Why do some children develop serious and persistent anti-social behaviour?

Prof Essi Viding

Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, UCL

@EssiViding

www.drru-research.org

Ted Bundy’s description of himself:

"..the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet.”

Ted Bundy’s defense lawyer’s decription of him:

"Ted, was the very definition of heartless evil.”

Ted Bundy (1946-1989)

Serial killer

• Lack of remorse / guilt

• Shallow affect (genuine emotion is short-lived and egocentric)

• Superficial charm

• Grandiose sense of self-worth

• Pathological lying

• Manipulation of others

What characterises individuals with psychopathy?

?

Psychological

Behavioural

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Psychological

Behavioural

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• Early behavioural warning signs of children at risk for psychopathy:

– Lack of remorse and guilt

– Lack of empathy

– Shallow affect

– Manipulation of others for own gain

– Sense of being more important than others

• These traits are predictive of persistent, violent and severe antisocial behaviour/psychopathy in adolescence and adulthood

‘Callous-Unemotional’

CU traits

Frick et al., 1994; 2014

Children with conduct problems

High Callous-Unemotional Traits

▪ Engage in proactive aggression ▪ Lack guilt▪ Do not worry about hurting others▪ Often have low levels of anxiety

Low Callous-Unemotional Traits

▪ Often aggress when feel under threat▪ Feel bad about hurting others▪ Can have high levels of anxiety

Frick & Viding, 2009

Psychological

Behavioural

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Affective processing in children with conduct problems and HIGH callous-unemotional traits

▪ Lack of recognition and reactions to other people’s emotions

▪ Report feeling less fear themselves

▪ Less responsive to punishment

Affective processing in children with conduct problems and LOW callous-unemotional traits

▪ Hostile Attribution Bias

▪ Oversensitive to perceived anger (sometimes even when stimuli are neutral)

Psychological

Behavioural

En

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Masked Fear Task

Calm ConditionFear Condition

vs.

17ms 183ms 300ms ISI

17ms 183ms

Target Backward Mask

300ms ISI

Target Backward Mask

SP

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ip

[20

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<

< <

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pos_rship

SPMresults: .\Fear-Calm_group_regression_all_Pps

Height threshold T = 2.692278 {p<0.005 (unc.)}

Extent threshold k = 0 voxels

Design matrix

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Viding, Sebastian, Dadds, Lockwood, Cecil, de Brito, & McCrory, AJP

The higher the level of callous-unemotional traits, the less active the amygdala is to fearful faces…

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…and to scenarios showing other people in distress.

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[24

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Control>CP

SPMresults: .\Aff_ToM-Cog_ToM_2_groups

Height threshold T = 2.689585 {p<0.005 (unc.)}

Extent threshold k = 0 voxels

Design matrix

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Sebastian, McCrory, Cecil, Lockwood, De Brito, Fontaine & Viding (2012), JAMA Psychiatry

…and to scenarios showing other people in distress.

Psychological

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Shallow affectLack of empathy

Psychological

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Probing the aetiology: Classical twin design

IdenticalMonozygotic

NonidenticalDizygotic

Twin method

• Genetic influence (A) =

identical twins > non- identical twins

0

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MZ DZ

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Twin method

• Shared environmental influences (C)=

Non-identical twins more similar than expected by genetic relatedness

• Environmental influences that make family members similar to each other 0

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MZ DZ

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Twin method

• Non-shared environmental influences (E) =

Identical twins not 100% identical

• Environmental influences that make family members different from each other

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Is there a difference in the origin conduct problems between those who have HIGH vs. LOW callous-unemotional traits?

Conduct Problems

HIGH callous-unemotional traits LOW callous-unemotional traits

Genetic

Shared E

Non-shared E

Genetic

Shared E

Non-shared E

Viding, Blair, Moffitt, & Plomin, 2005, JCPP

What genes?What environments?

‘Risk’ genes may be different for children with HIGH vs. LOW callous-unemotional traits

Conduct Problems

HIGH callous-unemotional traits LOW callous-unemotional traits

• Genotypes conferring low emotional reactivity/arousal?

• Genotypes conferring high arousal and reactive aggression ?

(Buckholtz & Meyer-Lindenberg, 2009; Viding & Jones, 2008)

Risk environments may be different for children with HIGH vs. LOW callous-unemotional traits

Conduct Problems

HIGH callous-unemotional traits LOW callous-unemotional traits

?• Harsh and inconsistent parenting• Maltreatment

• Parental warmth protective against development of CP/HCU? (Viding & McCrory, 2015; Vagos, Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, Brazao, 2016)

• Parenting and child focused interventions can have a positive effect for children with CP/HCU (Waller, Gardner, & Hyde; 2013; Wilkins, Waller, & Viding, 2016)

Adoption study (Hyde et al., 2016):

• Biological parents with severe antisocial behaviour were more likely to have adopted away offspring with high CU traits– In line with the notion of genetic predisposition

• Warm adoptive parenting REDUCED risk for developing CU traits in children who have biological risk– In line with the notion that genes are not destiny!

• Encouraging – but adoptive families are a case of ‘what can be’, not a case of ‘what is’…

• CP/HCU may need:

– A longer treatment period

– More comprehensive support

– Treatment adjuncts suited to their neurocognitive profile

Why do some people become psychopaths?

Psychological

Behavioural

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Genetic vulnerability

Environmental conditions that do not counteract the

genetic risk or make it worse?

Lack of emotional reactivity and

empathy; insensitivity to punishment

Why do some people become psychopaths?

We also know that not all children with conduct problems and HIGH callous-unemotional traits grow up to be adults with psychopathy

Specific interventions are being developed

• How does atypical emotionality develop over time?

• Can these children empathiseunder any circumstances?

• Can we help them see the world differently?

We need longitudinal studies that combine

different methodologies

Acknowledgements

TEDS, schools, families and children

Developmental Risk & Resilience Unit

Eamon McCrory, Lucy Foulkes, Philip Kelly, Rachael Lickley, Patricia Lockwood, Elizabeth O’Nions, Jean-Baptiste Pingault, Vanessa Puetz, Sophie Raeder, Ruth Roberts, Ana Seara-Cardoso

Former lab members

Catherine Sebastian, Stephane de Brito, Marine Buon, Caroline Bradley, Laura Finlayson, Charlotte Cecil, Elena Rusconi, Chloe Thompson-Booth, Alice Jones, Nathalie Fontaine, HenrikLarsson, Sara Hodsoll, Zoe Hyde, Moran Cohn, Amy Palmer, Sophie Samuel

Collaborators

Robert Plomin ,Geoff Bird, Jon Roiser, Francesca Happe, Fruhling Rijsdijk, Andrea Mechelli, Mark Dadds, Craig Neumann, Beata Tick

Funding

ESRC, MRC, British Academy, Royal Society, Waterloo Foundation

www.drru-research.org