Reactions of primary and secondary psychopaths to anger-evoking situations

Offender patients at a psychiatric security hospital were classified as primary or secondary psychopaths or as conforming or inhibited non-psychopaths, and compared on a Situations-Reactions Inventory of Hostility. Prior factor analysis of this inventory indicated two classes of situation, labelled attack and frustration, and three classes of reaction - aggression, anger, and arousal. Psychopathic subjects generally rated their reactions as more intense but differed significantly from non-psychopaths only in their response to attack. Secondary psychopaths produced the most intense reactions, but differed from primary psychopaths in reporting greater somatic arousal. The results suggest that psychopaths as a group more readily interpret provocation or threats from others as unwarranted attack. It is proposed that an attributional bias towards perceiving malevolent intent may be central to psychopathy.