They Know the Notes but not the Music? Empirical Investigations of Subjective Fear Experience in Psychopathy

The present doctoral thesis investigates the role of fear in psychopathy through the conceptual lens of the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis. The central assumption of the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis is that in psychopathic individuals fear is experienced as less negative and more positive, thereby challenging traditional etiological fear-deficit models of psychopathy. To examine this assumption, three manuscripts were developed.

Manuscript 1, a systematic review, examined the current corresponding state of research, identified conceptual ambiguities, and discussed the associated challenges in accurately operationalizing psychopathy and fear. The assumptions of the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis were identified as a promising framework for accounting for the heterogeneous findings observed in the literature. Subsequently, Manuscripts 2 and 3 built on one another and empirically tested the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis by directly assessing both subjective experiences and physiological responses (i.e., heart rate) in individuals with psychopathy traits who were exposed to fear-inducing stimuli.

The findings showed that individuals, particularly with elevated interpersonal-affective psychopathy traits, reported less negative and more positive evaluations of fear-inducing stimuli, accompanied by increased physiological arousal.

These results lend support to the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis and suggest that fear may hold motivational relevance and approach value, especially for individuals exhibiting these traits. Implications for diagnostic assessment, risk evaluation, and subtype-specific treatment planning are discussed. This thesis proposes a novel theoretical framework and emphasizes the importance of capturing multiple components of the emotion-generation process in the study of emotional functioning, thereby advancing the etiological understanding of psychopathy.