Passive avoidance learning in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

Research on passive avoidance learning has demonstrated reliable differences between psychopaths and controls when avoidance errors result in electric shock but not in loss of money. Using monetary punishments, J. P. Newman et al (see record 1985-22847-001) found that psychopathic delinquents performed more poorly than controls in an experimental paradigm employing monetary reward as well as the avoidance contingency. The present study was conducted to replicate and extend these findings using adult psychopaths and a computer controlled task. 60 White male prisoners (mean age approximately 25 yrs) were assigned to psychopathic or nonpsychopathic groups using R. D. Hare's psychopathy checklist and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). Ss were administered a "go/no-go" discrimination task involving monetary incentives. One condition entailed competing reward and punishment contingencies; the other, 2 punishment contingencies. As predicted, psychopaths made significantly more passive avoidance errors than nonpsychopaths when the task contained competing goals but performed as well as controls when the Ss' only goal was avoiding punishment. Results corroborate earlier findings that psychopaths are relatively poor at learning to inhibit reward-seeking behavior that results in monetary punishment. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delay of gratification in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

Delay of gratification is a prototypical measure of self-control that merits systematic investigation in psychopaths. White male prisoners were provided with repeated opportunities to select an immediate response with uncertain reward or a delayed response with a higher rate of reward under 1 of 3 incentive conditions. Psychopaths' performance depended on their level of trait anxiety and incentive condition: Whereas low-anxious psychopaths were relatively unwilling to delay when omission of expected rewards also incurred monetary punishments, they displayed relative superior performance when the task involved rewards only. Findings complement those for passive avoidance learning in psychopaths and suggest that inhibitory self-control in low-anxious psychopaths is somewhat impaired under conditions involving a combination of monetary rewards and punishments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style in clinically depressed and conduct disordered adolescents.

We tested the reformulated learned helplessness theory of depression with adolescent inpatients (N?=?63) who were diagnosed by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria as depressed, or conduct disordered, or both. Adolescents with major depression diagnoses differed from nondepressed adolescents with significantly lower attributional style scores for positive events. The study also evaluated the relation of self-reported depression, anxiety, and social maladjustment to attributional style. Subjects who reported more severe depression had a significantly lower composite score for internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events. The composite of internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events was not significantly related to either diagnosed or self-reported depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and drug abuse-dependence disorders in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic criminal offenders.

Co-occurrence of psychopathy (assessed with the Revised Psychopathy Checklist [R. D. Hare, 1985]) and lifetime Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) alcohol and drug disorders (assessed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule; National Institute of Mental Health) was examined in a sample of 360 male inmates. Consistent with previous research that used diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder, psychopaths were more likely than nonpsychopaths to have lifetime diagnoses of alcoholism, any drug disorder, and multiple drug disorder. The relation between substance abuse and the 2 factors of the Revised Psychopathy Checklist was also examined. Substance abuse was significantly related to general social deviance (Factor 2) but was unrelated to core personality features of psychopathy (Factor 1). Two possible models of psychopathy (unitary syndrome vs dual-diathesis model) are presented that may account for the association between psychopathy and substance abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Probability of punishment and suppression of behavior in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

To investigate the hypothesis that psychopathic offenders would show less suppression of behavior as a function of punishment at varying levels of probability, 3 groups of Ss were selected. 50 criminal offenders were divided into 2 groups of psychopathic (mean age 31.5 yrs) and nonpsychopathic (mean age 30.7 yrs) offenders based on clinical ratings. A 3rd group of 25 nonoffenders (mean age 28.9 yrs) was also used. A probability-learning card game was developed that consisted of 10 different levels of punishment probability, with the punishment based on the response-cost technique of removing reinforcers (i.e., chips redeemable for money). A measure of suppression was obtained from the reduction of Ss' response rates. Results show psychopathic offenders to produce the least suppression and the lowest winnings, with these findings attributed to the psychopaths being least responsive when the probability of punishment was most uncertain. Results are best explained in terms of cognitive factors, with the element of magical or superstitious logic proposed as a major pathognomic characteristic of psychopathy. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reports of stress: a comparison between eating disordered and non-eating disordered adolescents

This study utilizes a unique method to examine reports of stressful life events provided by eating disordered and non-eating disordered adolescents. Subjects (all females) participated in a standardized procedure to obtain reports of stressful life events. The Life Events and Coping Inventory (LECI) was used to categorize reported stressors. Eating disorder subjects discussed more stressors than non-eating disorder subjects only when eating disorder events were included. Furthermore, eating disorder subjects reported more events that could not be classified within the LECI and were rated as non-normative. The findings point to the importance of qualitative rather than purely quantitative approaches to stressful life events assessment with adolescents.     

