Psychopaths: The Modern Take
Introduction
As a society we are fascinated with human behavior and why people do bad things. There are many factors that go into decision making such as biological and sociological factors. Psychopaths are an interesting population to look at to find out how their brains operate differently that may influence decision making. The topic of psychopathy is ever evolving with technological advances, legal questions, and new data suggesting that psychopaths are not at fault for their crimes because of not knowing the difference between right and wrong. If a diagnosed psychopath can’t control their impulsive actions or don’t understand emotions to the full extent, is it their fault or is it their diseases? Some argue psychopathy is a mental illness that needs better treatment and diagnostic testing while others think it a compulsive personality characteristic where psychopaths know what they were doing and need to be held accountable for their actions. However, it is getting harder and harder to diagnose psychopaths because more and more people have psychopathic tendencies but won’t go on to act on their impulses. The courts are in the middle of the dispute leaning more for harsh punishment because they believe capacities can be weakened but even a slightest ability to demonstrate emotion is enough for the courts to convict.
Who are psychopaths?
Estimates suggest that about 1% of the population meets the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). Psychopaths demonstrate an impressive amount of charm, intelligence, and rational thought combined with poor planning, little insight, and a lack of empathy and remorse (Ramsland, 2011). Psychopathy is characterized as an emotional disorder tightly woven with persistent antisocial behavior. Psychopaths may be intellectually high functioning, and be able to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, but they lack an ability to understand risk. One interesting way to categorize psychopaths is under the notion that psychopathy is not a disorder but rather a successful adaptation to the challenges of life (Mokros, Menner, Eisenbarth, Alpers, Lange, & Osterheider, 2008).
Under this view, psychopathy represents an evolved life strategy that appears in people that are reckless, promiscuous, and emotional coldness as a way to maneuver through life as more of a loner (Mokros, Menner, Eisenbarth, Alpers, Lange, & Osterheider, 2008). This way of life appears to be an evolved sense of life for some individuals. Another argument suggests that psychopathology arises out of a brain deficit and should qualify as a severe mental disorder (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011).
Psychopaths often possess personality characteristics suggesting that they have a difficulty in empathizing with others as well as not being able to use moral reason (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). Current psychopathy theories characterize psychopathy as an enduring emotional disorder (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). Psychopaths lack an important bond with others that is necessary to be held fully culpable and responsible for their behavior. (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). Society cares about intentions when charging criminal culpability so if there is a sense that a psychopath intended to kill a person they are almost always going to convict them. One question we need to be asking is what is the cost of psychopathy having on society?
With the costs of trials, prison sentences, recidivism, and damage to victims and the community, the annual economic burden of psychopaths is in the $250-$400 billion range. In the long run, treatment and intensive research on psychopaths may be very beneficial and cost effective (Ramsland, 2011). One impeding question going forward is whether or not there will be more diagnosed psychopaths as a result of more widespread testing done.
Testing Psychopathology
However, other people that have all of the psychopathic tendencies will not go on to kill anyone like neuroscientist James Fallon. One up and coming form of technology in the research of psychopaths is the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
fMRI has been used as a way to chart real-time functioning in various areas of the brains when employed in various activities. The brains of psychopaths are studied using this type of technology to better understand how psychopaths’ brains operate while performing tasks compared to normal people who perform the same tasks (Harenski, Harenski, Shane, & Kiehl, 2010). Another test used to diagnose psychopathology is positron emission tomography (PET).
A study done using PET scans looked at the brains of murderers to non-murderers. The researcher found deficits in in the brain related to impulsivity, fearlessness, lack of response to aversive stimulation, and processing of emotional information. This is interesting because if a psychopath responds impulsively to stimuli, it leads a rational person to believe they can’t control their actions. Which would lead to one to conclude if they are too impulsive or don’t understand emotions to the full extent is it their fault or is it their diseases?
Another study looked at nonverbal emotional processing between psychopaths and non-psychopaths. It found that psychopaths failed to exhibit the narrowing of memory seen in the control exposed to emotional scenes. This study showed that psychopaths have reduced lateralization so their deficits in emotional processing demonstrates the limited capacity of left hemisphere resources (Kosson, Suchy, Mayer, & Libby, 2002). For example, in the study psychopaths failed to show an increase in brain activation in response to a film designed to show disgust. This is alarming because if they can’t understand the difference between happiness and disgust how can they properly read social situation?
