Assistant Professor of Psychology

Clinical Science

Office: 324 Wilson Hall
Phone: (615) 343-4336
Fax: (615) 343-8449
Email:

Degrees

Ph.D. (psychology: Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research), University of Minnesota, 2006
M.A. (psychology), University of Minnesota, 2004
B.A. (biology, psychology, religious studies), Rice University, 2000

Research Area

psychopathy, psychophysiology of emotion

Current Research

Dr. Benning's research takes a two-pronged approach to understanding emotion and psychopathology. The first prong of these is heavier on the side of psychopathology content, in which he studies the personality disorder of psychopathy, which represents a confluence of two independent processes: a fearless and dominant temperament, combined with a propensity for impulsive and antisocial behavior. His research has demonstrated that these two components of psychopathy have distinct demographic, diagnostic, and personality correlates; he has also shown that they have different impacts on physiological responses.
The other prong is more heavily focused on the emotion side of psychology, in which he is investigating the postauricular reflex, a small reflex behind the ear that appears to be larger during pleasant stimuli than during neutral or aversive stimuli. This reflex's apparently appetitive pattern of modulation has an opposite modulation pattern to the defensive startle blink reflex, which is elicited by the same noise probe as the postauricular reflex but which is larger during aversive than neutral or pleasant stimuli. However, unlike the startle blink reflex, the neural circuitry of the postauricular reflex is unknown. He seeks to understand better precisely what the postauricular reflex is measuring as a bridge to studying appetitive processing through psychophysiology more broadly.

Current Courses

Psy 115F 11: Consciousness and the Unconscious (Fall 2007)
Psy 209: Quantitative Methods (Spring 2008)

Professional Societies

2001-present Society for Psychophysiological Research
2002-present American Psychological Association
2003-present American Psychological Society
2005-present Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy

Representative Publications

Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., Patrick, C. J., Benning. S. D., & Kramer, M. (in press). Linking antisocial behavior, substance use, and personality: An integrative quantitative model of the adult externalizing spectrum. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
Ross, S. R., Benning, S. D., & Adams, Z. (in press). Symptoms of executive dysfunction are endemic to secondary psychopathy: An examination in criminal offenders and noninstitutionalized young adults. Journal of Personality Disorders.
Patrick, C. J., Edens, J. F., Poythress, N. G., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Benning, S. D. (2006). Construct validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory two-factor model with offenders. Psychological Assessment, 18, 204-208.
Bernat, E. M., Patrick, C. J., Benning, S. D., & Tellegen, A. (2006). Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response. Psychophysiology, 43, 93-103.
Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Psychopathy, startle blink modulation, and electrodermal reactivity in twin men. Psychophysiology, 42, 753-762.
Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Blonigen, D. M., Hicks, B. M., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Estimating facets of psychopathy from normal personality traits: A step toward community-epidemiological investigations. Assessment, 12, 3-18.
Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Salekin, R. T., & Leistico, A.-M. R. (2005). Convergent and discriminant validity of psychopathy factors assessed via self-report: A comparison of three instruments. Assessment, 12, 270-289.
Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., & Lang, A. R. (2004). Emotional modulation of the post-auricular reflex. Psychophysiology, 41, 426-432.
Hall, J. R., Benning, S. D., & Patrick, C. J. (2004). Discriminant validity of the three-factor model of psychopathy: Personality, behavior, and adaptive functioning. Assessment, 11, 4-16.
Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Hicks, B. M., Blonigen, D. M., & Krueger, R. F. (2003). Factor structure of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory: Validity and implications for clinical assessment. Psychological Assessment, 15, 340-350.