Causes of Antisocial Personality
Psychologist Dr. Duane Dobbert's Interview on APD & Narcissisitic PD
Psychologist specializing in personality disorders discusses the possible etiology of antisocial personality.
This is the third in a series of articles based on interviews with psychologist, professor and author Dr. Duane Dobbert. In these interviews, we will explore various subtopics relating to Antisocial and Narcissistic PDs. This third article focuses on etiology of Antisocial Personality.
Background
What is Antisocial Personality Disorder?
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS-IV-TR), Antisocial PD (abbreviated APD or ASPD) is a psychological personality disorder characterized by lack of empathy or conscience, a difficulty controlling impulses and manipulative behaviors. This disorder is sometimes also referred to as psychopathy or sociopathy, however, Antisocial Personality Disorder is the clinical terminology used for diagnosis (APA 2000).
Question to Dobbert
Regarding Antisocial PD, are the causes thought to be nature, nurture or a little bit of both?
There has been much debate and research associated with etiology of ASPD. There is evidence to support the hypothesis that it is both environmental and genetic.
ASPD and Nature
There is higher probability for an adolescent to develop an ASPD if he or she has a first degree biological parent diagnosed with ASPD. This doesn’t narrow things down much, as this evidence suggests that we could be looking at a genetic disorder or learned behavior.
Robert Hare conducted EEG research, comparing adult ASPDs and non conduct disordered adolescents. His findings demonstrated that adult ASPDs have similar brain waves to normal adolescents. His theoretical perspective, the Maturation Retardation Hypothesis, suggests that some ASPDs' cerebrum do not completely mature during adolescence. Interestingly, many of the behaviors that an ASPD presents are similar to expected adolescent behavior.
ASPD and Nurture
Albert Bandura would suggest that the behavior is learned merely by the observation and experience of living with an ASPD. Others believe that the severely abused and neglected child will develop ASPD as they find their environment unsafe and therefore cannot rely on anyone but themselves; consequently exhibit extreme egocentricity.
Some psychologists assert that it is the overly pampered child who may develop ASPD; the child who can do nothing wrong, whose parents prevent natural consequence for inappropriate behavior. This explanation suggests that teaching the child to project blame on others can foster the development of ASPD.
More about Dr. Dobbert
A 35 year veteran of the criminal justice profession, Dr. Duane Dobbert has experience as a clinician, consultant, educator, researcher, and expert witness, and has developed training programs on identification of sexual predators. He is author of the books Understanding Personality Disorders and Halting the Sexual Predators Among Us: Preventing Attack, Rape and Lust Homicide. Dr. Dobbert is currently a Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.
More about Personality Disorders
See Dr. Dobbert's website to learn more about his books on personality disorder. For more information on PDs and mental disorder in general, look to the website Psychology Prof Online or other Suite101 articles including Overview of Personality Disorders, Antisocial Personality and What Is a Psychopath?
