ABSTRACT
Psychopathy has been proposed to be a “purely biological epiphenomenon” (Canavero, 2014, p. 2). However, based on the vast body of literature published to date, there is clear evidence that the development of psychopathy is more complex and, based on the empirical research summarized in this volume, biological, psychological and social risk factors all contribute to the progression of psychopathy. Thus, psychopathy has become recognized by the scientific community as a biopsychosocial disorder (Bergstrøm & Farrington, 2018; Dawson, Segrave & Carter, 2016; Paris, 1998). Continuing to implement an integrative and multidisciplinary approach is essential for understanding psychopathy and how it is treated. The biopsychosocial approach was first introduced more than 60 years ago (Grinker, 1956). However, until recently psychopathy has been researched from discipline specific perspectives, with a lack of integration. This research has been important and resulted in a great deal of understanding of the correlates of psychopathy, especially from the biological and psychological perspective. The strong foundation of research provides an important platform for the next step of integrating these findings to provide a richer understanding in the development of psychopathy. It is clear that there are multiple pathways that children develop psychopathic traits into adulthood, and it is only by integrating multidisciplinary practice that these pathways will be fully understood.
