Passive avoidance learning in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

TLDR

Passive avoidance learning studies show psychopaths differ from controls, especially when monetary punishments are used rather than electric shock. The study aimed to replicate and extend prior findings by testing adult psychopaths on a computer‑controlled task. Sixty white male prisoners were classified by Hare's Psychopathy Checklist and given a go/no‑go discrimination task with monetary incentives, in one condition with competing reward and punishment and another with two punishment contingencies. Psychopaths committed more passive avoidance errors than nonpsychopaths when competing goals were present, but performed similarly when only punishment avoidance was required, confirming earlier results that psychopaths struggle to inhibit reward‑seeking behavior that leads to monetary punishment.

Abstract

Research on passive avoidance learning has demonstrated reliabledifferences between psychopaths and controls when avoidance errors result in electric shock but not in loss of money (Schmauk, 1970). Using monetary punishments, Newman, Widom, and Nathan (1985) 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. Sixty white male prisoners were assigned to groups using Hare's (1980) Psychopathy Checklist and administered a go/no-go discrimination task involving monetary incentives. One condition entailed competing reward and punishment contingencies; the other, two punishment contingencies. As predicted, psychopaths made significantly more passive avoidance errors than nonpsychopaths when the task conmined competing goals (/9 < .05) but performed as well as controls when the subjects' 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.