Psychopaths across the study showed less autonomic activity compared with non-psychopaths while viewing sad or fearful faces but not while viewing non-facial threatening stimuli (Kosson, Suchy, Mayer, & Libby, 2002).This could be due to the fact that psychopaths may be characterized by specific difficulties in processing for sadness, fear, and disgust but not a global deficit in nonverbal emotional processing. (Kosson, Suchy, Mayer, & Libby, 2002).
Another study done compared the same populations of non-psychopaths to psychopaths found that non-psychopaths made a clear moral distinction, which could indicate that they made these inferences when evaluating moral pictures but non immoral pictures. Whereas psychopaths had no distinctions between moral and immoral pictures Harenski, Harenski, Shane, & Kiehl, 2010). This is worrisome as if a psychopath can’t recognize this distinction in morals that means they lack the capacity to empathize and understand others.
The future for using more neurological data with the assistance of technology seems to be on the forefront of the insanity defense as well as proving the brain having a bigger role in crime. It will be interesting if the law changes to incorporate psychopaths and instead send them to a psychiatric facility where they can get proper treatment.
Legal Questions
The law has been complicated in dealing with psychopaths and accepting neurosciences explanation for responsibility of a crime with the defense of psychopathology. Kent Kiehl argues that psychopathy is similar to IQ in that is doesn’t change over a lifespan and is a lifelong disorder.
In Graham v. Florida,the court outlawed life without parole for juveniles based upon the early research that juveniles are more impulsive and more impressionable to negative influences than adults (Ramsland, 2011). This case was the first one to use neurological science of adolescents as a factor in their decision. Researchers like Kiehl, argue that psychopaths might be unable to fully appreciate their behavior and as a result have reduced incentive to control
their behavior in a positive way. One legal argument for the defense of a psychopath is that psychopathy is a mental illness (Ramsland, 2011). Defense council likes to bring up the question of if something in their brain caused their criminal behavior, how can they be held accountable? Some of the possible shortcomings of using brain scans in the courtroom is the fact that they are not definitive and does not mean that psychopaths can’t appreciate the wrongfulness of a crime. Another view contests that psychopaths are rational agents who deserve punishment (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011).
According to this view, psychopaths need to be held accountable for their behavior. Substantive criminal law has held that the lack of rationality is the main excuse. Rationality has been understood in the courts as a person that merely possess an understanding of what is meant by lawful conduct and the ability to bring reason on that conduct (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011).
Mental disease which incapacitates an agent’s ability to control his/her conduct is excused because they didn’t willfully commit the act knowing the harm they were about to conflict. However, it is extremely difficult to prove in court that the psychopath was unable to exercise control (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). The physical existence of a brain abnormality often leads to false conclusions that a psychopath’s brain caused the conduct instead of the person himself (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). The defense for psychopaths often results in the insanity defense.
The insanity defense rests on whether the conduct in question was the result of the rational person. There may be a variety of reason as to why people do bad things but many if not all reasons are done from a responsible outlook (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). Psychopaths often view the legal system as a game which risks punishment but sees the excitement and thrill as more important. From this point of view, psychopathy can be viewed as a moral disorder rather than a mental disorder (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011).
The argument that psychopathy rests on a moral reason instead of a mental disorder is interesting in that it defends psychopaths and their way of life. Psychopaths seem happy with their life and in no way view their condition as abnormal or a weakness (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). They don’t see their condition as a disability or distressed about their diagnosis. Lack of moral reasoning can be justified for excusing the severe psychopaths from legal responsibility. However, the courts have never accepted this defense as criminal law does not include those who lack the ability to empathize with others (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). The courts believe that the best reasons can’t be the only reason for committing the act. We are all responsible if we act for reasons other than good moral reasons. Even in the case of severe psychopaths, it is not clear that the capacity for empathy is severed. Capacities can be weakened but even a slightest ability to demonstrate emotion is enough for the courts (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011). The statement that shuts down both the mental disorder and moral reasoning defense is the fact that psychopaths obey norms for the same reason most other people do in society: they understand that the law is put in place to regulate conduct (Erickson & Vitacco, 2011).
Brain Factors
Brain factors are leading the way in neurological defenses in the court room. They are useful in showing jurors the physical abnormalities in the brain compared to a “normal” functioning brain. The defense tries to create the theme that the defendant’s brain committed the crime not them so they should not found culpable. Some affected areas in psychopaths include the orbitofrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as the superior temporal gyrus, amygdala-hippocampal complex (Ramsland, 2011). The amygdala monitors the five senses as well as shares a communication network with the prefrontal cortex. The function of the prefrontal cortex is to detect danger and assessing rewards by assigning values to behaviors and adjusting according to certain stimuli. If the amygdala is dysfunctional, the person can focus on the reward and then can have a distorted sense of emotional value (Ramsland, 2011).
