Psychopathy, aggression, and the processing of emotional stimuli in non‐referred girls and boys

TLDR

Individuals with psychopathic traits are known to process negative emotional stimuli differently, but it is unclear whether these differences are stimulus‑specific, more strongly linked to psychopathic traits or aggression, or generalize to females and ethnic minorities. The study examined visual emotional processing with a dot‑probe task in 50 non‑referred children (mean age 9.3). The authors used a dot‑probe task to assess responsiveness to distressing visual stimuli in these children. Proactive aggression was linked to reduced responsiveness to distressing stimuli, and this association with psychopathic traits emerged only in children high on aggression, with no gender differences. © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Research shows that individuals with psychopathic traits differ in how they process negative emotional stimuli. However, it is unclear whether these differences are specific to certain types of negative emotional stimulus and whether they are more strongly associated with psychopathic traits or aggression. Further, it is not clear whether or not deficits in emotional processing generalize to females and ethnic minority individuals with psychopathic traits. In this study, we examined the emotional processing of visual stimuli using a dot‐probe task in 50 non‐referred girls and boys (mean age of 9.30; SD = 2.00). Overall, there was a significant association between proactive aggression and reduced responsiveness to distressing stimuli. In addition, the predicted association between psychopathic traits and reduced responsiveness to distressing stimuli was only found for children high on aggression. Also, the associations among aggression, psychopathic traits, and responsiveness to distressing stimuli did not differ for boys and girls. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.