June 2012
Jennifer Skeem, Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, is involved in research that requires that she spend time inside the minds of individuals most of us try to avoid: psychopaths. Psychopathy is a complicated and widely misunderstood personality disorder marked by boldness, fearlessness, cruelty, aggression and impulsivity. While some people believe psychopaths are born, not made, Skeem stresses that the condition is shaped by the complex interaction of both environmental and genetic factors.