Aggression, psychopathy and free will from a cognitive neuroscience perspective
1Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, 15K North Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. blairj@intra.nimh.nih.gov
Behavioral Sciences & the Law
|March 30, 2007
Summary
This study explores free will in psychopathy and aggression. While reactive aggression may occur without free will, instrumental aggression, from a compatibilist view, requires it.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Philosophy of Mind
- Forensic Psychology
Background:
- The concept of free will is central to moral and legal responsibility.
- Psychopathy is characterized by deficits in emotional processing and behavioral control.
- Understanding the interplay between free will, aggression, and psychopathy is crucial for legal and clinical contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the philosophical concept of free will within the empirical framework of aggression and psychopathy research.
- To identify empirically tractable issues from the free will debate relevant to psychopathy.
- To explore the relationship between automatic/controlled processing and reactive/instrumental aggression in psychopathy.
Main Methods:
- Review of philosophical literature on free will.
- Analysis of automatic versus controlled processing distinctions.
- Examination of impairments in these processing types in individuals with psychopathy.
- Consideration of reactive versus instrumental aggression.
Main Results:
- A distinction exists between automatic and controlled cognitive processes.
- Individuals with psychopathy exhibit impairments in both automatic and controlled processing.
- There is partial overlap between automatic/controlled processing and reactive/instrumental aggression.
Conclusions:
- Reactive aggression in psychopathy may sometimes occur without free will.
- Instrumental aggression, under compatibilism, necessitates free will.
- Empirical research on processing deficits in psychopathy offers insights into the free will debate.
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