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Chapter 2 - Interpersonal Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

Richard Howard  and
Conor Duggan
Richard Howard
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Conor Duggan
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
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Summary

This chapter reviews what is known about the interpersonal style of people with antisocial personality and psychopathy, concluding that antisocial individuals have a cold, vindictive and hostile interpersonal style and that they lack the motivation to engage in an empathic way with others. The triarchic view of human selfhood– the self as social actor, as motivated agent and as autobiographical author – is introduced as a framework within which the antisocial individual might be understood from a first-person perspective. So-called dark traits are considered, particularly their role in sexual offending and sexual sadism. It is suggested the ‘dark traits’ construct might be expanded to include paranoia, moral disengagement, spitefulness and greed. The concept of ‘emotion goals’ is introduced and considered in relation to a quadripartite typology of violence that sees violence as reflecting appetitive versus aversive motivation interacting with an impulsive versus controlled dimension.

Keywords

psychopathyinterpersonal styleaggressionselfhooddark traitssadismmotivationempathy
Type
Chapter
Information
Antisocial Personality
Theory, Research, Treatment
 , pp. 22 - 42
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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