ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of current perspectives on psychopathy and highlights some of the novel developments in the field. The integrated emotion systems (IES) model is currently the leading neurobiological theory of psychopathy, as it has a strong neuroscientific basis and can account for a large amount of behavioural and neuroscientific findings. The IES model and the response modulation (RM) hypothesis have generated competing neurocognitive explanations for the core dysfunctions in psychopathy. The differential amygdala activation model (DAAM) was developed based on the structural and functional differences between the central nuclei (CeN) and the basolateral nuclei (BLA). Social cognition refers to an area of research focused on understanding the cognitive basis of social behaviour and this area has become increasingly visible in the empirical literature. A great deal of extant literature adds credence to the paralimbic dysfunction hypothesis demonstrating dysfunction extending beyond the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).
