Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:05:18.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychometric Correlates of Episodic Violent Behaviour

A Multidimensional Neuropsychological Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Dan Mungas
Dan Mungas*
Affiliation:
Departments of Community Health and Psychiatry, University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Center, US Davis Medical Center, 2000 Stockton Blvd, Suite 210, Sacramento, Ca 95817, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three groups of neuropsychiatric out-patients, homogeneous according to parameters of violent behaviour, were identified in a previous study using a cluster analysis procedure and compared in this study on psychometric variables. These groups were (a) a group manifesting frequent, impulsive violence (n = 35), (b) a non-violent group (n = 57), and (c) a group whose violent behaviour was much less frequent and severe than in the first group, and more provoked (n = 31). Impulsively violent patients showed language and visual-perceptual deficits, but no other neuropsychological or intellectual deficits. The MMPI F, K and Ma and MacAndrews Alcoholism scales and a perceptual organisation factor derived from the Holtzman Inkblot Test significantly discriminated groups. Results of this and the initial study have implications regarding psychological aspects of aggression and underlying biological mechanisms.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 2 , February 1988 , pp. 180 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bach-y-Rita, G., Lion, J. R., Climent, C. E. & Ervin, F. R. (1971) Episodic dyscontrol: a study of 130 violent patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1473–1478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barron, F. (1953) An ego-strength scale which predicts response to psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 17, 235–241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benton, A. L. (1974) The Revised Visual Retention Test, 4th edn. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Cairns, R. (1972) Fighting and punishment from a developmental perspective. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (eds Cole, J. J. & Jensen, D. D.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Dahlström, A. (1969) Fluorescence histochemistry of monoamines in the central nervous system. In Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies (eds Jasper, H. H., Ward, A. A. & Pope, A.). Boston: Little, Brown and Co.Google Scholar
Dahlström, A., Welsh, G. S. & Dahlström, L. W. (1972) An MMPI Handbook. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, W. J. & Brown, M. B. (eds) (1979) BMDP Biomedical Computer Programs. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Downer, J. L. de C. (1961) Changes in visual diagnostic functions and emotional behavior following unilateral tempotal pole damage in the ‘split-brain’ monkey. Nature, 191, 50–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L. M. (1965) Expanded manual for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Circle Pines, Minnesota: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Fields, W. & Sweet, W. (1975) Neural Bases of Violence and Aggression. St Louis: Warren Green.Google Scholar
Gates, A. I. & MacGinitie, W. H. (1965, 1969) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. New York: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Goldberg, L. R. (1965) Diagnosticians vs. diagnostic signs: the diagnosis of psychosis vs. neurosis from the MMPI. Psychological Monographs, 79, No. 602 (whole issue).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, M. (1974) Brain research and violent behavior: a summary and evaluation of the status of biomedical research on brain and aggressive violent behavior. Archives of Neurology, 30, 1–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holtzman, W. H., Thorp, J. S., Schwartz, J. D. & Herron, E. W. (1961) Inkblot Perception and Personality. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Hooper, H. E. (1958) The Hooper Visual Organization Test Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Kaiser, H. F. (1958) The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 23, 197–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, H. F. (1960) The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 141–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirk, R. E. (1968) Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences. New York: Brooks-Cole.Google Scholar
Kling, A. (1972) Effects of amygdalectomy on social-affective behavior in nonhuman primates. In The Neurobiology of the Amygdala (ed. Eleftherion, B. E.). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Lachar, D. (1974) The MMPI: Clinical Assessment and Automated Interpretation. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Lezak, M. S. (1976) Neuropsychological Assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lukas, J. H. & Siegel, J. (1977) Cortical mechanisms that augment or reduce evoked potentials in cats. Science, 198, 73–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacAndrews, C. (1965) The differentiation of male alcoholic outpatients by means of the MMPI. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcoholism, 16, 238–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mark, V. H. & Ervin, F. R. (1970) Violence and the Brain. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
McFie, J. (1969) The diagnostic significance of disorders of higher nervous activity: syndromes related to frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lesions. In Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Vol. 3, Disorders of Higher Nervous Activity (eds Vincken, J. P. & Bruyn, G. W.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Megargee, E. I. (1966) Undercontrolled and overcontrolled personality types in extreme antisocial aggression. Psychological Monographs, 80, No. 611 (whole issue).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Megargee, E. I., Cook, P. E. & Mendelsohn, G. A. (1967) The development and validation of an MMPI scale of assaultiveness in overcontrolled individuals. Journals of Abnormal Psychology, 72, 519–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milner, B. (1970) Memory and the medial temporal regions of the brain. In Biology of Memory (eds Pribram, K. H. & Broadbent, D. E.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Monroe, R. R. (1970) Episodic Behavioral Disorder: a Psychodynamic and Neurological Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Monroe, R. R. (1978) Brain Dysfunction in Aggressive Criminals. Lexington: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Mungas, D. (1983) An empirical analysis of specific syndromes of violent behavior. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 354–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osterrieth, P. A. (1944) Le test de copie d'une figure complexe. Archives de Psychologie, 30, 206–356.Google Scholar
Pincus, J. H. & Tucker, G. J. (1978) Behavioral Neurology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reitan, R. M. & Tarshes, E. L. (1959) Differential effects of lateralized brain lesions on the Trial Making Test. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 129, 257–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rey, A. (1964) L'Examen Clinique en Psychologie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Schaffer, C. B., Pandey, G. N., Noll, K. M., Killian, G. A. & Davis, J. M. (1981) Introduction and theories of affective disorders. In Neuropharmacology of Central Nervous System and Behavioral Disorders (ed. Palmer, G. C.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sheard, M. H., Marini, J. L., Bridges, C. I. & Wagner, E. (1976) The effect of lithium on impulsive aggressive behavior in man. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 1409–1412.Google ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. (1973) Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Spellacy, F. (1977) Neuropsychological differences between violent and nonviolent adolescents. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 33, 766–769.3.0.CO;2-4>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spellacy, F. (1978) Neuropsychological discrimination between violent and nonviolent men. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34, 49–52.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, J. R. & Hermann, B. P. (1981) Temporal lobe epilepsy, psychopathology, and violence: the state of the evidence. Neurology, 31, 1127–1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strub, R. L. & Black, F. W. (1981) Organic Brain Syndrome: an Introduction to Neurobehavioral Disorders. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co.Google Scholar
Taylor, E. M. (1959) Psychological Appraisal of Children with Cerebral Defects. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, L. B. (1969) Localization of cerebral lesions by psychological testing. Clinical Neurosurgery, 16, 269–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tucker, D. M. (1981) Lateral brain function, emotion, and conceptualization. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 19–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valenstein, E. S. (1973) Brain Control: A Critical Examination of Brain Stimulation and Psychosurgery. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Walsh, K. W. (1978) Neurosurgery: A Clinical Approach. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1945) A standardized memory scale for clinical use. Journal of Psychology, 19, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weil-Malherbe, H. (1976) The biochemistry of affective disorders. In Biological Foundation of Psychiatry (eds Grenell, R. S. & Gabay, S.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. (1975) Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Yeudall, L. T. (1977) Neuropsychological assessment of forensic disorders. Canadian Mental Health, 25, 7–16.Google Scholar
Yeudall, L. T., Fromm-Auch, D. & Davies, P. (1982) Neuropsychological impairment of persistent delinquency. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.