Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 61, Issue 3, 2 December 2000, Pages 177-189
Journal of Affective Disorders

Electrodermal hyporeactivity and antisocial behavior: does anxiety mediate the relationship?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00336-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Electrodermal hyporeactivity in the anticipation of aversive stimuli is a highly reliable correlate of diagnosed psychopathy and undersocialized aggressive conduct disorder (UACD), and it has been interpreted as reflecting a weak behavioral inhibition system (BIS) as conceptualized in Gray’s work (e.g., in: Royce, J.R. (Ed.), Multivariate Analysis and Psychological Theory. Academic Press, New York, NY, p. 409, 1973). This interpretation predicts that electrodermal hyporeactivity should be associated with a single dimension of temperament involving both low anxiety and behavioral disinhibition. However, temperament scales identify separate dimensions of trait anxiety/neuroticism and inhibitory control, and most investigators have assumed that the BIS is associated with the trait anxiety/neuroticism dimension. The present review supports the view that electrodermal hyporeactivity is associated with both low anxiety and disinhibition, as expected, and, possibly, with poor control of emotional expression. Additionally, electrodermal hyporeactivity appears to relate to an impulsivity dimension among psychopaths rather than to the core personality features of psychopathy. Recent findings raise the possibility that psychopaths suffer from a broader deficit (sometimes described as an executive function deficit) than a weak BIS and that electrodermal hyporeactivity might relate to this broader deficit. It is proposed that problems with impulsivity are more strongly documented than the broader concept of executive function deficits and that a primary disinhibition can produce secondary executive function deficits. A disinhibitory deficit is consistent with the weak BIS hypothesis. Overall, the results appear to be consistent with the electrodermal hyporeactivity-weak BIS hypothesis, but many issues remain to be resolved.

Section snippets

Anxiety and disinhibition

As noted, the BIS hypothesis seemingly implies that individual differences in inhibitory control and anxiety should constitute two aspects of a single dimension of temperament. However, most temperament researchers see anxiety or neuroticism and inhibitory control as two orthogonal dimensions. Tellegen’s (1985) development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire serves as a prototype. Factor analyses of personality questionnaires (Tellegen, 1985) yielded three orthogonal second-order

Startle, electrodermal activity, and two components of psychopathy

A separation of the low fear and disinhibition components of psychopathy is seen in recent studies of incarcerated male sexual offenders by Patrick and co-workers (Patrick et al., 1993, Patrick et al., 1994; Patrick, 1994). These studies found that a fear deficit as assessed by the startle paradigm differs from whatever deficit is manifested in electrodermal hyporeactivity, and they indicated that electrodermal hyporeactivity is not specifically associated with what they viewed as the core

A possible broader deficit

Two perspectives raise the possibility that the deficit in psychopathy that accounts for electrodermal hyporeactivity may extend beyond a failure to anticipate punishment and frustrative nonreward. The first of these derives from the work of the Damasios and Tranel (Damasio et al., 1990; Damasio, 1994; Tranel, 1994) with patients suffering from lesions in the ventromedial frontal lobe that produce ‘acquired sociopathy’. This well-known neuropsychological syndrome is said in many respects to

Electrodermal hyporeactivity in normal subjects

An important strategy for resolving some of these issues is to examine the correlates of electrodermal hyporeactivity in normal subjects. Such a design eliminates the confounding of multiple variables required for a diagnosis of psychopathy, as well as problems of other comorbid disorders (Sutker, 1994), and it provides direct evidence of the correlates of hyporeactivity. Two studies used electrodermal reactivity as an independent variable in normal subjects and examined the personality

Summary and comments

Electrodermal hyporeactivity is a highly reliable correlate of diagnosed psychopathy and undersocialized aggressive conduct disorder, and it has been interpreted as reflecting a weak BIS. This interpretation predicts that individual differences in electrodermal activity are associated with a single dimension of temperament involving both low anxiety and behavioral disinhibition. However, temperament scales identify separate dimensions of trait anxiety/neuroticism and inhibitory control, and

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