WAIS performances in antisocial personality (disorder).

In the present study, the WAIS performances of subjects with antisocial personality disorder were compared with the performances of controls, who had other personality disorders and had usually only occasional criminality. It appeared that in all subtests the age-scaled scores of the controls were higher than those of the subjects. Statistically significant differences emerged in subtests Information, Comprehension and Arithmetic of the Verbal Scale, and in the picture Completion subtest of the Performance Scale, as well as in the Verbal, Performance and Total IQ. In the light of these results, one fundamental feature in antisocial personality could be the lack of general interest and intellectual curiosity, which is probably associated with a poor ability to "feel" (inadequacy of feelings of pleasure) in those predisposed to antisocial personality.