Category: Psychopathy

Psychopaths Are Raised By Parents Who Treat Children Like This (M)

Typical callous-unemotional traits linked to psychopathy include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.

Typical callous-unemotional traits linked to psychopathy include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.

Parents who mistreat their offspring are more likely to raise children with psychopathic traits, research finds.

Both girls and boys who are subject to harsh and negative parenting are at a greater risk of developing callous-unemotional traits, which can develop into psychopathy.

Typical callous-unemotional traits include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.

While the connection is well-known in males, this is one of the first studies to include females.

Ms Bridget Joyner, the study’s first author, said:

“Most studies that have looked at similar associations have not included females in their samples; it’s been strictly males.”

The study included over 4,000 young people whose callous-emotional traits were assessed along with any childhood maltreatment.

The results showed that while both sexes tended to develop callous-emotional traits when treated badly by parents, the link was weaker among females.

Callous-emotional traits are a precursor to psychopathy, which is linked to criminal behaviour.

Professor Kevin Beaver, study co-author, said:

“We know that males tend to respond to adverse experiences in more external ways, through behavior and other visible traits.

Females are more likely to internalize.

That can mean developing things like chronic stress, anxiety and depression.”

Callous-emotional traits are thought to be one way that young people cope with their harsh upbringing, said Ms Joyner:

“The development of these traits is thought to make them more withdrawn and help to protect them from being hurt again.”

If childhood maltreatment could be identified earlier, it may be possible to slow or stop the development of undesirable personality traits, said Ms Joyner:

“It’s important to be able to identify the risk factors that tell us how to look at and treat these individuals and to impede the development of these traits.

And when we can’t impede them then we need to treat them for it so the pattern isn’t repeated.”

The study was published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect (Joyner & Beaver, 2021).

The Type of People Most Likely To Be Manipulative, Self-Admiring Psychopaths (M)

The type of people most likely to be psychopaths, narcissists and manipulators.

The type of people most likely to be psychopaths, narcissists and manipulators.

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Psychopaths’ Fearless Dominance Is In Their Eyes

The eyes of psychopaths reveal their fearless dominance by not reacting to distressing images.

The eyes of psychopaths reveal their fearless dominance by not reacting to distressing images.

The pupils of psychopaths do not respond normally to distressing images or scenes, research reveals.

The pupils — the dark part of the eye in the centre — usually get bigger when people look at nasty images or something revolting.

Psychopaths, who display fearless dominance, do not show this response.

The reason is that strongly psychopathic individuals have little or no fear response, explained Dr Dan Burley, the study’s author:

“Our findings provide physical evidence of an emotional deficit common to psychopathic offenders.

The pupil has long been known to be an indicator of a person’s arousal.

Card sharks have learnt to look carefully at the eyes of their opponents to gauge if they have a great hand, and many an astute salesperson knows to up their price if your eyes reveal your excitement at their product.

Likewise, the pupil usually dilates when an image shocks or scares us.

The fact that this normal physiological response to threat is reduced in psychopathic offenders provides us with an obvious physical marker for this condition.”

Psychopaths fearless dominance

The conclusions come from a study of offenders, some of whom were psychopaths.

The results showed that psychopaths reacted normally to cute images of puppies and couples, but not to distressing images.

This suggests psychopaths do respond to emotions — just not all of them.

Professor Nicola Gray, who was involved with the project, said:

“This is one of the first times we have objective, physiological, evidence of an emotional deficit underpinning the offending behaviour of psychopathic offenders that does not depend on invasive methods or expensive equipment.

We hope to be able to develop this methodology to assist with clinical assessment and intervention in offender populations.”

Professor Robert Snowden, who supervised the research, said:

“Many psychopathic offenders appear to be bold, confident, and can act in cold-blooded manner.

It’s much easier to act bold if you have no feelings of fear, and to be cold-blooded if there is no emotion to get in the way of the act.”

The study was published by Cardiff University (Burley et al., 2017).

Even Borderline Psychopaths Have Abnormal Brains (M)

Around one-in-a-hundred people has psychopathic traits so strong that it can lead to criminal behaviour.

Around one-in-a-hundred people has psychopathic traits so strong that it can lead to criminal behaviour.

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The Reason Companies Choose Psychopathic Managers (M)

The reason companies sometimes ignore people with better qualifications in favour of psychopaths.

The reason companies sometimes ignore people with better qualifications in favour of psychopaths.

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This Personality Trait Signals A ‘Successful’ Psychopath (M)

Usually, psychopaths are easily upset, impulsive and have complete disregard for other people’s feelings.

Usually, psychopaths are easily upset, impulsive and have complete disregard for other people's feelings.

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