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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Psychopathy And Culpability: How Responsible Is The Psychopath For Criminal Wrongdoing?, Reid G. Fontaine Jd, Phd Jan 2011

Psychopathy And Culpability: How Responsible Is The Psychopath For Criminal Wrongdoing?, Reid G. Fontaine Jd, Phd

Reid G. Fontaine

Recent research into the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of psychopathy has raised the question of whether, or to what degree, psychopaths should be considered morally and criminally responsible for their actions. In this article we review the current empirical literature on psychopathy, focusing particularly on deficits in moral reasoning, and consider several potential conclusions that could be drawn based on this evidence. Our analysis of the empirical evidence on psychopathy suggests that while psychopaths do not meet the criteria for full criminal responsibility, they nonetheless retain some criminal responsibility. We conclude, by introducing the notion of rights as correlative, that …


New Developments In Developmental Research On Social Information Processing And Antisocial Behavior, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2010

New Developments In Developmental Research On Social Information Processing And Antisocial Behavior, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

The Special Section on developmental research on social information processing (SIP) and antisocial behavior is here introduced. Following a brief history of SIP theory, comments on several themes—measurement and assessment, attributional and interpretational style, response evaluation and decision, and the relation between emotion and SIP—that tie together four new empirical investigations are provided. Notable contributions of these studies are highlighted.


In Self-Defense Regarding Self-Defense: A Rejoinder To Professor Corrado, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2010

In Self-Defense Regarding Self-Defense: A Rejoinder To Professor Corrado, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

This is a rejoinder to Professor Corrado in the upcoming special section of the American Criminal Law Review on the nature, structure, and function of self-defense and defense of others law.


Does Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) Mediate The Relation Between Hostile Attributional Style And Antisocial Behavior In Adolescence?, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2010

Does Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) Mediate The Relation Between Hostile Attributional Style And Antisocial Behavior In Adolescence?, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

The role of hostile attributional style (HAS) in antisocial development has been well-documented. We analyzed longitudinal data on 585 youths (48% female; 19% ethnic minority) to test the hypothesis that response evaluation and decision (RED) mediates the relation between HAS and antisocial behavior in adolescence. In Grades 10 and 12, adolescent participants and their parents reported participants’ antisocial conduct. In Grade 11, participants were asked to imagine themselves in videotaped ambiguous-provocation scenarios. Segment 1 of each scenario presented an ambiguous provocation, after which participants answered HAS questions. In segment 2, participants were asked to imagine themselves responding aggressively to the …


An Attack On Self-Defense, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2009

An Attack On Self-Defense, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

Debate about the distinction between justification and excuse in criminal law theory has been lively during the last thirty years. Questions as to the nature and structure of various affirmative defenses continue to be raised, and the doctrine of self-defense has been at the center of much discussion. Three main articulations have been advanced: a purely objective theory, a purely subjective theory, and an objective/subjective hybrid. In the present Article, I support a hybrid model and propose a three-requirement framework that delineates the criteria that must be met to satisfy self-defense as a legitimate justification. Because this three-requirement framework raises …


Social Information Processing And Aggressive Behavior: A Transactional Perspective, Reid G. Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge Jan 2009

Social Information Processing And Aggressive Behavior: A Transactional Perspective, Reid G. Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge

Reid G. Fontaine

Chapter has no abstract


On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held Jan 2009

On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held

Reid G. Fontaine

A “cultural defense” to criminal culpability cannot achieve true pluralism without collapsing into a totally subjective, personal standard. Applying an objective cultural standard does not rescue a defendant from the external imposition of values—the purported aim of the cultural defense—because a cultural standard is, at its core, an external standard imposed onto an individual. The pluralist argument for a cultural defense also fails on its own terms—after all, justice systems are themselves cultural institutions. Furthermore, a defendant’s background is already accounted for at sentencing. The closest thing to a cultural defense that a court could adopt without damaging the culpability …


The Wrongfulness Of Wrongly Interpreting Wrongfulness: Provocation Interpretational Bias And Heat Of Passion Homicide, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2009

The Wrongfulness Of Wrongly Interpreting Wrongfulness: Provocation Interpretational Bias And Heat Of Passion Homicide, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

In U.S. criminal law, a defendant charged with murder can invoke the heat of passion defense, an affirmative, partial-excuse defense so that he may be instead found guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. This defense requires the defendant to demonstrate that he was significantly provoked and, as a direct result of the provocation, became extremely emotionally disturbed and committed the killing while in this uncontrolled emotional state. In this way, the law makes a partial allowance for emotional dysfunction—the wrongfulness of the homicide is mitigated when the emotionally charged reactivity restricts the actor’s capacity for rational thought and reasoned …


