Motivation and emotion/Book/2023/Empathy and psychopathy

Empathy and psychopathy:
What is the relationship between empathy and psychopathy?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

A case study showing, the characteristics of the personality types in successful businesspersons.

Figure 1. The dark triad.

This chapter aims to accomplish two things; provide a detailed explanation of the psychological phenomenon of empathy and psychopathy by investigating empirically published literature outlining the underlying neurological, cognitive, and behavioural components that contribute to theoretical framework of both empathy and psychopathy. Secondly, this book chapter attempts to answer the question of the relationship between empathy and psychopathy.

Psychopathy can simply be described as the tendency a person has to be self-oriented, placing their own emotions and emotional needs above others. Whereas empathy can be simply described as the tendency of a person to have an other-oriented focus, meaning they are skilled at assessing the emotions of others and to take the emotions of another person as their own. These tendencies can also be described as characteristics or traits of a person’s personality. (i.e., being psychopathic and/or being empathetic).

Focus questions:

Background Information

To provide an in-depth explanation of Psychopathy and Empathy, it is vital to understand the neurological, cognitive, and behavioural processes involved in those with Psychopathic and Empathic personalities. Previous investigations on the underlying neurological, cognitive, and behavioural processes that influence tendencies to act psychopathic or empathic, have been identified, well documented, supported and will continue to develop as research grows. However, current research has established a connection between parts of the brain leading to empathetic and psychopathy type behaviours.

Not only has research identified the differences between behaviours that are seen as empathetic and psychopathic, but literature has also identified measures of empathy and psychopathy. Researchers also have catalogued behaviours that closely resemble empathy and psychopathy such as compassion and sociopathy. Aside from the neurological underpinnings, behavioural tendencies, and cognitive frameworks that explain the concepts of empathy and psychopathy, two fundamental theories are needed to better encapsulate the relationship between the two elements.

One theory explains the individual’s psychological cognition, and another that explains social cognition. These theories are fundamental and need to be pre-established as they will allow for a clearer understanding of Emotional Intelligence (E.I). Emotional intelligence is vital for understanding the relationship between Psychopathy and Empathy, as Emotional Intelligence can be used to measure a person’s tendency to act in interest of their ‘self’ or in the interest of the ‘other’.

Cognitive components

Theory of mind (ToM) is a theoretical stage model that focus on cognitive development. Theory of mind was published in 1978, by Premack and Woodruff, which explains the mental development that follows an individual's evolution of cognitive capacity to assess their own emotional state, intentions, and beliefs as well as the emotional state, intentions and beliefs others (reference). The self/other oriented model is a social cognition framework that addresses a person’s ability to change cognitive focus from the self, to focus on the other. Theory of mind and self/other model are two concepts that are important in understanding emotional intelligence.

Theory of mind and the self/other model are core components in developing the measurements that helped established the levels of a person’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (E.I.) is described as a person’s ability understand, use, and manage not only their own emotions, but the emotion of those around them. Previous research mentions that those with higher emotional intelligence are better at empathising, whereas those with lower emotional are not skilled at understanding emotions.

Psychopathy

The term psychopathy comes from the german word pasychopastiche, which translates to psychopathic. The first used by and credited to the german psychiatrist J.L.A Koch in 1888. it means the suffering of the soul. During the 1900s the word gained clinical significance. Currently psychopathy is labelled as a neuropsychiatric disorder, but it is not listed in the Diagnostic manual-IV (DSM-5). However, the cognitive aspects of psychopathy can be explained via the theory of mind as a deficient ability to process emotions that leads to a lack of empathy, and poor behavioural controls. Attributes of psychopathy can also loosely be explained by the self/other model as the tendency for an individual to pursue their own interests and needs over the interests and needs of other’s.

Neurological Factors

A notable part of the brain that has been correlated to encoding emotional stimuli is the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Empirical evidence supports the integral role that vmPFC plays with self-perception as well as being responsible for determining sentiments like of guilt and empathy. Patients with lessions to vmPFC were assocatied to having deficient ability both emotional processing and regulation. The second part of the brain that has interested neuropsychologists, is the limbic and paralimbic system. The limbic and paralimbic systems have been linked to social emotional processing of auditory and visual stimuli. Juárez and colleagues (2013) highlighted strong evidence supporting the notion that the abnormal functional connectivity within the networks of limbic and paralimbic systems were responsible for the abnormal behavorial characteristics.

The essential component of the network within the limbic and paralimbic system is the amygdala. The amygdala has been researched for holding the responsibility of the observable measurable of abnormal behavioural traits in those who suffer from psychopathic personalities. The amygdala interprets and reacts to information from both, external and internal stimuli which illicit feelings of fear and anxiety. Neurological experiments using fMRI imaging have supported this, using participants that were incarcerated for violent offences, which allowed for observable distinction of parts of the brain that were acting differently than parts of the brain of those who were not incarcerated (sample of the general public).

