Psychopathy and Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotions:
A Systematic Review
Keywords:
Psychopathy, Facial expressions, EmotionsAbstract
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by anti-social behavior, compromised judgment and deficits
of emotional processing. Researchers have been investigating the ability of psychopaths and individuals with psychopathic traits
to recognize emotions expressed through the face. The present study performed a systematic review using the main international
databases of articles about this theme, published between 1975 and 2013. Seventeen articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria of
this review. The results evidenced the use of non-converging methods and suggest that psychopathy is related to deficits in
recognition of negative feelings. Confirmatory data can only be achieved through a methodological standardization. In future
studies the use of distinct stimuli exposure time is suggested.
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