Psychopaths often times have a distorted reality because the amygalda is operating dysfunctional and sends wrong signals to the pre-frontal cortex which results in an impaired ability to respond to the threat of punishment, make moral decisions, and grasp emotion. Kiehl hopes to assistand treat emerging young psychopaths so they can redirect them before they become chronic offender of the criminal justice system (Ramsland, 2011). The brain has been used to find distinctions between criminals and non-criminals. It has also been useful for looking at the development of the brain and onset of criminality. In one study it found that early starters, (which was categorized by the onset of criminal activity by age of 18), showed a long lasting pattern of deviance that was independent of the brain disorder (Grekin, Brennan, Hodgins & Mednick, 2001). This is interesting because the data suggests that youth that start committing crime at an earlier age is caused more by their environmental factors than their brain. In contrast of late starters, (which is categorized by onset at age 19 or after), would show deviant behaviors that began late in life and were more related to their brain disorder (Grekin, Brennan, Hodgins & Mednick, 2001).
Data on late starters suggest that brain abnormalities and mental disorders were major factors in committing a crime later in life compared to early onsetters who committed crimes at a young age. One disease that is closely tied to psychopathy is organic brain syndrome.
There was a study done on 565 men with a history of criminal arrest and a previous hospitalization for organic brain syndrome. There was a comparison group in the study that had a criminal record but not a history of organic brain syndrome. It was found that the participants with organic brain syndrome were significantly more likely than late starters to be arrested before onset of organic brain syndrome (Benson & Stuss,1990). In addition, early onset participants were more likely to show a higher rate of offending before the onset of organic brain syndrome, more likely to recidivate, and were more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.
This study concluded that early onset of organic brain syndrome is a huge liability looking at the future of offending. Organic brain syndrome parallels with psychopathic tendencies because it includes such things as paranoid delusions, morbid jealousy, delusions of infestation (parasitophobia), agoraphobia, or delusional belief of an unpleasant body odor or significant disfigurement (Benson & Stuss,1990). The future of using the brain as a defense in criminal court proceedings seems to be imminent with new data coming out suggesting that psychopathology is a disease causing this population to lose control and not understand their actions.
Another interesting study by Harvard University highlights poor decision making as a more important factor than lack of empathy. Traditionally a lot of research has been focused on why psychopaths act the way they do and how the normal person doesn’t act the same way. However, this research focuses on the bad decisions psychopaths make regardless of their emotions.The study suggests that the brain does a bad job of generating simulations. The researchers focused on a classic psychological pattern called inter-temporal choice (WBUR, 2017). The research team headed by professor Joshua Buckholtz collected their data by a mobile MRI scanner to prions in the Midwest and scanning inmates brains (WBUR, 2017). They made inmates questions based on delayed gratification to see if a small reward right away or big reward given later would be more appealing.
The nucleus accumbens is a lot more reactive in psychopaths when they are asked to make the decision between the either or question posed. This findings suggests that they have a present-focused biased meaning their brain is responsible for choosing what they do. Another researcher Mike Koenig form the University of Wisconsin at Madison
found that the part of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex which is important in looking at how we will feel about something in the future. It is a major component in goal orientating and future decisions. This research humanizes psychopaths because this data points to a down fall in brain connections not at the fault of the psychopath.
Mike Koenig’s study at the UW-Madison supports the theory that a defect or wiring flaw in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex offers explanations as to why psychopaths act.
In this experiment Koenig and psychology professor Joseph Newman conducted a study at a Wisconsin prison with 47 inmates. They made these inmates play 2 economic decision-making games for the chance to win money to use in commissary. The first game called Ultimatum game was where two players were allowed to split $10 if they could agree how to split it and if the responder refused the offer both players ended up with nothing.
A rational player would accept any amount as the alternative meant getting nothing. That is how the normal inmates acted however the players diagnosed with primary psychopathy. They almost always rejected the offers in disgust and with rage.
The next game called the “Dictator Game” was where there was no negotiation in the split of money. Players simply made an offer and the other player had to accept it. The normal players responded with usually an altruistic amount that would benefit themselves more than the other players but the diagnosed primary psychopaths usually kept all of the money for themselves.
Koenig and Newman believe that with the assistance of brain scans it could offer more evidence into the structural abnormalities and faulty brain wiring that is demonstrated by playing games.
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