Are there racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic personality? A critique of Lynn's (2002) racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic personality

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Abstract

Lynn's claim that certain races or ethnic groups have a higher incidence of psychopathic personality is not substantiated by large scale community studies in America that show no differences between these groups in the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. No consistent racial differences are found in traits closely associated with psychopathy, sensation seeking and psychoticism, and, Lynn to the contrary, the Psychopathic Deviate scale of the MMPI. Antisocial behavior in Blacks is less related to personality than in Whites. The results on criminality are not compatible with Rushton's r/K theory of evolutionary selection, as claimed by Lynn, because Native Americans and Hispanic groups are of Siberian Mongoloid origin in the case of the former and mixed Central-American Indian and Spanish Caucasoid in the case of the latter. The differences between African-American, Native-American, Hispanic, and European-American groups in antisocial behavior seems to be more a function of social class, historical circumstance, and their position in Western society rather than racial genetics. Following Rushton, 1988, Lynn, 2002 has presented a pastiche of population statistics on delinquency, criminal and sexual behavior, truancy, parenting, aggression, and disorders like Conduct Disorder (CD) and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to support the hypotheses that: (1) the races and ethnic groups differ in the incidence of “psychopathic personality”; (2) these population differences are based in strong part to genetic differences between the populations; (3) the differences have their distal origins in the different evolutionary histories of the races (Rushton's r–K theory of race differences). Lynn claims that Rushton's theory “…has now become widely accepted by scholars”, citing only those who support the theory and ignoring those who have criticized it (Lynn, 1989, Weizmann et al., 1990, Zuckerman, 1990, Zuckerman and Brody, 1988). Consequently, some of those criticisms as well as those based on more recent data are addressed to the specific arguments in Lynn's article.

Section snippets

Diagnosis and ratings

At the offset, a distinction must be made between psychopathic personality, now called Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), and criminal behavior. APD is diagnosed only in those persons whose history of antisocial behavior begins before the age of 15 and persists beyond the age of 18. APD must be distinguished from ordinary criminality by personality traits that apply to all areas of relationships, not just the criminal world. Although criminal history is often used as a surrogate for APD,

Test scores

Lynn interprets several studies to show that Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics score higher than Whites on the Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) Scale of the MMPI. Those who know this scale realize that a number of the items ask about antisocial behavior during childhood rather than current behavior. Furthermore it is incorrect to interpret the MMPI based on a single scale in isolation from the profile. Many groups with other kinds of disorders score high on the Pd Scale, but even higher on other

Sensation seeking

Sensation seeking, particularly Disinhibition, or excitement seeking, is among the personality scales showing the highest relationships with psychopathic personality disorder (Blackburn, 1978, Emmons and Webb, 1974, Harpur et al., 1989, Harpur et al., 1994, Thornquist and Zuckerman, 1995). Lynn's review discusses other personality traits but omits this one. Zuckerman (1994) reviewed 10 studies involving comparisons between Blacks and Whites in normal children and adults, college students,

Psychoticism

Like Rushton, Lynn ignores the Eysenck and Eysenck (1976) Psychoticism Scale in his racial comparisons. The Eysencks broad concept of psychoticism includes psychopathy. Delinquents and prisoners are among the highest scoring groups on this scale, scoring higher than actual psychotics. I have suggested that the scale might be more appropriately called Psychopathy rather than psychoticism (Zuckerman, 1989). The scale is the best marker for a factor consisting of low conscientiousness,

Race and ethnicity

Whereas Rushton confines his theory to races, combining diverse populations within the descriptions Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid, Lynn makes a distinction of ethnic categories, particularly Hispanic, in contrast to race. However, he still regards Whites, Blacks, Asiatics, and Native Americans as pure racial representatives of their respective groups. The 19th century conception of race is not widely accepted among modern anthropologists and ethologists. There is simply too much diversity

Evolution and the r/K hypothesis

Lynn uses the r/K hypothesis propounded by Rushton to explain the purported racial differences in psychopathy. According to Lynn the source of racial differences is climate. He says that the problems of survival in the colder climates of Euroasia, affecting Mongoloids and Caucasoids. led to stronger bonding between males and females with greater commitment by males to provisioning their families, more responsible parenting, enhanced capacity to delay gratification, and stronger control over

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