Dr. Angela Book, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. She is also involved in the Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice program that combines psychology, law, and criminology to provide a multi-disciplinary perspective on issues relating to crime and criminal justice. Her research focuses on psychopathy and victimization, including how psychopathic individuals judge vulnerability and the ways in which they manipulate and exploit those around them.
In her answers, Dr. Book discusses her research addressing how people with psychopathic traits identify potential victims, including their ability to read body language. She also talks about her work related to the hypothesis that people with psychopathic traits have developed behaviors that help them to get away with violating social expectations and the rights of others (the Cheater-Hawk Hypothesis).
1. How did you get involved in the area of psychopathy research?
I’m always surprised when perpetrators of violent crime are described as “normal,” “nice,” and “quiet” by neighbors/friends/family when the crimes committed were quite terrible. How could there be such a disconnect? Surely, if it was a disorder, it would be more apparent to people around them? I read about psychopathy in psychology courses and was determined from that point on to focus my efforts in that direction.
2. You have investigated the role of body language cues, such as walking style, that individuals with psychopathic traits look for when selecting victims. What are these cues?
There are numerous movements involved in walking, including the length of stride, the synchronicity of arm/leg movements, speed of walking, and even how high the knee is raised. Generally, people who have victimization in their history deviate from average in these movements (their stride is too long or too short, their arms/legs don’t move in concert, they walk slowly or quickly, and raise the knee too little or too much). It isn’t any one of these but a combination that is key. It also seems like people with psychopathic traits can pick up on personality traits, like assertiveness, that might be relevant to vulnerability.
3. What is the “cheater-hawk” hypothesis? Can you describe one implication of this hypothesis for intervention?
The Cheater-Hawk hypothesis basically predicts that people with psychopathic traits use a variety of behaviors to exploit others. The Cheater part assumes that they use manipulation and deception, while the Hawk part means they engage in aggression and intimidation. Both of these aspects of psychopathy are designed to achieve goals (that is, to get something from the other person) which is important to know when planning treatments or interventions. With that in mind, successful intervention would have to teach psychopathic people to meet their goals in other ways (ways that don’t exploit others and also don’t result in negative consequences for themselves).
4. Considering research is generally ahead of application in the field, what is one improvement in the field of psychopathy that you hope to see take place over the next five to ten years?
I am hoping that research will begin to focus on reducing the impact of these individuals on society, either through interventions or treatments or by providing information to the general public on how to recognize psychopathic behavior and traits and how to avoid being manipulated and victimized by them.
5. What would you want victims/survivors to know about your research?
Some of my research can appear to be “blaming the victim.” I want to be very clear that the victim is never to blame. My goal is to empower people by providing information that they can use to avoid future victimization. By knowing about the victim selection process, it is possible to interrupt that process. One thing that we have found is that when people are paying attention to their surroundings, they don’t tend to give off cues of vulnerability. So if I had to give one piece of advice, it would be to stay attentive!
