Psychopathy, criminogenic cognitions and emotional responses to affective stimuli among male adult offenders.

Background: Previous research has consistently shown value in studying emotion processing with psychopathy, but the relative effect of aural and visual stimulation has hardly been considered.

Aims: Our aims were to (1) compare reaction time and self-rated valence ((un)pleasantness), arousal and sense of being dominated by affective sounds or visual images among offenders with and without psychopathy (=/>26) on the psychopathy check-list revised; (2) investigate any associations, controlling for social desirability and depression; (3) explore the possible mediating effect of criminogenic cognitions on any relationships between psychopathy and emotional responses to affective stimuli.

Methods: Professional educators invited all male offenders serving semi-open custody sentences in one prison to participate.