Abstract
There is a longstanding debate linking fearlessness to psychopathy. Yet, research explicitly testing physiological fear reactivity is limited, especially studies including both sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity to ecologically valid fear induction. Recent research has shown that testing both branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is important for understanding the factor construct of psychopathy (Thomson et al. in Psychophysiology, 56(1), 2019a). However, the association between fear reactivity and the 4-facet structure of psychopathy has not been explored. Using virtual reality fear induction, the present study aimed to test if the interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial facets were differentially related to physiological fear reactivity profiles. In a late adolescent/early adult sample (N = 114; age 18–21 years), psychopathy was assessed using the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale Short Form and physiological fear reactivity was measured using SNS and PNS via skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respectively. Results show that the affective and antisocial facets were associated with dampened SNS fear reactivity, while the lifestyle facet was associated with greater PNS fear reactivity. Most interesting was that the interpersonal facet was related to coinhibition of the ANS (low SNS and PNS reactivity); this is the same physiological pattern associated with proactive aggression (Thomson et al. in Physiology Behavior, 242, 113061, 2021). This could suggest that coinhibition to fear induction, which was originally linked to factor 1 (Thomson et al. in Psychophysiology, 56(1), 2019a), may be a physiological profile that enables the manipulative, coercive, and cold-blooded behaviors associated with psychopathy. By contrast, affective and antisocial facets share a fear profile of a blunted SNS, while the lifestyle facet is related to aberrant PNS activation, suggesting a biological vulnerability to emotion dysregulation.
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Dr. Thomson’s effort on this research publication was supported, in part, by the National Center for Injury and Violence Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (K01CE003160), the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH123535), and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health (1R01HD108025).
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Dr. Thomson’s effort in this publication was funded, in part, by 1R01MH123535, 1R01HD108025, and K01CE003160.
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Thomson, N.D. Psychopathy, the Four Facet Model, and Fearlessness: Testing Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System Reactivity in a Late Adolescent Sample. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 44, 51–63 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-021-09948-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-021-09948-2