Behavioural Factors

Behavioural aspects of psychopathy can be measured through the four domains (interpersonal, affective, lifestyle and antisocial) and allows for clearer indication of how much of a person’s personality is considered to be psychopathic. The measure of a psychopathic personality was achieved by the division of four behavioural facets, these facets were developed by Hare in 2003. The first factor interpersonal-affective traits are described as having superficial charm, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse and low empathy. The second factor of psychopathy is called the affective facet and is defined by attributes of coldness and callous manipulation. Factor three is comprised of lifestyle like attributes such as impulsivity, irresponsibility, and a lack of realistic long-term goals. Rhe fourth and final factor developed by Hare, is anti-social which the facet that measures a person’s tendency to partake in aggressive behaviours, lying, stealing, and destroying property.

Psychopathy and sociopath

A main indication for the mass confusion between psychopathy and sociopathy, can be linked to the fact the two terms were used interchangeably during the 20^th century. At the time there was no distinct difference between the two; sociopathy even briefly replaced psychopathy after the term sociopath rose to prominence in the 1930s. Now there is more of distinction between the two terms. The distinction between the two terms can be observed in the previously mentioned, third facet (lifestyle) of Hares psychopathy checklist .

The third facet encompasses lifestyle behaviours such as impulsivity, irresponsibility, and lack of long-term goals (reference). This lifestyle facet is vital in determining the difference between psychopathy and sociopathy. As sociopaths are recorded as having higher impulsivity and responsibility which is shown in their inconsistent and short-lasting employment. Psychopaths on the other hand are able to have somewhat attainable goals, have greater control over their impulsivity . Sociopaths compared to psychopaths are less controlled in their general day to day life.

The dark tetrad

The dark tetrad (see Figure 1) is a framework developed by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams (2002). The dark tetrad framework is used to differentiate between the four different types of antisocial behaviour (Dark tetrad and emotion,2023). These three antisocial behaviours are psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism with the new addition of sadism, however the distinction between psychopathy and sadism is less distinct (Dark tetrad and emotion,2023).

Empathy

Ancient greeks used the two words, "en" and "pathos". En means “In” or “at” whereas pathos translates to “passion” or “suffering”. At the start of the 20th century, specifically in the year 1903, Theodor Lipps introduced the german term "einfuhlung" which was later translated into English by Edward B. Titchener, into empathy in 1909. Currently the term empathy is described as a person’s capacity to observe and take on the perspective of another person.

An empathetic person can be described as a person who purses prosocial behaviours. Prosocial behaviours in relation to empathy, are actions that are intended to benefit another. In summary, empathy is one's ability to differentiate between their emotions, while also being able to comprehend the emotional experience of another person.

Neurological factors

Neurological research on the underlying functions of empathy has mainly been completed with participants that react to a painful experience of another person. Reseach has identified various different mechanisms to be responsible for the experience known as empathy . menatlising and perspective taking are cognitive forms of empathy however, emotional processing and regulation are neurological forms of empathy. The brain areas associated to emotional processing and emotional regulation is the amygdala and temporal lobes.

The amygdala and temporal lobes allude to incomplete explanation of empathy. To understand the activations in the brain when reacting to social stimuli that produce emotion, researchers experimented two groups of participants. All participants were connected to neuroimaging machine that observed a recorded activation of the brain. The first group got pricked by a small needle and after being pricked they then watched, as group two pricked. This experiment highlighted the role of the anterior insula cortex (AIC), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The AIC and ACC are responsible personal experience of pain and perceiving the pain of others.

One major breakthrough (observed in the macaque monkey) in relation to empathy-based neuropsychology research are the location of the mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are important for understanding affective empathy. Mirror neurons are present in the F5 region of the premotor cortex. Function of mirror neurons are to discharge during firsthand performance and the secondhand observation of a goal-orientated action. For example, when one person smiles at another person, the mirror neurons will begin to activate, giving the observer the sensation/feeling that is associated with the behaviour of smiling.

Behavioural factors

There are many types of behavioral components to empathy. Those with higher empathetic personalities tend to make more observations of emotional non-verbal and verbal cues, such as interpreting facial expressions and altered speech. In terms of self-other oriented processing model, behavioural trait of perspective and mentalizing taking is form of other-oriented processing.

Mentalizing are supported the theory of mind and mirror neurons (reference). Perspective-taking is one of the most common behavioural traits among those who score high on the empathy scale.

Perspective taking can be explained as the ability to make the distinction between the self, and other. When an individual starts taking the perspective of another person, the feelings and emotions associated with the experience of the other person is assumed and shared with the person who correctly perceives the other's experience.

Mentalising is not so different from the act of perspective taking however, it involves making the distinction between ourselves and others. Where perspective taking has already established the distinction between the self and other, mentalizing attempts to define the distinction.

