- Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Snowden RJ, Mitchell E, Ojo SK, Preedy-Lunt R, Gray NS. Spatial Attention to Emotional Images and Psychopathic Personality Traits. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10862-022-10012-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
AbstractPsychopathy has often been thought to be associated with a deficit in processing of the affective content of stimuli. This hypothesis was tested by examining if stimuli that depicted a threat to the viewer, or stimuli that depicted distressing scenes, would produce an automatic shift in spatial attention, and whether this effect would be modified by individual differences in trait psychopathy as conceptualised by the triarchic model of psychopathy. Using a large mixed gender community sample (N = 286) it was found that spatial attention was averted away from threat stimuli for both short (200 ms) and long (500 ms) periods from cue to target, while the distress cues did not produce any spatial attention shifts. The trait of Meanness was found to be associated with a reduction in the effect of threat stimuli, while the trait of Disinhibition was found to be associated with an increase in this threat effect. However, the dot-probe task showed poor reliability. We conclude that the callous unemotional aspects of psychopathy, as captured by the Meanness scale, are underpinned by a lack of response to affective information, whereas impulsive/irresponsible traits of psychopathy, as captured by the Disinhibition scale, are underpinned by an exaggerated response to such affective information.
Collapse
|
3
|
Zajenkowska AM, Bodecka M, Duda E, Lawrence C. Reduced attention toward faces, intentionality and blame ascription in violent offenders and community-based adults: Evidence from an eye-tracking study. Aggress Behav 2022; 48:264-274. [PMID: 35037709 DOI: 10.1002/ab.22018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
People typically have a strong bias in attention toward faces to help them understand social interactions. Nonetheless some people, like incarcerated offenders and psychopaths, exhibit deficits in "face reading," which may impair their interpretations, especially in case of attribution allocation in harmful events. In these cases, the ascription of intentionality is key in understanding the allocation of blame and structuring social information processing. Consequently, in the current study, in addition to typically studied intentionality and blame ascription levels (subfactors of hostile attributions), we also propose a new indicator of hostile attributions: intentionality/blame isomorphism, indicating reduced differentiation between those two factors. Violent prison inmates (N = 63) and community-based adults without previous history of incarceration (N = 63) took part in an eye-tracking study. In line with our hypotheses, offenders exhibited reduced attention orienting to faces as well as greater intentionality/blame isomorphism. In the case of both groups, people looked longer at the faces of the harm doer compared with the harm receiver. Additionally, greater intentionality/blame isomorphism predicted reduced attention to faces; however, when group status was included in the model, it became the only significant predictor of the attention to faces. Future studies should examine the origins of these gaze and attribution patterns and investigate consequences related to social perception and interactions of people prone to violence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Marta Bodecka
- Institute of Psychology Maria Grzegorzewska University Warszawa Poland
| | - Ewa Duda
- Institute of Education Maria Grzegorzewska University Warszawa Poland
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Carroll GA, Montrose VT, Burke T. Correlates of Social Cognition and Psychopathic Traits in a Community-Based Sample of Males. Front Psychol 2021; 12:656299. [PMID: 33995215 PMCID: PMC8120153 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social cognition is the ability to identify, understand, and interpret mental states and emotions. Psychopathic traits are typically described in two ways; Primary: shallow affect, emotional detachment, and relationship difficulties, and Secondary Psychopathic Traits: antisocial traits, impulsiveness, and emotional dysregulation. People with high psychopathic traits tend to perform lower on measures of social cognition. This study investigated the relationship of social cognition (mentalising) to primary and secondary psychopathic traits in a non-clinical sample, and investigated the psychometric properties of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) Short Forms (A and B). A community-based male sample (N = 1,000; age range 18-78) was recruited through an online platform. Psychopathic traits were measured using Levenson, Kiehl, and Fitzpatrick's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and stratified into Primary and Secondary Psychopathic traits. Secondary validation of the RMET Short Forms was completed investigating scale reliability, and validity. Findings suggest excellent psychometrics in a large community cohort for the RMET Short Forms (A and B), with significant negative correlations on social cognitive performance and high self-report psychopathy. The item valence within the social cognitive measure (positive, negative, and neutral affect stimuli) was also examined, and correlated significantly with both Primary and Secondary Psychopathic traits. This study provides further validation of the RMET Short Forms (A and B), and adds to the literature on the scale by investigating performance on short-form specific valence. This study further suggests that in a non-clinical community sample of males, that higher psychopathic traits correlated significantly, and negatively, with social cognitive performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Grace A Carroll
