Reduced autonomic activity is a risk factor for psychopathy, but the mechanisms underlying this association are under-researched. We hypothesize that emotional intelligence mediates this relationship. Emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, scores on the Psychopathy ChecklistRevised (PCL-R), skin conductance, and heart rate were assessed in 156 men from communities in Los Angeles. Emotional intelligence fully mediated the relationship between autonomic functioning and total psychopathy after controlling for cognitive intelligence for both autonomic measures. Full mediation was also found when using PCL-R factors and facets as outcome variables, with the exception of a partial mediation of the heart rate –Antisocial facet relationship. These findings are the first to document emotional intelligence as a mediator of the blunted physiological stress activity – psychopathy relationship, and are interpreted within the framework of the somatic marker and somatic aphasia theories of psychopathy. Possible implications for treatment interventions are also discussed.

Introduction

Psychopathy is characterized by interpersonal and affective impairments accompanied by deviance or a disregard of societal rules (Hare & Neumann, 2010a). Previous research suggests that blunted autonomic functioning is one of the best-replicated correlates of psychopathy (Marsh, 2013; Patrick, 2006). In particular, psychopaths exhibit lower levels of skin conductance (a measure of sympathetic nervous system activity) when anticipating punishment and lower conditioning to aversive stimuli (Hare, 1965). Reduced heart rate (a measure of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity) during both rest and stress has also been documented in antisocial individuals (Ortiz & Raine, 2004), including psychopaths (Gao, Raine, & Schug, 2012). Longitudinal studies suggest that low heart rate predisposes to subsequent aggression, psychopathy, and violence (Baker et al., 2009; Portnoy & Farrington, 2015). This hypo-activation during stress may reflect an underlying impairment in autonomic functioning. However, few studies have investigated mechanisms explaining how blunted autonomic (autonomic nervous system – ANS) activity might predispose to psychopathic traits. Emotional dysfunction in psychopathic individuals is well-documented. Psychopathic individuals tend to exhibit lower physiological reactions to distressing visual stimuli (Patrick, Cuthbert, & Lang, 1994) and emotional sounds (Verona, Patrick, Curtin, Bradley, & Lang, 2004) as well as reduced modulation of startle responses to emotional stimuli (Patrick, Bradley, & Lang, 1993). Deficits in emotion recognition in facial expressions (Blair et al., 2004) and speech (Blair et al., 2002) have also been documented in psychopathic individuals. These deficits are found not only to distress cues such as fear and sadness (Blair, Jones, Clark, & Smith, 1997; Marsh & Blair, 2008; Wilson, Juodis, & Porter, 2011), but rather are a pervasive deficit for facial and vocal expressions of affect in psychopathy (Dawel, O’Kearney, McKone, & Palermo, 2012). These disturbances in recognition and responsivity to emotional stimuli are considered characteristic of psychopathy. Although psychopaths are partly characterized by affective deficits, there is debate about whether psychopaths have a deficit in emotional intelligence (i.e., an individual’s ability to monitor and label emotions within oneself and others, and to use emotion to guide behavior and decisionmaking; Coleman, 2015). Ermer, Kahn, Salovey, and Kiehl found no relationship between overall EI and psychopathy in incarcerated men, but did find an inverse relationship once cognitive intelligence was controlled for (Ermer, Kahn, Salovey, & Kiehl, 2012). Contrary to these findings, Copestake, Gray, and Snowden (2013) found that psychopathy was related to heightened EI even after controlling for cognitive intelligence in a sample of offenders. In college students, EI was inversely related to psychopathy (Fix & Fix, 2015; Watts et al., 2016). Thus the relationship between EI and psychopathy has been inconsistent.