Empathy vs sympathy

Just like psychopathy and sociopathy, empathy and sympathy are at times confused to be the same phenomenon (Decety & Michalska., 2010). Howerver, Sympathy is not the same as empathy (Decety & Michalska., 2010). Sympathy is classed as feeling for others, whereas empathy is feeling as the other (Decety & Michalska, 2010). For example, those experiencing empathy would feel as if they had the experience with the other. Sympathy on the other hand, would feel something for the person who had the experience. Empathy involves a deeper connection to feelings of the other and prosocial behaviour that foster positive emotions in the other (Decety & Michalska, 2010).

The relationship of empathy and psychopathy

Behavioral relationship

The behavioural relationship between empathy and psychopathy is the clearest when comparing behaviours the two personalities. The more antisocial behaviours that a person purses, the more prosocial behaviours will be seen as undesirable. This means that individuals that are noted to have more psychopathic traits than the average person will utilise false charm, lying and cheating over honesty, loyalty and generosity. Psychopaths will have harder times developing socially and establishing effective moral reasoning.

Neurological relationship

There is not a clear relationship between the neurological components of empathy and psychopathy. The reason for this is that research has led neuroscientists to different regions of the brain. Though it is supported that the relationship between a lack of empathy and high psychopathy is due to abnormal connectivity within networks of the limbic and paralimbic systems , as well as a defect in the amygdala that causes impaired emotional regulation .

Psychopathy checklist

The psychopathy checklist was originally developed by Hervey Cleckley in the 1940's. Later Robert Hare revised the checklist throughout the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's. The PCL-R is a psychological assessment used in assessing the level of psychopathy traits and individual.

Empathy training

Psychologists clinical experience with psychopaths in correctional facilities support the notation that empathy is a skill that can be improved within an individual. For a deeper explanation of please refer to Empathy training (Book chapter, 2023).

Quizzes

1 Psychopathy is to lack the ability to perceive the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of others:

	True
	False

2 Empathy is being able to perceive others' emotions:

	True
	False

Conclusion

Empathy and psychopathy are two characteristics of an individual's personality. These characteristics of personality are polar opposites. A person cannot be simultaneously highly empathetic and highly psychopathic. Empathy is defined by an individual who has level of emotional processing and regulation, that utilises other-oriented processing when perceiving social emotional stimuli. Psychopathy is defined by an individual that has poor emotional processing and regulation, that utilises self-oriented processing when perceiving social stimuli that elicits emotion.

See also

• Machiavellian motivation (Book chapter, 2023)
• Dark tetrad and emotion (Book chapter, 2023)
• Empathy training (Book chapter, 2023)

References

Anderson, N. E., & Kiehl, K. A. (2014). Psychopathy: developmental perspectives and their implications for treatment. Restorative neurology and neuroscience, 32(1), 103-117.doi: 10.3233/RNN-139001

Batson, C. D., Batson, J. G., Slingsby, J. K., Harrell, K. L., Peekna, H. M., & Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(3), 413–426. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.61.3.413

Batson, C. D., Sager, K., Garst, E., Kang, M., Rubchinsky, K., & Dawson, K. (1997). Is empathy-induced helping due to self–other merging? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3), 495–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.3.495

Bouret, S., & Richmond, B. J. (2010). Ventromedial and orbital prefrontal neurons differentially encode internally and externally driven motivational values in monkeys. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(25), 8591-8601. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0049-10.2010

Decety, J., & Michalska, K. J. (2010). Neurodevelopmental changes in the circuits underlying empathy and sympathy from childhood to adulthood. Developmental science, 13(6), 886-899.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00940.x

Frankel, R. M. (2017). The many faces of empathy: Biological, psychological, and interactional perspectives. Journal of patient experience, 4(2), 55-56.doi: 10.1177/2374373517699268

Hall, J. R., Benning, S. D., & Patrick, C. J. (2004). Criterion-related validity of the three-factor model of psychopathy: Personality, behavior, and adaptive functioning. Assessment, 11(1), 4-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191103261466

Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2005). Structural models of psychopathy. Current psychiatry reports, 7(1), 57-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-005-0026-3

Koenigs, M. (2012). The role of prefrontal cortex in psychopathy. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 23(3), 253-262.https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2012-0036

Nott, D., & Walker, B. R. (2021). The dark tetrad in the prediction of self-reported and behavioural risk-taking. Australian Journal of Psychology, 73(4), 569-577.https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1955224

Patrick, C. J. (2022). Psychopathy: Current knowledge and future directions. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 18, 387-415.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-072720-012851

Preckel, K., Kanske, P., & Singer, T. (2018). On the interaction of social affect and cognition: empathy, compassion and theory of mind. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.010

Van Dongen, J. D. (2020). The empathic brain of psychopaths: From social science to neuroscience in empathy. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 695.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00695

Wondra, J. D., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2015). An appraisal theory of empathy and other vicarious emotional experiences. Psychological review, 122(3), 411.https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0039252

External links

• Dark triad Psychology Today
• Light triad of personality (simplypsychology.org)