- School of Psychology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | | | - Tom Burke
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.,School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Sadek SA, Daniel MR, Langdon PE. Attentional bias toward negative and positive pictorial stimuli and its relationship with distorted cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning among men with intellectual disabilities who have committed crimes. Aggress Behav 2021; 47:120-130. [PMID: 32557634 DOI: 10.1002/ab.21908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 05/25/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The aims of this study were to examine: (a) whether men with intellectual disabilities who have a history of criminal offending attend to affective pictorial stimuli in a biased manner, and (b) whether there is a relationship between an affective attentional bias and offense-supportive cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Forty-six men with intellectual disabilities who had a documented history of criminal offending, and 51 men who also had intellectual disabilities, but no such history, were recruited and asked to complete a computer-based dot-probe task using affective pictorial stimuli with randomization, along with measures of distorted cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Those with a history of criminal offending endorsed significantly more offense-supportive cognitions, had significantly lower general empathy, and more "mature" moral reasoning, as well as a significant attentional bias toward affective pictorial stimuli. Attentional bias significantly predicted offense-supportive cognitions, and vice versa, having controlled for offense history, and Full-Scale IQ, but this was not the case for empathy or moral reasoning. While the findings require replication, interventions that aim to modify attention bias with this population should be tested.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan A. Sadek
- School of Psychology and Sport Science Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge UK
- Learning Disability Mortality Review Programme Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group Cambridge UK
| | | | - Peter E. Langdon
- Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) University of Warwick Coventry UK
- Brooklands Hospital, Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust Coventry UK
- Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust Worcester UK
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Kimonis ER, Graham N, Cauffman E. Aggressive Male Juvenile Offenders with Callous-Unemotional Traits Show Aberrant Attentional Orienting to Distress Cues. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 46:519-527. [PMID: 28374219 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-017-0295-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Antisocial youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits exhibit a pattern of severe and persistent conduct problems and deficits in emotional processing that parallels adults with psychopathy. Aberrant emotional attention, particularly among individuals high on aggression, constitutes one such deficit; however, its robustness across race/ethnicity requires further investigation given findings that the psychopathy construct manifests differently across race (Sullivan and Kosson 2006), and emotional attention is susceptible to the influence of adverse environmental factors such as violence exposure that is more common among ethnic minority youth (Kimonis et al. in Development and Psychopathology, 20, 569-589, 2008b). Also, the development of a comprehensive measure of CU traits, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), has identified specific CU dimensions (Uncaring, Callous, Unemotional) that are yet to be investigated in relation to emotional attention deficits. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine whether aggressive boys high on total CU traits and specific ICU dimensions show deficits in attentional orienting to negative stimuli on a dot-probe task that are consistent across race/ethnicity. Results from a predominately Latino sample of incarcerated male adolescents (N = 156) showed that aggression moderated the association between CU traits and facilitation to distress stimuli. That is, aggressive boys high on CU traits or the Uncaring dimension showed deficient attentional orienting; a finding that was consistent across racial/ethnic minority groups. Results are consistent with prior research suggesting that the combination of high CU traits and aggression defines a unique subgroup of antisocial individuals that more closely fits with the construct of psychopathy than the presence of CU traits alone.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva R Kimonis
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
| | - Nicole Graham
- City University of New York - John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA
| | - Elizabeth Cauffman
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Vitale J, Kosson DS, Resch Z, Newman JP. Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs on an Affective Lexical Decision Task: Implications for the Affect Regulation Theory of Psychopathy. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10862-018-9652-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
8
|
Puls S, Rothermund K. Attending to emotional expressions: no evidence for automatic capture in the dot-probe task. Cogn Emot 2017; 32:450-463. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2017.1314932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Swantje Puls
- Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Klaus Rothermund
- Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| |
Collapse
|