Development Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) And Antisocial Behavior In Childhood And Adolescence, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Chongming Yang, Kenneth A. Dodge, Gregory S. Pettit, John E. Bates Jan 2009

Development Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) And Antisocial Behavior In Childhood And Adolescence, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Chongming Yang, Kenneth A. Dodge, Gregory S. Pettit, John E. Bates

Reid G. Fontaine

Using longitudinal data on 585 youths (48% female; 17% African American, 2% other ethnic minority), the authors examined the development of social response evaluation and decision (RED) across childhood (Study 1; kindergarten through Grade 3) and adolescence (Study 2; Grades 8 and 11). Participants completed hypothetical-vignette-based RED assessments, and their antisocial behaviors were measured by multiple raters. Structural equation modeling and linear growth analyses indicated that children differentiate alternative responses by Grade 3, but these RED responses were not consistently related to antisocial behavior. Adolescent analyses provided support for a model of multiple evaluative domains of RED and showed strong …


On-Line Social Decision Making And Antisocial Behavior: Some Essential But Neglected Issues, Reid Griffith Fontaine Jan 2008

On-Line Social Decision Making And Antisocial Behavior: Some Essential But Neglected Issues, Reid Griffith Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

The last quarter century has witnessed considerable progress in the scientific study of social information processing (SIP) and aggressive behavior in children. SIP research has shown that social decision making in youth is particularly predictive of antisocial behavior, especially as children enter and progress through adolescence. In furtherance of this research, more sophisticated, elaborate models of on-line social decision making have been developed, by which various domains of evaluative judgment are hypothesized to account for both responsive decision making and behavior, as well as self-initiated, instrumental functioning. However, discussions of these models have neglected a number of key issues. In …


On-Line Social Decision Making And Antisocial Behavior: Some Essential But Neglected Issues, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2008

On-Line Social Decision Making And Antisocial Behavior: Some Essential But Neglected Issues, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

The last quarter century has witnessed considerable progress in the scientific study of social information processing (SIP) and aggressive behavior in children. SIP research has shown that social decision making in youth is particularly predictive of antisocial behavior, especially as children enter and progress through adolescence. In furtherance of this research, more sophisticated, elaborate models of on-line social decision making have been developed, by which various domains of evaluative judgment are hypothesized to account for both responsive decision making and behavior, as well as self-initiated, instrumental functioning. However, discussions of these models have neglected a number of key issues. In …


Social Information Processing And Cardiac Predictors Of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2008

Social Information Processing And Cardiac Predictors Of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

The relations among social information processing (SIP), cardiac activity, and antisocial behavior were investigated in adolescents over a 3-year period (from ages 16 to 18) in a community sample of 585 (48% female, 17% African American) participants. Antisocial behavior was assessed in all 3 years. Cardiac and SIP measures were collected between the first and second behavioral assessments. Cardiac measures assessed resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate reactivity (HRR) as participants imagined themselves being victimized in hypothetical provocation situations portrayed via video vignettes. The findings were moderated by gender and supported a multiprocess model in which antisocial behavior is …


Disentangling The Psychology And Law Of Instrumental And Reactive Subtypes Of Aggression, Reid Griffith Fontaine Jan 2007

Disentangling The Psychology And Law Of Instrumental And Reactive Subtypes Of Aggression, Reid Griffith Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

Behavioral scientists have distinguished an instrumental (or proactive) style of aggression from a style that is reactive (or hostile). Whereas instrumental aggression is cold-blooded, deliberate, and goal driven, reactive aggression is characterized by hot blood, impulsivity, and uncontrollable rage. Scholars have pointed to the distinction between murder (committed with malice aforethought) and manslaughter (enacted in the heat of passion in response to provocation) in criminal law as a reflection of the instrumental–reactive aggression dichotomy. Recently, B. J. Bushman and C. A. Anderson (2001) argued that the instrumental–reactive aggression distinction has outlived its usefulness in psychology and pointed to inconsistencies and …


Toward A Conceptual Framework Of Instrumental Antisocial Decision-Making And Behavior In Youth, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2007

Toward A Conceptual Framework Of Instrumental Antisocial Decision-Making And Behavior In Youth, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

