Reconceptualising Psychopathy

Abstract

See, stats, and : https : / / www . researchgate. net / publication / 316749532 Reconceptualising Article DOI : 10 . 4172 / 2475 - 319X . 1000120 CITATIONS 0 READS 124 3 , including : Some : Sexual Determining Stephen Swinburne 8 SEE Roslyn Swinburne 15 SEE All . The .AbstractThisworkre-engineerstheoryaboutpsychopathy,byredevelopmentofcoreassumptionsaboutpsychopathy.Inthatredevelopment,theoriginsofcurrenttheoryaretraced,toanalysecriticallythepostCleckleyperiodofconstructdevelopment.Thediscordancesincompetinglinesofexistingtheorybecomeaprecursortotheoreticalinnovation.Thenotionofparadoxicalsuperfunctioning-atopicalfeatureofCleckley'sworkisrecognisedashavingutilityforredefiningtheory.Thisprecedesfundamentalreformulationoftheoryofpsychopathy,wherethefocusisupontheimplicationsofnormallevelsofpsychopathyforadaptivehumanfunctioning.Psychopathyisformulatedasastate-traitconstruct.Theprincipleofdynamismisdeployedtoguideunderstandingofhowstatelevelsofpsychopathymayvarybycontext.TenetsofaState-PsychopathyHypothesisareorganisedwithinassumptionsofevolutionarypsychology.Psychopathyisinterlockedwithinthefunctionsoftheinnatesurvivalandpredatoryinstinctsofaterritorial,humanorganism.Psychopathyisdefinedwithinevolutionarytheory'smodularityofmindframework.Implicationsrecognisethatempathyandpsychopathyco-occuratnormallevelsofbothconstructs.TheDirectionalVectorHypothesisisdevelopedtoreconcilethisexpectedco-occurrence,whichproposesthatthereisadualprocessingcapacityforempathicandpsychopathiccognition.Newtheorythereforepredictsthatempathyandpsychopathyarenotmutuallyexclusive.Psychopathiccognitionfornormalpopulationsisdefinedasoccurringwithinaquarantinedzoneofthemind,asatargetingscannerthatsweepssocio-culturalenvironments,scanningforthreat.Newtheorypredictsthatexperimentallymanipulatingsurvivalthreatshouldimpactpsychopathylevelsfornormalpopulations.