Definition
Sociopathy is a term used to describe certain personality characteristics including lack or impaired conscientiousness, lack of future orientation, lack of interest in goal-directed activities [15], egocentricity, callousness, impulsivity, exaggerated sexuality, excessive boasting, risk taking, inability to resist temptation, antagonistic and deprecating attitude toward the opposite sex, and lack of interest in interpersonal bonding.
Description
The concept of psychopathy was introduced in the literature by Cleckley around the 1940s [20]. Sociopathy was once considered as a distinct cluster of personality disorders, namely the Sociopathic Personality Disturbances (SPD). SPD was recorded in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-I; 1952) as a cluster of personality disorders encompassing two distinct personality disturbances, antisocial and...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
American Psychiatric Association (1952). Diagnostic and statistical manual: Mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th ed., Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Anastasiou-Hadjicharalambous, X., & Warden, D. (2007). Cognitive and affective perspective-taking in conduct-disordered children high and low on callous-unemotional traits. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2(16), doi:10.1186/1753-2000-2-16. BioMed Central.
Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, X., & Warden, D. (2008). Physiologically-indexed and self-perceived affective empathy in conduct-disordered children high and low on callous-unemotional traits. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39, 503–517.
Baker, L. A., Bezdjian, S., & Raine, A. (2006). Behavioural genetics: the science of antisocial behavior. Law and Contemporary Problems, 69, 7–46.
Blair, R. J. R., & Cipolotti, L. (2000). Impaired social response reversal: a case of “acquired sociopathy”. Brain, 123, 1122–1141.
Burt, S. A., McGue, M., Carter, L. A., & Iacono, W. G. (2007). The different origins of stability and change in antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Psychological Medicine, 37, 27–38.
Carr, A. (2006). The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology: A contextual Approach (2nd ed.). USA: Routledge.
Christian, R. E., Frick, P. J., Hill, N. L., Tyler, L., & Frazer, D. R. (1997). Psychopathy and conduct problems in children: II. Implications for subtyping children with conduct problems. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Frick, P. J., Barry, C. T., & Bodin, S. D. (2000). Applying the concept of psychopathy to children: Implications for the assessment of antisocial youth. In C. B. Gacono (Ed.), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Frick, P. J., Cornell, A. H., Bodin, S. D., Dane, H. E., Barry, C. T., & Loney, B. R. (2003). Callous-unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems. Developmental Psychology, 39, 246–260.
Frick, P. J., Lilienfeld, S. O., Ellis, M. L., Loney, B. R., & Silverthorn, P. (1999). The association between anxiety and psychopathy dimensions in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 381–390.
Frick, P. J., & Munoz, L. (2006). Oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. In C. A. Essau (Ed.), Child and adolescent psychopathology: Theoretical and clinical implications (pp. 26–51). New York, NY: Routledge.
Kimonis, E. R., Frick, P. J., Fazekas, H., & Loney, B. R. (2006). Psychopathy, aggression, and the processing of emotional stimuli in non-referred girls and boys. Behavioral Sciences and The Law, 24, 21–37.
Lykken, D. T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Muñoz, L. C., Frick, P. J., Kimonis, E. R., & Aucoin, K. J. (2008). Types of aggression, responsiveness to provocation, and callous-unemotional traits in detained adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 15–28.
Oldham, J. (2005). Personality disorders. Focus, 3, 372–382.
Raine, A., Venable, P. H., & Williams, M. (1990). Relationships between central and autonomic measures of arousal at age 15 and criminality at age 24. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1990(47), 1003–1007.
Salekin, R. T. (2002). Psychopathy and therapeutic pessimism: Clinical lore or clinical reality? Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 79–112.
Skeem, J. L., Poythress, N., Edens, J. F., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Cale, E. M. (2003). Psychopathic personality or personalities? Exploring potential variants of psychopathy and their implication for risk assessment. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 8, 513–546.
Taylor, J., & Iacono, W. G. (2007). Personality trait differences in boys and girls with clinical and sub-clinical diagnoses of conduct disorder versus antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 537–547.
Wicks-Nelson, R., & Israel, A. C. (2006). Behavior disorders of childhood (6th ed.). NJ: Pearson Education Ltd.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Hadjicosta, R.D., Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, X. (2011). Sociopathy. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2735
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2735
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science