Psychiatric hospitalization of adolescents for conduct disorder

OBJECTIVE: The authors' goal was to review current published literature on the psychiatric hospitalization of adolescents with a diagnosis of conduct disorder. METHODS: The English-language literature from 1980 to 1991 cited in the MEDLINE database was searched using the key words conduct disorder, adolescent psychiatric hospitalization, psychiatric hospitalization criteria, adolescent psychiatric inpatient hospitalization, and adolescent psychiatric admissions. RESULTS: A diagnosis of conduct disorder or presenting symptoms and behaviors consistent with that diagnosis are commonly reported for adolescent psychiatric admissions. Estimates of the percentage of admissions to psychiatric inpatient treatment facilities of adolescents with conduct disorder or symptoms consistent with that disorder range from 30 to 70 percent. There are no research-based criteria for hospitalization of adolescents for conduct disorder, and systematic studies of the outcome of psychiatric hospitalization for this group have not been published. Comorbid psychiatric diagnoses and similar behavioral symptoms in conduct disorder and comorbid disorders complicate inpatient treatment of adolescents with conduct disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Studies of the outcome of psychiatric hospitalization of adolescents for conduct disorder are needed to determine the appropriate use of this modality.     

A comparison of MMPI--2 measures of psychopathic deviance in a forensic setting.

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI--2) measures of psychopathy, including the Clinical Scale 4, Restructured Clinical Scale 4 (RC4), Content Scale Antisocial Practices (ASP), and Personality Psychopathology Five Scale Disconstraint (DISC). Comparisons of the empirical correlates of these scales were conducted with 2 samples of participants evaluated at a criminal court clinic. The 2 samples included 59 men and 19 women and 913 men and 327 women, respectively. Two types of criteria (clinician ratings and archival record review) were utilized in the analyses. Relative to Clinical Scale 4, RC4 had significantly greater convergent validity in predicting psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist--Screening Version (S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995) and behavioral criteria associated with this construct. RC4 also showed substantially improved discriminant validity when compared with its Clinical Scale counterpart. Among all the MMPI-2 scales studied, RC4 was the best measure of the social deviance traits of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI-A and Rorschach indices related to depression and conduct disorder: an evaluation of the incremental validity hypothesis

This investigation extends the earlier research by Archer and Gordon (1988) by examining the extent to which combining indices from the newly released MMPI-A and the revised Rorschach Comprehensive System furnishes incremental validity in terms of improved diagnostic prediction. The predictive accuracy of selected MMPI-A and Rorschach variables conceptually related to diagnoses of depression and conduct disorder were compared in a clinical sample of 152 adolescents. Results of multivariate analyses of variance revealed some significant differences between diagnostic groups on several MMPI-A scales, and 1 significant difference on the Rorschach involving the Vista variable. Stepwise discriminant function analyses resulted in 2 MMPI-A scales and 2 Rorschach variables that collectively accounted for a small proportion of variance in the diagnosis of depression, and 3 MMPI-A scales that accounted for a significant component of variance in the conduct disorder diagnosis. Classification accuracy results indicated that the hit rate for depression diagnosis did not improve using an optimal linear combination of the 4 variables over the rates produced by the single use of either the MMPI-A Depression content scale (A-DEP) or Scale 2. For the conduct disorder diagnosis, the optimal linear combination of MMPI-A Conduct Problems (A-CON), Cynicism (A-CYN), and Immaturity (IMM) scales served as the best predictor, and no Rorschach variables contributed significantly to classification accuracy. Our results replicated the findings of Archer and Gordon (1988) in indicating that the combined use of MMPI-A and Rorschach variables does not appear to produce incremental increases in accuracy of diagnostic classification.     

