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Hello.

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So, today, I'm going to be talking[br]about what psychopathy is, the term,

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and what we're doing about it[br]here at Juniata College.

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So, I'll begin by saying[br]in the fall of 2016,

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our lab in the Psychology Department,[br]under Professor Rebecca Weldon,

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was attempting to ascertain some[br]of these features underlying psychopathy

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and how they relate[br]to student populations.

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We found, consistent with the hypothesis[br]called the distress-specific hypothesis,

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which I'll talk about in a little bit,

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that participants who were[br]higher in psychopathy,

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which is this empathic deficit,

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were slower in recognizing[br]the fearful faces of other people,

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and I'm going to discuss[br]the implications of this.

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Now, in the fall of this school year,

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we wanted to try something else,[br]we wanted to question the impossible.

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The fact is that there very few[br]treatments for psychopathy,

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and we wanted to see[br]if we could alter this effect,

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this delay in recognizing[br]the fearful faces of other people,

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by priming empathy,[br]or something like empathy,

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in those people who were[br]higher in psychopathy.

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I think in order to understand[br]what I mean by "psychopathy,"

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we should discuss how the term[br]has been sensationalized in the media.

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So, in pop culture in Hollywood,

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there is this thing that has been coined[br]the "elite psychopath."

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So, I'll tell a bit about what that is,

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but first, I think I should give[br]some examples.

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Such characters as Hannibal Lecter,[br]Patrick Bateman from American Psycho,

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or the most recent television[br]adaptation of Sherlock Holmes,

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all of these could qualify[br]as this elite psychopath caricature,

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and it's problematic in a number of ways.

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These characters are[br]antiheroes at the core.

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So you are invited to empathize[br]with these protagonistic characters

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who never really do show[br]empathy to other people.

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And so, of course, we want[br]to emulate these characters.

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But as a matter of fact,

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they do show some[br]of the qualities of psychopathy.

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They are cold, calculating, apathetic,[br]they're sophisticated,

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but they're also some things[br]that we don't really see as often

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in actual psychopathy.

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They're one step ahead[br]of the competition, always,

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they are Machiavellian masterminds,

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and that's not something we really see.

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So I'm going to talk about how[br]psychopathy has been characterized

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in the field of psychology,

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and those components will be differences[br]in action and differences in the brain.

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Also, I think it's important[br]to note that in the DSM-5,

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which is a terminology manual[br]for Psychology,

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antisocial personality disorder has been[br]considered synonymous with psychopathy.

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While it shares some common symptomology,

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we will be considering psychopathy

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in accordance with a different set[br]of features and facets

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that set it apart ever so slightly[br]with antisocial personality disorder.

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But I should start by saying[br]in antisocial personality disorder,

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we see symptoms like aggression,[br]outward aggression,

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that can be generalized,

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this impulsiveness,[br]sensation-seeking behavior,

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recklessness and association[br]with criminal behavior.

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So let's talk about some of these.

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There's a lack of guilt or remorse.

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There's a lack of emotional expression.

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These symptoms are affective[br]or emotional processing differences.

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Our study focused mainly on these.

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So people who are high in psychopathy[br]will tend to be callous,

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a bit like the pop culture representation.

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They will lack emotional expression,

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so they won't be expressing[br]emotions to other people.

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There's also a lack[br]of prosocial emotional response,

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which means in day to day interaction,[br]when someone is showing distress,

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you are expected[br]to behave in a certain way;

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they don't do this.

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There are also differences[br]that are interpersonal in nature.

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They manipulate other people,[br]they use them as a means to an end.

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And there is grandiosity as well,

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or an exaggerated sense[br]of self-importance.

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This is also seen in psychopathy,[br]in people who are high in psychopathy.

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There's a last piece, and that piece is[br]sensation seeking and impulsivity.

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This is not so much seen[br]in the elite psychopath caricature.

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People who are high in psychopathy[br]will act impulsively,

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they will seek sensation and they will not[br]duly consider risk versus reward.

