Problems of Forensic Sciences 2012 Vol. 89 (LXXXIX) 36-56
PSYCHOPATHY AND NARCISSISM VS. THE EMOTIONALAND INSTRUMENTAL VALUE OF AGGRESSIONAND AUTO-AGGRESSION AMONG RECIDIVISTS
Józef K. Gierowski1, 2, Justyna Grygoruk1
1Department of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
2Institute of Forensic Research, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
The research in the present paper represents an attempt to define the nature of aggressive behaviour manifested by recidivists with psychopathic and narcissistic personality traits and, for the same group of subjects, to comprehend the relationship between psychopathy and narcissism with respect to the emotional and instrumental value of aggression and auto-aggression. The participants in the study were sixty-two adult male recidivists serving sentences for aggressive crimes in a penal institution in Wiśnicz. The research employed the following psycho-diagnostic tools: the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), the Narcissism Questionnaire (Narzißmusinventar; NI) by F. W. Deneke, B. Hilgenstock and R. Müller and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) by A. H. Buss and M. Perry. The subjects of the study were assigned to one of three groups: emotional auto-aggression, instrumental auto-aggression or absence of auto-aggression. The statistical analysis of the results obtained by the study confirmed the existence of positive statistical relationships for both psychopathy and narcissism – but related only to some forms of aggression. It would appear to be the case that an intense concentration of psychopathic characteristics is most strongly related to aggressive behaviour in the form of physical aggression and anger. A high level of narcissism, however, would appear to be most firmly linked with an aggravated tendency to manifest aggression in the form of hostility and anger. It was further demonstrated that psychopathy was connected with a more acute tendency for aggression only in the case of low and average levels of narcissism. No relationship was proven between psychopathy and aggression in those subjects of the study with the most intense narcissism, while instrumental auto-aggression proved to be associated both with a higher level of psychopathy and of narcissism.