Autonomic responses to modeled distress in prison psychopaths

Studied the physiological basis of the proposition that psychopaths are indifferent to the feelings of others. 32 young paid males from a prison population were divided into groups according to their MMPI Pd score and then subdivided on the basis of MMPI Welsh Anxiety Scale (WAS) scores. Ss in each group observed a model exhibiting either mild or severe distress to electric shock. Heart rate and skin conductance were measured over 15 trials in each S. It was hypothesized that the different clinical groups would exhibit different physiological emotional response patterns. Results showed that low- Pd Ss were more autonomically responsive to an emotional stimulus (modeled distress) than high- Pd Ss. In addition, high- as compared to low-WAS Ss exhibited greater physiological responsivity. It was noted that the level of distress exhibited by the model had no effect. Results are discussed with respect to hypotheses concerning the affective responsivity threshold of psychopaths.