Social preferences and psychopathy in a sample of male prisoners: a pilot study

Social decisions are influenced by a person’s social preferences. High psychopathy is defined by antisocial behaviour, but the relationship between psychopathy and social preferences remains unclear. In this study, we used a battery of economic games to study social decision-making and social prefer...

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Main Authors: Kuper-Smith, Benjamin J. (Author) , Voulgaris, Alexander (Author) , Briken, Peer (Author) , Fuss, Johannes (Author) , Korn, Christoph W. (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 9. April 2024
In: Scientific reports
Year: 2024, Volume: 14, Pages: ?
ISSN:2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-59066-8
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59066-8
Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-59066-8
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Author Notes:Benjamin J. Kuper-Smith, Alexander Voulgaris, Peer Briken, Johannes Fuss, Christoph W. Korn
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Summary:Social decisions are influenced by a person’s social preferences. High psychopathy is defined by antisocial behaviour, but the relationship between psychopathy and social preferences remains unclear. In this study, we used a battery of economic games to study social decision-making and social preferences in relation to psychopathy in a sample of 35 male prison inmates, who were arrested for sexual and severe violent offenses (mean age = 39 years). We found no evidence for a relationship between social preferences (measured with the Dictator and Ultimatum Games, Social Value Orientation, and one-shot 2 × 2 games) and psychopathy (measured by the overall Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised score and both factors). These results are surprising but also difficult to interpret due to the small sample size. Our results contribute to the ongoing debate about psychopathy and social decision-making by providing crucial data that can be combined with future datasets to reach large sample sizes that can provide a more nuanced understanding about the relationship between psychopathy and social preferences.
Item Description:Gesehen am 09.09.2024
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-59066-8