Social cognition in psychopaths: Recent scientific findings

Abstract

Psychopaths have personality traits related to the failure to feel remorse and greater social dominance, which are often expressed in their manipulation of others. Current studies have suggested that psychopaths may have deficiencies in processing emotional stimuli in situations of social interaction. The objective of this study is to conduct a literature review and discuss recent research on this topic. Based on the studies reviewed, it can be said that new considerations are important since the type of social cognition impairment in psychopaths is not commonly addressed in the literature. It is suggested the use of different methods to evaluate the ability of psychopaths to identify emotions that can be investigated in addition to identifying the measure of interpersonal strategies. Overall, the present study proposes a reflection upon a disorder whose etiology should be understood from a biopsychosocial perspective, contributing to new directions in research on social cognition in psychopaths.