Psychopathic personality traits are associated with experimentally induced approach and appraisal of fear-evoking stimuli indicating fear enjoyment.

ABSTRACT: The extent to which deficits in the perception and experience of fear contribute to psychopathic symptoms is an ongoing matter of debate. Traditional theories emphasize diminished threat processing as the core fear deficit in psychopathic individuals, whereas recent approaches, such as the fear enjoyment hypothesis (FEH), propose that anomalies in the subjective experience of fear are related to interpersonal-affective psychopathic traits. In order to test predictions of the FEH, we conducted an online experimental study to examine whether approach and avoidance tendencies in response to fear-eliciting stimuli are related to specific psychopathic traits (interpersonal-affective symptoms and boldness). We expected these traits to be associated with faster approach towards and slower avoidan

SUBMITTER: Schneider S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11906771 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature