Psychopathic offenders are often considered to be untreatable, especially
dangerous, and at very high risk of reoffending. Psychopathy has generated
considerable research interest. Despite this interest, our understanding of psychopathy
is relatively poor, with ongoing debate regarding how best to define psychopathy, and a
lack of clarity regarding how psychopathy develops. Etiological theories of psychopathy
posit deficits in recognising and responding to others' emotions, and an attenuated
experience of fear as crucial mechanisms in the development of psychopathy. The aims
of this thesis are to investigate the pattern of psychopathic traits present within an
inmate sample, and to investigate the relationship between these psychopathic traits
and performance on two tasks related to etiological theories of psychopathy: facial
affect recognition and fear conditioning. Part One of this thesis addresses the first aim,
investigating the presentation of psychopathy in the current sample. The relationship
between psychopathic traits in the present sample was largely consistent with previous
research. A Principal Components Analysis identified two factors of psychopathic traits:
a Bold/ Fearlessness factor which measures an absence of fear and anxiety and the
presence of self-assurance, and a Mean/ Disinhibited factor which measures the
presence of externalising and disinhibited behaviour, alongside aggression and the use
of other people for one's own gain. These findings are discussed in relation to common
conceptualisations and operationalisations of psychopathy.
