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Core Studies: Individual Differences Area

Hancock et al. (2011) language of psychopaths: results, conclusions and evaluation

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 02

Overview

Recall questions on Hancock et al.'s findings on conjunctions, needs, tense, articles, emotional tone and disfluencies, their main conclusion, and the evaluation of the analysis, validity, causation, sample, applications and ethics.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Study

Give two limitations of Hancock et al.'s sample.

Evaluation

What did the affect ratings show?

Key term

What difference was found in references to needs?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which conjunctions did the psychopaths use more, and what does that suggest?

    Model answer

    They used more subordinating conjunctions such as 'because', 'since' and 'so that', suggesting they framed the killing as the logical outcome of a plan.

  2. 2

    What difference was found in references to needs?

    Model answer

    Psychopaths made roughly twice as many references to basic physiological needs such as food, drink and money, while non-psychopaths referred more often to social needs such as family and religion.

  3. 3

    Which finding about needs best fits the idea of a predatory outlook?

    Model answer

    Their focus on self-preservation and material gain rather than on relationships with other people.

  4. 4

    What difference in tense emerged, and how was it explained?

    Model answer

    Psychopaths used more past tense and less present tense, which suggests psychological detachment from the event they were describing.

  5. 5

    What did the affect ratings show?

    Model answer

    The psychopaths' language was significantly less emotionally intense and less pleasant overall, which is consistent with shallow affect.

  6. 6

    Why were disfluencies such as 'uh' counted?

    Model answer

    They index the cognitive effort of speaking, and the psychopaths produced more of them, suggesting that constructing an emotionally appropriate account was harder work for them.

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