Citation

Nentjes L, Bernstein DP, Cima M, Wiers RW. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2017; 52: 35-43.

Affiliation

Addiction, Development, and Psychopathology (ADAPT)-lab, Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.03.006

PMID

28449956

Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between psychopathy and two concepts that hold a central position in conceptualizations of this disorder, being guilt and dominance. Both constructs were measured using explicit measures (i.e., self-report), as well as indirect assessment (i.e., the Single Category Implicit Association Test; Sc-IAT). Our sample consisted of 43 psychopathic offenders, 42 nonpsychopathic offenders, and 26 nonoffender controls. Although no overall group differences emerged, the lifestyle/antisocial traits of psychopathy (Factor 2) predicted reduced self-reported guilt on a dimensional level. As hypothesized, such a relationship was absent for the interpersonal/affective dimension of psychopathy (Factor 1). Psychopathy was unrelated to implicit self-guilt associations. Regarding dominance, psychopathy was not significantly associated with indirectly or explicitly assessed dominance. These findings are interpreted in the light of empirical knowledge on moral emotions, insight and response distortion in highly antisocial offenders.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Dominance; Guilt; Implicit; Indirect assessment; Psychopathy