Psychopathy, startle blink modulation, and electrodermal reactivity in twin men.

Full Abstract

Psychopathy is a personality disorder with interpersonal-emotional and antisocial deviance facets. This study investigated these facets of psychopathy prospectively using normal-range personality traits in a community sample of young adult men who completed a picture-viewing task that included startle blink and skin conductance measures, like tasks used to study psychopathy in incarcerated men. Consistent with prior research, scores on the interpersonal-emotional facet of psychopathy ("fearless dominance") were associated with deficient fear-potentiated startle. Conversely, scores on the social deviance facet of psychopathy ("impulsive antisociality") were associated with smaller overall skin conductance magnitudes. Participants high in fearless dominance also exhibited deficient skin conductance magnitudes specifically to aversive pictures. Findings encourage further investigation of psychopathy and its etiology in community samples.

Author information

Author/s: Benning, Stephen D (SD); Patrick, Christopher J (CJ); Iacono, William G (WG);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. benn0224(-atsign-)umn.edu

Grants: MH17069 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH48657 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH52384 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH65137 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; P50 MH052384-060013 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; P50 MH052384-070013 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; P50 MH052384-080013 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; P50 MH052384-090013 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; P50 MH052384-100013 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R21 MH065137-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R21 MH065137-02 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R21 MH065137-03 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R21 MH065137-04 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R21 MH065137-05 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Twin Study

Journal: Psychophysiology (Psychophysiology), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Nov; vol 42 (issue 6) : pp 753-62

Dates: Created 2005/12/20; Completed 2006/03/07; Revised 2008/11/20;

PMID: 16364071, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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