ARE PSYCHOPATHS EVIL - OR LEARNING DISABLED?

Is psychopathy a learning disability? A series of studies by Joseph Newman suggests that psychopaths have an "informational processing deficit" that makes them oblivious to environmental cues, such as another person's fear or discomfort, when they are focused on an action that promises instant reward.

Newman tested this theory in several prison populations by recording the time it took for psychopaths and non- psychopaths to name the images they saw in a series of mislabeled pictures-for instance, a drawing of a pig with the word "dog" superimposed on it.

Psychopaths consistently named the images quickly, while non-psychopaths took longer because they paid more attention to the peripheral clue of the written word. "People think (psychopaths) are just callous and without fear," Newman says, "but there is definitely something more going on. When emotions are their primary focus, we've seen that psychopathic individuals show a normal response. But when focused on something else, they become insensitive to emotions entirely."

"Psychologist adds scientific insight to loaded label of 'psychopath,'" news release, University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 30, 2006.