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Dysexecutive Syndromes pp 201–213Cite as

Executive Dysfunction in Violent and Criminal Behavior

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Abstract

Human behavior, including violent, volitional, and moral acts, are still under study due to the complexity of interaction between biological, cognitive, psychological, and environmental factors. However, damage in regions of the frontal lobe causing executive dysfunction has been consistently associated with difficulties in the regulation of behavior, increasing the probability for committing a violent act. Violence can be conceived as several behaviors (including verbal and psychological violence) in a wide range that goes from anger to homicide. There are also cognitive and affective factors that have been associated with the most serious manifestations of violence. The cognitive factors include low performance in neuropsychological task associated with hot executive functions (inhibition, emotional regulation, risk-benefit processing, and decision-making) related to orbito-frontal cortex functioning and less frequent problems with cold executive functions (working memory, planning, abstraction, cognitive flexibility). Emotional and psychological factors related to violence are high hostility traits, impulsivity and lack of empathy. The combination of these factors increases the possibility of committing a violent act. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of the interaction between the cognitive and the emotional/psychological factors for violent and criminal behavior.

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Funding

This work was partially supported by PAPIIT UNAM (IN302016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Psicofisiología y Neuropsicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Av. Universidad 3004 Copilco-Universidad, Facultad de Psicología, Edificio D Cubículo 211, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Feggy Ostrosky Shejet & Karla Ximena Díaz Galván

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  1. Feggy Ostrosky Shejet
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  2. Karla Ximena Díaz Galván
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Correspondence to Feggy Ostrosky Shejet .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia

    Alfredo Ardila

  2. COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore, Pakistan

    Shameem Fatima

  3. Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL, USA

    Mónica Rosselli

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Ostrosky Shejet, F., Díaz Galván, K.X. (2019). Executive Dysfunction in Violent and Criminal Behavior. In: Ardila, A., Fatima, S., Rosselli, M. (eds) Dysexecutive Syndromes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25077-5_10

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