Mental Health and Psychopathology

Ami Rokach

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000536003
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Abnormal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This volume is a compilation of articles that shed light on psychopathology, how the one struggling with it experiences its implications, and how it affects everyday life.

For one to be categorized as exhibiting positive mental health, an individual should not experience psychopathology, and additionally exhibit high levels of emotional well-being as well as high levels of psychological and social functioning. The dual-factor model of mental health suggests that enhancing positive mental health and alleviating psychopathology do not automatically go together and are not opposite of one another. There is accumulating evidence that psychopathology and positive mental health function along two different continua that are only moderately interrelated. However, to know what wellbeing is, understand good mental health, and enhance adaptive functioning, we need to explore and understand psychopathology, and how it affects us. The volume is divided into three conceptual sections: The Experience of Psychopathology, which is devoted to describing what it is and how it is experienced; The Effect of Psychopathology on Everyday Life, describes various effects that psychopathology has on the daily life of the sufferer; Coherence, Resilienceand Recovery, which focuses on dealing with it, coping with the symptoms, and developing resilience.

The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Psychology.

Part I
The Experience of Psychopathology

Fifty Shades of Darkness: A Socio-Cognitive Information-Processing Framework Applied to Narcissism and Psychopathy

B. Lopes

, H. Yu, C. Bortolon, and R. Jaspal

ABSTRACT

Existing trait-based and cognitive models of psychopathy and narcissism fail to provide a comprehensive framework that explains the continuum between sub-clinical and clinical presentations of those personalities and to predict associated maladaptive behavior in different social and cultural contexts. In this article, a socio-cognitive information-processing framework for narcissism and psychopathy (SCIPNP) is proposed to explain how psychopathic and narcissistic schemata influence the activation of psychological processes that interact with social and cultural contexts to display those personalities at a sub-clinical level. The proposed framework enables us to predict maladaptive behavior and to explain how sub-clinical narcissists and psychopaths develop personality disorders. The SCIPNP emphasizes the role of culture in shaping motives, appraisals, behavior and affect. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Introduction

Narcissism is characterized by ideas of self-grandiosity and a personal sense of self-entitlement and psychopathy by callousness, viciousness and antisocial behavior, and both traits share a lack of empathy, disagreeableness, exploitative and manipulative characteristics (see Paulhus & Williams, 2002). The traits of psychopathy and narcissism are increasingly categorized under the broader construct of “dark personalities” (see Furnham et al., 2013 for a review). The prevalence of psychopathy and narcissism has been increasing (e.g., Babiak et al., 2010; Stewart & Bernhardt, 2010), especially in specific social, cultural and occupational contexts (e.g., Coid et al., 2009; Stinson et al., 2008).

There are two major paradigms in current research into clinical and sub-clinical presentations of narcissism and psychopathy: trait theories and cognitive theories. Trait theories, such as the trait circumplex model for the dark triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2011) tend to describe these personalities as a list of traits, while cognitive approaches such as that of Beck et al. (2015a) often focus on the general information-processing model. These paradigms are characterized by limitations which are addressed in the framework proposed in this article.

In this article, the Socio-Cognitive Information-Processing Framework for Narcissism and Psychopathy (SCIPNP) is outlined to explain the social, cognitive and affective dimensions of sub-clinical narcissism and psychopathy. In the SCIPNP, affective and behavioral responses to internal or external stimuli are viewed as resulting from a dynamic interaction between bottom-up and top-down processes, which incorporate information from one’s cultural background and personal experiences, as well as situational cues. Moreover, the SCIPNP explains how the cognitive schemata and specific appraisal processes underpin the observed similarities and differences between psychopathy and narcissism.

Current Personality Theories

The Trait Theory

The Dark Personality Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2011) is comprised of three distinctive but related socially aversive sub-clinical personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy and machiavellianism (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). All three dark triad personalities score low on agreeableness (Egan, 2009; Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006; Paulhus, 2001; Paulhus & Williams, 2002; Vernon et al., 2008; Widiger & Lynam, 1998). However, of the three dark personalities, psychopathy is associated with the least remorse and is most associated with callousness, impulsivity, thrill-seeking and criminal behavior, while narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, egocentrism and a sense of personal entitlement, and machiavellianism through strategic manipulation of others (Jones & Paulhus, 2011).

The Dark Triad is considered to be a descriptive, rather than functional and process-based personality model (Collins et al., 2017; Mischel & Shoda, 1995). It does not explain the mental processes that underpin the personalities or the causal factors underlying sub-clinical manifestations of psychopathy or narcissism; the role of social context in fluctuations in behavior and emotions (Mischel & Shoda, 1995); or how mental processes and the social context interact to affect the display of behavior and emotion (i.e., individual processes-based constructs) and their variability over time (Collins et al., 2017).

The notion of a unified and trait-based dark triad personality can also be challenged. For instance, psychopathy and machiavellianism have been found to be negatively related to openness and conscientiousness whereas narcissism is not (Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006; Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Moreover, psychopathy is much more associated with deviant behavior and predicts delinquency and criminality, while machiavellianism and narcissism do not (e.g., Buckels et al., 2014; Williams & Paulhus, 2004). Therefore, the three dark personalities may actually be less unified than previously thought.

In light of studies that suggest that machiavellianism is conceptually separate from narcissism and is a sub-dimension of psychopathy (Giammarco & Vernon, 2014; LeBreton et al., 2006; Persson et al., 2019) and in contrast to trait perspectives, we argue that machiavellianism is best conceptualized not as a distinct personality but as a selfish and manipulative strategy employed mainly by psychopaths to manipulate others (see Clempner, 2017) but that it can also be used to a lesser degree by narcissists (Malesza, 2020).

Furthermore, trait-based personality theories often postulate that personality is fixed and immutable. However, some research suggests that there are culturally specific aspects of these traits, and that they may vary across time, context and culture (e.g., Youli & Chang, 2015).

The Cognitive Model of Personality Disorders

In their cognitive model of personality, Beck et al. (2015a) suggest that personality traits can be conceptualized as an overt expression of the schemata that organize, select and synthesize incoming information. Thus, the activation of a specific schema will impact on the evaluation of the stimulus, the affective and motivation arousal, and on the selection and implementation of specific strategies. The authors suggest that the dysfunctional schemata found in personality disorders are the product of an interaction between the individual’s genetic predisposition and exposure to (adverse) life events. Accordingly, they argue that “personality disorders represent an exaggeration of adaptive personality strategies” (p. 19) which become inflexible and overgeneralized as a consequence of challenging experiences. Although these strategies may be considered adaptive in evolutionary terms, their rigid nature renders them maladaptive in most contexts. The model suggests that personality disorders can also be understood as cognitive profiles—each personality disorder is characterized by a composite of beliefs, attitudes, affect, and behavior. Nevertheless, this model does not descr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction: How is it to experience psychopathology, and how it affects everyday life
• The Experience of Psychopathology
• The Effect of Psychopathology on Everyday Life
• Coherence, Resilience and Recovery
• Index