Hancock

• Background


  • the first study to uniquely examine the specific qualities of psychopathic language using sophisticated text analysis tools
  • Through describing their violent crimes, language characteristics were examined for their (1) instrumental nature, their (2) unique material and socioeconomic needs, and their (3) emotional deficit
• Aim


  Whether the language of psychopaths reflected a predatory world view, unique socioemotional needs and a poverty of affect
• Sample


  • Volunteer sampling
  • 52 male murderers
  • Canada
  • Who had admitted to their crime
  • Psychopathy was measured using Psychopathy Checklist Revised (14 psychopaths, 38 non-psychopaths)
  • Groups were matched on type of murder (first degree, second degree, manslaughter) and age
• Procedure


  • Psychopathy was measured (see sample)
  • Participants were informed of the aims and procedures of the study
  • Interviews commenced
  • Asked to describe their offence in as much detail as possible
  • Prompted by interviewerd using a standardised proc called the Step-Wise Interview
  • Interviews lasted about 25 minutes and were recorded
  • 2 senior psychology grad students and 1 research assisstant conducted the interviews (unaware of psychopathy scores)
  • After, the narratives were transcribed and analysed using 2 different text analysis tools
• Results


  • No sigificant difference between number of words in narratives
  • Psychopaths used more subordinating conjuctions, such as: since, because, so, as, that
  • Psychopaths used 2x the number of words relating to basic needs, such as: food, drink, money etc
  • Non-psychopaths referred to social issues: family, religion, spirituality etc
  • Psychopaths used more past tense verbs
  • Psychopath's language was significantly less fluent
  • Psychopath's language was less positive and less emotionally intense
• Conclusions


  • Psychopaths are more likely than non-psychopaths to describe cause and effect relationships when describing their murder
  • Psychopaths are more likely to view their crime as a logical outcome of a plan and focus more on physiological needs than higher level social needs
  • Psychopath's descriptions of their crimes are less emotionally intense and less emotionally pleasant
  • Psychopaths use more disfluent language
  • Psychopaths appear to operate on a primitve but rational level, and are focused on a lower level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, compared to non-psychopaths
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs


  • Self-actualisation
  • Self-esteem
  • Love and belonging
  • Safety and security
  • Psychological needs

  
• How does Hancock link to the key theme?

  • Based on the theory of language being communicated directly from an individual's thoughts to another person
  • The relationship between language and thought has been the subjct of much debate
  • They also looked at Jungheenel, Smyth and Santer and their computer analysis of language produced by psychiatric patients
  • In Hancock's study, they measured the differences between psychopaths and non-psychopaths
  • Set up interviews where they described the crime
  • They then transcribed this and found that psychopathic language was less fluent
• How does it link to the key area


  Individual differences:

  • Measuring differences
  • How everyone is different to each other
  • By looking at differences in behaviour, we can see how people are psychologically different and how this can affect behaviour