New research suggests that brain physiology might account for psychopaths lack of empathy.
Psychiatrists, criminologists, and tabloid readers have all struggled to understand what goes on in the minds of psychopaths such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy. A study published today in JAMA Psychiatry puts the blame on the brain, specifically, a neurological absence of empathy in psychopaths.
Researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of New Mexico recruited 80 male prisoners between the ages of 18 and 50 who were incarcerated for murder in a North American correctional facility. They tested the men to find out which ones could be classifeied as psychopaths.
By Brett Spiegel, Everyday Health Staff Writer
