A Comparison of Personality Factors and Cognitive Abilities in Offenders and College Students: Offender and Non-Offender Differences in Empathy, Aggression, Impulsivity and Executive Functioning

Empathy deficits, impulsivity, aggressive tendencies, and lower executive functioning are all factors that contribute to criminal activity and are predictive factors of recidivism. An individual, who does not understand other peoples’ emotions and perspectives, acts without thinking, deals with adversity through aggression, and has less cognitive abilities, is more likely to commit crimes. There are assumed differences between offenders and non-offenders, but these differences have been rarely studied. The present study examines the differences between offenders and non-offenders in empathy, impulsivity, aggression and executive function in an American population. This study expected offenders to report higher in aggression, impulsivity and lower empathy and perform less well on executive functioning tasks than non-offenders. Executive functioning scores and aggression were found to be significantly different between offenders and non-offenders. The results of this study call for further research.