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And so, often, they will[br]commit criminal acts

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and subsequently be incarcerated.

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When they seek sensation,

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they have to calculate[br]this risk versus reward,

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they have to actively weigh the risk[br]versus reward in order to make the action,

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but we don't really see this[br]in people who are high in psychopathy.

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And of course there is[br]that aggression piece,

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this generalized aggression.

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So, people who are high in psychopathy[br]have difficulty determining

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victims versus victimless crimes.

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And so, when they commit these crimes,

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they do not duly consider the potential[br]impact this might have on another person.

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So let's talk about some of the brain[br]differences we see in psychopathy.

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Mainly, we'll talk about the amygdala,

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which is an area of the brain[br]near the center of the brain,

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and there's less activation in people[br]higher in psychopathy, in this region,

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when they are looking[br]at the emotions of other people,

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specifically distress emotions.

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And that's important

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because when you're not processing[br]the distress of other people,

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perhaps you're not also feeling[br]the guilt and remorse

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that a normal person[br]would typically experience

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when they can tell those people[br]are experiencing those emotions.

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So, when there's less activation in people[br]who are high in psychopathy,

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this area of the brain, the amygdala,[br]involved in emotional processing,

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again shows less activation.

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So, what's the importance[br]of studying psychopathy?

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Well, there is this linkage[br]between psychopathy and crime.

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If you look at the literature[br]on psychopathy,

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you will find that most[br]participants are inmates.

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This is not a coincidence.

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It is far more prevalent[br]in prison populations.

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It's been estimated anywhere[br]from 50% to 80% of inmates could qualify

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for some symptomology in psychopathy[br]that is above the norm.

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Outside of prison populations,

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a much less percentage could be[br]considered high in psychopathy.

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It has been estimated anywhere from 1.3%[br]to 6.85% of men in the general population,

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mainly in the United States,

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could qualify as having some symptomology[br]associated with psychopathy,

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whereas in women, it is 0.8%.

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So considerably less

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could be considered to qualify[br]for the symptoms of psychopathy.

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It is also important to study psychopathy[br]because at this time,

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treatments for psychopathy[br]have been largely unsuccessful.

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This is because treatments[br]like cognitive and behavioral strategies

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require some kind of agency[br]or willingness to change,

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in participants, or patients.

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People who are high[br]in psychopathy, unsurprisingly,

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seem to lack this agency[br]and willingness to change,

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and so the treatments[br]are largely unsuccessful.

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So what is being done?

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Well, currently, our lab,[br]here at Juniata College,

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is working on this[br]distress-specific hypothesis,

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which is that the affective symptoms,

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the emotional processing[br]symptoms of psychopathy,

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could be responsible for this deficit

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in processing the distress[br]emotions in other people.

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So we thought, "What if we could[br]prime them for a congruent emotion,

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and maybe that could,[br]maybe, alter this effect,

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this delay in processing[br]the emotions of other people?"

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So we used something called the[br]autobiographical emotional memory task,

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which challenges a participant[br]to recall a time in their life

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where they felt a specific emotion.

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We used fear.

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So our participants recalled a time[br]in their life where they experienced fear,

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and because of this,

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it may be that fear becomes[br]more salient, it's more accessible,

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it's more easy to recognize[br]in other people.

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So if we could take participants,[br]people who are high in psychopathy,

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and prime them for this fear,

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they may subsequently be better able[br]to recognize that fear in other people.

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And if our findings support this,

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it may be that priming[br]for a congruent emotion

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could be a way, through exposure,[br]to condition an empathic response

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in people who would otherwise[br]lack such a response.

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In other words, we could foster[br]empathy in psychopaths.

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And this would be groundbreaking

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because incarceration in our country[br]is at an all-time high,

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and if we could somehow minimize this

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through developing strategies to address[br]people who have psychopathic symptoms,

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before criminal behaviors[br]can begin to manifest,

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we might be able to deal

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with the current dilemma[br]that is psychopathy in our country.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)