Dr. Joseph Newman is one of the many people who study the neuroscience of psychopaths. Recently, he gave a presentation titled, Integrating psychological and Neuroscience Perspectives on Psychopathy. In it, Newman discussed that there were more than a single kind of criminal, and that there were several categories that criminals could fit into. An important focus of the presentation was the Low Fear Hypothesis, a theory that suggests the reasons that psychopaths lack fear and show less emotion is because they have low amygdala activity.
Fortunately for Dr. Newman, he did not find out that he in fact shared brain similarities to the psychopaths that he studied. This incident happened to a neuroscientist named James Fallon. Fallon was studying brain scans that consisted of his own as well as a few of the murderers he studied (2013). He admits to having several traits that can be seen in psychopaths but has not committed a crime. This means that while having brain abnormalities that are seen in psychopaths does not guarantee psychopathic behavior.
References
BBC News - Neuroscientist: 'I discovered I was a psychopath'. (2013, November 27). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25116826
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