Social information processing in violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder: phenotypes, deficits and new interventions

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Schönenberg
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2015 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 265200521

The ability to process correctly and respond adequately to verbal and non-verbal information is vital for successful social functioning. Some prominent theoretical approaches claim that deficits in recognition or appropriate interpretation of social information can contribute to the development of deviant aggressive behavior. Accordingly, numerous studies provide evidence for impairments in the processing of affective cues in various antisocial populations. However, it remains unclear whether these impairments are specific for certain affective displays (e.g. fearful faces), particular information processing stages and/or sensory modalities. Further, less is known about potential mediators and how these recognition deficits translate into actual behavior. Finally, virtually nothing is known about the modifiability of these deficits. Thus, the main goals of the planned project are the following: (i) a systematic investigation of social information processing deficits in a large sample of inmates (violent offenders and fraudsters), their relationship to certain trait variables (e.g. psychopathy) and aggressive behavior (cross-sectional study I); (ii) a careful evaluation of our recently developed training approach for the treatment of emotional recognition impairments and associated aggressive behavior in violent offenders (longitudinal study II).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Martin Hautzinger