by Michael D. Anestis, M.S.
As Joye and I continue to work our way through Season 3 of Dexter, I find myself eager to write about psychopathy. The character of Dexter, after all, is probably the best current fictional representation of a psychopath on television. In earlier articles, Joye has summarized both the definition and treatment of psychopathy and I recommend reading those articles before continuing on with today's post, but for those of you not inclined to do so, I will provide a brief definition myself.
You may often hear psychopaths referred to as "sociopaths." This,
however, is a misstatement, as the term "sociopath" has not been used
by those who study the phenomenon for over thirty years. According to Hervey Cleckley (1941/1988), author of The Mask of Sanity
, psychopaths exhibit callous and unemotional traits, are superficially charming and highly self-centered, and appear to the world at large to be emotionally healthy. In other words, psychopaths do not experience fear, empathy, or remorse, but they are experts at convincing you that they do. They use their own lack of emotion as an asset in manipulating the emotions of others for their own gain. Because they seek stimulation and do not fear consequences, they often engage in antisocial behaviors and ultimately end up incarcerated. Some psychopaths, however, are theorized to harness these traits and use them to become successful in fields that value competitiveness, fearlessness, and stimulation seeking (e.g., surgeons, businessmen, special ops personnel) and are referred to as successful psychopaths.
In addition to the psychological variables mentioned above, psychopaths have been theorized to demonstrate physiological differences from non-psychopathic individuals. Specifically, psychopaths are believed to exhibit lower psychophysiological arousal and less responsiveness to external stimuli. Research studies have demonstrated that adult psychopaths exhibit lower resting levels of electrodermal activity, reduced skin conductance (SC) orienting, and a longer SC half-recovery time (Dawson, Schell, & Filion, 1990; Lorber, 2004; Mednick, 1977). The latter two of those findings indicate that psychopaths allocate less attention to external stimuli and pay little attention to threat cues. In other words, they are driven by their own desires and are not dissuaded from those pursuits by potentially harmful consequences (which is not to say that they act without thinking).
A substantial amount of attention has been paid to adult psychopathy, with researchers and clinicians alike working hard to understand individuals who lack many of the very emotions that seem to make us human. Some theorize that psychopathy is a result of trauma during the course of an individual's life while others argue that the psychological and physiological components of psychopathy are likely inherited and highly evident early in life. Unfortunately, very little research has been conducted that is capable of answering this particular question and, as such, we are in large part left to guess to what degree psychopaths experienced life in such a foreign manner when they were very young. In a study published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Andrea Glenn, Adrian Raine, Sarnoff Mednick and, Peter Venables (2007) made an effort to fill this gap.
The study by Glenn et al. (2007) remarkably involves a 25 year follow-up. A sample of 1,795 3-year old children were recruited between September 1972 and August 1973 from an island in the Indian Ocean to partake in a study that measured a variety of personality and psychophysiological variables that I will explain momentarily. From that sample, 335 individuals took part in a quick study involving self-report measures 25 years later at the age of 28. In other words, the authors were able to look at whether 28 year old individuals with high levels of psychopathy were different from non-psychopathic individuals at age 3, thereby providing insight into the degree to which psychopathy is detectable at a young age. It is difficult to conduct a study with a two week follow-up period, so a study with a follow-up appointment a quarter century after the initial data collection represents quite a feat.
At age 3, the participants were fitted with an instrument capable of measuring skin conductance and a trained experimenter rated a variety of personality characteristics based upon the child's interactions with the experimenter and response to various tests. At age 28, the participants then filled out a questionnaire designed to measure the degree to which they exhibited characteristics of psychopathy. Glenn and colleagues (2007) anticipated that the 28 year old individuals with high levels of psychopathy will have been rated as less fearful and inhibited and more sensation seeking and sociable at age 3 than would 28 year old individuals with low levels of psychopathy. Similarly, the authors hypothesized that 28 year old individuals with high levels of psychopathy will have demonstrated lower autonomic arousal, reduced orienting responses, reduced responding to aversive stimuli, and a longer SC half-recovery time at age 3 relative to 28 year old individuals low in psychopathy.
The results of the study were mixed, with psychological variables conforming to expectations and physiological variables providing less consistent findings. As expected, 28 year old individuals with higher levels of psychopathy had been rated as less fearful and inhibited and more sociable at age 3 than were 28 year old individuals with low levels of psychopathy. Although findings for sensation seeking were non-significant, they approached significance. This, quite frankly, is fairly amazing. The manner in which a 3 year old child interacted with an experimenter and responded to a variety of tests was predictive of the degree to which they would exhibit psychopathic personality characteristics a quarter century later. Quite clearly, this provides support for the notion that the emotional deficits and behavioral tendencies of psychopaths are likely determined at a very early age rather than resulting from some traumatic experience and subsequent reduction in emotional reactivity.
The physiological findings were much less clear cut. There was no mean difference between higher scoring psychopathy individuals and lower scoring psychopathy individuals on age 3 resting heart rate. Additionally, individuals with higher levels of psychopathy had more nonspecific SC responses at age 3, showed greater SC orienting responses at age 3, and demonstrated a longer SC half-recovery time at age 3. That final result was consistent with hypotheses, but earlier ones were not and, in fact, the SC orienting response finding ran counter to the literature on adult and adolescent psychopathy.
These results can be interpreted in a number of ways, but it is important to remember that this is the first study to examine this specific topic and that further independent replications of these findings are needed before we can conclusively answer any questions. That being said, these findings provide strong evidence that the psychological components of psychopathy can be detected at a very early age. This does not mean that every child that shows a lack of fearfulness will grow to become a psychopath; after all, the individuals in this study simply exhibited elevated symptoms of psychopathy and were not necessarily full fledged psychopaths. Instead, these findings indicate that low fearfulness in a 3 year old increases the likelihood that that child will exhibit signs of psychopathy later in life. The physiological findings could mean one of several things. First, it might be that the physiological symptoms of psychopathy simply are not detectable by age 3. Alternatively, the physiological symptoms at age 3 might simply look different.
Glenn and colleagues (2007) concluded their article by mentioning the utility of future work in this area. Their study provided us with a basic foundation - something to work with as we move forward - but more work with samples that include individuals who actually fit the criteria for psychopathy will help us to better understand this phenomenon.
In the meantime, I hope you will share your thoughts on the idea of psychopaths and how individuals end up experiencing life without emotion. How do you think a lack of fear and a need for stimulation might change the potential value of certain experiences and behaviors for individuals? Why do you think psychopaths are often so charming and appear so healthy? Remember, as you see fictional depictions of psychopaths, you will frequently be bombarded with misinformation (even Dexter, sadly, does this at times), so be careful to know where the information you see and hear is coming from and how those individuals arrived at their conclusions. And again, when you hear the word "sociopath," think of me and Joye and know we are gritting our teeth.
If you would like to learn more about psychopathy, we recommend the following resources, all of which are available through our online store:
- The Mask of Sanity
by Hervey Cleckley
- Handbook of Psychopathy
by Chris Patrick
- Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us
by Robert Hare
Mike Anestis is a doctoral candidate in the clinical psychology department at Florida State University
Subscribe in a reader
