A Critical Review on the Positive Side of Psychopathy - Math Problem Example

RuningHead: A CRITICAL REVIEW ON OSUMI &OHIRA (2010) A critical review on Osumi &Ohira (2010) Name Course Institution Date A critical review on Osumi &Ohira (2010), The positive side of psychopathy: Emotional detachment in psychopathy and rational decision-making in the ultimatum game. Introduction Osumi &Ohira (2010), the authors of the article, “The positive side of psychopathy: Emotional detachment in psychopathy and rational decision-making in the ultimatum game, agree that individuals with psychopathy show anti-social, selfish and un-empathetic behaviors. This in turn makes it hard for them to have healthy relationships with other people. On the other hand in this article Osumi &Ohira (2010), also try to prove that psychopathy has its positive side. Osumi &Ohira explain that studies conducted recently in economics show that people who are emotional or not psychopathic are more likely to make irrational decisions as compared to psychopathic individuals. This is mainly because psychopathic individuals do not use their emotions when they are making decisions thus psychopathic individuals are more likely to make rational decisions that are not influenced by feelings. In order to prove these findings Osumi and Ohira conducted a study that aimed at testing if psychopathy has positive influence in the social settings. The study carried out by Osumi and Ohira looked at college students with both high and low aspects of psychopathy made their decisions in the ultimatum game. This game shows the differences between economic utility and fairness. This study also looked at the electrodermal responses to both the far and the unfair offers of both groups. After this study, it was established that as compared to students with low tendencies of psychopathy, the students who showed a high tendency of psychopathic behaviour more often took up economic utility by choosing unfair offers. While controls more often showed an exctrodermal response to unfair offers as compared to the fair offers, individuals with high psychopathic tendencies did not show the same difference between the two kinds of offers. The findings of this study show that despite the fact that individuals with psychopathy are insensitive to unfairness, they can make rational decision to take up unfair offers. Therefore, psychopathy can be rational and positive in certain social settings (Osumi &Ohira, 2010). A review of the article The background of this article focuses on a general overview of psychopathy based on the perspectives of different authors. Osumi and Ohira review several literatures to show that nature of psychopathy. According to Benning, Patrick, & Iacono (2005), psychopathy is an “affective impairment.” People with psychopathy fail to show an electrodermal response, they also show small activation of the affective neural circuit when it comes to responding to the distress of other people. A number of researchers like Blair (1995) and Lykken (1995) suggest that the luck of affectiveness in the distress of other people can contribute to deviant behaviors. Other studies conducted by Mitchell, Colledge, Leonard & Blair (2002), show that people with psychopathic tendencies tend to make disadvantageous decisions. Osumi and Ohira further illustrate that according to Trivers (1971), people with psychopathy often shows anti-social behaviors that are against social norms and as a result people with psychopathy cannot have healthy relationships with other people. Therefore people with psychopathic tendencies are often regarded as social misfits. On the other hand, Lykken (1995) explains that there are several aspects of psychopathy like charm, boldness and false charm among many other aspects that usually seen in people who are successful in academics and business. Therefore, psychopathy is not only a social maladaption, it also contributes to some kind of success. It is somehow a mystery how psychopathy involves negative aspects such as selfishness and anti-social behaviour while at the same time bringing contribution to successful achievements (Lykken, 1995). In the study used to determine emotional detachment in psychopathy and rational decision-making, Osumi and Ohira use the Ultimatum game (UG). The UG game is a commonly used laboratory model that determines economic decision making by providing a situation whereby the emotions of people can go against economical rationality. This game has one round whereby two people namely the responder and the proposer divide a certain amount of money. In case the responder accepts the offer that the proposer makes, their deal continues. Incase the responder rejects the offer, the two players do not get anything. It is expected that rational responders should take positive offers as there are no other rounds from the same proposer. However, in most cases responders do not take rational decision in the place of an irrational rejection. For example, an offer that is under 20-30% has a 50% chance of getting rejected (Güth, Schmittberger, & Schwarze, 1982). Moreover, the skin conductance response (SCR) after an unfair offer is considered to be a predictor for irrational rejection in the UG. The skin conductance response evaluates physiological excitements that are brought about by the sympathetic nervous system. According to van’t Wout et al. (2006) it is usually assumed that SCR can be linked to unfair offers since they bring negative emotions. Therefore psychopathic people lack SCR within their conditioning especially when viewing affective or unpleasant pictures. This shows that they are not sensitive to negative emotions. The method used in this study involved, choosing 28 participants who were all college students who have finished the Japanese Primary and Secondary Psychopathy scale (PSPS) during a session of screening. The group of students with high psychopathy included 12 students, 5 among these group were females. The groups with low psychopathy comprised of 16 students, 8 among these students were females. For the psychopathic group, their mean ages was 19.1(SD=0.49). For the group with less psychopathic students their mean age was 1.91(SD=1.27). It was ensured that all the students who participated had no knowledge of the UG game or any other game on economic theories. The results of this study showed that the group with high psychopathy students has a higher acceptance for offers that were unfair by (43.8% [SD = 16.4%]) as compared to the group with low psychopathy students (25.0% [SD = 16.4%]). Students who showed a high tendency of psychopathic in this study, accepted offers that were more unfair as compared to other students who were not psychopathic. This was observed regardless of the length of time that each of the individuals used to make their decision. Despite the fact that the time given could influence the one’s decision, it was seen that in the 3.0’s and the 8.0’s condition the students taking part in the game had more time to change the choices that they had made soon after the offers were presented to them. Despite this observation, their rate of acceptance was no different from the available conditions. Since the score that representing impulsivity in secondary psychopathy was the same in both the two groups and not the same as the rate of acceptance. It is hard to explain the higher rate of acceptance among the students who had high psychopathic rates due to impulsivity. These results