Varieties of "disordered" thinking on the Rorschach: Findings in schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients.

Assessed 71 schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic hospitalized patients on 3 scales for aspects indicative of a thinking disorder on the Rorschach: disruption of logical thought, irrelevant or personalized associations, and elaboration in affective terms. Each scale could be reliably scored according to the criteria described. The scales correlated significantly with other Rorschach scores suggestive of thought disorder. All 3 scales were significantly higher in schizophrenic Ss than in depressed Ss (p     

Suicide notes of adolescents: A life-span comparison.

Utilizing suicide notes as the data source, this study begins to explore some psychological dimensions in adolescent suicide and to identify the differences and similarities of suicide across the life span. 80 notes, representing 4 developmental ages (i.e., adolescents, young adults, middle adults, old adults) were analyzed for specific protocols on 8 categories (i.e., unbearable pain, cognitive constriction, indirect expressions, inability to adjust, ego, interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression, and identification-egression). Despite similarities, the results identify that the suicide of teens may be more highly related to cognitive constriction, indirect expressions, rejection-aggression, and identification-egression, than other age groups. Further research beyond the suicides' own narratives (e.g., third-party interviews, study of attempters) is needed to replicate and extend the current findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A conceptual critique of the EA:es comparison in the Comprehensive Rorschach System.

Despite its empirical and normative strengths, the underlying conceptual base of the Comprehensive Rorschach System at times lacks clarity and an overarching theory of personality that can help psychodiagnosticians make more clinically relevant inferences. After reviewing the functions provided by an integral theory of personality, the author focuses on the Experience Actual:Experienced Stimulation (EA:es) index as a way of demonstrating how mechanistic jargon and lack of a guiding theory and conceptual clarity can lead to misleading and contradictory inferences. Case examples are provided, and some of the empirical foundations of the EA:es index are reviewed. The author concludes by offering recommendations on ways in which the Comprehensive System can become more sensitive in its appearance to capturing the complexities of personality functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The first stage of treatment with the conduct disordered adolescent: Overcoming narcissistic resistance.

Presents an approach to treating the conduct-disordered adolescent (CDA) that emphasizes confronting the patient's narcissistic resistance in the early treatment stage. For CDAs, their parents have served neither as ideals for them nor as checks on their natural narcissism, and CDAs remain dominated by self-love. CDAs deny differences between adults and children; the therapist must challenge this denial of differences through a narcissistic injury. For the therapist to present himself or herself as superior to the patient and also as someone the patient can hope to emulate, there are 3 steps: identifying with the patient, challenging the patient's infantile grandiosity, and responding to the patient's anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treating children with early-onset conduct problems: A comparison of child and parent training interventions.

Families of 97 children with early-onset conduct problems, 4–8 yrs old, were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: a parent training treatment group (PT), a child training group (CT), a combined child and parent training group (CT?+?PT), or a waiting-list control group (CON). Posttreatment assessments indicated that all 3 conditions had resulted in significant improvements in comparison with controls. Comparisons of the 3 treatment conditions indicated that CT and CT?+?PT children showed significant improvements in problem solving as well as conflict management skills, as measured by observations of their interactions with a best friend; differences among treatments on these measures consistently favored the CT over the PT condition. As for parent and child behavior at home, PT and CT?+?PT parents and children had significantly more positive interactions, compared with CT parents and children. One-yr follow-up assessments indicated that all the significant changes noted immediately posttreatment had been maintained over time. Moreover, child conduct problems at home had lessened over time. Analyses of the clinical significance of the results suggested that the combined CT?+?PT condition produced the most significant improvements in child behavior at 1-yr follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI, Rorschach, and WAIS: A meta-analytic comparison of reliability, stability, and validity.

