4. Why do some people become psychopaths?

Psychopathy: A Very Short Introduction ◽

10.1093/actrade/9780198802266.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 60-81

Author(s):

Essi Viding

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Psychopathic Personality ◽

Developmental Origins ◽

Thought Processes ◽

Genetic Condition ◽

Adoption Studies ◽

Gene Environment ◽

Over Time

What are the developmental origins of the psychopathic mind? Is psychopathy a genetic condition? Or do people become psychopaths because they have been maltreated? Is it inevitable that someone who displays psychopathic features in childhood will become an adult psychopath? ‘Why do some people become psychopaths?’ outlines what we know so far regarding risk factors for psychopathy and how confident we can be of their causality. It first discusses how twin and adoption studies have demonstrated that psychopathic personality traits are moderately to strongly heritable in children and adults and then looks at the gene–environment correlation. It also considers how atypical feeling and thought processes may develop over time.

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Psychopathic Personality Traits, Genetic Risk, and Gene-Environment Correlations

Criminal Justice and Behavior ◽

10.1177/0093854811411153 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (9) ◽

pp. 896-912 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Kevin M. Beaver ◽

J.C. Barnes ◽

Joshua S. May ◽

Joseph A. Schwartz

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Genetic Risk ◽

Criminal Behavior ◽

Genetic Factors ◽

Factor Model ◽

Five Factor Model ◽

Psychopathic Personality ◽

Violent Criminal ◽

Gene Environment ◽

Genetic And Environmental Factors

There is a great deal of evidence indicating that psychopathy and psychopathic traits represent some of the strongest correlates to serious violent criminal behavior. As a result, there has been a recent surge of behavioral genetic studies examining the genetic and environmental factors that may be related to the development of psychopathy. The current study extends this line of research by analyzing a sample of kinship pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to estimate the extent to which genetic factors relate to measures of psychopathic personality traits created from the five factor model. Moreover, the authors also test for a series of gene—environment correlations between genetic risk for psychopathic personality traits and measures of parental negativity. The results of the analyses revealed that genetic factors explained between .37 and .44 of the variance in measures of psychopathy. Additional statistical models indicated the presence of gene—environment correlations between parental negativity and genetic risk for psychopathic personality traits.

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Investment Traits and Intelligence in Adulthood

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000101 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 82-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sophie von Stumm

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Fluid Intelligence ◽

Need For Cognition ◽

Openness To Experience ◽

Intelligence Tests ◽

Crystallized Intelligence ◽

New Knowledge ◽

The Relationship ◽

Over Time

Intelligence-as-knowledge in adulthood is influenced by individual differences in intelligence-as-process (i.e., fluid intelligence) and in personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their intelligence over time. Here, the relationship between two investment traits (i.e., Openness to Experience and Need for Cognition), intelligence-as-process and intelligence-as-knowledge, as assessed by a battery of crystallized intelligence tests and a new knowledge measure, was examined. The results showed that (1) both investment traits were positively associated with intelligence-as-knowledge; (2) this effect was stronger for Openness to Experience than for Need for Cognition; and (3) associations between investment and intelligence-as-knowledge reduced when adjusting for intelligence-as-process but remained mostly significant.

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