Sniffing submissiveness? Oxytocin administration in severe psychopathy

Ronald J P Rijnders; Anouk H Dykstra; David Terburg; Maaike M Kempes; Jack van Honk

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105330

Sniffing submissiveness? Oxytocin administration in severe psychopathy

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Sep:131:105330. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105330. Epub 2021 Jun 18.

Authors

Ronald J P Rijnders¹, Anouk H Dykstra², David Terburg³, Maaike M Kempes⁴, Jack van Honk⁵

Affiliations

¹ Netherlands Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, Forensic Observation Clinic "Pieter Baan Centrum", Carl Barksweg 3, 1336 ZL Almere, the Netherlands; Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Heidelberglaan 8, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: r.rijnders@dji.minjus.nl.
² Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Postbox: 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: anouk.dykstra@donders.ru.nl.
³ Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Heidelberglaan 8, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; University of Cape Town, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, J-Block, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, 7925 Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: d.terburg@uu.nl.
⁴ Leiden University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Child and Education Studies, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, the Netherlands; Netherlands Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, Department of Science and Education, Herman Gorterstraat 5, 3511 EW Utrecht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: m.kempes@dji.minjus.nl.
⁵ Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Heidelberglaan 8, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; University of Cape Town, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, J-Block, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, 7925 Cape Town, South Africa; University of Cape Town, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, Anzio Rd, Observatory, 7925 Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: j.vanhonk@uu.nl.

PMID: 34182248
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105330

Abstract

Psychopathy is a personality disorder associated with criminal behavior and violent recidivism, and therefore a burden to society. Social dominance is one of the characteristics of psychopathy that might contribute to these problems. Nevertheless, only few studies have objectively measured the relationship between socially dominant behavior and psychopathy. Therefore, the current study assessed performance of 21 forensic PCL-R confirmed psychopathic patients and 24 normal controls on a gaze aversion task, in which slower gaze aversion from masked angry faces compared to masked happy faces is a measure of reactive dominance. Moreover, the current study assessed the potential beneficial effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin. The results showed that psychopaths were not more dominant on the gaze aversion task compared to normal controls. However, the severity of psychopathy was positively correlated with reactive dominance. Crucially, a single nasal spray administration of oxytocin abolished the connection between psychopathy and reactive dominance. This implies that socially dominant psychopaths might benefit from oxytocin administration.

Keywords: Gaze aversion; Oxytocin; PCL-R; Psychopathy; Reactive dominance.

MeSH terms

Antisocial Personality Disorder* / drug therapy
Antisocial Personality Disorder* / psychology
Dominance-Subordination
Humans
Oxytocin* / administration & dosage
Patient Acuity

Substances

Oxytocin