The inverse relation between psychopathy and faking good: not response bias,but true variance in psychopathic personality

The possibility to assess psychopathy through self-report is debated, amongst others, because psychopathic individuals may deliberately underreport psychopathic features (fake good). Meta-analytic research has shown an inverse relation between faking good and self-reported psychopathy, possibly indicating that faking good lowered psychopathy scores (response bias). Low faking good scores, could, however, also reflect true variance in psychopathic personality to the extent that it reflects a disregard of social conventions. Through a secondary analysis (n = 675), we show that controlling for faking good significantly weakens, rather than strengthens, the associations between psychopathy scores and antisocial behavior (alcohol and drug abuse, indirect aggression, and delinquency). These findings indicate that the inverse relation between faking good and self-reported psychopathy reflects true variance in psychopathy personality (i.e. low social desirability), not a response bias.     

Among a German Sample of Forensic Patients,Previous Animal Abuse Mediates Between Psychopathy and Sadistic Actions

In an attempt to explain the relationship between psychopathy and severe violent behavior, this study associates previous animal abuse, psychopathy, and sadistic acting in forensic patients. Two topics are addressed: (i) whether previous animal abuse can be identified by a patient's Psychopathy Checklist profile and (ii) whether animal abuse statistically mediates between psychopathy and sadistic acting. In a German forensic hospital, 60 patients were investigated. Animal abuse was assessed using face‐to‐face interviews and the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), and sadistic acting was identified by file records.Discriminant analysis separated previous animal abuse (10/60) by high adolescent antisocial behavior, superficiality, lack of remorse, lack of empathy, and grandiosity. The mediation from psychopathy to sadistic acting (6/60) through animal abuse was found to be complete.The results, although sample size is limited and base rate of animal abuse and sadistic acting are low, fit with a model suggestive of animal abuse as a causal step toward sadistic crimes. Animal abuse correlates with callous, unemotional traits, and a development of sadistic crimes.     

Could Secondary DNA Transfer Falsely Place Someone at the Scene of a Crime?,

The occurrence of secondary DNA transfer has been previously established. However, the transfer of DNA through an intermediary has not been revisited with more sensitive current technologies implemented to increase the likelihood of obtaining results from low‐template/low‐quality samples. This study evaluated whether this increased sensitivity could lead to the detection of interpretable secondary DNA transfer profiles. After two minutes of hand to hand contact, participants immediately handled assigned knives. Swabbings of the knives with detectable amounts of DNA were amplified with the Identifiler^® Plus Amplification Kit and injected on a 3130xl. DNA typing results indicated that secondary DNA transfer was detected in 85% of the samples. In five samples, the secondary contributor was either the only contributor or the major contributor identified despite never coming into direct contact with the knife. This study demonstrates the risk of assuming that DNA recovered from an object resulted from direct contact.     

手部脱落细胞DNA转移及二次转移的实验研究

目的研究脱落细胞遗留者洗手时间及所接触客体类型对手部脱落细胞转移的影响,同时考察手部脱落细胞DNA是否能够发生二次转移。方法 9名志愿者在洗手后30min、2h、6h分别握持木柄螺丝刀、橡胶柄螺丝刀、胶木插头1min和佩戴粗纱手套15min,对上述物品进行DNA提取检测,同时进行手部脱落细胞的二次转移实验。结果从志愿者接触过的物品中能够获得的STR基因座数量随着接触者洗手后时间的延长而增加;在洗手后30min和2h的触摸实验中,4种客体检出的基因座数量存在统计学差异,从手套中检出的基因座数量多于从木柄和橡胶柄螺丝刀中检出的数量;从脱落细胞遗留状态较差者握持过的螺丝刀中,检出了与该物品没有直接接触的脱落细胞遗留状态较好者部分STR基因座。结论接触者最后一次洗手时间是影响脱落细胞DNA转移的一个重要因素,在接触性DNA的提取检测和结果解释过程中,对有可能发生的二次转移现象应予以高度注意。     

The Psychopathological Profile of Cannibalism: A Review of Five Cases

In today's society, human cannibalism is extremely rare and represents an unthinkable act of violence. Scientific literature on the topic is sparse due to significant methodological problems, such as collecting enough data and generating unbiased analyses. The purpose of this article is to illustrate some psychodynamic aspects of cannibalism. After a review of the literature, we will present and compare five cannibalistic patients hospitalized in the Henri Colin secure unit (Villejuif, France). The patients described fall into two subgroups, suffering either from severe schizophrenia or from a mixed personality disorder with sadistic and psychopathic features associated with paraphilia. For the schizophrenia group, cannibalism is a self‐defense reaction to a perceived threat of destruction: survival depends on the annihilation or assimilation of the other. For the mixed personality disorder group, ego and narcissism are the central issue with a desire to overcome deep‐rooted frustrations by means of an extraordinary act.     

Forgotten victims: students’ attitudes towards and responses to male sexual victimisation

This paper will examine students’ attitudes and responses to male sexual victimisation in England. In particular, it focuses on their thoughts, beliefs, views, and understandings of male rape. It does this by empirically researching male rape with the use of qualitative questionnaires, from 100 students of a university in West Yorkshire, England. There are some serious concerns that were highlighted by the findings. For example, the myths that “male rape is not a serious issue” and “male rape is solely a homosexual issue” (and more) emerge from the findings. This warrants close attention and analysis, given that students are a part of the community in which male rape often occurs. This paper outlines the implications of the findings. It argues that, in certain contexts, students’ attitudes and discourses about male rape are being shaped and re-shaped; this suggests that their thought patterns are fluid with regard to male rape, shaped by the contexts in which they are situated.     

Identifying and classifying juvenile stalking behavior

Despite the growing research in the area of stalking, the focus has been on adults who engage in this behavior. Unfortunately, almost no studies investigate the prevalence of this behavior in adolescents. Two cases are presented demonstrating not only that stalking occurs during the period of adolescence, but also that there is a significant difference in the motivation underlying this behavior that can be classified similarly to that of adult stalkers. Further, a suggested classification based on these two cases as well as our experience with other juveniles who have exhibited stalking behaviors is proposed. The first case involves a narcissistic youth who also possesses psychopathic traits, while the second involves a lonely, severely socially awkward teen. Juvenile stalking is a societal problem that has not yet garnered the attention it deserves, and all systems that deal with juvenile delinquency (juvenile court, law enforcement, and mental health personnel) as well as the school system must be educated to the prevalence and severity of this yet-to-be-recognized problem.     

Human dental age estimation by calculation of pulp-tooth volume ratios yielded on clinically acquired cone beam computed tomography images of monoradicular teeth

Abstract: Secondary dentine is responsible for a decrease in the volume of the dental pulp cavity with aging. The aim of this study is to evaluate a human dental age estimation method based on the ratio between the volume of the pulp and the volume of its corresponding tooth, calculated on clinically taken cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images from monoradicular teeth. On the 3D images of 111 clinically obtained CBCT images (Scanora^®3D dental cone beam unit) of 57 female and 54 male patients ranging in age between 10 and 65 years, the pulp–tooth volume ratio of 64 incisors, 32 canines, and 15 premolars was calculated with Simplant^® Pro software. A linear regression model was fit with age as dependent variable and ratio as predictor, allowing for interactions of specific gender or tooth type. The obtained pulp–tooth volume ratios were the strongest related to age on incisors.