Psychopathy and instrumental aggression: Evolutionary, neurobiological, and legal perspectives

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Neuroethics Publications
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Psychopathy
Neurobiological
Evolutionary
Aggression
Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Psychiatry and Psychology
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Contributor
Abstract

In the study of aggression, psychopathy represents a disorder that is of particular interest because it often involves aggression which is premeditated, emotionless, and instrumental in nature; this is especially true for more serious types of offenses. Such instrumental aggression is aimed at achieving a goal (e.g., to obtain resources such as money, or to gain status). Unlike the primarily reactive aggression observed in other disorders, psychopaths appear to engage in aggressive acts for the purpose of benefiting themselves. This is especially interesting in light of arguments that psychopathy may represent an alternative life-history strategy that is evolutionarily adaptive; behaviors such as aggression, risk-taking, manipulation, and promiscuous sexual behavior observed in psychopathy may be means by which psychopaths gain advantage over others. Recent neurobiological research supports the idea that abnormalities in brain regions key to emotion and morality may allow psychopaths to pursue such a strategy—psychopaths may not experience the social emotions such as empathy, guilt, and remorse that typically discourage instrumentally aggressive acts, and may even experience pleasure when committing these acts. Findings from brain imaging studies of psychopaths may have important implications for the law.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2009-05-01
Journal title
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Suggested Citation: Andrea L. Glenn, Adrian Raine, "Psychopathy and instrumental aggression: Evolutionary, neurobiological, and legal perspectives." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Volume 32, Issue 4, Aggression, Science, and the Law: New Insights from Neuroscience, July-August 2009, Pages 253-258, ISSN 0160-2527, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.04.002.
Recommended citation
Collection