Brain Pattern - Scientist or Serial Killer?

We here see the Brain Pattern of a Serial Killer! …No, I mean: We here see the Brain Pattern of a Highly Respected Scientist! (1*)

I found a good little article about new, preliminary findings which confirm – or at least supports – a view that I’ve always been stating plays a role in psychopathy assessment, well, in all human interaction:

Psychopathy: A Rorschach test for psychologists?

* Compassion

* Empathy

* Impulsivity

* Excitement-seeking

What do these personality traits have in common?

If you are high on any or all of them, you may be less likely to rate other people as psychopathic on the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R).

The PCL-R is the most widely used measure of psychopathy in the world. But in real-world forensic settings, scores vary widely depending upon which side retained the evaluator. This finding is called the “partisan allegiance” effect.

In a new twist, these same researchers that brought you partisan allegiance have found that an evaluator’s personality may impact her judgments of psychopathy. Evaluators low on compassion and thrill-seeking as measured by a widely used personality test, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, are more likely than others to rate criminals as psychopathic.

That’s ironic, because according to the theory of psychopathy, it’s supposed to be the psychopath — not the psychologist — who has a deficit in empathy.

The exploratory study, forthcoming in the journal Assessment, was based on a small sample of 22 individuals who were given nine hours of training by a clinical psychologist with substantial research and forensic practice experience with the PCL-R. “The daylong session was an attempt to replicate typical PCL-R training procedures,” the study authors explain.

Now how come I knew this already when I was diagnosed the first time, and yet no one would listen!?…

The researchers emphasize that their findings are preliminary and need to be replicated and extended. But if they hold up, they have intriguing implications not only for the psychopathy measure but also for other psychological tests with elements of subjectivity in scoring or interpretation.

The study did not examine the accuracy of the low versus high scorers. But if low-scoring evaluators are more empathetic, this implies that they may be more accurate in interpersonal assessment contexts.

It’s interesting to notice that they take into account that some evaluators may in fact have high scores on the PCL-R!…

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The video above features a scientist who has come forth about his brain’s somewhat special PET scan pattern: It is the SAME as the scan result of a violent mass murderer.

Just a little something perhaps to ponder!…

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(1*) – Update: The uploaded video has suddenly become unavailable. However, it is still available for viewing here on Youtube.

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