Neuropsychology of Aggression in Psychopathy and Sociopathy: Insights for the Treatment and Study of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Abstract

Misunderstanding, stigmatization, and fascination abound in western culture concerning the concepts of psychopathy and sociopathy. These concepts are often used interchangeably—and erroneously—to describe violent or aggressive behavior in humans. These concepts tend also to be hurled as insults at individuals assumed to exhibit a lack empathy, impulsive decision making, and violent behavior. Psychopathy and sociopathy, however, are two concepts that describe different etiologies of the same mental health condition: antisocial personality disorder. This chapter bifurcates between the neurobiological origins of psychopathy and sociopathy, contributing to the destigmatization of a broadly misunderstood mental health condition. This chapter also explores recent findings from functional magnetic resonance imagery studies that analyze neurophysiological activity germane to psychopathy and sociopathy. Using these terms, students, clinicians, and researchers have access to a language that outlines correlations in neural substrate activity between genetic antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) and epigenetic antisocial personality disorder (sociopathy). These terms might also serve to enhance treatment outcomes, as they implicate discrete neural substrates that have the potential to be treated using psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions.