—BOOK REVIEW—

THE PSYCHOPATH:
EMOTION AND THE BRAIN

by James Blair, Derek Mitchell, and Karina Blair
Blackwell Publishing, 2005
Paperback, 201 pages, $18.32

An excellent resource for professionals or students, this book—written by a team of leading investigators in the field of psychopathy research—reviews a large body of studies into the causes of a disorder that affects relatively few people (less than one percent of the population) and yet impacts society heavily. (The authors note that 15 to 25 percent of U.S. prison inmates meet diagnostic criteria for psychopathy, and they cite research showing that individuals with psychopathy are three times more likely to reoffend within a year of release than other prisoners, and four times more likely to reoffend violently.)

The authors review multiple theories about the roots of psychopathy and present their own theory (see quotations in the next column) that the genesis of the disorder lies in dysfunction of the amygdala, a brain region that is a crucial part of the neural circuitry responsible for processing emotions. They also examine the possibility that deficits in the orbital frontal cortex contribute to psychopathic symptoms. The book is highly recommended for readers seeking in-depth information; others may prefer Robert Hare’s less technical book, Without Conscience.

“We suggest that... genetic anomalies disrupt the functioning of the amygdala [in psychopaths]. We believe that the amygdala is functioning atypically from an early age in individuals with psychopathy. Furthermore, we believe that it is this problem in amygdala functioning that leads to the psychopathic individual’s impairment in emotional learning. We believe that this impairment in emotional learning is at the root of psychopathy.”

“This amygdala dysfunction gives rise to impairments in aversive conditioning, instrumental learning, and the processing of fearful and sad expressions. These impairments interfere with socialization such that the individual does not learn to avoid actions that cause harm to other individuals.”

“There is ... good direct evidence that the impairment shown by psychopathic individuals interferes with socialization. Thus, while it has been repeatedly shown that the use of empathy-inducing positive parenting strategies by caregivers decreases the probability of antisocial behavior in healthy developing children, it does not decrease the probability of antisocial behavior in children who present with the emotional dysfunction of psychopathy.”