Abstract
Startle-elicited blinks were measured during presentation of affective slides to test hypotheses concerning emotional responding in psychopaths. Subjects were 54 incarcerated sexual offenders divided into nonpsychopathic, psychopathic, and mixed groups based on file and interview data. Consistent with findings for normal college students, nonpsychopaths and mixed subjects showed a significant linear relationship between slide valence and startle magnitude, with startle responses largest during unpleasant slides and smallest during pleasant slides. This effect was absent in psychopaths. Group differences in startle modulation were related to affective features of psychopathy, but not to antisocial behavior per se. Psychopathy had no effect on autonomic or self-report responses to slides. These results suggest an abnormality in the processing of emotional stimuli by psychopaths that manifests itself independently of affective report.
Keywords
PsychologyPsychopathyMoro reflexValence (chemistry)AbnormalityStartle responseDevelopmental psychologyAudiologyReflexPersonalityNeuroscienceSocial psychology
MeSH Terms
AdultAffective SymptomsAntisocial Personality DisorderArousalDefense MechanismsHumansMalePersonality AssessmentReflexStartleSex OffensesSocialization
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
A test–retest reliability study of child-reported psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA-C)
SYNOPSIS Seventy-seven 10–18-year-old psychiatric in-patients and out-patients took part in a test-retest study of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA). They w...
Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis
Content analysis is a widely used qualitative research technique. Rather than being a single method, current applications of content analysis show three distinct approaches: con...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1993
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 82-92
- Citations
- 742
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
742
OpenAlex
42
Influential
585
CrossRef
Cite This
Christopher J. Patrick,
Margaret M. Bradley,
Peter J. Lang
(1993).
Emotion in the criminal psychopath: Startle reflex modulation..
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
, 102
(1)
, 82-92.
https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-843x.102.1.82
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1037//0021-843x.102.1.82
- PMID
- 8436703