Psychopathy and instrumental aggression: Evolutionary, neurobiological, and legal perspectives

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Abstract

In the study of aggression, psychopathy represents a disorder that is of particular interest because it often involves aggression which is premeditated, emotionless, and instrumental in nature; this is especially true for more serious types of offenses. Such instrumental aggression is aimed at achieving a goal (e.g., to obtain resources such as money, or to gain status). Unlike the primarily reactive aggression observed in other disorders, psychopaths appear to engage in aggressive acts for the purpose of benefiting themselves. This is especially interesting in light of arguments that psychopathy may represent an alternative life-history strategy that is evolutionarily adaptive; behaviors such as aggression, risk-taking, manipulation, and promiscuous sexual behavior observed in psychopathy may be means by which psychopaths gain advantage over others. Recent neurobiological research supports the idea that abnormalities in brain regions key to emotion and morality may allow psychopaths to pursue such a strategy—psychopaths may not experience the social emotions such as empathy, guilt, and remorse that typically discourage instrumentally aggressive acts, and may even experience pleasure when committing these acts. Findings from brain imaging studies of psychopaths may have important implications for the law.

Introduction

Psychopathy is a disorder involving a pronounced lack of guilt, remorse, and empathy (Hare, 2003). Psychopaths are said to be impervious to the distress of others. They also lack fear of negative consequences of risky or criminal behavior and demonstrate insensitivity to punishment (Patrick, 1994). In addition, psychopaths are often described as superficially charming, glib, manipulative, conning, and grandiose (Cleckley, 1941); they are often able to take advantage of others because they first present as likeable and well-meaning. However, these individuals often display severe aggression and high rates of criminal recidivism (Hare, 2003), making the study of psychopathy an especially important issue for the criminal justice system.

Section snippets

Psychopathy and instrumental aggression

A unique feature of psychopathy is that it is associated with an increased risk for instrumental aggression (Blair, 2007b). Instrumental aggression, also referred to as proactive or predatory aggression, is controlled, purposeful, and used to achieve a desired external goal (e.g., to obtain money or drugs). Injury to others is typically secondary to the acquisition of some other goal. Instrumental aggression tends to be premeditated and is not preceded by a strong emotional reaction. In other

Psychopathy as an evolutionary strategy

Several researchers have explored the idea that psychopathy represents an alternative evolutionary strategy consisting primarily of “cheating” behaviors (Barr and Quinsey, 2004, Crawford and Salmon, 2002, Mealey, 1995, Raine, 1993). In this view, the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral features of psychopaths are seen as specified, organized mechanisms which facilitated a viable reproductive social strategy during human evolutionary history (Crawford & Salmon, 2002). Instrumentally aggressive

The neurobiology of psychopathy

The evolution of moral behavior has shaped the functioning of several neural structures (Moll, de Oliveira-Souza, & Eslinger, 2003). Recent brain imaging studies have begun to explore the neural correlates of moral decision-making (e.g., Greene et al., 2004, Harenski and Hamann, 2006, Moll et al., 2003, Robertson et al., 2007). Many of the structures identified appear to also be associated with psychopathy (Raine & Yang, 2006a). One such area is the prefrontal cortex, specifically the

Implications

Taken together, neurobiological evidence suggests that there are differences in the brains of psychopaths compared to normal individuals, particularly in regions that are important in guiding moral behavior. Reduced functioning in regions important in generating emotions such as fear, guilt, and empathy may mean that psychopaths are undeterred from harming others to gain advantage. At the same time, increased functioning in regions associated with reward may lead psychopaths to take pleasure in

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