We estimated the average reliability, stability, and validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Rorschach Inkblot Test, and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) from articles published in the Journal of Personality Assessment and the Journal of Clinical Psychology between 1970 and 1981. Following standard psychometric theory, reliability values exceeded stability values, which exceeded validity values. Validity studies based on theory, prior research, or both showed greater effects than did studies lacking a theoretical or empirical rationale. In general, the reliability and stability of all three tests were acceptable and approximately equivalent. The convergent-validity estimates for the Rorschach and MMPI were not significantly different, but both these estimates were lower than the estimate for the WAIS. It appears that both the MMPI and Rorschach can be considered to have adequate psychometric properties if used for the purpose for which they were designed and validated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DSM-IV field trials for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder in children and adolescents

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the field trials for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder was to select valid diagnostic thresholds for these disorders and to compare the psychometric properties of DSM-IV criteria for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder with previous DSM diagnostic formulations. METHOD: Structured diagnostic interviews, standardized clinician's validation diagnoses, and multiple measures of impairment were obtained for 440 clinic-referred children and adolescents aged 4-17 years. RESULTS: A diagnostic threshold of four symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder optimized identification of impaired children, improved agreement somewhat with the clinician's validation diagnosis, and had somewhat better test-retest agreement than DSM-III-R. In the case of conduct disorder, the optimal time window for ascertainment of symptoms was clarified. A diagnostic threshold of three symptoms of conduct disorder maximized accurate identification of impaired children and agreement with the clinician's validation diagnosis and resulted in slightly better test-retest agreement than DSM-III-R. Compared with the DSM-III-R definition, the DSM-IV definition of oppositional defiant disorder was somewhat more prevalent, but the prevalence of conduct disorder was essentially unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: DSM-IV definitions of oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder are somewhat better than DSM-III-R definitions in terms of internal consistency and test-retest agreement, and the validity of the DSM-IV definition of oppositional defiant disorder is slightly better than that of DSM-III-R.     

Activity of the psychologist within the inpatient psychotherapy of behavior disordered children and adolescents

The author, after discussing the problem of cooperation between the physician and psychologist within the framework of psychotherapeutic activity, deals with the special functions of psychologists. Work done in this respect at the Dresden Medical Academy's department for psychotherapy of malbehaving children and juveniles of normal intelligence is described. Also outlined in this paper are the role played by the psychologist in the use of various methods of therapy and his cooperation in the continuing education and training of nurses, the psychometric control of the course of therapy, and the rehabilitation of children and juveniles.     

Correlation of scope and content in treatment of dyssocial children and adolescents. A psychoanalytic study of disordered symbolization processes

The article discusses the significance of a holding therapeutic environment for the processes of symbol development. Using epistomological psychoanalytic concepts it demonstrates, through a series of examples, how semiotic progression can be facilitated or how, through insufficient handling of frame guiding therapeutic semiotic regression--in the sense of a "reversal of alpha function"--can be triggered, with a resultant increase in symptomatic behavior. The distinction is drawn between three different levels of mental functioning: At the deepest level, behavior is controlled according to somatic, autoregulative and homoeostatic principles. The second level is concerned with mental functioning, such as determines behavior of individuals within a group and which is influenced by symbol systems and affective automatisms, while obeying a type of "symmetrisation-mechanism." Only at the third level, we are concerned with psychic spaces and the thinking subject, who is capable of symbolic interaction with both the internal and external world.     

Identification and self-image in adolescents. A comparison between two cultural groups

Following a review of the literature concerning the problem of identity structure in adolescents, two groups of lower secondary school students were examined, one of which belonged to the Walser community in Valsesia. The family drawing test was used, a personality projective test which, by analysing some indices, enables and understanding to be obtained of the identification processes with parent figures. From the comparison of the two groups it was found that the traditional Walser family offers to adolescents a more clear-cut model and that therefore there is less evident conflict in parent-adolescent relations. In non-Walser families the increased dispersion of data served to create more confused identity processes and greater conflict in intrafamilial affective links.     

Passive avoidance in psychopathic offenders: A replication and extension.

A passive avoidance task was administered to 97 Caucasian and 110 African American offenders to (a) replicate prior research demonstrating poor passive avoidance in psychopathic individuals (Ps) with low anxiety, (b) compare the effects of anxiety, neuroticism, and fear in identifying subgroups of Ps and controls who differ in passive avoidance, and (c) reevaluate the generalizability of this finding to African American offenders. Replicating past research with Caucasian offenders, low-anxious Ps committed significantly more passive avoidance efforts than low-anxious controls. Although this difference was also found in Ps and controls with low neuroticism scores, the comparison involving low-fear offenders failed to reach significance. As in past research, comparable comparisons involving African American offenders were not statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)