Cognition and psychopathy in incarcerated sexual offenders

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The objective was to investigate if perpetrators of sexual offenses against children and adolescents with and without psychopathy differ regarding cognitive aspects. Method: A total of 30 male inmates participated in the study, divided into two groups: one that included psychopaths and the other with non-psychopaths. The instruments used were: protocol for collecting information on criminal court records; Rorschach test according to the Performance Assessment System, considering the cognitive variables and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised Scale. Results: The results indicate that psychopaths exhibit greater impairment in the organization of thoughts, as well as greater vulnerability to the general personality disruption. The best regression model showed that 55% of psychopathy can be explained by a greater propensity to a general personality disorder (EII-3 β: 4.77; p-value < 0.001), associated with the predisposition to be arrested at a young age (β: -0.26; p-value = 0.004). Conclusion: The efficiency of the R-PAS is observed in the identification of cognitive failures in psychopath perpetrators of sexual violence and perpetrators of sexual violence, and its usefulness is enhanced, when associated with other behavioral measures in the identification of this type of personality profile.