NCJ Number
18907
Date Published
1968
Length
200 pages
Annotation
AN EXPERIMENT WHICH INVESTIGATED THE RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIOPATHY AND AVOIDANCE LEARNING THROUGH THE SYSTEMATIC APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT PUNISHMENT CONDITIONS TO THREE GROUPS - PRIMARY AND NEUROTIC SOCIOPATHS AND A CONTROL.
Abstract
A TOTAL OF 90 SUBJECTS WERE SELECTED FOR THIS EXPERIMENT. ON THE BASIS OF THE MMPI TEST, 30 SUBJECTS FROM THE BUCKS COUNTY PRISON WERE SELECTED FOR THE PRIMARY SOCIOPATHIC GROUP (PS); 30 OTHERS WERE CHOSEN FOR THE NEUROTIC SOCIOPATHIC GROUP (NS); AND THE REMAINING 30 SUBJECTS, WHO WERE FARM WORKERS AND ATTENDANTS AT NORRISTOWN STATE HOSPITAL, WERE PLACED IN THE NORMAL CONTROL GROUP (NC). TEN FROM EACH OF THE SUBJECT GROUPS WERE ASSIGNED TO EACH OF THE THREE PUNISHMENT CONDITIONS: PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT (AN ELECTRIC SHOCK), TANGIBLE PUNISHMENT (LOSING MONEY) AND SOCIAL PUNISHMENT (VERBAL DISAPPROVAL). IN THIS PROCEDURE SUBJECTS WERE TOLD THAT THEIR TASK WAS TO LEARN THE CORRECT PATH THROUGH A MAZE. FOUR CHOICES WERE AVAILABLE AT EACH POINT; OF THESE, ONLY ONE WAS CORRECT AND ONE RESULTED IN PUNISHMENT. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE PRIMARY SOCIOPATHS LEARNED TO AVOID PUNISHMENT AS WELL AS NORMALS WHEN PUNISHMENT WAS LOSS OF MONEY BUT WERE INFERIOR TO NORMALS IN LEARNING TO AVOID WHEN PUNISHMENT WAS SHOCK OR SOCIAL DISAPPROVAL. PRIMARY SOCIOPATHS ALSO REPORTED GREATER SUBJECTIVE ANXIETY THAN THE CONTROL OR NEUROTIC SOCIOPATHS UNDER THE LOSS OF MONEY PUNISHMENT. THE PRIMARY SOCIOPATHS SCORED SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER ON MEASURES UNDER THE TANGIBLE PUNISHMENT CONDITION THAT THE OTHER PUNISHMENT CONDITIONS. THE AUTHOR CONCLUDES THAT THE REHABILITATION AND TREATMENT EFFORTS OF THE PRISON SYSTEM ARE NOT LIKELY TO PRODUCE LASTING CHANGES IN SOCIOPATHS BECAUSE THE KINDS OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS EMPLOYED ARE IRRELEVANT TO THE SOCIOPATHS' VALUE SYSTEM. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)