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![Researchers...prefer to describe [some children] as having callous an](/forum/styles/gmatclub_light/imageset/icon_post_target_unread.svg "Researchers...prefer to describe [some children] as having callous an"){kind=icon}
02 Sep 2021, 10:27
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...Researchers...prefer to describe [some children] as having “callous and unemotional traits,” shorthand for a cluster of characteristics and behaviours, including a lack of empathy, remorse, or guilt; shallow emotions; aggression and even cruelty; and a seeming indifference to punishment... They opine that nearly 1 percent of children exhibit these traits...More than 50 studies have found that kids with callous and unemotional traits are more likely than other kids to become criminals or display aggressive, psychopathic traits later in life...
Researchers believe that two paths can lead to psychopathy: one dominated by nature, the other by nurture. For some children, their environment – growing up in poverty, living with abusive parents, fending for themselves in dangerous neighbourhoods – can turn them violent and cold-hearted. These kids aren’t born callous and unemotional; many experts suggest that if they’re given a reprieve from their environment, they can be pulled back from psychopathy’s edge.
But other children display callous and unemotional traits even though they are raised by loving parents in safe neighbourhoods. Large studies...have found that this early-onset condition is highly hereditary, hardwired in the brain – and especially difficult to treat...
... A trained eye can spot a callous and unemotional child by age 3 or 4. Whereas normally developing children at that age grow agitated when they see other children cry – and either try to comfort them or bolt the scene – these kids show a chilly detachment...
As a child gets older, more obvious warning signs appear. Kent Kiehl, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico, says that one scary harbinger occurs when a kid 8-10 years old commits a transgression while alone, without the pressure of peers. This reflects an interior impulse toward harm. Criminal versatility – committing different types of crimes in different settings – can also hint at future psychopathy. But the biggest red flag is early violence. “Most of the psychopaths I meet in prison had been in fights with teachers in elementary school or junior high,” Kiehl says...
...Kiehl and others believe that the psychopathic brain has neural abnormalities – and that these same differences likely also occur in the brains of callous children.
One of the abnormalities appears in the limbic system, the set of brain structures involved in, among other things, processing emotions. In a psychopath’s brain, this area contains less grey matter. “It’s like a weaker muscle,” Kiehl says. A psychopath may understand, intellectually, that what he is doing is wrong, but he doesn’t feel it. “Psychopaths know the words but not the music” is how Kiehl describes it...
In particular, experts point to the amygdala – a part of the limbic system – as a physiological culprit for cold-hearted or violent behaviour. Someone with an undersized or underactive amygdala may not be able to feel empathy or refrain from violence. Why does this neural quirk matter? .... [D]istress cues, such as fearful or sad expressions, [are] designed to prevent attacks by raising the white flag; those not sensitive to these cues are more likely to attack somebody whom other people would refrain from attacking.
...The best physiological indicator of which young people will become violent criminals as adults is a low resting heart rate. Adrian Raine of the University of Pennsylvania says, “We think that low heart rate reflects a lack of fear, and a lack of fear could predispose someone to committing fearless
criminal-violence acts.
Researchers believe that two paths can lead to psychopathy: one dominated by nature, the other by nurture. For some children, their environment – growing up in poverty, living with abusive parents, fending for themselves in dangerous neighbourhoods – can turn them violent and cold-hearted. These kids aren’t born callous and unemotional; many experts suggest that if they’re given a reprieve from their environment, they can be pulled back from psychopathy’s edge.
But other children display callous and unemotional traits even though they are raised by loving parents in safe neighbourhoods. Large studies...have found that this early-onset condition is highly hereditary, hardwired in the brain – and especially difficult to treat...
... A trained eye can spot a callous and unemotional child by age 3 or 4. Whereas normally developing children at that age grow agitated when they see other children cry – and either try to comfort them or bolt the scene – these kids show a chilly detachment...
As a child gets older, more obvious warning signs appear. Kent Kiehl, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico, says that one scary harbinger occurs when a kid 8-10 years old commits a transgression while alone, without the pressure of peers. This reflects an interior impulse toward harm. Criminal versatility – committing different types of crimes in different settings – can also hint at future psychopathy. But the biggest red flag is early violence. “Most of the psychopaths I meet in prison had been in fights with teachers in elementary school or junior high,” Kiehl says...
...Kiehl and others believe that the psychopathic brain has neural abnormalities – and that these same differences likely also occur in the brains of callous children.
One of the abnormalities appears in the limbic system, the set of brain structures involved in, among other things, processing emotions. In a psychopath’s brain, this area contains less grey matter. “It’s like a weaker muscle,” Kiehl says. A psychopath may understand, intellectually, that what he is doing is wrong, but he doesn’t feel it. “Psychopaths know the words but not the music” is how Kiehl describes it...
In particular, experts point to the amygdala – a part of the limbic system – as a physiological culprit for cold-hearted or violent behaviour. Someone with an undersized or underactive amygdala may not be able to feel empathy or refrain from violence. Why does this neural quirk matter? .... [D]istress cues, such as fearful or sad expressions, [are] designed to prevent attacks by raising the white flag; those not sensitive to these cues are more likely to attack somebody whom other people would refrain from attacking.
...The best physiological indicator of which young people will become violent criminals as adults is a low resting heart rate. Adrian Raine of the University of Pennsylvania says, “We think that low heart rate reflects a lack of fear, and a lack of fear could predispose someone to committing fearless
criminal-violence acts.
1. The author mentions the example of children with callous and unemotional traits, despite being raised by loving parents, to demonstrate
a) poverty and abusive parents affect child behaviour.
b) hardwired psychopathic traits are always hereditary.
c) environment has an effect on the nature of children.
d) callous and unemotional traits are not always because of the environment children grow up in
2. All of the following characteristics indicate that a child is callous and unemotional EXCEPT
a) When the child exhibits detachment in the presence of other crying children.
b) When the child commits a crime without others’ help and influence.
c) When the child repeats their transgressions.
d) When the child shows a proclivity towards violence.
3. The expression ‘Psychopaths know the words but not the music' is
a) a metaphor to describe the lack of emotions in a psychopath.
b) a way of describing the antipathy of psychopaths towards music.
c) a comparison to highlight the difference between a psychopath’s intellectual and emotional comprehension of his actions.
d) an analogy to explain the difference in the manner in which a psychopath understands the lyrics and feels the music
4. All of the following are physiological indicators for predicting psychopathic behaviour, according to the passage, EXCEPT:
a) An undersized or underactive amygdala.
b) Distress cues such as fearful or sad expressions.
c) Less grey matter in the limbic system.
d) A low resting heart
5. The author is least likely to agree with which of the following statements?
a) Not all children exhibiting callous and unemotional traits exhibit psychopathic or criminal behaviour as they grow up.
b) No child exhibiting psychopathic behaviour can really be rehabilitated through nurture.
c) Despite the best upbringing, some children have been found to demonstrate psychopathic behaviour growing up.
d) Children with perfectly fine heart rate and limbic systems have developed psychopathic behaviour growing up.
02 Sep 2021, 10:54
Kudos
Bookmarks
This is not a GMAT RC question so I have moved it to the supposedly ideal forum.
Do not post such questions (having 4 answer options) in the GMAT RC forum but rather in the forum I have moved it now.
Do not post such questions (having 4 answer options) in the GMAT RC forum but rather in the forum I have moved it now.
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