Psychopathic Traits and Social Cooperation in the Context of Emotional Feedback

Much is known about the affective deficits that characterise psychopathic traits. However, relatively little research has investigated psychopathy using paradigms that model social dynamics in interpersonal contexts. This study examined the association between psychopathic traits and social cooperation in an iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) paradigm, and tested the impact of affective cues from a co-player on participant cooperation. A sample of male university students participated in a block of standard IPD trials (game 1) followed by a block comprising a novel condition in which participants were provided with feedback on the emotional state of a bogus co-player throughout game-play (game 2). Whereas participants with low levels of psychopathic traits exhibited increased social cooperation in the context of affective feedback, poor cooperation was uniquely predicted by high levels of psychopathic traits. Findings are discussed in relation to recent accounts of psychopathy that emphasise attention-based mechanisms and empathic dysfunction.