Do individuals high on psychopathic traits vary in their processing of affects

This study sought to explore the influence, if any, affective stimuli (positive, negative and neutral) have on individuals high on psychopathic traits. Participants included 109 students at a large University in the New York Metropolitan area. They completed measures of psychopathic personality traits, annihilation anxiety, and computerized tasks which measured the impact of affective stimuli on habitual motor performance at two different stimulus presentation durations. Hypotheses posited that, depending on stimulus valence, individuals with increasing levels of psychopathic traits will respond faster and more accurately during long affective stimuli exposures as well as brief stimuli exposures, thereby affirming the fear dysfunction construct of psychopathy. The results of multiple regression analyses showed that the hypothesized 3-way interaction between psychopathy, duration, and valence was unsupported for either the response latency outcome or the errors/missed responses outcome which partially confirmed predictions. The results of the exploratory hypothesis which concerned the relationship between psychopathy and annihilation anxiety yielded significant results which were contrary to predictions.;In conclusion, the results showed that increasing levels of psychopathy did not predict impairments in affect registration and affect processing. However, the absence of significant variations in the responses to differently valenced affective stimuli casts doubts on the reliability of this result. As it pertains to the exploratory hypothesis, increasing levels of psychopathy predicted increasing levels of annihilation anxiety.;Based on the results of the present study future research should distinguish between criminal and non-criminal psychopaths and assess deficits in their affect registration and regulation in light of this distinction. It is also recommended that the relationship between anxiety in general and annihilation anxiety in particular be further examined as this study demonstrated an unexpected relationship in this regard.