An Evolutionary Model to Conceptualize Psychopathic Traits Across Community and Forensic Male Youth

• Author: Diana Ribeiro da Silva,Daniel Rijo,Paula Vagos
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18823624
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18823624

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2019, Vol. 63(4) 574 –596

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X18823624

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Original Manuscript

An Evolutionary Model to

Conceptualize Psychopathic

Traits Across Community

and Forensic Male Youth

Diana Ribeiro da Silva1, Paula Vagos1,2,

and Daniel Rijo1

Abstract

Psychopathy has been historically associated with a lack of emotion. However, some

authors argue that psychopathy may represent a tendency to externalize the experience

of unpleasant emotions, including shame, what could be seen as an adaptive strategy

within an evolutionary framework. Nevertheless, empirical research investigating this

hypothesis is scarce. Using community (n = 295) and forensic (n = 300) male youth

samples and a set of self-report measures, this study tested an evolutionary model

involving pathways linking the impact of harsh rearing experiences (traumatic shameful

experiences and warmth and safeness experiences) to psychopathic traits, as well as

the indirect effects of external shame and shame coping strategies in that association. In

addition, this study tested the invariance of this model across samples. Results indicated

that the impact of harsh rearing experiences was directly and indirectly (through external

shame and shame coping strategies) linked with psychopathic traits. The model explained

psychopathic traits in forensic and community samples, though differences in some of

the pathways were found across groups. Findings offer support for conceptualizing

psychopathic traits as an adaptive strategy to cope with the impact of harsh rearing

experiences, opening new pathways to prevention and intervention efforts.

Keywords

rearing experiences, shame, shame coping strategies, psychopathic traits, evolutionary

theory

1University of Coimbra, Portugal

2Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, Porto, Portugal

Corresponding Author:

Diana Ribeiro da Silva, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention

(CINEICC) da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra, Rua do

Colégio Novo, 3001-802 Coimbra, Portugal.

Email: diana.rs@fpce.uc.pt

823624IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X18823624International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyRibeiro da Silva et al.

research-article2019

Ribeiro da Silva et al. 575

Psychopathy covers a set of interpersonal (i.e., Grandiose-Manipulative: GM),

affective (i.e., Callous-Unemotional: CU), and behavioral (i.e., Impulsive-

Irresponsible: II) deviant traits (Cooke & Michie, 2001; Hare, 2003). According to

several research findings, psychopathy has been conceptualized as a progressive

condition that worsens (Kubak & Salekin, 2009; Lee, Salekin, & Iselin, 2010) and

becomes less responsive to psychotherapeutic interventions over time (Caldwell,

McCormick, Wolfe, & Umstead, 2012; Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, & Salekin, 2013;

Salekin, Tippey, & Allen, 2012). Moreover, several studies pointed out that psy-

chopathy, especially when associated with a Conduct Disorder (CD) diagnosis, is

linked with the most early, stable, and severe forms of antisocial behavior (Gretton,

Hare, & Catchpole, 2004; Hare & Neumann, 2006; Leistico, Salekin, DeCoster, &

Rogers, 2008). Overall, this knowledge strengthens the need for early screening and

intervention efforts, also highlighting the importance of continuing to study the etio-

logical pathways of psychopathy from different perspectives (Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo,

& Salekin, 2012). Evolutionary theory is one of those perspectives, though it is not

yet widely investigated in psychopathy (Ferguson, 2010; Glenn, Kuzban, & Raine,

2011; Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, & Salekin, 2015). Research has shown the extent to

which the harshness of rearing experiences (e.g., presence of traumatic experiences

and/or absence of warmth and safeness experiences) impacted on individuals to be

more important than those experiences per se (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006; Richter,

Gilbert, & McEwan, 2009). Thus, it seems particularly crucial to shed light on the

mechanisms linking the impact of harsh rearing experiences and psychopathic traits

under the lens of an evolutionary framework.

Though there is a large body of developmental studies showing that harsh rearing

scenarios are important risk factors for the prediction, development, and/or mainte-

nance of psychopathic traits (e.g., Auty, Farrington, & Coid, 2015; Gao, Raine, Chan,

Venables, & Mednick, 2010; McCrory, De Brito, & Viding, 2012; Sevecke, Franke,

Kosson, & Krischer, 2016; Waller et al., 2016), those works rarely adopted an evolu-

tionary framework when discussing their research findings (Patch & Figueredo, 2016).

According to evolutionary theory, psychopathic traits can be seen as an adaptive1

“fast” life strategy (functioning according to the principle “Live fast, die young”) to

survive and thrive in harsh rearing scenarios (Del Giudice, 2016; Del Giudice & Ellis,

2015; Ferguson, 2010; Glenn et al., 2011; Jonason, Icho, & Ireland, 2016; Mealey,

1995; Neumann, Schmitt, Carter, Embley, & Hare, 2012; Patch & Figueredo, 2016).

Accordingly, psychopathic traits seem to more be predominant among individuals

raised in harsh backgrounds (Del Giudice & Ellis, 2015; Mealey, 1995). Although

with obvious society and individual costs, the emergence psychopathic traits in harsh

rearing scenarios seems to be adaptive, at least in a short run, probably due to a fitness-

advantage of those traits, and associated genes, in such environments (Jonason et al.,

2016; Patch & Figueredo, 2016). Among others, psychopathic traits seem to shield

individuals from the continuous and overwhelming emotions that those kinds of envi-

ronment are continuously inputting, also making them appear dominant, invulnerable,

and fearlessness to their opponents (Del Giudice, 2016; Ribeiro da Silva et al., 2015).

Taken together, these assumptions raise important questions about the potential role of