Psychopathy has been defined as including deficits in affective, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Due to the severity of these deficits, several etiological theories have emerged in an attempt to better understand the personality construct. The response modulation hypothesis (RMH; Patterson & Newman, 1993) is a theory growing in popularity among researchers and posits that an inability to reallocate attentional resources to peripheral information moderates the affective and behavioral deficits commonly documented within individuals with psychopathy. Thus, the present study attempted to examine to test the validity of the RMH in a non-incarcerated population. The results somewhat support the theory that subcortical-cortical circuitry is at least partly involved in how individuals with psychopathic traits process all information. As Coldheartedness increased interference from positively and negatively arousing distractors was similar. Likewise, increasing levels of Self-Centered Impulsivity were found to be associated with better accuracy. However, some traits of psychopathy were associated with more distraction. Future studies should consider determining which traits of psychopathy tend to moderate attentional focus and resultant affective processing.
","abstract_html":"<p>Psychopathy has been defined as including deficits in affective, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Due to the severity of these deficits, several etiological theories have emerged in an attempt to better understand the personality construct. The response modulation hypothesis (RMH; Patterson & Newman, 1993) is a theory growing in popularity among researchers and posits that an inability to reallocate attentional resources to peripheral information moderates the affective and behavioral deficits commonly documented within individuals with psychopathy. Thus, the present study attempted to examine to test the validity of the RMH in a non-incarcerated population. The results somewhat support the theory that subcortical-cortical circuitry is at least partly involved in how individuals with psychopathic traits process all information. As Coldheartedness increased interference from positively and negatively arousing distractors was similar. Likewise, increasing levels of Self-Centered Impulsivity were found to be associated with better accuracy. However, some traits of psychopathy were associated with more distraction. Future studies should consider determining which traits of psychopathy tend to moderate attentional focus and resultant affective processing.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Llamas, Veronica Claudia"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Clinical Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Haerich, Paul E.","Burley, Todd D.","Mallery, Suzanne T.","Vermeersch, David"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-09-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-09-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:15Z","subjects":["Clinical Psychology","Psychology","Clinical Psychology; Psychopaths; Antisocial Personality Disorders","Psychopathy","Cognitive Functioning","Etiological Theories","Response Modulation Hypothesis","Attentional Focus","Affective Processing"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/172","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Haerich, Paul E.","Burley, Todd D.","Mallery, Suzanne T.","Vermeersch, David"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Llamas, Veronica Claudia"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Clinical Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Clinical Psychology","Psychology","Clinical Psychology; Psychopaths; Antisocial Personality Disorders","Psychopathy","Cognitive Functioning","Etiological Theories","Response Modulation Hypothesis","Attentional Focus","Affective Processing"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/172"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Psychopathy has been defined as including deficits in affective, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Due to the severity of these deficits, several etiological theories have emerged in an attempt to better understand the personality construct. The response modulation hypothesis (RMH; Patterson & Newman, 1993) is a theory growing in popularity among researchers and posits that an inability to reallocate attentional resources to peripheral information moderates the affective and behavioral deficits commonly documented within individuals with psychopathy. Thus, the present study attempted to examine to test the validity of the RMH in a non-incarcerated population. The results somewhat support the theory that subcortical-cortical circuitry is at least partly involved in how individuals with psychopathic traits process all information. As Coldheartedness increased interference from positively and negatively arousing distractors was similar. Likewise, increasing levels of Self-Centered Impulsivity were found to be associated with better accuracy. However, some traits of psychopathy were associated with more distraction. Future studies should consider determining which traits of psychopathy tend to moderate attentional focus and resultant affective processing.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/172"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"dc:subject":["Clinical Psychology","Psychology","Clinical Psychology; Psychopaths; Antisocial Personality Disorders","Psychopathy","Cognitive Functioning","Etiological Theories","Response Modulation Hypothesis","Attentional Focus","Affective Processing"],"dc:title":["Examination of Psychopathic Traits and Attention Using the Image Based Parity Task"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Clinical Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:15Z"}