title: Psychopathy and victim selection: the use of gait as a cue to vulnerability.
abstract: Previous research has shown that victims display characteristic body language, specifically in their walking style (Grayson & Stein, 1981). Individuals scoring higher on the interpersonal/affective aspects of psychopathy (Factor 1) are more accurate at judging victim vulnerability simply from viewing targets walking (Wheeler, Book, & Costello, 2009). The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and accuracy in assessing victim vulnerability in a sample of inmates from a maximum security penitentiary in Ontario, Canada. Forty-seven inmates viewed short video clips of targets walking and judged how vulnerable each target was to victimization. Higher Factor 1 psychopathy scores (as measured by the PCL-R; Hare 2003) were positively related to accuracy in judging victim vulnerability. Contrary to research with noninstitutional participants (Wheeler et al., 2009), inmates higher on Factor 1 of psychopathy were more likely to rationalize their vulnerability judgments by mentioning the victim's gait. Implications of these findings are discussed.
authors: Brock University, Catharines, Ontario, Canada. abook@brocku.ca
authors: Angela
authors: A
authors: Book
authors: Kimberly
authors: K
authors: Costello
authors: Joseph A
authors: JA
authors: Camilleri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002170:Canada; D019548:Crime Victims; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D007697:Kinesics; D008297:Male; D011330:Prisons
keywords: body language; gait; psychopathy; victim selection; vulnerability