RT Article
T1 The Linguistic Output of Psychopathic Offenders During a PCL-R Interview
JF Criminal justice and behavior
VO 44
IS 4
SP 551
OP 565
A1 Le, Marina T.
A2 Hare, Robert D. 1934-
A2 Gillman, Lisa
A2 Hutton, Erin
A2 Woodworth, Michael
LA English
YR 2017
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1700628984
AB We used text analysis software to examine the linguistic features of the speech of 21 psychopathic and 45 other offenders during the interview part of a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) assessment. Regression analysis was run on the linguistic categories to determine which were the best predictors of psychopathy scores. Relative to the other offenders, psychopaths used more disfluencies (“you know”) and personal pronouns, made fewer references to other people (e.g., personal names, family), and were also less emotionally expressive. In particular, a low frequency of anxiety-related words and a more frequent use of personal pronouns were the most significant predictors of PCL-R scores and accounted for 25% of the variance. These findings for the first time afford a unique glimpse into the language produced during the PCL-R assessment interview. In addition to enhancing our understanding of psychopathic speech, these results may provide interviewers additional insights relevant to the assessment and therapeutic process.
K1 Psychopathy
K1 Language
K1 Verbal analysis
K1 Psychopathic speech
K1 Offenders
DO 10.1177/0093854816683423