Unfeeling or Uncontrolled? PCL-R Subfactor-Specific Anomalies in Psychological Processing During Criminal Behavior

Psychopathy has been linked to insensitivity to negative affect as well as to a self-regulatory deficit. However, studies on these associations rarely involve real-life behavioral data. Using a theory-based content analysis of offense descriptions in criminal verdicts, the affective and regulatory processes that male German prison inmates (N = 109) displayed during criminal norm-violations were coded. Their PCL-R scores were split up into the interpersonal-affective (F1) and the lifestyle-antisocial (F2) factors. As expected, F1 was associated with positive (as opposed to negative) activation affect during criminal behavior (τ = .32, p < .001), while F2 was not. In contrast, F2 was associated with impulsive reactivity (τ = .14, p = .03), while F1 was not. No differential association was found with angry emotionality. Overall, the bifactorial nature of the PCL-R psychopathy construct seems to be reflected in psychological processing during real-life criminal behavior. This might indicate differential criminogenic processes.