show that the decisions that the students who participated in the ultimatum game made were based on their choices that were influenced by their psychopathy qualities and not the mistakes that come from making their decision very soon. On the other hand, the students who were not psychopathic showed skin conductance response (SCR) when responding to both the fair and the unfair offers. Psychopathic individuals also showed similar SCR when responding to the fair and the unfair offers, this was a default. A critical evaluation of the study This study conducted by Osumi &Ohira (2010) is a major contribution in psychology as far as understanding the nature of psychopaths and the positive side of psychopathy is concerned. The study sheds light on the fundamental aspects of psychopathy and some of its positive influence in the social settings. A key strength of this study is that its findings are based on concrete research and the review of relevant and approved literatures. In order to establish certain facts, the authors of this article have conducted a research study using the Ultimatum Game to show the extent in which psychopaths make take up economic utility by choosing unfair offers. Moreover, the authors of this article conducted a critical review of literature to give the article a well deserved background. By conducting a social experiment using the Ultimatum Game, Osumi &Ohira (2010) have been able to show how individual with high psychopathic tendencies have a higher acceptance for offers that were unfair as compared to individuals with low psychopathy tendencies. Hence, when comes to making rational decisions especially wither regards to economic situations psychopathic people are more bound to make rational decisions that could contribute to success. This is because they are not emotional and they are not influenced by emotions when making their decisions. These findings concur or relate with the findings of Lykken (1995) which shows that certain aspects of psychopathy can contribute to success. This study has managed to achieve the main objectives of the researchers by drawing on to appropriate methodologies and valid interpretations of the findings from the experiment. The key objective of this experiment was to prove that there exists an advantageous side of psychopathy. In order to achieve this objective Osumi &Ohira (2010) used the Ultimatum Game together with the skin conductance response (SCR). These two approaches provide an effective strategy of evaluating the extent to which people with high psychopathic tendencies tend to have higher acceptance for unfair offers as compared to people with less psychopathic tendencies. By choosing to use the Ultimatum Game for this experiment, Osumi and Ohira have managed to illustrate a situation revolving around decision-making in economic matters whereby the emotions of people can go against economical rationality. By giving these illustration Osumi and Ohira have been able to prove that psychopathic people do not go against economical rationality since they are not affective and do not let emotions cloud their judgment thus they more bound to make rational decisions when it comes to economical decisions. By interpreting the skin conductance response Osumi and Ohira have evaluate the psychological effects in people with low psychopathy that come as a result of being presented with pleasant and unpleasant offers. By interpreting the skin conductance response Osumi and Ohira have been able to show that people with low psychopathy show more skin conductance response (SCR) when responding to both the fair and the unfair offers. Given the fact that the students who participated in the UG experiment had only one chance to choose the offers presented by the same proposer, the consequences of rejecting an unfair offer can be considered as a factor that influence their next choice since the participants could not get the same offer directly or indirectly. Therefore the one round given to participants in the UG experiment regulated the emotions of the participants such that they made decisions that were affected by their current choices in the game. The use of the Ultimate Game in this study further reduces the strength of this study since the game does not enable participants to holistically make decisions based on their preferences rather it encourages participants to make decisions based on their previous choices. This study has showed several inconsistencies particularly when it comes to interpreting the skin conductance response (SCR) for both the individuals with high and low psychopathic tendencies. It has been established in this study that people with low psychopathy show more skin conductance response (SCR) when responding to both the fair and the unfair offers. However, the results of the study showed that both the individuals with high and low psychopathic tendencies had the same level of SCR when responding to both the fair and the unfair offers. This is major default that reduces the validity of this study, since it was expected students with high tendencies of psychopathy should not have the same level of SCR like those with low psychopathy tendencies. Conclusion The key aim of this study was to show a positive side of psychopathy with regards to rational decision-making in the ultimatum game. The background of this study establishes that emotional detachment in psychopathy can contribute to rational decision-making especially in economic aspects. In order to prove this Osumi and Ohira used the Ultimatum Game experiment to show how individuals with high psychopathic tendencies have a higher acceptance for offers that were unfair as compared to individuals with low psychopathy tendencies. The findings of this study showed that the group with high psychopathy students has a higher acceptance for offers that were unfair by (43.8% [SD = 16.4%]) as compared to the group with low psychopathy students (25.0% [SD = 16.4%]).This study is a major contribution in psychology as far as understanding the nature of psychopaths and the positive side of psychopathy is concerned. However, this study showed several inconsistencies particularly when it comes to the one round in The UG and interpreting the skin conductance response (SCR). References Benning, D., Patrick, J., & Iacono, G. (2005). Psychopathy, startle blink modulation, and electrodermal reactivity in twin men. Psychophysiology, 42, 753–762. Blair, R. (1995). A cognitive developmental approach to morality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition, 57, 1–29. Güth, W., Schmittberger, R., & Schwarze, B. (1982). An experimental analysis of Ultimatum bargaining. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 3, 367–388. Lykken, T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Mitchell, V., Colledge, E., Leonard, A., & Blair, R. (2002). “Risky decisions and response reversal: Is there evidence of orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in psychopathic individuals?” Neuropsychologia, 40, 2013–2022. Osumi, T.& Ohira, H. (2010). “The positive side of psychopathy: Emotional detachment in psychopathy and rational decision-making in the ultimatum game”. Personality and Individual Differences 49 (2010) 451–456. Trivers, L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 46, 35–57. van’t Wout, M., Kahn, S., Sanfey, G., & Aleman, A. (2006). Affective state and decision-making in the ultimatum game. Experimental Brain Research, 169, 564–568. Read More