Stephen D. Hart

Bio: Stephen D. Hart is an academic researcher from Simon Fraser University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Psychopathy & Antisocial personality disorder. The author has an hindex of 62, co-authored 167 publications receiving 13776 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen D. Hart include University of Bergen & University of British Columbia.

Psychopathy and the DSM-IV Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder

Abstract: The Axis II Work Group of the Task Force on DSM—IV has expressed concern that antisocial personality disorder (APD) criteria are too long and cumbersome and that they focus on antisocial behaviors rather than personality traits central to traditional conceptions of psychopathy and to international criteria. We describe an alternative to the approach taken in the rev. 3rd ed. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM—III—R ; American Psychiatric Association, 1987 ), namely, the revised Psychopathy Checklist. We also discuss the multisite APD field trials designed to evaluate and compare four criteria sets: the DSM—III—R criteria, a shortened list of these criteria, the criteria for dyssocial personality disorder from the 10th ed. of the International Classification of Diseases ( World Health Organization, 1990 ), and a 10-item criteria set for psychopathic personality disorder derived from the revised Psychopathy Checklist.

The revised Psychopathy Checklist: Reliability and factor structure.

Abstract: The revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) is a 20-item scale scored from interview and file information. Analyses of data from 5 prison samples (N= 92 5) and 3 forensic psychiatric samples (N= 356) indicate that the revised PCL resembles its 22-item predecessor in all important respects. It has excellent psychometric properties, and it measures 2 correlated factors that were cross-validated both within and between samples. Correlations between the original PCL and the revised version approached unity for both the factors and the full scale. We conclude that the revised PCL measures the same construct as the original and that the PCL is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of psychopathy in male forensic populations.

The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R)

Abstract: The Psychopathy Checklist (PCL; Hare, 1980) and its revision (PCL-R; Hare, 1985a, in press) are clinical rating scales that provide researchers and clinicians with reliable and valid assessments of psychopathy. Their development was spurred largely by dissatisfactions with the ways in which other assessment procedures defined and measured psychopathy (Hare, 1980, 1985b).

Psychosis as a risk factor for violence to others: a meta-analysis.

Abstract: The potential association between psychosis and violence to others has long been debated. Past research findings are mixed and appear to depend on numerous potential moderators. As such, the authors conducted a quantitative review (meta-analysis) of research on the association between psychosis and violence. A total of 885 effect sizes (odds ratios) were calculated or estimated from 204 studies on the basis of 166 independent data sets. The central tendency (median) of the effect sizes indicated that psychosis was significantly associated with a 49%-68% increase in the odds of violence. However, there was substantial dispersion among effect sizes. Moderation analyses indicated that the dispersion was attributable in part to methodological factors, such as study design (e.g., community vs. institutional samples), definition and measurement of psychosis (e.g., diagnostic vs. symptom-level measurement, type of symptom), and comparison group (e.g., psychosis compared with externalizing vs. internalizing vs. no mental disorder). The authors discuss these findings in light of potential causal models of the association between psychosis and violence, the role of psychosis in violence risk assessment and management, and recommendations for future research.

Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy.

Abstract: This chapter suggests that delinquency conceals two distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: A small group engages in antisocial behavior of one sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence. According to the theory of life-course-persistent antisocial behavior, children's neuropsychological problems interact cumulatively with their criminogenic environments across development, culminating m a pathological personality. According to the theory of adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, a contemporary maturity gap encourages teens to mimic antisocial behavior in ways that are normative and adjustive. There are marked individual differences in the stability of antisocial behavior. The chapter reviews the mysterious relationship between age and antisocial behavior. Some youths who refrain from antisocial behavior may, for some reason, not sense the maturity gap and therefore lack the hypothesized motivation for experimenting with crime.

Thinking fast and slow.

Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

Standards for educational and psychological testing

Abstract: Pedagosko i psiholosko testiranje i procjenjivanje spadaju među najvažnije doprinose znanosti o ponasanju nasem drustvu i pružaju temeljna i znacajna poboljsanja u odnosu na ranije postupke. Iako se ne može ustvrditi da su svi testovi dovoljno usavrseni niti da su sva testiranja razborita i korisna, postoji velika kolicina informacija koje ukazuju na ucinkovitost kvalitetnih instrumenata u onim situacijama u kojima je njihovo koristenje potkrijepljeno validacijskim podacima. Pravilna upotreba testova može dovesti do boljih odluka o pojedincima i programima nego sto bi to bio slucaj bez njihovog koristenja, a također i ukazati na put za siri i pravedniji pristup obrazovanju i zaposljavanju. Međutim, losa upotreba testova može dovesti do zamjetne stete nanesene ispitanicima i drugim sudionicima u procesu donosenja odluka na temelju testovnih podataka. Cilj Standarda je promoviranje kvalitetne i eticne upotrebe testova te uspostavljanje osnovice za ocjenu kvalitete postupaka testiranja. Svrha objavljivanja Standarda je uspostavljanje kriterija za evaluaciju testova, provedbe testiranja i posljedica upotrebe testova. Iako bi evaluacija prikladnosti testa ili njegove primjene trebala ovisiti prvenstveno o strucnim misljenjima, Standardi pružaju okvir koji osigurava obuhvacanje svih relevantnih pitanja. Bilo bi poželjno da svi autori, sponzori, nakladnici i korisnici profesionalnih testova usvoje Standarde te da poticu druge da ih također prihvate.