“The beat of my heart”: the relationship between resting heart rate and psychopathy in a prospective longitudinal study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-07-2018-0029 |
| Published date | 05 November 2018 |
| Pages | 333-344 |
| Date | 05 November 2018 |
| Author | Henriette Bergstrøm,David P. Farrington |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
“The beat of my heart”: the relationship
between resting heart rate and
psychopathy in a prospective
longitudinal study
Henriette Bergstrøm and David P. Farrington
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between resting heart rate (RHR) and
psychopathy. The literature on heart rate vs criminality (including violence) is quite clear; low RHR is
associated with engaging in violent and criminal behavior. However, results are not as consistent for
psychopathy.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper analyzes heart rate measured at ages 18 and 48, and
psychopathy at age 48, in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). The CSDD is a
prospective longitudinal study that has followed 411 boys from childhood to middle age, and measured
social and biological factors of interest to the field of criminal psychology.
Findings –Interestingly, it was only heart rate at age 18 that was negatively and significantly related to
psychopathy at age 48. No trends or relationships were found between heart rate at age 48 and psychopathy
at age 48. The findings do, however, indicate that low heart rate at age 18 predicts psychopathy at age 48,
and the strongest negative relationships are found between low heart rate (beats per minute) and impulsive
and antisocial psychopathic symptoms.
Originality/value –This is the first ever longitudinal study showing that low RHR predicts later psychopathy.
Suggestions for future research are outlined.
Keywords Longitudinal, Psychopathy, Biosocial, Heart rate, Autonomic activation, Life course
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
1.1 Psychopathy and violence
Based on the HarePsychopathy Checklist (PCL-R;Hare, 2003) system of defining andmeasuring
psychopathy, it has four facets: an arrogant, deceitful interpersonal style; deficient affective
experience, including low empathy; an impulsive or irresponsible behavioral style; and antisocial
and criminal behavior (Hare, 2003). In comparing psychopathy with antisocial and criminal
behavior, the inclusion of Facet 4 introduces an element of tautology (Cooke, 2014). In contrast,
the first threefacets describe the psychopathicpersonality. Typically,Facets 1 and 2 are combined
into the more personality-oriented Factor 1, and Facets 3 and 4 are combined into the more
behavioral Factor2 (Hare, 2003). It is important to investigate correlates and predictors not onlyof
total psychopathy scores, but also of factors and facets (Portnoy and Farrington, 2015).
People high on psychopathic traits are more likely to engage in instrumental violence and
perpetrate instrumental (Woodworth and Porter, 2002) and sexual (Meloy, 2000) homicides than
their non-psychopathic counterparts. Psychopathy has been such an important criminal justice
construct (Hare, 1998) that it has also been integrated into multiple theoretical frameworks
Received 3 July 2018
Revised 9 October 2018
Accepted 12 October 2018
Erratum: It has been brought to
the attention of the publisher that
the article by Henriette Bergstrøm
and David P. Farrington (2018),
“‘Thebeat of my heart’:the
relationship between resting heart
rate and psychopathy in a
prospective longitudinal study”,
published in the Journal of
Criminal Psychology,was
excluded from the special issue
“Biopsychosocial predictors of
violent offending”due to an
editorial error.
The article has now been included
in the Journal of Criminal
Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 4. When
citing the article, the citation
should be given as Henriette
Bergstrøm and David P. Farrington
(2019), “‘Thebeat of my heart’:
the relationship between resting
heart rate and psychopathy in a
prospective longitudinal study”,
Journal of Criminal Psychology,
Vol. 8 No. 4, https://doi.org/10.
1108/JCP-07-2018-0029.
Emerald sincerely apologises to
the authors for any
inconvenience caused.
Henriette Bergstrøm is Lecturer
at the University of Derby,
Derby, UK.
David P. Farrington is based at
the University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JCP-07-2018-0029 VOL. 8 NO. 4 2018, pp. 333-344, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
PAG E 33 3
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