More than meets the eye: the role of psychopathic traits in attention to distress

Although psychopathic traits have long been associated with predation and violence, it is unclear how individuals high in psychopathic traits choose victims. Victim selection and violence perpetration may be facilitated by attention to, or unawareness of, distressful facial expressions. Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, the present study aimed to identify whether psychopathic traits are associated with unconscious attentional biases to expressions of distress. A sample of 138 undergraduates (23 males, 115 females, M-age = 20.4) viewed 80 paired images portraying a neutral, and authentic expression of either fear, pain, embarrassment, startle, or sadness. Psychopathic traits did not predict initial orientation to distressing over neutral expressions. However, callous-affective traits negatively predicted attentional maintenance to expressions of embarrassment and pain, whereas criminal tendencies and erratic lifestyle positively predicted attentional maintenance to embarrassment and pain, respectively. Findings offer insight into perceptual processing of others' distress, with implications for violence and victim selection.