This paper reviews and organizes relevant theory and research toward a conceptual framework of instrumental antisocial decision-making and behavior in youth. To date, social cognitive study of the development of youth antisocial functioning has largely focused on response patterns (e.g., cognitive responses to aversive cues). Though instrumental decision making is paid significant attention in research on adult criminality, there exists no framework by which youths' goal-driven behavioral decisions that are made in pursuit of antisocial motives and interests may be understood. This is a problem in that lessons from research on children and adolescents suggest that there are meaningful differences …


Real-Time Decision Making And Aggressive Behavior In Youth: A Heuristic Model Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red), Reid Griffith Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge Jan 2006

Real-Time Decision Making And Aggressive Behavior In Youth: A Heuristic Model Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red), Reid Griffith Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge

Reid G. Fontaine

Considerable scientific and intervention attention has been paid to judgment and decision-making systems associated with aggressive behavior in youth. However, most empirical studies have investigated social–cognitive correlates of stable child and adolescent aggressiveness, and less is known about real-time decision making to engage in aggressive behavior. A model of realtime decision making must incorporate both impulsive actions and rational thought. The present paper advances a process model (response evaluation and decision; RED) of real-time behavioral judgments and decision making in aggressive youths with mathematic representations that may be used to quantify response strength. These components are a heuristic to describe …


Applying Systems Principles To Models Of Social Information Processing And Aggressive Behavior In Youth, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2006

Applying Systems Principles To Models Of Social Information Processing And Aggressive Behavior In Youth, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

Systems perspectives view development as the product of hierarchically-organized levels of varied life processes that are continually changing and interacting as time passes. This theoretical approach may be of considerable importance to developing research programs in child social cognition, particularly since multilevel, multiprocess models of social information processing and aggressive behavior in youth are still in relatively formative stages. This paper proposes that key systems principles can be conceptually applied to social information-processing models in ways that are critical to furthering future research in social–cognitive foundations of aggressive behavior. Examples of initial applications to current social information processing models of …


Evaluative Behavioral Judgments And Instrumental Antisocial Behaviors In Children And Adolescents, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2006

Evaluative Behavioral Judgments And Instrumental Antisocial Behaviors In Children And Adolescents, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

There is a growing body of scientific research that has drawn a distinction between instrumental (or proactive) and reactive forms of aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. Whereas neurocognitive, psychophysiological, and other psychological factors have been shown to distinguish these aggressive subtypes, social cognitive research on alternative types of instrumental antisocial behavior (e.g., stealing, cheating, and illicit substance use) in youth is limited. Research on social information processing and aggression has shown that evaluative behavioral judgments may be of particular importance to understanding instrumental antisocial tendencies. Herein presented is a review of research on social cognition and discernible forms of …


Peer Rejection And Social Information-Processing Factors In The Development Of Aggressive Behavior Problems In Children, Reid G. Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge, Jennifer E. Lansford, Virginia Salzer Burks, John E. Bates, Gregory S. Pettit, Joseph M. Price Jan 2003

Peer Rejection And Social Information-Processing Factors In The Development Of Aggressive Behavior Problems In Children, Reid G. Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge, Jennifer E. Lansford, Virginia Salzer Burks, John E. Bates, Gregory S. Pettit, Joseph M. Price

Reid G. Fontaine

The relation between social rejection and growth in antisocial behavior was investigated. In Study 1,259 boys and girls (34% African American) were followed from Grades 1 to 3 (ages 6-8 years) to Grades 5 to 7 (ages 10-12 years). Early peer rejection predicted growth in aggression. In Study 2,585 boys and girls (16% African American) were followed from kindergarten to Grade 3 (ages 5-8 years), and findings were replicated. Furthermore, early aggression moderated the effect of rejection, such that rejection exacerbated antisocial development only among children initially disposed toward aggression. In Study 3, social information-processing patterns measured in Study 1 …


Response Decision Processes And Externalizing Behavior Problems In Adolescents, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Virginia Salzer Burks, Kenneth A. Dodge Jan 2002

Response Decision Processes And Externalizing Behavior Problems In Adolescents, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Virginia Salzer Burks, Kenneth A. Dodge

Reid G. Fontaine

Externalizing behavior problems of 124 adolescents were assessed across Grades 7–11. In Grade 9, participants were also assessed across social-cognitive domains after imagining themselves as the object of provocations portrayed in six videotaped vignettes. Participants responded to vignette-based questions representing multiple processes of the response decision step of social information processing. Phase 1 of our investigation supported a two-factor model of the response evaluation process of response decision (response valuation and outcome expectancy). Phase 2 showed significant relations between the set of these response decision processes, as well as response selection, measured in Grade 9 and (a) externalizing behavior in …